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The Explosionist

3.42 of 5 stars 3.42 · rating details · 448 ratings · 132 reviews

The Explosionist (formerly known as Dynamite No. 1) is the story of a 15-year-old girl growing up in an alternate version of 1930s Edinburgh. There, the legacy of Napoleon's victory a century earlier at Waterloo is a standoff between a totalitarian Federation of European States and a group of independent northern countries called the New Hanseatic League. This world is pre...more

Hardcover, 464 pages

Published July 1st 2008 by HarperTeen

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Nov 08, 2012 Jennifer Wardrip rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: trt-posted-reviews

Reviewed by Amber Gibson for TeensReadToo.com

In a world where Europe is split into two competing factions on the brink of war, the 1930s are dominated by the Enlightenment principles of science and reason. The basis of this parallel universe is that Napoleon defeated Wellington at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815. Jenny Davidson skillfully incorporates elements of historical research, science-fiction, and the paranormal to create a world utterly unrecognizable to readers in the twenty-first centur...more Reviewed by Amber Gibson for TeensReadToo.com

In a world where Europe is split into two competing factions on the brink of war, the 1930s are dominated by the Enlightenment principles of science and reason. The basis of this parallel universe is that Napoleon defeated Wellington at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815. Jenny Davidson skillfully incorporates elements of historical research, science-fiction, and the paranormal to create a world utterly unrecognizable to readers in the twenty-first century. With her clever plot and vivid descriptions, Davidson prevents readers from becoming confused and overwhelmed by the drastic differences of her imaginary world.

Fifteen-year-old Sophie Hunter is living in Scotland, a member of the New Hanseatic League, and attending an all-girls preparatory school with hopes of a university education. However, her future hangs in jeopardy due to the threat of war between the New Hanseatic League and Europe. Terrorist attacks by the Brother of the Northern Liberties are all too common, and the mood throughout the country is tense. In the event of war, all of Scotland's young women would be called upon to serve the country in various national agencies, dashing Sophie's dreams of becoming a scientist.

Sophie's already turbulent life becomes even more confusing after she attends one of her great-aunt Tabitha's seances. The medium delivers a shocking anonymous message to Sophie, insinuating that she will encounter great danger. When the medium is murdered shortly thereafter, Sophie knows that the prophecy is not to be taken lightly. She vows to uncover the mysteries behind the tangle of Scotland's political web, to save herself and her friends from a disastrous fate.

As fate would have it, war might soon be upon them. Sophie plans on joining IRLYNS, serving her country as is her duty if the unthinkable should occur. Short for the Institute for the Recruitment of Young Ladies for National Security and pronounced "irons," IRLYNS aims to train intelligent young women to be personal assistants to Scotland's most powerful government officials. Great-aunt Tabitha, Sophie's guardian since the death of her parents many years ago, is actually one of the founders of IRLYNS, and Sophie expects her to be proud of her noble intentions. However, great-aunt Tabitha strongly discourages her niece from joining IRLYNS, and Sophie's curiosity is piqued. Could the secrets behind IRLYNS be in any way connected to the precarious state of the country?

Although she lives in a bizarre world, readers will surely be able to relate to Sophie's idealism and youthful exuberance. A loyal friend with strong morals, readers will find Sophie very likable. Her crush on her chemistry teacher, Mr. Peterson, is reminiscent of Hermione's infatuation with Gilderoy Lockhart. Thankfully, Mr. Peterson is infinitely more worthy of admiration. Then there is Sophie's amusing relationship with Mikael, her best guy friend from Sweden. Slowly, Sophie discovers what readers will see all along, that Sophie harbors more than feelings of friendship for Mikael.

