Tor.com: Dreams of Shreds and Tatters is a baroque, creepy, gorgeous, atmospheric book. I keep wanting to find more adjectives, for there’s a layered, textured depth to the prose here, rich and velvety and dark. … I loved Downum’s other work, but I didn’t expect to enjoy Dreams of Shreds and Tatters half as much as I did. Unexpectedly, I adored it. It’s darkly gorgeous, tense, and gripping, with compelling characters and a subtle, unnervingly psychological element to its fantasy-horror turn. And, delightfully, not without a sense of humour. I recommend it highly. Please tell me there’ll be another novel like this.
To read the full review of Dreams of Shreds and Tatters, visit Tor.com here.
Locus: Family, rather than art or magic, is the central theme for this novel, the fifth and final in the Glamourist Histories series. Jane and Vincent are finally relaxing with Jane’s family, in Vienna, when word comes that Vincent’s hateful father has died on his estate in Antigua, and left a new will that can only be released to a family member. Vincent’s eldest brother died in a carriage accident that left the next son badly injured – and the new Earl of Verbury. He asks Vincent to go to Antigua and take care of things, so he and Jane head out to get the will – and find a hellish mess of the old Earl’s making. What horrifies Vincent and Jane most is the treatment of the slaves, some of them clearly family members themselves, but their efforts to help are repeatedly stymied. Fortunately, no one expects the two to have the spying skills they’ve acquired in their adventures, and gradually they win through. There are parts that are a bit predictable, and I missed the emphasis on Art, but it’s a good read anyway, with a very final epilogue that nicely concludes the series.
