Shakespeare Quartet: The Box of Red Brocade: Book 2 (Chronoptika)

But to be there like Jake and David, in a time of plague? Maybe that danger shows us how different the past really is…. This is a complex story that will be most rewarding to readers. I really thought this was a wonderful follow-up to The Obsidian Mirror. Fisher handles this with great aplomb. There are a great many plot threads and I love the way that Fisher challenges her readers in this way. The whole thing is a joyful puzzle combining complex storylines, great energy, and diverse characters. Every readers will have a favourite from the enormous cast..

In this book you can read about faeries and changelings, modern day kids and mediaeval Italians afraid of the Black death. What more could the keen reader want? Gorgeous, atmospheric and addictive; absolutely necessary wherever the first has fans.. A pleasing new adventure that ratchets up the intensity and fun… a challenging, fascinating series. What happens when you mix the two? And add a final ingredient, Shakespeare's 'Macbeth'?

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On a mission to recover his father lost in time, Jake finds himself in s London. From the rubble of the Blitzed city, a clue leads him to an eccentric seer of ghosts, three sinister children and three strange prophesies. Two of them soon come to pass, but what is the Box of Red Brocade? Does it hold the secret of destroying the Obsidian Mirror? A talking bird, an invisible girl, a walking wood; the second volume of Catherine Fisher's Chronoptika series is packed with mystery, magic and sinister intrigue.

The Obsidian Mirror is both thriller and SF, and, being written in Fisher's acid-etched prose, equally satisfying to fans of many genres. The Best Books of Generally this works out fine but in this case it served to highlight and re-enforce the problems that have been present from the outset; these are poor characterisation, too many protagonists and plot incoherence. Tackling the latter-most first, I head off on an apparent name-dropping digression: I met Catherine Fisher, once, at a talk she gave about Incarceron.

I was the only adult there who wasn't a host or a school kid Still, she was kind enough to sign my vast stack of her books afterward and further discuss her writing. I was shocked to discover that she doesn't plan her novels at all. This seemed hardly thinkable to me; I couldn't see how I would be able to write a novel without some planning, considering that stories that enter my mind generally do so as a final scene followed by an initial scene, leaving me the problem of how to link the two up It feels like what really happened here is that she wrote a single text then divided it up into four more or less equal-sized volumes after the fact.

She starts in Vol. Random plot threads appear and resolve without really seeming to move the whole mess forward at all.

1. The Sacred Writings of Eusebius Pamphilus.
2. A Manhattan Ghost Story;
3. The Door in the Moon (Chronoptika #3) by Catherine Fisher.
4. Route 66: Mit dem Fahrrad von Chicago nach Los Angeles (German Edition).
5. Breathless: Secrets tear a family apart. (Breathe Book 1).

The whole mess of shifting loyalties of the protagonists has mostly failed to intrigue me because It isn't enough; I just don't sympathise with most of the characters. At this point I'm inclined to read the final volume when it appears because I am intrigued by certain things that remain mysterious - primarily the relations between two characters that have remained Mysterious and how Fisher manages to untangle all the myriad plot threads and tie them up in a neat bow for an ending - if she can! It's disappointing, because over-all I'm a Fisher fan but this series continues her recent trend of using unsympathetic characters that make it difficult to care about the story.

Mar 17, Abby Benrud rated it it was amazing. I honestly love this book! It is soooooo good I recommend this book to everyone that can read! I love it so much because I can imagine everything that they say. Which is really fun just imagine reading and imagining what that would be like. Fun right, well I love it! Dec 13, Beth rated it it was ok Shelves: I can't believe this isn't the last book in the series. This one has barely any plot when I expected a denouement, and yet it also has too many plot threads, mostly related to antagonists and heavy-handed Shakespeare allusions.

And none of these plot threads go anywhere. There's a brief sojourn to the Reign of Terror view spoiler [to save Jake's father. View all 3 comments. Feb 07, Ethan Chippas rated it liked it. It does a fantastic job of bringing the story to a close, for now. The genre is science fantasy involving time travel and mysterious creatures. Even though there is some strange and complex idea in the novel the author does a good job of making the characters relatable, and at least mostly likable. A certain few characters are hard to get behind, but that is intentional whether t make them mysterious or more fascinating.