Davidson skillfully tempers suspense and danger with laughter and good times, creating a magical world that defies genre stereotypes. Deeper than a typical adventure story, THE EXPLOSIONIST challenges readers with questions of ethics and the rightful boundaries of the government. Insightful readers will explore their own political beliefs, and even draw parallels from Sophie's world to current events of today. Davidson's abrupt ending will surely leave readers hoping for a sequel! (less)

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May 29, 2011 Chris rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: sffantasy, ya, historical

Aaaaaaah this was awesome. It does some things that are technically Not Allowed in alternate history (such as having real-world historical figures who were born decades after the point of divergence), but I find that easy to forgive, because one of the main points of alternate history is to comment on Actualfax History, and any truly rigorous hard AH would a) be pretty much impossible to create, given that all reference materials refer to Actualfax History and b) end up so different as to be use...more Aaaaaaah this was awesome. It does some things that are technically Not Allowed in alternate history (such as having real-world historical figures who were born decades after the point of divergence), but I find that easy to forgive, because one of the main points of alternate history is to comment on Actualfax History, and any truly rigorous hard AH would a) be pretty much impossible to create, given that all reference materials refer to Actualfax History and b) end up so different as to be useless for commenting purposes.

The world is fascinating - it's built with the sure hand of someone who knows her way around SF, but it also feels fresh and unlike anything else I've read. Partly it's that the heroine spends most of the book in a boarding school, but mostly it's just that original. It's a kind of dystopia that I really like - at first everything seems pretty ordinary, if allohistorical, but gradually you realise, along with the heroine, that you're in a subtle but hideous dystopia, a self-consciously modern and liberal Enlightenment society that takes Rousseau as its founding document rather than Mill. Any political setup, in order to be stable, has to have a significant class of people who get along all right and don't categorise their society as a dystopia -- *we* live in a horrible dystopia without thinking much about it unless it's forced on our notice -- and characters who have enough freedom of action to make suitable protagonists tend to come from the Getting Along Classes, all of which makes the world of The Explosionist that much more convincing.

But what gets it five stars (I wavered between four and five based on one or two awkward sentences, and would probably give it 4.5 if I could) is the main character and her delightfully matter-of-fact narrative voice. Sophie's brave, smart and determined, but not at all the usual YA heroine: she's serious, academic, introverted and desperately unsporty. I have never felt so represented. (I also love that I have absolutely no idea what she looks like, except for a vague notion that she probably looks like the -- also excellent -- cover art. Refreshing!)(less)

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Feb 21, 2011 Margaret rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: alternate-history, children-s-and-ya-fiction, fantasy-and-science-fiction, authors-cd

Sophie lives in an alternate Scotland around 1935, in a world where Napoleon won at Waterloo, and Scotland and the Scandinavian countries have established a new Hanseatic League to resist being forcibly joined to the rest of Europe. Terrorist bombings are increasing, and the Scottish minister of public safety is calling for war. Spiritualism is very real, and consultations with the dead through mediums are common.

In these turbulent times, Sophie wants nothing more than to go to university and st...more Sophie lives in an alternate Scotland around 1935, in a world where Napoleon won at Waterloo, and Scotland and the Scandinavian countries have established a new Hanseatic League to resist being forcibly joined to the rest of Europe. Terrorist bombings are increasing, and the Scottish minister of public safety is calling for war. Spiritualism is very real, and consultations with the dead through mediums are common.

In these turbulent times, Sophie wants nothing more than to go to university and study science after leaving her girls' boarding school. Instead, she fears she'll be forced to join IRYLNS, a governmental agency which trains young women as personal assistants to male government officials, and perhaps does more than simply train them, as Sophie finds out when she visits with her aunt. And when a medium at her aunt's house delivers a frightening prophecy to her and then is murdered, Sophie and her friend Mikael must unpick a tangled web of lies, violence, and political intrigue.

I liked Davidson's taking-off point for her alternate history and the idea of the New Hanseatic League, and I thought she created a believable political world. She's rather too prone to drop famous names into the narrative, arbitrarily changing their professions and lives -- for example, there's a reference to "the theology of Count Tolstoy, the novels of Richard Wagner, the verse of Albert Einstein, or the operas of James Joyce" -- which I found distracting at first and then just annoying. I can see how this might be hard to resist, but I would much rather have read more about how the political history of the world had developed.

I quite liked clever, scientifically-minded Sophie herself, and I liked her complex relationship with her aunt (and how her aunt, who feels that emotion is bad, tries to deal with her love for Sophie) and with her friends at school. The understated romance is handled nicely, and also Sophie's schoolgirl crush on her chemistry teacher, with its attendant awkwardness and misery.

