CluckingBell

I quite enjoyed the first three-quarters and was pleasantly surprised that the “comedy of manners” conceit didn’t get old. I also liked that the book didn’t fetishize the vampire and werewolf characters; it was more like an alternate history than blood-oriented fantasy. But then near the climax, it seemed the tone got more mundane, less satirical, and overtly campy, complete with very efficient “dandies” overrunning the place and ogling the naked hero—and our very intelligent heroine was suddenly a little slow on the uptake. The preview for the second book (included at the end) read mundane as well, but I enjoyed enough of this first one to give it a shot.