Review Detail

I thought that this book had a great plot, with the idea of some excellent characters. But the writing style destroyed these amazing thoughts, so they could not be appreciated to their full extent.

The words that were used seemed so genuine and complicated that in some parts it was impossible to understand. The words all seemed to be exactly what English people would say in that period of time. I think that Philip Pullman should of laid off all the fancy words, so that some younger kids could actually make sense of what was happening. Though he should keep some of those words, otherwise it would seem super unrealistic.

I thought that this book would of had a touch of fantasy throughout this book, but instead the author was probably trying to be more realistic, and made it a Victorian age mystery. This was an excellent idea, and it's good that he wrote this book, as his novels would be more of a range of genre, instead of being focused on the one.

I thought that the writing style of the book, how Sally was the main character, but in between parts, there would be a new paragraph focused on a completely different character, in a completely different area. Sometimes this was a very creative idea, but other times it was hard to follow the storyline or what was happening at that point in time. Also because of these, it made Sally look like she was not the main character. I think this problem could be fixed by extending each section, and place them in different chapters.

This was a pretty good book in all, and I think that mystery lovers would fall in love with this book.