Title: The Lights of Prague
Author: Nicole Jarvis
Publisher: Titan Books
Year: May 2021
Pages: 413
Genre: Paranormal/Fantasy
Reading Time: 18 May - 14 June
Binding: NetGalley arc
Stars:
★★★★☆
★★★★☆
Blurb:
In the quiet streets of Prague all manner of mysterious creatures lurk in the shadows. Unbeknownst to its citizens, their only hope against the tide of predators are the dauntless lamplighters – secret elite of monster hunters whose light staves off the darkness each night. Domek Myska leads a life teeming with fraught encounters with the worst kind of evil: pijavice, bloodthirsty and soulless vampiric creatures. Despite this, Domek finds solace in his moments spent in the company of his friend, the clever and beautiful Lady Ora Fischerová - a widow with secrets of her own.When Domek finds himself stalked by the spirit of the White Lady - a ghost who haunts the baroque halls of Prague castle – he stumbles across the sentient essence of a will-o’-the-wisp captured in a mysterious container. Now, as its bearer, Domek wields its power, but the wisp, known for leading travellers to their deaths, will not be so easily controlled.
After discovering a conspiracy amongst the pijavice that could see them unleash terror on the daylight world, Domek finds himself in a race against those who aim to twist alchemical science for their own dangerous gain.
Review:
Thank you firstly to Titan Books for granting me access to an e-arc via NetGalley, I really couldn't resist that cover! This book made me wish I could go back to Prague and walk the streets over Charles Bridge, it's always wonderful to have some kind of connection to a fantastical book because the setting is a real place you can experience and refer to.
We've got some classical paranormal creatures here, just with names I've never seen before. Pijavice (vampires) are the most common in the book and I very much enjoyed the complexity of their underworld. The last time I read about vampires was the midst of my teens when Twilight was at it's pinnacle. I've since enjoyed various films but not read too many books with the creatures, it feels like they were given a break after being in the limelight for so long and I am so excited to see them coming back to more popular books! We touch on a few other species and it's kept to few enough types that it's not an overwhelming amount of information like it can be for other fantasy books.
Domek is a really lovely character. Built like a bear and a softy with the drive to get the work done. His role as a lamplighter is the perfect base and job for a story like this to get going. The set up is quite seamless this way, who would even question that those with jobs starting in the dark of the night are actually specially equipped to battle the supernatural? This concept could honestly span a whole series and come out with incredible new content every single time. I wouldn't be mad if it went that way at all.
Another character we experience the story through is Ora, a lady ahead of her time. I understood all of her actions, there was no disagreeing with her rash decisions which I often do with female characters but she was logical whilst emotional. A character I could just really get along with, she's got all the situating she needs to be the kind of woman she is. Wealth, status, I might even have survived such terrible times for women if I had some of the freedom she did. Her status is not without it's own tragic backstory but I'll let you traverse that with her.
We have a small but plentiful range of other characters, charming, violent, manipulative. The whole lot. Kája and Cord were delectable, I wish we had more of them both. All I will say is not to become too attached to many of our characters. There is violence and distraught in this book, not too extreme but enough to keep the plot really moving.
We've got plenty of action in this book but I can't really comment on the pacing. I admit I was distracted by exams which meant I took a while reading this. I found it a little too easy to put down and leave so I don't have a clear picture of the pacing if I were to read it normally. Thinking back on the level of action it was probably fairly well paced with mystery and a little bit of complexity as we move in different circles between our two main characters. Crossing paths ever so often was very, very fun. These two have good chemistry throughout. I also really enjoyed the writing style, if I don't notice the writing it's generally a good thing. If I notice the writing style it's because it was too simple of overly complex, too much description or something else that's generally irritated me. When I don't notice anything it's because I'm enjoying it too much to take a minute to stop and really appreciate it.
All in all, I really enjoyed this book and am hoping for more like it!
