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3rd out of 84 books
—
132 voters
The Osiris Ritual (Newbury and Hobbes #2)
by
George Mann
A steampunk mystery adventure featuring immortality, artifacts, and intrepid sleuths Sir Maurice Newbury and Miss Veronica Hobbes
Sir Maurice Newbury, Gentleman Investigator for the Crown, imagines life will be a little quieter after his dual successes solving The Affinity Bridge affair. But he hasn't banked on his villainous predecessor, Knox, who is hell-bent on achievin
Sir Maurice Newbury, Gentleman Investigator for the Crown, imagines life will be a little quieter after his dual successes solving The Affinity Bridge affair. But he hasn't banked on his villainous predecessor, Knox, who is hell-bent on achievin
Paperback, 348 pages
Published
by Snowbooks
(first published 2010)
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Soon after Sir Maurice Newbury attends a mummy unwrapping, people connected to the expedition that recovered it turn up dead. Meanwhile, Veronica Hobbes is investigating the disappearances of young girls that seem to be connected to a traveling magician. How do their investiations intersect? What does it have to do with the mysterious agent who was supposed to meet Newbury at the train station? And who is behind the Osiris Ritual?
The Osiris Ritual is the second Newbury & Hobbes Investigation...more
The Osiris Ritual is the second Newbury & Hobbes Investigation...more
Excellent steampunk tea time action. A short summary: I think TOR works better as an introduction to Mann's universe than Affinity Bridge. TOR seemed less weighed down with ornamental brass than AB, and was far more quickly paced and action packed for it.
My only quibble would be a certain damsel in distress scenario that seemed a lost opportunity and a lack of Amelia, but I won't say more for now is not the time for spoilers.
I also have a theory as to how Newbury is the Fox Mulder of his time,...more
My only quibble would be a certain damsel in distress scenario that seemed a lost opportunity and a lack of Amelia, but I won't say more for now is not the time for spoilers.
I also have a theory as to how Newbury is the Fox Mulder of his time,...more
Das erfolgreichste Ermittlerduo der Krone, Sir Maurice Newbury und Veronica Hobbes, hat einen neuen Auftrag, denn London wird von mysteriösen Todesfällen heimgesucht: Junge Frauen verschwinden spurlos, nachdem sie die Show eines berühmten Zauberkünstlers besucht haben. Und ein bedeutender Kunstmäzen wird nach der öffentlichen Präsentation einer echten Mumie brutal ermordet. Während Newbury das Geheimnis der Mumie zu ergründen versucht, verstrickt er sich in okkulte Intrigen, die ihn in die tiefs...more
Reading The Osiris Ritual demonstrated to me that I liked Mann's first book, The Affinity Bridge, more for the novelty of a steampunk detective team than for the writing itself. He clearly has a lot of talent, and loves his characters, but it doesn't seem like he spends enough time getting to know them - they all come across as rather flat. It doesn't take more than a couple of pages to tell me that a) Newbury is very smart, b) Newbury is addicted to opium, c) Newbury is attracted to Hobbes, and...more
The second of Mann's "Newbury and Hobbes" steampunk/mystery/adventures (following
The Affinity Bridge
) struck me as stronger overall than its predecessor, with a bit more depth of character. I found the tone a little inconsistent -- there are a few moments that veer into excessively broad parody of pulp/adventure conventions and require a greater level of suspension of disbelief than most of the book. And as in the first novel, there are some rough bits of prose that could have been smoothed by...more
This is the second book in this series, although I haven’t read the first offering. Does that matter? While the whodunit(s) powering the book certainly is completely stand-alone and brought to a satisfactory conclusion, I did feel that Mann could have spared a bit more time and effort bonding his readership with his two protagonists. I certainly think the scene where Veronica Hobbes visits her sister should be earlier in the book than Chapter 8 – because that ongoing puzzle was the one that real...more
Death stalks London and the newspapers proclaim that a mummy's curse has been unleashed. Sir Maurice Newbury, Gentleman Investigator for the Crown, is drawn into a web of occult intrigue as he attempts to solve the murders. And he soon finds himself on the trail of a rogue agent - a man who died to be reborn as a living weapon.
