A Peculiar Peril
By Jeff VanderMeer
- Release Date: 2020-07-07
- Genre: Fantasy for Young Adults
Description
A Peculiar Peril is a head-spinning epic about three friends on a quest to protect the world from a threat as unknowable as it is terrifying, from the Nebula Award–winning and New York Times bestselling author of Annihilation, Jeff VanderMeer.
Jonathan Lambshead stands to inherit his deceased grandfather’s overstuffed mansion—a veritable cabinet of curiosities—once he and two schoolmates catalog its contents. But the three soon discover that the house is filled with far more than just oddities: It holds clues linking to an alt-Earth called Aurora, where the notorious English occultist Aleister Crowley has stormed back to life on a magic-fueled rampage across a surreal, through-the-looking-glass version of Europe replete with talking animals (and vegetables).
Swept into encounters with allies more unpredictable than enemies, Jonathan pieces together his destiny as a member of a secret society devoted to keeping our world separate from Aurora. But as the ground shifts and allegiances change with every step, he and his friends sink ever deeper into a deadly pursuit of the profound evil that is also chasing after them.
Reviews
Peculiarly annoying
2By KV22XThis is the book equivalent of art school - superficial, inwardly focused on wordplay and writing rather than world building, and trying too hard to be witty to actually make a point. If you like style over substance and an author who wants to desperately show you how quirky he is while name-checking some well known authors, then this is the book for you. It doesn’t really get anywhere other than to let you know another book is coming, and it takes quite a while to do so. In fairness to the other, I prefer a fantasy series where I am able to visualize the alternate worlds and the characters. It is almost as if the authors makes the character descriptions purposely obtuse to try to drive home the weirdness of this world. But I found that made it very difficult for me to get immersed in the story. If you are not a very visual person, you may enjoy this type of story better than I did.
