If you like the archaically exotic, this will appeal to you.


So good it is unbelievable   May 20, 2004
This is a science fiction story set in Victoria England. It involves evil, another dimension, and a love story. A tale of bravery and tragedy, incredibly original and true to the period. ****Warning Spoiler **** The ending is one of the few tragic ones in science fiction.


Flawed but entertaining...   July 23, 2005
This book is based upon a wonderful premise, but is ultimately spoiled by the author's inaccurate characterizations.

While I agree that it *is* tempting to place historical characters in fictional setting, the author needs to do more homework on the characters themselves, particularly the timelines of their lives in the context of the stories therein.

This pertains particularly to the members of the Order of the Golden Dawn who appear as characters in this book, Crowley in particular. While I enjoyed the author's characterization of Aleister Crowley in this novel, the Crowley he describes is one at least a decade older than the 1898-1899 Victorian setting of the novel, and some of the incidents, mottos and names recounted by the Crowley character didn't take place for 15-20 years after the novel's setting. As a student of Magick for more than a quarter-century, I must take exception with these incongruities, for they ultimately ruined for me the otherwise exquisite storytelling experience presented by Mr. McIntyre herein.

Mr. Crowley has been much better fictionalized elsewhere (not least by some few of his biographers, unfortunately). The other members of the Golden Dawn do not figure as heavily in the book's plot, and are less characterized, and therefore are not as obviously temporally incongruent, but they too seem to have temporal character inconsistancies. Too bad, they flaw what would have otherwise have been one of the best Historical Fiction/Horror/Fantasy novels I've read since Mark Frost's "The List of Seven".


Bug Eyed Disembodied Nasty, Naked Invisible Lady, and Bored Tatooist   November 20, 2007
Take the above three, mix in Victoriana and H.P. Lovecraft and you have this book. At times a shaggy tentacle story, at times a nineteenth century Who's Who, this tale is uneven but fun. Unlike your standard H.P. Lovecraft hero, our tattooist does not go mad no matter how often he is assaulted by undead horrors, shapeless invisible ghouls, or partial bodily possession (oh man that premise is taken to its obvious conclusion. I won't forget THAT mental image any time soon).
The alien Vanessa loves Earth but wants to save her home planet, an unwholesome grey place filled with large easily rolled stone spheres (and yes, one gets used just as one would hope it gets used. Most gratifying!)
Unexplained is how one DOES an opaque tattoo (all the ones I have seen are transparent); but what the hey. When you have invisible aliens staulking London and an immortal soul sucker who can animate anything that has once lived why make a fuss? You don't read this for the tattoo instructions anyway.
An added spice is lent when it is revealed Vanessa only eats freshly killed raw meat; (Vegetarians, pass on this one.)
A bit long and wordy but it IS a Victorian pastiche so that's what one gets; sumptuous descriptions of interiors, eccentric characters, and weird secret societies are what fill it up. Enjoy!