Flying buildings, fortune-telling cooks and dwarf mastodons are the least of the marvels that spice Barlough's latest entry in the Western Lights series, another robust stew of fantasy, horror and SF themes that gives off the aroma of a 19th-century scientific romance. Like its predecessors Dark Sleeper
(1998) and The House High in the Wood
(2001), this sprawling saga is set on an alternate Earth where Ice Age wonders coexist alongside a fragment of Victorian society. Two converging plot threads center the action in Nantle, a coastal town full of magic and surprises: in one, ghost-haunted lawyer Arthur Liffey leads clients Jeffrey and Susan Cargo on a search for a mysterious heir who has claim to one-quarter of their grandfather's fortune; in the other, orphan Jane Wastefield seeks a mysterious correspondent who has offered to relieve her of a magic mirror that reflects disturbing images of an eerie alternate world. The complex development of both mysteries allows Barlough to introduce a large cast of eccentric grotesques whose decadent quirks he describes in lavish detail. Despite the narrative's shaggy-dog aimlessness, Barlough's eye for the nuances of Victorian life and his ear for the slang and idiomatic expressions of the era give the wildest events an authentic period flavor. Even readers new to the series will enjoy this leisurely tale in an original fantasy realm. (Aug. 3)
