The ending was terrible! I know this is a series but it left me with so many questions! Where is Adaleide and where her and the photographer going to be together? I knew that the Dutch man van eerden was Ah Ling just because he had Asian eyes and Mr.Selby was terrified of him. It was really sad that her real father traded her for a ruby but it was amzing that Mr.Lockhart saw that she would not grow up with a good father so he put his greed aside and took her. There were so many intense scenes where I thought many of the good characters were going to die. I think overall the book was really interesting. Eventhough there were so many characters the mystery of each character and what role they played in the story made me want to keep reading.
I am content with the ending of this book besides one important thing - they never find Adelaide. This is extremely depressing, especially since Fred and Jim almost died trying to rescue her, and although Mr. Berry and Mrs. Holland were defeated, they failed their original mission of saving Adelaide. I am very disheartened by this. On an unrelated note, I thought it was funny at first that the policeman completely disregarded Adelaide and Rosa's story when he found the dead body. However, in perspective of the time period, it makes sense. A girl shooting a gun was a foreign concept in that society so why would he believe that she killed a man? This, of course, makes the scene of Van Eden's death so much better. All in all, I enjoyed this mystery except UGH POOR ADELAIDE
The ending was terrible! I know this is a series but it left me with so many questions! Where is Adaleide and where her and the photographer going to be together? I knew that the Dutch man van eerden was Ah Ling just because he had Asian eyes and Mr.Selby was terrified of him. It was really sad that her real father traded her for a ruby but it was amzing that Mr.Lockhart saw that she would not grow up with a good father so he put his greed aside and took her. There were so many intense scenes where I thought many of the good characters were going to die. I think overall the book was really interesting. Eventhough there were so many characters the mystery of each character and what role they played in the story made me want to keep reading. Kaitlyn
Up to this point, this book has been a relatively emotionless read – other than the death of Sally’s mother which I could not really feel sad about because I was not emotionally invested in her as a character. The end of this book, however, came out of nowhere and punched me right in the feels. I thought it was sad that Sally’s biological father thought she was of less value than a ruby. However, I thought it was extremely kind of Mr. Lockhart to take her in, even making up a story about a brave mother so that Sally did not feel that vacancy. My biggest complaint is obviously that nothing is resolved with Adelaide, but also I feel there are other things that I need the answers to. I guess I will have to read the rest of the series.
After a massive amount of near constant "ends-tying," the book concludes in a furious swarm of the same...huh.
I did enjoy the book quite a bit, but I think it was a little hasty in its conclusion. Plagued by the problem we have mentioned at least twice before now (that of wildly introducing characters on the fly), the result, in my mind, is a cavalcade of nonsense that concludes suddenly with Ah Ling's death(?). Again, really liked the book, especially Captain Lockhart's back story, but the last third was simply bamboozling.
During the conclusion with Mrs. Holland, she talks about how everything with Marchbanks, herself, the Maharajah, Lockhart, and other characters is tied together. She says how beautiful she used to be and that the Maharajah betrayed her love. That was 20 years ago (if I recall, I don't have the book as I lent it out).
What?
Mrs. Holland sounds ANCIENT from every description, yet we're supposed to believe that just 20 years ago, she was, to use the vernacular, "one fine shorty?" It did explain her motive for seeking the ruby, as I was confused as to why she wanted it. With no heirs and not much life left, seeking vast fortune seems kind of pointless. However, what the ruby represents to her seems more important. Her mentions of the fortune that comes with its ownership seem to be red herrings.
Also, it was very weird that Ah Ling had to come into the story for such a small amount of time as well. I suspect that he is still alive and will be a future affliction, but his presence here was ruinously short. Though Pullman did a good job of "scumbagizing" him in an impressively short amount of time, everyone, their mother, and their dog knew Sally was going to pop him from the minute she got in that carriage. Everybody was on the edge of their seats waiting for a confined space so Sally could point-blank someone with her shoddy cap-gun. They got it the minute he forced her into that carriage. There was too much "Chekhov's Gunning" to really be worried about her since we all knew she had and had not yet fired it. It felt as if Pullman contrived raising the stakes just so she could get to shoot someone at the last minute of the book. I would've preferred it if she'd shot Mr. Berry, but whatever, he got his fitting end too, I suppose. Everyone does. Yay for YA lit.
