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A Very Unusual Pursuit (2013)

by Catherine Jinks(Favorite Author)
3.79 of 5 Votes: 3
languge
English
genre
publisher
Allen & Unwin
series
City of Orphans (Australia)/Bogle (USA)
review 1: I enjoyed reading How To Catch A Bogle a Victorian fantasy novel by Catherine Jinks. Birdie, the heroine, is an apprentice to Alfred the Bogler. She's bogle bait. Bogles are monsters who consume children. The action begins quickly in this one. Readers soon see Alfred and Birdie hard at work at this one. Birdie sings beautifully, baiting the trap if you will. Alfred carefully waits until just the right moment... Dangerous work it is. Is it too dangerous? One of Birdie's new acquaintances says it is. Miss Eames is something. She is very curious about bogles, about boglers. She wonders about the different types and classes of bogles--monsters or creatures. Where they live, how they live, what they eat, likes and dislikes, etc. She has a different approach than Alfred. Alfred ... moreis practical and skilled, but, not curious or scientific. Miss Eames is more interested in his work than he is in her work. She comes to really care for Birdie.Miss Eames is not the only person interested in bogles. And there is one person whose interest is unethical....Plenty of action and a bit of mystery!!! I enjoyed this one very much.
review 2: Great atmosphere, language and characters, but the plot leaves a lot to be desired. The exposition seems to go on forever with a series of almost identical bogle-trapping set pieces, before the action finally picks up late in the book. The bogles themselves are unsatisfying villains - all they do is eat children and get killed - so there's not much scope for excitement. I was hoping for a race of intelligent super-bogles keeping children captive in a labyrinthine underground city, but no such luck. The human antagonist doesn't really do much more than the actual bogles (he just feeds children to the bogles) and is easily thwarted by the gang of heroes at the end. I'm hoping the second book in the series develops the story a little better. less
Reviews (see all)
laura
Lots of fun! Harry Potter meets Oliver Twist.
Ivy
Loved this, what a great read. :)
suz
borrow from Tangara
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