Newbury's able assistant, Miss Veronica Hobbes, has her own mystery to unravel. Girls are going missing from a magician's theatre show. But what appears to be a straightf...more
Newbury's able assistant, Miss Veronica Hobbes, has her own mystery to unravel. Girls are going missing from a magician's theatre show. But what appears to be a straightf...more
I really want to like these books. The characters have the potential for compelling relationships, and the story has potential as well. And--steampunk detective novels with zombies and Egyptian rituals? Sounds like a win. I have now slogged through two Newbury and Hobbes investigations, and I doubt I'll do a third. Mann's writing is the impediment: poor pacing, absurdly extended predictable action sequences, and a bad tendency to restate obvious plot point sseveral times in as many chapters (whi...more
Excellent sequel to The Affinity Bridge and second book in a loose three novel arc that will end in the next installment THE IMMORALITY ENGINE. After that there will be at least three more novels comprising another arc.
The story of Sir Maurice Newbury as Sherlock Bond with an addiction to opium and the arcane and his plucky assistant Veronica Hobbes with a very unusual sister and secrets of her own continues magnificently here.
In The Osiris Ritual there are three seemingly unrelated threads:
- Lo...more
The story of Sir Maurice Newbury as Sherlock Bond with an addiction to opium and the arcane and his plucky assistant Veronica Hobbes with a very unusual sister and secrets of her own continues magnificently here.
In The Osiris Ritual there are three seemingly unrelated threads:
- Lo...more
While I've enjoyed George Mann's other work that I've read, this book was a bit of a let-down. The story was exciting and fast-paced, and had some nice set-pieces and imagery. However, the character development, particularly on the part of the villain, felt very sketchy. We never really get a sense of the villain's motivation, and this leads to him just feeling like he's doing bad things because he's evil, or crazy, or both. We also never really get a sense of what the evil, crazy rituals he's p...more
In this book we again follow Sir Maurice Newbury, investigator for Her Majesty Queen Victoria and his very able assistant Miss Veronica Hobbes investigating what at first seems to be two very separate cases....
The first being the mysterious murder of the well known Egyptologist, Lord Winthrop, who had previously just unveiled an Egyptian Mummy and precious caskets called Ushabti.
The second case being the unexplained disappearances of girls from a theatre hosting a stage show by the Magician Al...more
The first being the mysterious murder of the well known Egyptologist, Lord Winthrop, who had previously just unveiled an Egyptian Mummy and precious caskets called Ushabti.
The second case being the unexplained disappearances of girls from a theatre hosting a stage show by the Magician Al...more
One of the first books I read this year was The Affinity Bridge, the first of the steampunk adventures of Newbury & Hobbes, and here comes the second. There's derring-do, Egyptian mummies, hidden plots, unrequited love, a steampunk car chase, and more of the world-building I so enjoyed last time round. There's a definite sense of things moving forward in this series, as Sir Maurice Newbury falls deeper into his opium addiction, Miss Veronica Hobbes struggles to maintain her secrets from him,...more
What a fantastic and entertaing read!
This is a wonderful and original story set in late Victorian London complete with atmospheric fog. Brimming with peculiar Victorian inventions and contraptions, strange and sinister characters and good old fashioned gentlemen.
Sir Maurice Newbury and his assistant Miss Veronica Hobbes are Agents For The Queen (I guess a bit like MI5, although their cases are more suited to the X-Files!), operating from the inocuous facade of researchers at the British Museum....more
This is a wonderful and original story set in late Victorian London complete with atmospheric fog. Brimming with peculiar Victorian inventions and contraptions, strange and sinister characters and good old fashioned gentlemen.
