Death & Mirrors: All Things Dark & Deadly, Book One by S.F. Benson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is my first-time reading SF Benson’s work, and I was instantly curious while reading the synopsis I had several questions that drew my curiosity. Firstly, Evaline’s character being the daughter of occult archeologists and being a necromancer. Learning of the similarities yet differences between London and the mirror world Londinium was also interesting. Doctor Death and the mythical artifacts that could stop them.
London, January 1888. It is a time in which magic is common knowledge, but in order to practice freely, outside of your own home you must have a license. Even so not all have magical abilities which leads to many being against or having negative feelings towards those who practice it. Evaline starts out being desperate to reach out to her mother using her necromancer abilities, the sudden loss a year prior, left Evaline with no closure, all she had left was her mother’s journal that she had snuck out of her belongings when her father wasn’t looking. She shares her mother’s love of mysteries and feels the draw to solve even the most bizarre. Reading the journal one night looking for answers she comes across the notes of her parents last expedition in Egypt, when her mother was killed. They were on the hunt for a rare mythical relic, the Firestone, her mother journeyed into a cave believing the relic to be in there. Though she did not find the relic she instead found a mirror, “It wasn’t an ordinary looking glass, my dear. It was a gateway to another world.” Reading of the Firestone and then the strange woman visiting her father the next morning and mentioning the same relic, Evaline feels if her father won’t solve the mystery she will. Admiring Sherlock Holmes, she sets off for the woman when she leaves, often thinking to herself “What would Holmes do?” when she is unsure of the “right” thing to do next. Meanwhile, when Evaline and her beau find themselves suddenly in Londinium, an open world where magic is practice and used frequently in the open by those with it. A world in which magic is the least of worries, creatures of nightmares also exist, such as vampires and werewolves (untamable). Being out after night is highly dangerous and if out death is expected. In the search to find the Firestones location Evaline and her beau stumble across other mysteries including one involving the Madame Governor, the leader of Londinium. Which leaves them no choice but to be out after dark to hopefully get some answers.
The story was a slow start for me, learning the characters world, who they were. Though the more I read the more I was drawn to Evaline, personally feeling and agreeing with how she reacts to things. While the mystery became more in depth and sometimes leading to more questions about those around Evaline and her beau, I wanted to read faster to find answers. If you enjoy mystery with an underlying love story, then the world Ms. Benson creates in this book is sure to entertain.

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