Fiction Friday (20)

Sometimes the right book just seems to come along at the right time. The book I most recently read is one such novel. I bought this book years ago at a Border's that was closing down. I walked out of that store with a stack of books nearly as tall as me, The Invisible Order being one of them. I was attracted to the book by the beautiful cover, and when I read the synopsis, I thought it sounded like a good book to read while researching a middle grade manuscript I was planning. When I abandoned that project several months later, the book lingered for years on my to-read shelf. Having restarted work on that manuscript in the past few months, I was once again drawn to the book and decided to read it. My instinct about it turned out to be spot on. It had the exact same feel that I was going for, and reading it really accelerated my progress on my manuscript. I was totally inspired and am pleased to share it with you. Enjoy.

The Invisible Order Book One: Rise of the Darklings by Paul Crilley
(Egmont, 2010)

Emily Snow is an orphan on the streets of Victorian London, trying her best to take care of herself and her younger brother William, when an unexpected encounter turns her life upside down. In a dark alley, Emily witnesses something she was never supposed to be able to see; a sword fight between two rival Faerie armies. She makes the crucial decision to help one of the injured piskies after the battle, a choice that puts her at odds with a secretive group known as The Invisible Order, whose task it is to eliminate the Faerie from the face of the earth.

Over the course of the next two days, Emily must free her brother from the clutches of a traitorous queen, break into the mysterious headquarters of the Invisible Order with the help of her street urchin friend Jack, face off against double-crossing enemies from all sides, and solve confounding riddles that just might save the world. I quite loved this book. The exciting plot, with all its intriguing twists, is extremely well thought out. And the characters, especially the tenacious Emily Snow, made the action that much more enjoyable to read.

In many ways, this book felt like a fantasy Dickens may have written if he wrote fantasy. It was pitch perfect in every way and I can't wait to dive into the sequel.