Fisher does a remarkable job with the storyline, making it connect to the overall story while still having some diversity from the other two novels.

Some overall themes in this book are that it can be hard to come to the reality of an emotional situation, a common purpose can pull people together, and trust is a fragile and complex idea. The book was published in , with the two previous books being published in and Unlike the first two books, this installment takes the story on a different path of a more realist view on the events instead of with awe or mystery.

This may be because it is the third book and the characters are becoming more familiar with the complex world they are in and start to gain a better idea of their surroundings. There is nothing offensive in this series and is very child-friendly. Personally, I would recommend these books to anyone who enjoys books about time travel, because this book takes it in a new direction of not striving towards time travel but limiting it. Jan 22, Sheenagh Pugh rated it it was amazing Shelves: Briefly however, for anyone who's not caught up: The house contains an obsidian mirror, which is a time portal, and a number of ill-assorted persons, not all human and not all from the same time, who have conflicting designs on the mirror.

Sarah, from the future, wants to destroy it, having seen what harm it will do there. Venn and Jake want to preserve and use it to rescue loved ones dead or trapped in the past. Maskelyne wants it for purposes unspecified but probably to do with power. Others in the house are uncommitted. The first book was set in winter, the second in spring, and in the third we have arrived at Midsummer Eve.

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Those who've read them will recall also that the first, which was much concerned with Jake and his missing father, was haunted by quotes from, and references to, Hamlet, while the second, in which the corruption of power emerged more strongly, was similarly haunted by Macbeth. But behind both was another Shakespearean influence plainly lurking, that of A Midsummer Night's Dream, and in this volume it comes into its own.

• Monticello (Images of America).
• Moment of Truth.
• FILOSOFIA (Italian Edition)?
• Books in the series: Shakespeare Quartet?

Those who use the mirror are now getting more skilled at it, in particular Moll, the Victorian urchin whom Jake met in vol 1 and who makes a welcome reappearance here. And the fact that they can now do more of what they want means they have to think harder about whether they should. Several of the characters, in this volume, are troubled by conscience and conflicting duties, and those with dual natures, like Venn and Gideon, are faced with choices between them.

Shakespeare Quartet: The Box of Red Brocade : Catherine Fisher :

In this the volume mirrors its Shakespearean inspiration: As usual, the action moves between different times and locations: And as usual, I read it far too fast because it was so gripping: Now I'm going back to savour the actual writing, in particular the mesmerising evocation of the Shee and their Wood: The Shee came down round him in clouds. He watched how some of them stayed butterflies and how other transformed, wholly or in part, to the pale tall people he had seen before, their clothes now brilliant scarlets and turquoises and oranges.

With soft rustles and crackles their bodies unfolded. Abdomen and antennae became skin and smile. Quite apart from being invested in the characters and what happens to them — Gideon, in some danger at the end of the volume, Wharton, looking more and more like the representative of human decency, the irrepressible Moll - the vividly described locations make this perhaps Fisher's most gripping project for some time. Only one to go now, and it's beginning to sound as if that one will have to travel, at least for part of the time, into the far future from which Sarah comes and which we haven't yet seen first-hand.

Feb 22, Mary rated it it was amazing. This series is getting better and better. The characters start to come together in really interesting ways, the danger grows, and, as Jake desperately searches for his father, he keeps entering dire situations: The stakes are getting clearer for the other characters, too. I am very taken by the "minor" characters, Piers, Gideon, and Wharton. I'm also starting to wonder exactly who Gideon is; he marches into da Wow! I'm also starting to wonder exactly who Gideon is; he marches into danger at the end of this book, and, with Catherine Fisher, you have to pay attention to the story snippets and poems that begin the chapters.

Everything relates to everything else. Excellent writing and an intriguing series. Not sure I love it as much as "Corbenic" my favorite of hers , but it's up there with the Relic Master series, for sure.



• How To Hire A Virtual Assistant.
• The Box of Red Brocade.
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• Paperback Editions.

Jun 05, The Book Gazer Eddie added it. In all my years of reviewing, I've never come across a series like the Chronoptika quartet. An uprising that needs little introduction. To complicate things further, Sarah a resistance leader, from a dictator-ruled future has tagged along too. Janus is just the last of many. They are all responsible. Also, Moll as hinted above Returns!