#BookBeginnings & #Friday56 & A Ramble - William Ritter's Jackaby

It's Friday again so it's time for Friday56 at Freda's Voice & Book Beginnings at Rose City Reader!

The Book Beginnings rules are to share the first few sentences & initial thoughts while the Friday56 is to share a blurb from the 56th page or 56% mark.

I just completed William Ritter's ever-so-amazing Jackaby. I had thought that I had read it before since I meant to SO many times and had read so much about it that, in my head, I already loved it ... but when I got "back" into it before this past Teaser Tuesday post, I realized that it really was all in my head. I'm sure Jackaby would appreciate that.

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Set in 1892, Jackaby has been described as a cross between Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Who ... although I would nix the Doctor Who bit and say it's more Sherlockian and either Supernatural or Grimm with more than a tad Harry Potter thrown in for good measure (it is, after all, a "young adult" novel). Even Abigail, the narrator and female lead, compares Jackaby to Sherlock Holmes (in an implied kind of way, at least). 

 

There's quite a bit of paranormal/magical awesomeness going on along with a good ol' Victorian-times murder mystery but the "all of time and space" deal that goes along with my beloved Doctor just isn't there (in the first book, anyway ... and I think I'll be disappointed if it crops up in the second). 

I ramble.... but....

I. Love. This. Book.

The spunk of Abigail ... the awesomeness of the home/office (and the other inhabitants) ... the humor. Oh, and so much humor there is! I'm quite glad that the same handful of regulars ride the bus with me into work most nights because I let out quite a hoot a couple of nights ago and it may have been awkward among strangers who haven't just come to expect such things from me.

And the actual mystery storyline? Well, I had quite a bit of the bits figured out but, being Jackaby, there had to be some twists tossed in that I didn't quite see coming and I love him (and William Ritter) for them.

And I love Abigail (so much so that I've said it twice). 

And Charlie.

And the old lady who fishes for the bridge troll.

And the duck.

And even Chief Inspector Marlowe.

Most of all, I love how the whack-doodle-ness of it all actually fits together.

Beastly Bones is the second in the series and will be out September 22nd. I'll be curling up under a cozy blanket with it before then, though, thanks yet again to NetGalley.