Sir Maurice Newbury and his assistant Miss Veronica Hobbes are Agents For The Queen (I guess a bit like MI5, although their cases are more suited to the X-Files!), operating from the inocuous facade of researchers at the British Museum....more
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I was disappointed with the writing in the first book in this series, The Affinity Bridge, but I liked the characters and ideas, so I thought I would give The Osiris Ritual, the second in the series, a try. I initially stopped after the first page due to the fact that it read like a high school student's desperate attempt at creative writing. I'm glad I picked it back up, however, as the writing not only improved from the first page, but was better than the previous work as well. Whereas The Aff...more
The erstwhile Newbury and fiery Hobbes are back at it again in this second volume of Mann's series. Confronted with a murdered lord, two rogue agents in London and a string of missing young women from the East End, the two have their work more than cut out for them. Though this book could be read as a standalone steampunk novel, I highly recommend reading the series in order. Set a few months after the events of The Affinity Bridge, it is a new year in England and things are not as they seem. It...more
This was a good follow-up to The Affinity Bridge. There are some aspects that troubled me, not with the writing, but, with content. But, that is my own personal preference and I will not let it taint my comments about the book. The depth of the characters is extremely well done, though I would like to know more about Ms. Hobbes' parents. Each time you think there is a singularity to the motives of Newbury and Hobbes, and really every other character in the book, you find that there is duplicity...more
Overall a very good book. George Mann seems to have found his groove, in the universe that this takes place in. The Osiris Ritual focuses more on the mystery and action aspects, rather than droning on and on about victorian descriptors and steampunk fap words, leaving the reader wanting for something to happen, as was the case in the previous novel.
Veronica is also more fleshed out as her own individual in this book, which is a plus. In the previous novel she seemed to just rise above the backgr...more
Veronica is also more fleshed out as her own individual in this book, which is a plus. In the previous novel she seemed to just rise above the backgr...more
#2 in this steampunk series and just as entertaining as #1. The mystery is still fun, the science fiction continues to work well, and the characters are revealed to be yet more complex than The Affinity Bridge, which introduced them, would have you believe. There's still plenty of mayhem which keeps the story moving along at a nice clip, and the zombies barely make an appearance, which is just as well. Queen Victoria is more of a factor, which definitely enhances the overall gestalt, it's possib...more
The story seemed very promising, a combination of several of my favorite things: Egyptian history, Victorian era, steampunk, crime solving. I had read the first book in the series; I picked up this in the hope that the author would one of those who improves with each book. But alas, that was not the case. The characters were highly inconsistent and would act in contradictory ways within the same paragraph! The female character, Veronica Hobbes, would despair over not being taken serious because...more
a great addition to the newbury and hobbes series by george mann. these books are a little bit of sherlock holmes added to a steampunk decor...and they work wonderfully! this world is completely different from actual reality because they have created some amazing inventions with steam power. in this book newbury is on the case of finding a missing agent who may or may not have gone rogue. his travels will take him face to face with his interest in the occult, specifically the egyptian practices....more
This is the second of the Newbury and Hobbes series, just out, and I still find it fascinating. Again, as in the first book _The_Affinity_Bridge_, I believe that the mixture of _Lord_Darcy_ (with the magical element of Darcy replaced by steampunk), Jules Verne-ishness, and a hint of, say, Johnny Depp's character in "From Hell", works quite well. While I found Miss Hobbes to be one-up on Maurice Newbury be the end of the previous book, the reverse is true in this one. I am certainly looking forwa...more
This Book was better than the first one for different reasons. First, the Main reason for me was that I knew the characters. Second, the pacing was better from the beginning,
There was a Lot of action in this story and I really like the series.
Nevertheless there was One development which made this nearly a 3 star rating: i really enjoyed the banter between Sir Maurice and Veronica in the first Book but in this Book this banter iS lacking. We Even have to get to shortly After the first half of the...more
There was a Lot of action in this story and I really like the series.