Davidson does a good job in adding detail and complexity to the plot slowly, so that Sophie's race to solve the mysteries becomes more and more tense. I wish I had known in advance that a sequel is in the works, as I found the ending overly abrupt. Still, I'll definitely be reading the sequel.(less)

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Nov 27, 2008 Karen rated it 4 of 5 stars

I have only fifty pages to go in The Explosionist and I don't see how Jenny Davidson is going to finish the story in so few pages. I'm really liking this and am hoping it doesn't end with a cliffhanger, forcing me to wait for a sequel in order to satisfy my curiousity.

In The Explosionist Davidson presents an altered world, one in which Napolean won at Waterloo. As expected, the world is quite different. Our main character, Sophie, lives in Scotland, a country that belongs to the New Hanseati...more

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Jul 10, 2012 Julie rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2012, ebook, historical-fiction, steampunk, science-fiction, young-adult

I took a several-month hiatus in the middle of reading this (a baby will do that to you). I'd forgotten how much spiritualism factored into it. The basic premise is very cool. England has been defeated by Napoleon and become a part of Europe, but Scotland is still part of the Hanseatic League, along with several other northern nations. The military bent and strict border regulations seemed so un-Scottish that it made things more intriguing.

For me, though, the difficult part was believing for one...more

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Apr 13, 2011 Adrienne rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: alternate-history, book-count-2011

Sophie's favorite class is chemistry; Mr. Petersen is so handsome! Too bad all her classmates seem to know about her crush - they won't stop teasing her. Sophie's least favorite activity is the Friday night seances her great-aunt Tabitha makes her participate in. Unfortunately, spirituality is a major pastime of Ediburgh's fashionable ladies, so there's not much Sophie can do to get out of them, particularly when she starts showing signs of being a medium herself. Then the medium from great-aunt...more

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Jan 24, 2011 Alethea rated it 3 of 5 stars

Original. Unusual. Vividly imagined.

A pity it's not a better book.

I can't really blame the author for the fact that this is the first part of a series--of the irritating sort that does not resolve at the end of a book but just truncates at a convenient break in the action--and is not packaged as such, though that is one of my favorite pet peeves.

What I can gripe about is the fact hat the author seems far more taken with her world than with ensuring consistency and coherence of character and plo...more

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Jun 05, 2009 The Library Lady rated it 3 of 5 stars

Before I begin: I liked this, and I AM interested in reading the sequel that is obviously on its way. But so that others do not get confused when they begin to read this story:

The setting is Scotland in the 1930s. Only this IS NOT our version of history.

Napoleon WON at Waterloo, England has been taken over by France and Germany (and the current European "leader" apparently has a very familiar little mustache), and Scotland is a republic allied with nations of the old Hanseatic League.

Ibsen and S...more

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Mar 04, 2009 Shelley rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantasy, historical, youth

Alternate universe where Napoleon won at Waterloo, changing absolutely everything in the world, and set in 1938 on the brink of a very different World War II. It was nearly awesome. It's definitely the first in a series, although a book two isn't mentioned; the last page has Sophie listing out the various mysteries she hasn't yet solved.

It's a fabulous idea, no doubt about it. The writing is pretty strong and it's action packed and very interesting. Some of it (IRYLNS, omg) was utterly horrifyin...more

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Nov 30, 2008 Julia rated it 2 of 5 stars

Sophie is your basic 15 year old teen with a crush on her young science teacher, tempestuous friendships at boarding school and an insatiable curiousity about the world around her. She lives in 1938 Scotland, the specter of war looming again after the Great War of a few decades earlier. In that war, England fell to Europe and Scotland aligned itself with the Scandanavian nations, calling itself the Hanseatic League. Sophie is a ward of her Great Aunt Tabitha, who is a spiritualist, and as intere...more

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Dec 31, 2011 Elizabeth rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Maggie

Shelves: young-adult, alternate-history

A slightly steam-punk, dystopian, alternate-history story. It's set in Scotland in a version of the 1930s where Napoleon defeated the British at Waterloo and the southern states won the Civil War.

