Friday, March 15, 2013

The Janus Affair

The Janus Affair (Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences #2)
Today's post is on 'The Janis Affair' by Pip Ballantine & Tee Morris. It is the second book in the Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences. It is 416 pages long and is published by Harper Voyager which is an imprint of HarperCollins. The cover has the two main characters Eliza and Wellington flying in an airship battle. The intended reader is adult but YA can read it because there is nothing but violence in it. There Be Spoilers Ahead.

From the back of the book- Evildoers beware! Retribution is at hand, thanks to Britain's best-kept secret agents!!
Certainly no strangers to peculiar occurrences agents Wellington Books and Eliza Braun are nonetheless stunned to observe a fellow passenger aboard Britain's latest hypersteam train suddenly vanish in a dazzling bolt of lighting. They soon discover this is not the only such disappearance... with each case going inexplicable unexamined by the Crown.
The fate of England is once again in the hands of an ingenious archivist paired with a beautiful, fearless lady of adventure. And though their foe be fiendishly clever, so then is Mr. Books... and Miss Braun still has a number of useful and unusual devices hidden beneath her petticoats.

Review- This book picks up some months after the first book but no time is lost in getting the new plot going. It starts with a bang and that carries all the way to the end. More character development goes on but I would have been disappointed if it had not. We learn more about Wellington's father and what he was taught and we learn why Eliza had to leave New Zealand. The plot can be a little heavy handed but the characters make up for it. We still do not know who the villain really is  or what is in the restricted area but we are coming closer to it. The only thing I'm worried about is how fast Books and Braun maybe moving. I like the playful banter and longing but I am willing to trust Pip and Tee to see where it take us. The death toll is higher in this one rather than the first book but the deaths are not unnecessary. I cannot wait for the next one in the series because Eliza and Wellington are going to traveling and I have always enjoyed books with travel in them.

I give this one Four and a half stars out of Five. I get nothing for my review. I bought my copy from my local bookstore and it has been signed by both authors who were guest at Dragon*Con 2012.

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