Book Review: A Perilous Undertaking by Deanna Raybourn

I received a complimentary review copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. This was a book I requested, rather than an unsolicited review; this is atypical for me, but one of the coolest things about doing regular reviews because it meant I got to read the book before its January 2017 release date. So I would like to thank the good folks at Berkley/Penguin Random (via NetGalley) House for my review copy, because I really didn’t want to wait to see what Veronica got up to next…

If you are not familiar with the series, you really should check out the first book, A Curious Beginning. It sets up the adventures of Veronica Speedwell, heroine extraordinaire. The series is set in Victorian England. It feels steampunk, but isn’t – there are no supernatural occurrences, no odd technology, yet somehow it feels like steampunk. Perhaps it’s the kick-ass character of Veronica herself – she feels like a tough-as-nails character you’d find in an alterna-world of nineteenth century England. There isn’t a social convention she doesn’t flout nor a period stereotype she doesn’t shred into a million pieces. The series opens with her newly orphaned, left to make her way in the world – a way that very rapidly becomes more uncertain with every step she takes… Needless to say, adventure ensues; and believe me, it’s first-rate. There are more twists inside these pages than you’d find in a case of licorice. And even though, in retrospect, some of them seem positively ridiculous to repeat, they all fit perfectly into the tale as it unfolds. There is no “oh, come ON!” here, just a lot of oohing and aahing and more than a few gasps out loud. It is a glorious setup for a new series, to say the least.

But I’m not here to review that book, I’m here to talk about the latest installment.

I was so excited to review this one. I really enjoyed Veronica’s opening adventure; the twists thrown at you at the end left me more than eagerly anticipating what would come next. The result, A Perilous Undertaking, didn’t disappoint – although I must admit I didn’t find it quite as perfectly compelling as the first installment, for reasons I still don’t quite understand… Still, the book was a whopping good ride. The story opens with Veronica and Stoker entwined in their own particular brand of frustrating companionship, and quickly adds on layer after layer of political and social intrigue. There’s been a murder, you see, and a man is set to hang. Some Very Important People are convinced it’s the wrong man – but all the rules of propriety dictate that they remain distanced. Enter Veronica… The implications of Veronica’s Big Secret (which I cannot disclose, sorry, it would literally ruin the first book for anyone who hasn’t read it) are, of course, invoked – and continue to play out with intriguing and delightfully complicated consequences. New addenda and codicils are added, as expected, and set up a third book quite handily.

Raybourn has such an easy writing style; you can’t help but fall completely into these stories. The conversation is often formal in the manner one expects in Victoriana, but never feels stilted. I suspect this is largely due to Veronica’s own decided disregard for social formalities – she is a dyed-in-the-wool original, living life by her own social and interpersonal rules. They don’t often mirror those of society at large, but make no mistake, she operates by a code nearly as rigid as theirs, even if its content may cause many of her “social betters” to dissolve into a puddle of embarrassed outrage… The interplay between Veronica’s personal code and Stoker’s (equally stringent, yet altogether different in form and substance due to circumstances both of birth and of life experience) is one of the best parts of this series for me. Rarely do you truly get two alpha dogs who manage to play together well in one room – these two manage quite handily, with none of the irritating posturing that often attends such personalities.

The characters I loved from the first book were largely present again, with an increased role given to one of my favorites – Lady Cordelia – and the adventures were fresh and the danger consistently (and charmingly), well, perilous. But somehow the drama in this one did not feel quite as nail-bitingly tense as it did in the first in the series. That isn’t to say that it wasn’t still great fun – it most certainly was. And I’m exceedingly eager to see what comes next – an eagerness that is likely to be rather frustrated, since this book doesn’t actually come out for another several months itself, which means the third book likely won’t follow for another year after that… Eek. Another year without Veronica?? That won’t do, won’t do at all… I may have to check out Raybourn’s other books – she’s quite prolific, from what I see on Amazon – and see if I can find a temporary fix. In the meantime, I may have to reread A Curious Beginning. There are so many things happening in these books, so many twists and turns coming at you from all angles, that I suspect there are things I missed or did not realize were important at first glance… If nothing else, hunting for them (with all the attentiveness one would expect from a lepidopterist, of course) will help me bide my time!

A Perilous Undertaking will be released January 10, 2017.