Sophie is a teenager who's parents were killed when she was 5. She is living with her aunt, who happens to be very involved in the government, and is an avid Spiritualist holding seances in their house every weekend. Sophie is involved in a conversation at dinner one night where the minister of public...more

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Jul 28, 2011 Sarah rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: novel, ya, fantasy, historical

Blech. What a terribly dull book. The murky setting is obviously an alternate history but it takes the author forever to spell that out, leaving the reader annoyed and confused since the cover makes it look like a straight-up historical. The protagonist Sophie is the most unlikeable and uninteresting Mary Sue I've ever seen outside of fanfic. It was hard to care about her pain since she never seemed to really defend herself against her friends, teachers, and crazy aunt.

The mystery has too many...more

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Feb 26, 2009 Theresa rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2009

This was another Cybil nominee but this was by far one of the strangest things I've read in a while. It might have served the author and reader better to have the author's note placed before the story rather than after as she explains what parts of the story are reworked to create her alternate version of Edinburgh in the 1930s instead of the reader wondering throughout the entire book.

Sophie, a 15 year old girl attending a school for young ladies lives with her Great Aunt Tabitha on the weekend...more This was another Cybil nominee but this was by far one of the strangest things I've read in a while. It might have served the author and reader better to have the author's note placed before the story rather than after as she explains what parts of the story are reworked to create her alternate version of Edinburgh in the 1930s instead of the reader wondering throughout the entire book.

Sophie, a 15 year old girl attending a school for young ladies lives with her Great Aunt Tabitha on the weekends. Scotland is on the brink of war and bombs are being set off by suicide bombers in the city of Edinburgh--even one at Sophie's school. When Sophie (whose great aunt is very much into spiritualism and seances) receives a message from the other side and begins to try to find out more about the conscription process of 16 year old girls (using a method of electroshock and brain surgery) that her great aunt advocates, she learns more than she ever wanted to know. Add to that the mysterious murder of the medium that passed along Sophie's other worldly message and Sophie and her friend Mikael are investigating a murder too.

Not really realizing that I was entering into an alternate version of history, I found the fact that Sophie could talk to the dead almost at will a little offputting. I remember thinking "Yeah, right. Wow, that was easy--just build a transistor radio and tune into the right station and presto, you can speak to the dead." Not to mention the fact that her great aunt is an advocate of the conscription of young girls (even at the risk of losing her niece) knowing that they will only be former shells of themselves in order to be "empty vessels" for the men they work for (so that the mens' emotions don't get in the way of their job--they fill the girls with their emotions but the girls must have their emotions removed initially for this process to work) made it harder for me to suspend belief--instead it removed me from the story instead of drawing me in.

Upon reflection, a very strange tale that is of course left open for a sequel--which I might read now that I know we are dealing with an alternate version of history (not that I know enough about Scottish history to be able to tell the difference).(less)

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Jan 17, 2010 Sigrid Ellis rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction-ya, fiction-steampunk

While off to a very promising start -- an alternate universe in which Napoleon won the battle of Waterloo, and the Hanseatic League remains stalwart against the might of combined Europe while facing a second World War -- I found the ending to be completely . . . .

Well, completely pants.

It was sort of limp, left ALL the major questions of the book unanswered, and gave no clue as to whether the protagonist's action had made a damn bit of difference.

Here's the thing -- if you set up your protagonis...more

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Sep 28, 2011 Liz L rated it 3 of 5 stars

The Explosionist was not quite what I expected when I checked it out of my library. However, I was rewarded with a different and, most certainly, interesting story.

The description for the book definitely caught my attention, but for some reason, I was expecting something totally different. For one thing, the book is littered with psychics and seances and etc. I'm not a fan of seances and psychics are neutral ground for me - I have no opinion on them. The story also failed to set a time period. I...more The Explosionist was not quite what I expected when I checked it out of my library. However, I was rewarded with a different and, most certainly, interesting story.

The description for the book definitely caught my attention, but for some reason, I was expecting something totally different. For one thing, the book is littered with psychics and seances and etc. I'm not a fan of seances and psychics are neutral ground for me - I have no opinion on them. The story also failed to set a time period. I obviously could tell it wasn't modern, so I was thinking 1800s, but then they referred to commodities and inventions that didn't coincide with the time period. It took quite awhile until they mentioned someone's birth year and age when I was then able to calculate the year being 1936. That was a little careless.

Second, the story is full of European and Hanseatic history. Super in depth history. It was a little too much for a novel like this, and I even had to read the author's biography to see if it was a YA book. (Turns out, she normally writes non-fiction and such. This is the first YA book she's written, and it shows.) It made the story very dry and un-enjoyable, because if you don't pay attention to the history and politics, then you won't understand what's happening.

