The Seduction of Phaeton Black, By Jillian Stone (review)

The Seduction of Phaeton Black, By Jillian Stone
*Paranormal Investigator.






So I’ve been reading this book for a couple weeks, and although it is a really great story, I just can’t seem to get interested in it.





Normally when I read a book, I can read it in 5-10 hours, depending on how well the plot interests me, and while this book has a unique plot, It just doesn’t seem to be keeping my interest- but as I said, the book is still really good, so I’m going to go ahead and give it a 5 star, because my lack of interest should not judge the book.





So, The Seduction of Phaeton Black, is kinda like a steam punk, in that it is in an unusual time frame- One that I do not immediately recognize. Phaeton Black is an on again-off again employee of Scotland Yard who lives in what I understand to be the basement of a pleasure house.





He is good at his job, but his unique ability to see things that should not exist have gotten him a couple eye-rolls from his fellow employees, and so they don’t completely trust him, but a series of grisly murders forces them to hire him back- because while they do not necessarily like, or trust him, there is no doubt that he is good at what he does.

In one instance of the book, it seems like the ‘normal’ characters do not really know about the ‘other’ things that exist in their world; but a few pages later, it seems that maybe they do. So I was a little confused as to why Phaeton black was such an outcast. –That being said, Ms. Stone was able to develop a new world for me, which is somewhat difficult for an avid reader such as myself, so I definitely give her props for that.





Now, of course this is a romance, and as our leading lady we have, America Jones. She is sort of an odd character, with little to no known background, other than her father’s shipping business. She too is a bit unusual in that she can sense ‘others’ and how they feel. Together the two should make a wonderful team, and you would expect them to fall madly in love, but I feel at times as if they are repelling each other, more than attracting. Now that is not to say that there weren’t plenty of times when the love was clear, so maybe it is just my understanding that clouds my judgment on that particular score.





Don’t get me wrong, the book was great, the plot was new, something different that I have not come across before; the characters believable, if a bit challenging to understand- to be clear, this is one of those books you really have to follow along to understand. This book deserves a lot more focus than me, a young mother of a 3 yr old can really give, so perhaps the fault is not with the book, but with me as a reader.





This book is going on my shelves, as I would like to read it again another time where hopefully I will be able to have a better understanding of what’s going on. I recommend this book to someone with a lot of time on their hands, who can give it the attention it deserves.





To be completely honest, I didn’t always know exactly what was going on, so maybe that is why the book couldn’t hold my interest. I don’t know, but give the book a try anyway, as I’m sure our tastes differ, and this is just my opinion, so you might have a better chance at it than I did.