illegible_scribble
6/13/2019
I found these two Athena Club novels to be interesting in the survey they provided of the horror/speculative fiction of the 1890s era -- with most of which I was either unfamiliar, or only passingly familiar. And I give the author top marks for the depth of the research she's done and the way she's woven them together.
But as stories themselves, I didn't find them that gripping or engaging. I wouldn't have read the second novel if it hadn't been for the undemanding schedule of a reading group which did a chapter every 2 days, coupled with the discussion from the other members.
This seems more like one of the ongoing, seemingly-unending newspaper serials which were common more than a century ago (and in SF magazines in the 30s and 40s). A lot of people enjoyed those, but I don't find them really satisfying. And dear gods, the bickering in the "margins" just annoyed the hell out of me.