As the book got towards the end I felt that it got a lot better. There was more action and things happening to keep the reader interested. I wasn't at all expecting Mr Lockhart not to be Sally's father. There was to hint to that throughout the entire book. I found it interesting that Sally's friends who were complete strangers at one point we're willin to risk there lives to help her out. They fought a big strong guy and almost died, but that didn't stop them from helping her. I wish that they would have explained Sally's opium nightmare a little bit better. It would have been interesting if they went into detail about it.
I was uttlerly shocked witht he ending mainly because Sally knowing now that she had actually met her biological father and didn't even know it and now he was actually dead and she had no way of getting to know him or anything. I know that thought in her mind has to be one of the toughest things to deal with. I like that Mrs. Holland had a monologue at the end to fill us in on all the missing parts to Sally's opium dream because without it i would have been very lost. I wish we could have found out about what happened to Adelaide and Mr. Van Eeden but that will leave much to be desired in the sequel which i plan on reading. I think the message that Sally received at the end about the money inside the clock at her old house was a perfect ending because it shows that her "father" was always looking out for her. Can't wail for the next book.
The ending was terrible! I know this is a series but it left me with so many questions! Where is Adaleide and where her and the photographer going to be together? I knew that the Dutch man van eerden was Ah Ling just because he had Asian eyes and Mr.Selby was terrified of him. It was really sad that her real father traded her for a ruby but it was amzing that Mr.Lockhart saw that she would not grow up with a good father so he put his greed aside and took her. There were so many intense scenes where I thought many of the good characters were going to die. I think overall the book was really interesting. Eventhough there were so many characters the mystery of each character and what role they played in the story made me want to keep reading.
ReplyDeleteI am content with the ending of this book besides one important thing - they never find Adelaide. This is extremely depressing, especially since Fred and Jim almost died trying to rescue her, and although Mr. Berry and Mrs. Holland were defeated, they failed their original mission of saving Adelaide. I am very disheartened by this.
ReplyDeleteOn an unrelated note, I thought it was funny at first that the policeman completely disregarded Adelaide and Rosa's story when he found the dead body. However, in perspective of the time period, it makes sense. A girl shooting a gun was a foreign concept in that society so why would he believe that she killed a man? This, of course, makes the scene of Van Eden's death so much better.
All in all, I enjoyed this mystery except UGH POOR ADELAIDE
Marianna Mercer
The ending was terrible! I know this is a series but it left me with so many questions! Where is Adaleide and where her and the photographer going to be together? I knew that the Dutch man van eerden was Ah Ling just because he had Asian eyes and Mr.Selby was terrified of him. It was really sad that her real father traded her for a ruby but it was amzing that Mr.Lockhart saw that she would not grow up with a good father so he put his greed aside and took her. There were so many intense scenes where I thought many of the good characters were going to die. I think overall the book was really interesting. Eventhough there were so many characters the mystery of each character and what role they played in the story made me want to keep reading.
ReplyDeleteKaitlyn
Up to this point, this book has been a relatively emotionless read – other than the death of Sally’s mother which I could not really feel sad about because I was not emotionally invested in her as a character. The end of this book, however, came out of nowhere and punched me right in the feels. I thought it was sad that Sally’s biological father thought she was of less value than a ruby. However, I thought it was extremely kind of Mr. Lockhart to take her in, even making up a story about a brave mother so that Sally did not feel that vacancy. My biggest complaint is obviously that nothing is resolved with Adelaide, but also I feel there are other things that I need the answers to. I guess I will have to read the rest of the series.
