The Book of Days by K A Barker – wonderfully whimsical

Title: The Book of Days

Author: K. A. Barker

Genre: YA fantasy/some steampunk

Published by: Pan Macmillan

Published on: 1st September 2014

Source: received for review (THANKS Pan Macmillan!!)

Blurb:

Most people believe the best way to forget someone is to throw them down a well. Or lock them in a room with eight keys, or bury them at a crossroad in the thirteenth hour. But they’re wrong. The best way to forget someone is for them never to have existed in the first place.

Madame Marisol’s Unreality House was where you brought people to make that happen.”

When Tuesday wakes from sleep for the first time at sixteen, she opens her eyes to a world filled with wonder – and peril. Left with only a letter from the person she once was, Tuesday sets out to discover her past with the help of her charming and self-serving guide, Quintalion.

Along the way she runs into one-legged mercenaries, flying cities, airships, and a blind assistant librarian. But danger lurks amidst the steam. The leader of the merciless Daybreakers is hunting her, convinced that she killed the only woman he ever loved. Tuesday will need all her wits about her to survive long enough to find out who she is and her connection with the mysterious Book of Days: a book that holds untold power…

 

I wanted to read this book for a few main reasons.

 

1) The cover

I mean, isn’t it just BEAUTIFUL.

2) The blurb

I don’t often read blurbs. But this one was awesome. It sounded very whimsical and different and something I would vastly enjoy.

3) That quote from John Marsden.

“Dazzlingly different.” I mean, of course I’m going to listen to John Marsden.

All this contributed to a DESPERATE need to read this book.

Aaaand…

Well.

This is going to be a very difficult book to review, because while I LOVED some parts of it, I didn’t like a lot of parts. So let’s start with the good.

 

QUINTALION.

Quintalion was such an awesome character. He reminded me a bit of Jack Sparrow – sorry, CAPTAIN Jack Sparrow. He’s described in the blurb as “self-serving,” and it’s true – he has this sort of arrogance and charisma about him, but it’s very funny and not overdone. He’s a really fantastic character and I love how Tuesday can tell his different moods through the sorts of sarcasm he displays. A+++ for Quintalion. (plus, what an awesome name!)

Thank you for being part of this book, Quintalion.

 

 

The way it kind of reminded me of The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making.

That book seriously needs to get a shorter title. But anyway, this book IS “dazzlingly different.”

It’s also wonderfully whimsical, excellently eccentric and uniquely unusual. I absolutely LOVED the beginning of the book. I loved Madame Marisol’s Unreality House and how that was set up. I loved the world that was created. I loved Tuesday and Quintalion and Hester.

Unfortunately, it went a bit downhill after that.

What went wrong?

We had some excellent eccentric-ness for a while, and places that were amazing to read about. But then it became more about running and hiding than actually GETTING anywhere. I wanted to know more about how Tuesday was finding her name!! It all jumbled together and it wasn’t as dazzlingly different once we got past halfway. My interest dwindled and the pacing became quite a lot slower.

So that was unfortunate..

BUT THE BEGINNING.

So I would highly recommend reading the first half and then…maybe stopping there. UNLESS you really love it, in which case you might love the rest of the book!! You never know.

 

Rating: 3/5 Wonderkitties

AND TELL ME: what’s the weirdest, quirkiest book you’ve ever read? Because I LOVE quirky books and I totally need more books on my TBR…okay, not so much the second part of that sentence.