(FLY BY NIGHT 2) TWILIGHT ROBBERY.

Hurrah! After a run of books not to taste, at last, one I enjoyed. FGT

TWILIGHT ROBBERY (Known as Fly Trap in the US) by FRANCES HARDINGE.

As dusk approaches, the good people of Toll-by-day slam shut their doors and tremble ... it's time to discover deadly Toll-by-night - a very different place! And orphan Mosca Mye is trapped there, with only a murderous goose and a war-crazed dandy to help her.

-Back Cover Blurb

'Read the paper for you, sir?'

- First Sentence; Chapter 1: Goodman Springzel, the Bringer of Surprises

'It ... tried to drag you to hell ... by your nose?'

'It's haunted.' The pie hatted man spoke with the slow, deferential tone of one telling his social better something for the seventh time. 'A wild and restlest ghaist, the vexed spirit of one of those poor souls dug up by that ghoul they took to the Assizes. Nobody can go in without it attacking them and trying to drag them to hell with it. Nothing to be done but give Goodman Postrophe as many melloweberries as we can and leave it to him.' Goodman Postrophe was the Beloved responsible for squirting mellowberry juice into the eyes of any dead that tried to return to their erstwhile homes, so that they were blinded and could not find their way.

Memorable Moment; Page 54

SOURCE ... A charity shop buy.

READ FOR A CHALLENGE? ... No.

MY THOUGHTS ... Such wonderful characters ... and, yes, that does include the 'homicidal' goose Saracen (one of my only complaints, small as it is, being that he didn't feature as much as I'd have liked; the significant role he had to play in proceedings only really mentioned at the end of the book). Main protagonists Mosca Mye, full of the passion of youth, and Eponymous Clent, more, shall we say, more disenchanted, make for such an odd and yet endearing pairing. 

And oh my goodness, the world building! Quite unlike anything I've ever known, the author knows Toll so well that its almost like it actually exists ... and that from someone for whom the characters are normally the be-all-and-end-all of a novel as opposed to here when the world building proved to be the thing that made the book for me.

Marketed at those at 12+ but like the Harry Potter books a series that no doubt will be a guilty (or perhaps not so guilty) pleasure amongst those much older ... and if I'm any judge of these things destined to be made into a film.

Beautifully written; the intricate plot well polished, the author's penmanship exceptional. Whilst not in the habit of recommending books (though if I was I could be forgiven for recommending this) I'd nevertheless suggest it as a potential read for all of those who enjoy clever, detailed and, yes, humorous tales.

Part two of what turns out to be a series. Whilst  Twilight Robbery (or Fly Trap as I believe it is known in the US) reads perfectly well as a standalone novel (the references to its predecessor, Fly By Night, just enough to fill in the gaps without I would think being overbearing for those who had already read it). For myself, I can't help but regret that I hadn't read the first instalment before this ... even though I have it on the good authority of several of my friend's children that this is by far a better read.