Heather P

Kassinger has a knack for explaining and illustrating each idea clearly and thoroughly, but without pomposity or condescension. Her fascination for her subject is infectious, whether she is elucidating the distinction between xylem and phloem, or enthusing over the lettuce-like ruffles of a photosynthesizing sea slug. Welding disparate worldviews from history into a coherent narrative is no easy task, but Kassinger manages this with aplomb, contextualizing even the most outlandish theories (su

Rooftoppers reads very much like two separate stories. The London section, while vital to the rest of the book, feels just a bit contrived ... In contrast, the Parisian section is magical in the way that the best fairy tales are - combining elements of the fantastic and the grittily realistic into an irresistible alchemical brew.

It is a testament to Jennifer Bradbury’s writing that, even when characters' actions are unlikeable, their motivations for those actions never seem inexplicable...In addition, Bradbury’s incorporation of historical people and events, such as Lady Mountbatten and the train from Amritsar, into her fictionalized narrative, lends an air of reality to the book and facilitates the reader’s immersion in the narrative. Reading A Moment Comes is an evocative, compelling experience.

As with any undertaking this large, the first sections Saving Italy set the stage and characters for the reader. Because of this, they are detail-heavy and do not move as quickly as the rest of the book. However this is merely a temporary status. Once the scene is set, what could have been a dull, dry exercise in an obscure area of history is rendered in vivid strokes by Edsel’s prose. He is adept in using the drama of real life to lend interest to his topic.

The Afrika Reich has been meticulously researched, which raises it a significant cut above the average airport thriller. In addition, the seamlessness of the alternate history is remarkable, especially given that the book does not rely on long swaths of exposition, but allows the reader to complete that history from events shown, rather than told, by the book.