ReplyDelete~Sheridan
This has been such a great adventure. And let me just say, i feel like after finding the ruby with nothing but the knowledge he gained from penny dreadfuls, Jim deserves to leave the friend zone, because Sally's got him there hardcore. I feel bad for Jim. He did all this investigation on his own, cheated out breaks from work, played hooky and spent countless hours to help out Sally who has growing feelings for Fredrick. Now, enough of that drama-llama stuff. I feel like this book projected a near-perfect, and yet still intriguing, picture of everyday life for that time period. Not many things were very cliché. At the end when Mrs. Holland and Sally were having that final stand off and Mrs. Holland was telling Sally the whole truth, those random policemen just happened to walk by. And in between main events, Sally actually had a job and it went into detail about her occupation. On a separate note, Marchbanks was her father?!?! I did not see that coming whatsoever. Completely caught me off guard, yet i feel like if i tried reading through the book again, a lot more of Marchbank's actions would make a lot more sense. And, finally, after all the plotting and scheming, murder and hiding, secrets and lies, plot lines and plot twists, this was simply a story about how drugs can ruin lives. Awesome! Loved this book! and i can't wait to read the rest of the series!
ReplyDeleteJacob Poettker
After a massive amount of near constant "ends-tying," the book concludes in a furious swarm of the same...huh.
ReplyDeleteI did enjoy the book quite a bit, but I think it was a little hasty in its conclusion. Plagued by the problem we have mentioned at least twice before now (that of wildly introducing characters on the fly), the result, in my mind, is a cavalcade of nonsense that concludes suddenly with Ah Ling's death(?). Again, really liked the book, especially Captain Lockhart's back story, but the last third was simply bamboozling.
During the conclusion with Mrs. Holland, she talks about how everything with Marchbanks, herself, the Maharajah, Lockhart, and other characters is tied together. She says how beautiful she used to be and that the Maharajah betrayed her love. That was 20 years ago (if I recall, I don't have the book as I lent it out).
What?
Mrs. Holland sounds ANCIENT from every description, yet we're supposed to believe that just 20 years ago, she was, to use the vernacular, "one fine shorty?" It did explain her motive for seeking the ruby, as I was confused as to why she wanted it. With no heirs and not much life left, seeking vast fortune seems kind of pointless. However, what the ruby represents to her seems more important. Her mentions of the fortune that comes with its ownership seem to be red herrings.
Also, it was very weird that Ah Ling had to come into the story for such a small amount of time as well. I suspect that he is still alive and will be a future affliction, but his presence here was ruinously short. Though Pullman did a good job of "scumbagizing" him in an impressively short amount of time, everyone, their mother, and their dog knew Sally was going to pop him from the minute she got in that carriage. Everybody was on the edge of their seats waiting for a confined space so Sally could point-blank someone with her shoddy cap-gun. They got it the minute he forced her into that carriage. There was too much "Chekhov's Gunning" to really be worried about her since we all knew she had and had not yet fired it. It felt as if Pullman contrived raising the stakes just so she could get to shoot someone at the last minute of the book. I would've preferred it if she'd shot Mr. Berry, but whatever, he got his fitting end too, I suppose. Everyone does. Yay for YA lit.
As the book got towards the end I felt that it got a lot better. There was more action and things happening to keep the reader interested.
ReplyDeleteI wasn't at all expecting Mr Lockhart not to be Sally's father. There was to hint to that throughout the entire book.
I found it interesting that Sally's friends who were complete strangers at one point we're willin to risk there lives to help her out. They fought a big strong guy and almost died, but that didn't stop them from helping her.
I wish that they would have explained Sally's opium nightmare a little bit better. It would have been interesting if they went into detail about it.
I was uttlerly shocked witht he ending mainly because Sally knowing now that she had actually met her biological father and didn't even know it and now he was actually dead and she had no way of getting to know him or anything. I know that thought in her mind has to be one of the toughest things to deal with. I like that Mrs. Holland had a monologue at the end to fill us in on all the missing parts to Sally's opium dream because without it i would have been very lost. I wish we could have found out about what happened to Adelaide and Mr. Van Eeden but that will leave much to be desired in the sequel which i plan on reading. I think the message that Sally received at the end about the money inside the clock at her old house was a perfect ending because it shows that her "father" was always looking out for her. Can't wail for the next book.
ReplyDelete