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A review by bickleyhouse
As Chimney Sweepers Come to Dust by Alan Bradley
adventurous
emotional
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
This is book number seven of the Flavia de Luce series (not including what might be called 6.5, a stand-alone short story), and, in my opinion, it is the best one, so far.
This book picks up pretty much where The Dead In Their Vaulted Arches left off, with Flavia being sent away to Miss Bodycote's Female Academy, near Toronto, in Canada. As our story begins, Flavia, now twelve years old, is on a ship from England to Canada, accompanied by Dorsey and Ryerson Rainsmith, both doctors that work for the Academy.
What makes this story so excellent is how Mr. Bradley has taken our hero and tossed her into a totally foreign environment, introducing her (and us) to a whole new cast of characters, and he does it without missing a beat! The same wonderful writing style is prevalent, throughout, and the only thing that changes is the location and the people.
There are some funny moments, as always, as young Flavia is so very precocious (one of my favorite lines in the book is when one of the other girls at the Academy says, "You are a very peculiar person, Flavia de Luce." I dub this the understatement of the century! Bradley has such a way of putting sentences together, as well. At one point, the mind of Flavia is thinking, "The hours trudged by with chains on their ankles," as she is riding on the train from Montreal to Toronto.
One of the most tragic parts of the book, to me, is when Flavia is in the middle of an encounter with the chemistry teacher, Mrs. Bannerman. Bannerman has given Flavia an expression, and Flavia is desperate attempting to interpret it.
"She gave me a smile which I could not decode: a smile in which she narrowed her eyes and raised only the corners of her mouth. What could it possibly mean?
"I looked at her for further signals, but she was sending none.
"And then it hit me with an almost physical force: approval. She had given me a look of approval, and because it was the first I had ever received in my life, I had not recognized it for what it was."
You might not quite get this unless you have read other Flavia books, but if you have, you totally get how sad this is. There is a very interesting dynamic with her family. Speaking of that family, while they are mentioned in this book, we do not encounter any of them, as she spends the whole time in Canada, saving the very beginning.
And then Bradley drops the hugest of bombs on page 371, when a major plot twist is revealed. He is so good at this that I totally did not see it coming. And I love when an author pulls that off. I uttered an audible, "Oh, my gosh!" and my wife in the other room was like, "What's wrong??" I just said, "my book," and she understood.
As I said, this is the best one so far, in my opinion. I find it hard to imagine how he is going to outdo himself on the next one, but I will certainly read it to find out.
This book picks up pretty much where The Dead In Their Vaulted Arches left off, with Flavia being sent away to Miss Bodycote's Female Academy, near Toronto, in Canada. As our story begins, Flavia, now twelve years old, is on a ship from England to Canada, accompanied by Dorsey and Ryerson Rainsmith, both doctors that work for the Academy.
What makes this story so excellent is how Mr. Bradley has taken our hero and tossed her into a totally foreign environment, introducing her (and us) to a whole new cast of characters, and he does it without missing a beat! The same wonderful writing style is prevalent, throughout, and the only thing that changes is the location and the people.
There are some funny moments, as always, as young Flavia is so very precocious (one of my favorite lines in the book is when one of the other girls at the Academy says, "You are a very peculiar person, Flavia de Luce." I dub this the understatement of the century! Bradley has such a way of putting sentences together, as well. At one point, the mind of Flavia is thinking, "The hours trudged by with chains on their ankles," as she is riding on the train from Montreal to Toronto.
One of the most tragic parts of the book, to me, is when Flavia is in the middle of an encounter with the chemistry teacher, Mrs. Bannerman. Bannerman has given Flavia an expression, and Flavia is desperate attempting to interpret it.
"She gave me a smile which I could not decode: a smile in which she narrowed her eyes and raised only the corners of her mouth. What could it possibly mean?
"I looked at her for further signals, but she was sending none.
"And then it hit me with an almost physical force: approval. She had given me a look of approval, and because it was the first I had ever received in my life, I had not recognized it for what it was."
You might not quite get this unless you have read other Flavia books, but if you have, you totally get how sad this is. There is a very interesting dynamic with her family. Speaking of that family, while they are mentioned in this book, we do not encounter any of them, as she spends the whole time in Canada, saving the very beginning.
And then Bradley drops the hugest of bombs on page 371, when a major plot twist is revealed. He is so good at this that I totally did not see it coming. And I love when an author pulls that off. I uttered an audible, "Oh, my gosh!" and my wife in the other room was like, "What's wrong??" I just said, "my book," and she understood.
As I said, this is the best one so far, in my opinion. I find it hard to imagine how he is going to outdo himself on the next one, but I will certainly read it to find out.