However, I did like Sophie (the main character) and Mikael (her best friend) very much. They were both interesting and diverse, but not completely formed. I would have liked more flesh to Mikael's character since he so special to Sophie.

The plot, underneath the crazy history and politics, was pretty good. I loved the whole deal with IRYLNS (pronounced 'irons'). It gave the story a very Sci-Fi feel to it. I think that a lot of readers will be fascinated with IRYLNS and I believe it was one of the more interesting aspects of the storing.

All in all, I enjoyed the book but its not a favourite. I would only suggest this to those who want a read a story that's a bit off the beaten path. I may pick up the second book..who knows? (less)

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Mar 20, 2009 Eva Mitnick rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: ya, fantasy

This alternate history fantasy imagines what 1930s Scotland would be like if Napoleon had triumphed over Wellington and gone on to win the war. England has been conquered by a European alliance, while Scotland has allied with the Scandinavian countries and Russia.
This was a fascinating enough premise to start me off, and 15-year-old Sophia (with her budding skills as a medium) was just interesting enough a character to pull me through to the end, but I wanted to know MUCH more about Scotland's...more

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Nov 03, 2010 Catalina Sennett rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: favorites

I have been debating with myself on whether or not to give a 5 star rating to this, and I think I have come to the conclusion that this book is indeed AMAZING. I was so not expecting it to be this good at all. It blew me away. (haha no pun intended)

Basically Sophie is a fifteen year old girl who has become a sort of medium who can speak to spirits. She lives in Scotland and seeing as it is the 1920's there is a war going on with the Hanseatic states. Bombs keep exploding all over Edinburgh, and...more

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Dec 29, 2010 Mordena rated it 4 of 5 stars

I would consider giving this five stars if it hadn't ended in a way that so obviously points to a sequel. Alternate history and a boarding-school setting in Edinburgh are most delightful, as is Sophie, our heroine. Sophie is very much in the vein of a Diana Wynne Jones heroine, and the whole book has that DWJ flavor to it. I loved the way her daily school life and her crush on the chemistry teacher seem equally as important as solving a murder and getting to the bottom of possible government con...more

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Dec 06, 2010 Lauren (365 Days of Reading) rated it 4 of 5 stars

Yay, historical fiction! Were you paying attention in World History class? Because if you weren’t, you might actually find yourself believing Jenny Davidson’s alternate history—it’s that well-written.
I think the best part of The Explosionist is the world it’s set in. The government is completely out of control, spirituality is more of an accepted science, and bombs go off almost every other minute.

To go along with that world (and out-of-control government), Jenny Davidson crafted some really cre...more

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Mar 01, 2011 Alicia rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: alternate-history, steampunk, set-in-1930s, ghosts, war, science-fiction, young-adult-mystery, reviewed, young-adult-science-fiction

Steampunky, ghosty alternate history with a sympathetic teen female lead, a fun, action-packed story and unique, if somewhat disorganized, world-building. Davidsons's reimagining of history and European politics, which included the preservation of the medieval Hanseatic alliance between northern states into the 1930s, the defeat of England at Waterloo, as well as the premature development of technology like hydrogen cars and transistor radios, was highly fascinating.

All of characters were likab...more Steampunky, ghosty alternate history with a sympathetic teen female lead, a fun, action-packed story and unique, if somewhat disorganized, world-building. Davidsons's reimagining of history and European politics, which included the preservation of the medieval Hanseatic alliance between northern states into the 1930s, the defeat of England at Waterloo, as well as the premature development of technology like hydrogen cars and transistor radios, was highly fascinating.

All of characters were likable - I found Sophie to be just the right blend of intelligence, independence and naivety. Some elements were a bit predictable, such as (view spoiler), but there were enough other unexpected twists to make the story enjoyable and fast-paced. The dialogue could occasionally be a bit stiff, mainly in sections that were heavy on exposition, but for the most part it was well-written and engaging. Although I can understand why others found it annoying, I actually really enjoyed the frequent name-dropping of historical figures. I got a good giggle out of imagining a novel by Wagner and an opera by James Joyce, and I like the mention of a Monopoly-esque board game, which they aptly called "Capitalism".

