Title: The Body at the Tower (The Agency #2)
Author: Y.S. Lee, narrated by Justine EyrePublisher: Brilliance Audio
Publication Date: December 1st, 2010
Page Count: 7 hours, 43 minutes
Genre: historical mystery
Audience: young adult
Source: library
Rating: 3.5 I would friend this book on facebook and post funny pictures of cats on its wall.
Goodreads Summary:
Now nearly a full-fledged member of the Agency, the all-female detective unit operating out of Miss Scrimshaw's Academy for Girls, Mary Quinn is back for another action-packed adventure. Disguised as a poor apprentice building and a boy, she must brave the grimy underbelly of Victorian London—as well as childhood memories of fear, hunger, and constant want—to unmask the identity of a murderer. Assigned to monitor the building site on the clock tower of the Houses of Parliament, Mary earns the confidence of the work crew, inching ever nearer her suspect. But if an irresistible desire to help the city's needy doesn't distract her and jeopardize her cover, unexpectedly meeting up with an old friend—or flame—just might.
This is a sequel! May contain spoilers for the first book.
My thoughts: Yay for my third audiobook! My very first audiobook ever was over the summer and just so happened to be the first book in this series, A Spy in the House, which I really wanted to read...and my library only carried the audiobook, so I gave her a whirl. And loved it. Let me just say that Justine Eyre, the audiobook narrator for this series, is phenomenal. She really puts you into the story. That said, I did like this book. However, I liked the first book much more, so this one gets a 3.5 instead of a 4. I'll try not to compare them too much, though!
The mystery is fun, though pretty predictable. Mary (our main character) and James are really the only characters that are well-developed, but that fits the mystery aspect of the story - if you knew everything about everyone, what would be the point! The historical setting is fairly well detailed and it's a lot of fun to spend some time there (1800s London). I also like the feminist sort of twist on having an all-female detective agency, though Mary must disguise herself as a boy in this book. I felt really unsatisfied with the ending of this book... The mystery is resolved, but the personal relationships in the book are not. I suppose that just means I'll need to read book 3!
If you've never tried audiobook, I'd recommend this series to start. They're relatively short compared to others (adult audiobooks, especially) and they make a commute go by very quickly. The only bad part is arriving at your destination and having to "put it down"!
I never tried an audio book as the length usually scares me..since i could read 2-3 books in that time frame..hehe. I am curious about this series and was kind of disappointed to hear it's predictable.
ReplyDeleteI haven't read a ton of audiobooks yet, mostly because my library doesn't have a very big YA audiobook section. But they're really great if you have spend a lot of time in the car! I've also heard a lot of people say that they'll put them on when they're cooking or doing things around the house where they otherwise wouldn't be able to read. I enjoyed the first book a lot more, so I'm hoping the predictability with this one was just a fluke! I'd definitely give at least the first book a try if you're still interested. :)
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