The Custodian of Marvels is a thrilling conclusion to the Fall of the Gas-Lit Empire
The Custodian of Marvels: Book 3 of the Fall of the Gas-Lit Empire
by Rod Duncan
Angry Robot Books
Sci Fi & Fantasy
Pub Date: February 2, 2016
Review
The Custodian of Marvels brings the saga begun in The Bullet Catcher’s Daughter to a thrilling conclusion that not only makes for a magnificent finish, but effectively ties up all important threads.
Elizabeth Barnabus needs to find what is so valuable about The Bullet Catcher’s Handbook. It may be the only thing able to keep her and Tinker from starvation or imprisonment. As a woman and a fugitive her options are limited. She is intelligent and versatile, but even her ability to disguise is not impervious. Her allies are few and her resources are limited. The lesser position of women within the Republic makes justice and fair treatment impossible to attain. Women on their own are a target.
When Fabulo, a performer from her old traveling show comes to her with a proposition, she at first turns him away. Stealing from the International Patent Office is madness. Their decisions are law, and their power is immense. Desperation has its own power, however. A corrupt patent official destroyed her family and ruined her life - and is doing it again to fulfill the sick desires of a Duke. Desperation leads her to accept a plan that may be suicidal, for if it is successful, then the secrets of the Patent Office will be revealed.
The Custodian of Marvels is an exciting novel. There is a brilliantly planned heist with plenty of action, several daring escapes, and more than one cunning deception. But that isn’t all there is. Rod Duncan pays plenty of attention to character development. We come to understand more of the life Elizabeth left behind, as well as the need to prove one’s value to oneself.
I absolutely loved this trilogy, and am extremely happy with the way it ended. Hopefully Rod Duncan will provide eager readers with more tales from the world of the Gas-Lit Empire.
5/5
The Custodian of Marvels is available for preorder and will be released February 2, 2016.
I received a copy of The Custodian of Marvels from the publisher and netgalley.com in exchange for an honest review.
—Crittermom
-----
Description
The third book in Rod Duncan's The Fall of the Gas-Lit Empire series...
You'd have to be mad to steal from the feared International Patent Office. But that's what Elizabeth Barnabus is about to try. A one-time enemy from the circus has persuaded her to attempt a heist that will be the ultimate conjuring trick.
Hidden in the vaults of the Patent Court in London lie secrets that could shake the very pillars of the Gas-Lit Empire. All that stands in Elizabeth's way are the agents of the Patent Office, a Duke's private army and the mysterious Custodian of Marvels.
Rod Duncan returns with the climactic volume of the Fall of the Gas-Lit Empire, the breathtaking alternate history series that began with the Philip K Dick Award-nominated The Bullet-Catcher's Daughter.
Comments