I felt like The Explosionist worked very well on the story level, but probably not so much on a deeper level. The underlying political and philosophical messages seemed extremely muddled and disorganized. On the one hand, we were being told that the government was obsessed with the communal "greater good", and did not care about individuals or their rights, but only about how that individual could serve the nation Then at the end of the book we are told that Sophie's Scotland was modeled on the ideas of the Enlightenment, which was about nothing if it wasn't about individualism.

We are told that citizens are freely allowed to euthanize themselves, in a "suicide machine", if they wish to do so. This option was available to any citizen, regardless of age, and was not mean to target or weed out the elderly, the sick or the diabled. This pro-suicide stance perhaps aligns with a rational, individualist Enlightenment philosophy, but it made no sense in the context of a government who would force citizens into military and service roles. If they needed the citizens to work and perform in a role that served the country and the greater good, needed them to make sacrifices and place the nation above their individual needs, why on earth would they allow healthy citizens to kill themselves? Wouldn't those citizens be a better use to the greater good if they were put to work as "farm girls" or whatever else needed doing? Couldn't people who wanted to kill themselves just have their emotions zapped, as the secretaries did, and then be put to work? There were a lot of contradictions like this throughout.

There also seemed to be a lot of contradictions in regards to the society's treatment of gender. On the one hand, Aunt Tabitha and her friends seem to be, although the word was not used, early feminists, in fighting for women to study sciences at university and in adopting utilitarian masculine dress shirts in favour of frou-frou dresses. Yet these same women founded an entire institute thats purpose was to train women to be submissive secretaries that literally served men. In one breath, Aunt Tabitha was complaining about how sexist the male politicans were towards women, and in the next she was espousing the same sexist ideas that women are "irrational, emotional creatures" herself. It made no sense and was really inconsistent. Despite these inconsistencies, I really enjoyed the story and found many elements of it interesting. Well worth a read, I just wouldn't try to analyze every detail of the world-building too much or you'll drive yourself nuts. (less)

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Mar 02, 2009 Connie rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: ya-lit, 2009-reads, favorites

Napoleon won Waterloo and that changed history. Jenny Davidson’s novel starts off in turmoilous 1930s Scotland. Fifteen year old Sophie is in school when a bomb goes off nearby nearing killing her and her teacher. Then, a medium who brought Sophie a message from a spirit beyond is found with her throat slashed. Drawn into the mystery of the bombs and the murder, Sophie and her friend, Mikael, must navigate politics, spiritualism, ethics and Sophie’s crush on her chemistry teacher.

A wonderfully c...more

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Jun 27, 2009 Genevieve rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction, ya-childrens, sff

I really wanted to like this; and in some ways I did. It's set in a very interesting alternate history, and the details about this alternate world's politics, technology, and philosophy appeal enormously to my geeky side. Not to mention that it also contains elements of mystery and boarding-school story. Ultimately, though, the book's problems made more of an impression on me than its merits.

Some of those problems are structural. The writing is a bit on the clunky side, particularly when it came...more I really wanted to like this; and in some ways I did. It's set in a very interesting alternate history, and the details about this alternate world's politics, technology, and philosophy appeal enormously to my geeky side. Not to mention that it also contains elements of mystery and boarding-school story. Ultimately, though, the book's problems made more of an impression on me than its merits.

Some of those problems are structural. The writing is a bit on the clunky side, particularly when it came to exposition; there are quite a few points where the heroine's speech or thoughts sound unnaturally didactic. Also, the parallels with today's politics (suicide bombers, warmongering) and the moral lessons are quite sledghammery, despite the author's clear attempts to inject some complexity with characters like Great-Aunt Tabitha.

I was particularly frustrated by the ending, which manages to simultaneously remove the main character's agency in a Big Reveal/deus ex machina in which Everything Is Explained to her, AND at the same time leaves the reader with a major lack of resolution that is a definite set-up for Book #2––annoying, since from the packaging the novel looks like a stand-alone.

For all the trappings of mystery/detective story, it really wasn't that difficult for the characters to figure out what was going on.

