Lady Danielle

3.5 curious and satisfying stars

***THE GHOSTS OF LONDON ARE DISAPPEARING!***

Let me tell you something - if the cover alone doesn't coaxes you to pick this up because a small colourful curiosity cloud formed after staring at the magical cover as it did for me, then I can assure you the following praises -- from a few dear friends of mine -- will:

"An extraordinarily witty story that accurately depicts the lives of the dead and compellingly describes the death of the living." - The Ghost of Oscar Wilde

"I wish I had written this book." - The Ghost of Charles Dickens

"Constable & Toop is a book full of life and crammed with death. All in all, a splendidly macabre and amusing tale." - The Ghost of Edgar Allan Poe
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Bloody brilliant of Gareth P. Jones to write these praises in his book. After laughing, I snatched this book from the shelf and immediately checked it out.

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If it still does not coax you then I honestly don't know what will.

Constable & Toop was a fun read -- a damn good fun read. It's amazing how a children's novel can make me this giddy and not the YA genre. Yes, dear friends, this is a children's book. If you don't read those you still might want to give this one a shot (but honestly, though, who doesn't read children's novels?). 

I am upset about one thing: the alternating point of views. There were so many of them I became extremely frustrated which is the reason I won't be giving this a higher rating. Also, I expected the story to be 100% about Sam Toop like it said in the description at the back of the book; it was not.

Anyway, ghosts, sarcasm, humour, exorcisms, and friendships. No romance, no love triangles, no insta-love, no abusive pricks, no Mary sues. Nothing. Just a good ol' entertaining novel about ghosts, a little boy being an undertaker's son who has the ability to see as well as speak to the spectres (a.k.a. a Talker), a bureau which documents the dead, and an evil entity called the Black Rot that's afflicting London and the ghosts.

How exciting!!!

The writing was exceptionally fabulous (it was awesome reading about the theatre on Drury Lane: the lights, the people, and The Man in Gray). Though Constable & Toopisn't wholly original* I can look it over since I had fun reading it (view spoiler).

Constable & Toop is set in 1884, London, and it begins with the murder of Emily Wilkins....



* ♢ The Bureau the dead goes to to be documented reminded me of Beetlejuice.
♢ The fact a ghost has to feel strong emotions in order to touch a solid object reminded me of the film Ghost.
♢ To see the dead one has to see death or experience dying reminded me of Maureen Johnson's The Name of the Star. Also, it reminded me of Harry Potter -- instead HP's was with threstals.