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maximum_moxie's review
4.0
Quite an interesting romp of a book! A bit unevenly paced, but full of twists I didn't see coming. Some characters/plot elements seemed stereotyped (the female side characters) or incompletely thought through (engimals), but the Victorian setting and interesting Irish details make up for that to some extent.
ladytiara's review
4.0
Ancient Appetites is the first book in a trilogy that’s being published for the first time in the U.S. (The full trilogy was already published in the UK several years ago.) Set in Ireland in the second half of the 19th century, Ancient Appetites is the story of a very unusual family, the Wildensterns. The British may nominally rule Ireland, but the Wildensterns have enormous power and influence. In addition to being fabulously wealthy, they have special healing powers and live abnormally long lives. Or rather they do if no one cuts them down in their prime. For the Wildensterns are a vicious group, and family tradition allows them to murder each other to gain power, as long as certain rules are followed.
Eighteen-year-old Nathaniel (Nate) Wildenstern returns home from Africa and learns that his eldest brother, the family’s heir, has died. The official cause of death is a mountain climbing accident, but given his family’s propensity toward violence, Nate is sure the death wasn’t an accident, and he and his hated sister-in-law Daisy end up working together to figure out what really happened. While Nate suspects everyone, many in the family are suspicious of him. It’s his elder brother Roberto who is now the heir, but Nate’s position in the family is now better because of the death and he’s expected to take over the family’s American interests.
I really enjoyed this book. I did find the first 50 pages to be a little slow, as there’s a lot of exposition, but then the action really picked and it was very absorbing. The world that Oisin McGann has created is a vivid one. The setting is a steampunk Victorian Ireland. Mechanical animals (known as engimals) roam the world, and the Wildensterns have a vast menagerie of the beasts in a zoo. Nate’s scientifically minded cousin Gerald is trying to reconcile the existence of these beasts with Darwin’s new theories. While the Wildensterns live in opulent splendor, the rest of the country lives in dire poverty, and McGann does a good job of showing the contrast.
McGann does some interesting things with the female characters. It’s a male-dominated world, and the woman of the family live very restricted lives. Nate’s sister Tatiana chafes at these restrictions, while her sister-in-law Daisy, being older, is more used to her place in the world, however frustrating it may be. Because the women seem so powerless, the men of the family consistently underestimate them, which leads to the women playing some very interesting roles in the plot.
I highly recommend this book, and I’ll definitely be reading the sequels when they come out.
I received an ARC from Amazon Vine.
Eighteen-year-old Nathaniel (Nate) Wildenstern returns home from Africa and learns that his eldest brother, the family’s heir, has died. The official cause of death is a mountain climbing accident, but given his family’s propensity toward violence, Nate is sure the death wasn’t an accident, and he and his hated sister-in-law Daisy end up working together to figure out what really happened. While Nate suspects everyone, many in the family are suspicious of him. It’s his elder brother Roberto who is now the heir, but Nate’s position in the family is now better because of the death and he’s expected to take over the family’s American interests.
I really enjoyed this book. I did find the first 50 pages to be a little slow, as there’s a lot of exposition, but then the action really picked and it was very absorbing. The world that Oisin McGann has created is a vivid one. The setting is a steampunk Victorian Ireland. Mechanical animals (known as engimals) roam the world, and the Wildensterns have a vast menagerie of the beasts in a zoo. Nate’s scientifically minded cousin Gerald is trying to reconcile the existence of these beasts with Darwin’s new theories. While the Wildensterns live in opulent splendor, the rest of the country lives in dire poverty, and McGann does a good job of showing the contrast.
McGann does some interesting things with the female characters. It’s a male-dominated world, and the woman of the family live very restricted lives. Nate’s sister Tatiana chafes at these restrictions, while her sister-in-law Daisy, being older, is more used to her place in the world, however frustrating it may be. Because the women seem so powerless, the men of the family consistently underestimate them, which leads to the women playing some very interesting roles in the plot.