Nevertheless there was One development which made this nearly a 3 star rating: i really enjoyed the banter between Sir Maurice and Veronica in the first Book but in this Book this banter iS lacking. We Even have to get to shortly After the first half of the...more
See my review of the first book... Seriously, I could just copy and paste it. Didn't feel like the characters developed much, same kind of all over the place but pulled together for the big finale plot. I feel like I only kept reading to see if the implied romantic feelings would turn into something -- SPOILER ALERT:
they didn't. And jeeze, I've read enough spy novels to know that living a dangerous lifestyle is no excuse to not get involved with your coworkers. Never stopped James Bond, at least...more
they didn't. And jeeze, I've read enough spy novels to know that living a dangerous lifestyle is no excuse to not get involved with your coworkers. Never stopped James Bond, at least...more
After reading the first, I figured I'd give books two and three a go. But honestly, after reading a few chapters, I put it down mid-sentence and didn't go back to it all day. The main character (Newbury) is a wanna-be Sherlock who dabbles in the darker side of things, and he's a bit too fond of his mood enhancers for my taste. When I don't think of the book I'm reading all day (and yet do think of others I've recently read), it is a good sign that I'm not that interested. And since I have lots o...more
Wow, the first book was just amazing and this book did not disappoint me. I love this series. Steampunk is the best thing ever thought up and the way Mann presents it in these books is just phenomenal. I liked how in this book Newbury delved into a more controversial manner. He was always emerging from the smoke lounge or coming up from a laudanum binge. It just showed a whole different side to his character that we didn't witness in the first book. And what else can I say about Miss Hobbes. She...more
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Egyptian artifacts, steampunk, and mystery together in one book? Yes, please. I was so excited to get my hands on this book. I'm an Egypt nut. And although I'm fairly new to the steampunk subgenre, it is definitely growing on me.
I was worried that I would be a little lost coming into the series in the middle, but this stands alone just fine. There are a few references to previous cases, but nothing that makes this book difficult to understand. In fact, the best parts of this book are the mystery...more
I was worried that I would be a little lost coming into the series in the middle, but this stands alone just fine. There are a few references to previous cases, but nothing that makes this book difficult to understand. In fact, the best parts of this book are the mystery...more
Decent enough action-mystery story - though there's still the problem of sort of either accidentally stumbling on clues or being lead by the nose a bit - and I like the characters well enough.
But the biggest problem is the writing, really.
For one there's the repetitiveness. Not only does Mann repeat plot points, descriptions, and other details constantly in a chapter, but his characters keep going through the same movements and thought processes.
Also, the opium addiction seems a bit too prevale...more
But the biggest problem is the writing, really.
For one there's the repetitiveness. Not only does Mann repeat plot points, descriptions, and other details constantly in a chapter, but his characters keep going through the same movements and thought processes.
Also, the opium addiction seems a bit too prevale...more
This was still a really great story, but I felt it was less exciting than The Affinity Bridge. I didn't like how the detectives were pursuing individual cases, it meant there was less development in their relationship, both professional & personal. Also it felt like both characters were a bit weaker in this book, Veronica I recall was a much stronger female lead in the first adventure & in this one she spends most of the time in a damsel in distress mode with Sir Maurice constantly getti...more
Following hot on the heels of George Mann's entertaining steampunk debut 'The Affinity Bridge' comes 'The Osiris Ritual,' the second in the Newbury & Hobbes investigations.
Once again, we find the duo investigating the nefarious to the downright bizarre against the backdrop of a London filled with all manner of peculiar devices and insidious villains. This time, they have to spread their attentions on three different front: Firstly, a series of ritualistic murders are taking place and on the...more
Once again, we find the duo investigating the nefarious to the downright bizarre against the backdrop of a London filled with all manner of peculiar devices and insidious villains. This time, they have to spread their attentions on three different front: Firstly, a series of ritualistic murders are taking place and on the...more
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George Mann is an author and editor, primarily in genre fiction. He was born in Darlington, County Durham in 1978.
A former editor of Outland, Mann is the author of The Human Abstract, and more recently The Affinity Bridge and The Osiris Ritual in his Newbury and Hobbes detective series, set in an alternate Britain, and Ghosts of Manhattan, set in the same universe some decades later.
He wrote the T...more
More about George Mann...
A former editor of Outland, Mann is the author of The Human Abstract, and more recently The Affinity Bridge and The Osiris Ritual in his Newbury and Hobbes detective series, set in an alternate Britain, and Ghosts of Manhattan, set in the same universe some decades later.
He wrote the T...more
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Oct 08, 2012 12:40pm