And as intriguing as the world-building was, at times it felt not fully fleshed-out. For instance, the back-and-forth on the status of spirtualism (séances, etc.) felt inconsistent: is it a resectable science or a fringe belief? The novel seemed to be trying to have it both ways. Meanwhile, having famous figures from our world crop up as well-known in alternative areas was cute at first, but as the book went on it got to be wearing and implausible.

Overall, this is a book with some very interesting ideas that could use more in-depth development of its characters, plot, and world (and a little more attention to style.) If the second book improves on the first it could end up being really good.(less)

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Feb 17, 2009 Hallie rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: alternate-history, history-project, ya

This was a bit disappointing, mostly because the alternate history part was very heavy-handed for my taste. It wasn't until about half-way through that the story got gripping enough to make up for that, and the rather uninteresting characters. But then I really enjoyed what I've heard others criticize - the mix of science fiction and what I suppose would typically be called fantasy. I really liked spiritualist photo-shop Keith and his excitement over the latest developments in photographic techn...more

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May 13, 2009 Alisa rated it 3 of 5 stars

I liked the idea better than the story. The idea of the northern European countries allied against a hostile south was intriguing, but I ended up being much more excited about the book when I read the jacket description than when I was actually immersed.

The story moves along at a reasonable clip, but the mystery wasn't all that mysterious, and there weren't any big alternate-world revelations, like I was expecting. The plot didn't come to any kind of big bang (so to speak); it felt like I was re...more

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Jan 11, 2011 Afton Nelson rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: young-adult

It took me three weeks to slog through this book. Even as I got to the last 20 pages, I thought I could very easily put it down and not care one bit what happened to Sophie. I kept thinking I understood the plot, then would reach a dead end and have to figure out where the story was going all over again. I love character driven stories and almost all of the characters in this book were weak and uninspiring. Some characters would seem interesting for a while then disappear for so long that by the...more

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Dec 20, 2010 James rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2010

Set in the Scotland of an alternative universe, this is a YA novel about a 15-year-old girl who learns terrible secrets about her government and its plans. While the world and characters are interesting, there is just too much going at once. There is the establishment of this alternate world, a murder mystery, a coming-of-age story, terrorist plots, government conspiracies, and Sophie's discovery of her ability to speak with the spirits of the dead. While it reads quick and the characters and st...more

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Jun 22, 2009 Melanie rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 7th-grade-and-up, young-adult-literature, orphans, scotland, historical-fiction, alternative-existence, terrorists, bombings, boarding-schools, aunts, transition

I loved parts of this book. Unfortunately, Ms. Davidson doesn't tie the multiple story lines together well. The story is choppy, but each story line is interesting. However, I was 3/4ths of the way through the book before it became clear how it all tied together.

Don't get me wrong...it is possible to keep people guessing until you bring it all together. But if it takes longer than half the book for your readers to figure out where you're going, it's a problem.

Ms. Davidson leaves the ending open...more

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Feb 14, 2009 Janine rated it 2 of 5 stars

I liked the alternate history aspect of this book; I didn't like the protagonist. I thought the story intrigued, but Sophie wasn't a very well drawn character and her motivations were a bit muddled. Especially when she suddenly becomes a medium. What? Where did that come from? maybe I just missed it. The biggest problem from my perspective was that the story didn't finish. I HATE THAT. I want the story to complete--I think Rowling did a wonderful job completing the individual stories in each boo...more

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Feb 12, 2009 Faith rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: historical, young-adult

What would have happened if Napoleon had won the Battle of Waterloo? And if England had lost during World War 1? And if Scotland joined with the Scandinavian countries to form their own union?
Set in 1938, this is a story of how Sophie Hunter navigates through this world to help solve two murders and foils a plot that would have changed everything.

Davidson's story is riveting in its complexity and depth. It is easily read as a story about a smart girl who changes her world. Or it can be read as...more

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Dec 20, 2008 Miya rated it 3 of 5 stars

It was interesting. The only problem with it is that it's about Scotland's history, however, it's an alternate history. I didn't know it was an alternate history until they mentioned the Civil War (our as in America's Civil War) and how the South won because Delaware seceded from the North and i was like huh? That didn't happen. So it was REALLY confusing. If i hadn't caught that then i wouldn't have known it was an alternate history until the author's note. it was like the author EXPECTED you t...more

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