I highly recommend this book, and I’ll definitely be reading the sequels when they come out.
I received an ARC from Amazon Vine.
milkshake_'s review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
funny
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
OH MY GOD. THIS WAS THE FUNNIEST BOOK I EVER READ WITH LOTS OF PLOT TWISTS. I GASPED SO MANY TIMES??
SPOILER!!!!!
First time I was shocked was when Roberto turned out to be fruity. Like?? I didn't expect to see anything like this as it was placed in a Victorian Era. Just wow.
Francie s perspective was kinda meh as he wasn't as important as everyone else, but it was cute when he befriended the engimal <3.
I'm still kinda confused about the engimals. Where did they appear from? But the characters seem to be just as confused.
Anyway, it was great, I'm glad I picked it!
SPOILER!!!!!
First time I was shocked was when Roberto turned out to be fruity. Like?? I didn't expect to see anything like this as it was placed in a Victorian Era. Just wow.
Francie s perspective was kinda meh as he wasn't as important as everyone else, but it was cute when he befriended the engimal <3.
I'm still kinda confused about the engimals. Where did they appear from? But the characters seem to be just as confused.
Anyway, it was great, I'm glad I picked it!
lenabrary's review against another edition
dnfing really hard after engimals. nope.
nigellicus's review against another edition
5.0
Never in all my natural did I imagine that one day I would find myself reading an alternate fantasy historical novel set in Victorian Ireland that incorporated all the stuff of childhood classroom lessons in villainous rackrenting landlords, the Famine, evictions, fields of potatoes, wakes and Dublin slums aong with unique mad-science stuff of machine animals and landed gentry with superhuman powers. But here it is.
Nate Wildenstern returns to the less than tender bosom of his family home, ruled with a detachable claw by his ruthless, heartless, formidable father. Neither he nor his older brother Roberto are made of true Wildenstern stuff, but their brother Marcus does, and it is he that is set to inherit. When Marcus dies in a climbing accident, Roberto is propelled into the unenviable position of heir, but it is Nate who is chosen to take over the task of running the family's vast business interests whether he wants to or not. Nate is determined to discover whether his brother's death was really an accident, murderous power-struggles being a family tradition, but events are complicated when a disastrous explosion unearths the preserved bodies of some distant ancestors, one of whom wears a Patriarch's ring.
With the family seeing conspiracies and rebels in every corner, Nate and his sister-in-law Daisy must endeavour to keep their heads before everything goes horribly wrong. Then everything goes horribly wrong.
What a cracking, thrilling, mind-bending, sly, gothic little saga this is. The place and time are wonderfully constructed and the bizarre elements are fitted seamlessly into the setting, creating a delightfully twisted version of staples of Irish history and fiction. Massively loaded and complex webs of class, race and gender relations are handled effortlessly. I loved it.
Nate Wildenstern returns to the less than tender bosom of his family home, ruled with a detachable claw by his ruthless, heartless, formidable father. Neither he nor his older brother Roberto are made of true Wildenstern stuff, but their brother Marcus does, and it is he that is set to inherit. When Marcus dies in a climbing accident, Roberto is propelled into the unenviable position of heir, but it is Nate who is chosen to take over the task of running the family's vast business interests whether he wants to or not. Nate is determined to discover whether his brother's death was really an accident, murderous power-struggles being a family tradition, but events are complicated when a disastrous explosion unearths the preserved bodies of some distant ancestors, one of whom wears a Patriarch's ring.
With the family seeing conspiracies and rebels in every corner, Nate and his sister-in-law Daisy must endeavour to keep their heads before everything goes horribly wrong. Then everything goes horribly wrong.
What a cracking, thrilling, mind-bending, sly, gothic little saga this is. The place and time are wonderfully constructed and the bizarre elements are fitted seamlessly into the setting, creating a delightfully twisted version of staples of Irish history and fiction. Massively loaded and complex webs of class, race and gender relations are handled effortlessly. I loved it.
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