European Travel for the Monstrous Gentlewoman

Theodora Goss

Jul 2018 · The Extraordinary Adventures of the Athena Club Book 2 · Simon and Schuster

About this ebook

Mary Jekyll and her fellow female offspring of literary mad scientists take on Europe in this sequel to The Strange Case of the Alchemist’s Daughter.

Mary Jekyll’s life has been peaceful since she helped Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson solve the Whitechapel Murders. Beatrice Rappaccini, Catherine Moreau, Justine Frankenstein, and Mary’s sister Diana Hyde have settled into the Jekyll household in London, and although they sometimes quarrel, the members of the Athena Club get along as well as any five young women with very different personalities. At least they can always rely on Mrs. Poole.

But when Mary receives a telegram that Lucinda Van Helsing has been kidnapped, the Athena Club must travel to the Austro-Hungarian Empire to rescue yet another young woman who has been subjected to horrific experimentation. Where is Lucinda, and what has Professor Van Helsing been doing to his daughter? Can Mary, Diana, Beatrice, and Justine reach her in time?

Racing against the clock to save Lucinda from certain doom, the Athena Club embarks on a madcap journey across Europe. From Paris to Vienna to Budapest, Mary and her friends must make new allies, face old enemies, and finally confront the fearsome, secretive Alchemical Society. It’s time for these monstrous gentlewomen to overcome the past and create their own destinies.

“[A] gothic mashup series . . . it’s tremendous fun to see all these characters grouped together . . . A fizzy adventure for lovers of the genre.” —Kirkus Reviews

“The series concept and execution continue to be terrific fun.” —Publishers Weekly

“I found myself willing to follow these women anywhere.” —Los Angeles Review of Books

Ratings and reviews

4 stars, same as I rated the first book - noting this one skirts a precipitous drop to the realm of 3 stars... or even lower. As with TSCotAD (whew, these titles), 'European Travel for the Monstrous Gentlewoman' has a quirky charm about it. Taking place at the turn of the century - that is 19th and 20th centuries - we are given copious amounts of proper form, proper dress and how one ever dealt in those days with the savages from (insert a random country here). The proper behaviour of ladies, gentlemen, footmen, street urchins and more are delved upon at a level I would call 'ad nauseum'. Still, the pacing of this story is more even than the first book - which by the author's own admission was converted from not only a short story but as well her own thesis. However, I would be amiss if I did not warn you that it is quite tedious in parts. I think one thing that struck me about this book was that it was extremely 'put-downable'. What I mean is that there are some novels we read where we sacrifice sleep, healthy eating habits and goodness knows what else to find out what comes next. This book was not like that. Again, the plot suffers from plodding über-details all while we're slowly but surely getting to the scenes of action, which are then only delivered as brief and totally unsurprising bursts of tepid and even lazy exertions. Sure we are treated to just about any monster that we could possibly want to find in our catalogue - though at the moment I don't believe we have touched on werewolves at all - but they don't really serve much purpose once we have the usual gaggle of same. For my tastes, I found there was no panache in their introductions, no surprises that would make us think 'ah, a different approach to the genre', no real oomph at all. Even Count Dracula's presence comes across as would a recurring character from Downton Abbey and then really only to occasionally spice up an otherwise mundane tea time. Having said that, the most frustrating change to me from book 1 to book 2 is that our very heroine - the so-far-not-empowered Mary Jekyll - does not seem to grow nor strengthen her form at all and instead becomes a much more tedious cliché of 'the weaker sex' in many cases (oh how she misses proper and respectable London!). Let's hope that if she does gain some abilities in book 3 - yes, we are introduced to the pre-plot of the third tome by the end - that part of that will be to grow a bit more of a stiff spine and learn to not whine quite so much. Yes, she can be studious and serious but that doesn't mean she has to continually pine and express self-doubt during every aside or inner thought. OK, I'm going to stop here because I'm actually talking myself down in terms of my reaction and rating. It's not a bad book per se, but I must admit I'm frustrated because I had MUCH higher aspirations.

Loved the first one and enjoyed this just as much. Hooray for the Athena Club. Keep saving the world!

It was fun to read but I can't say what it's about or it'll be spoiled.

About the author

Theodora Goss is the World Fantasy Award–winning author of many publications, including the short story collection In the Forest of Forgetting; Interfictions, a short story anthology coedited with Delia Sherman; Voices from Fairyland, a poetry anthology with critical essays and a selection of her own poems; The Thorn and the Blossom, a novella in a two-sided accordion format; and the poetry collection Songs for Ophelia; and the novels, The Strange Case of the Alchemist’s Daughter, European Travel for the Monstrous Gentlewoman, and The Sinister Mystery of the Mesmerizing Girl. She has been a finalist for the Nebula, Locus, Crawford, Seiun, and Mythopoeic Awards, as well as on the Tiptree Award Honor List, and her work has been translated into eleven languages. She teaches literature and writing at Boston University and in the Stonecoast MFA Program. Visit her at TheodoraGoss.com.