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The Dark Victorian: Bones Kindle Edition
In a mechanical and eldritch Victorian London, a black arts surgeon is ripping out the bones and organs of the healthy poor to transplant into the afflicted bodies of the wealthy. Anti-vivisectionists battle with medical doctors, medical doctors condemn supernatural practitioners, and amidst it all the Bone Stealer hunts for his most elusive prize yet: the skeleton of a woman over six feet tall. Secret Commission agents Art, the artificial ghost, and Jim Dastard, the animated skull, rush to stop him before another woman dies. And Art, only six days living after being resurrected to serve the Secret Commission, might be that woman.
F/F historical fantasy and Gothic mystery set in the steampunk world of the Dark Victorian series.
The Dark Victorian series is a ripping good yarn, featuring one of the most unique heroine/sidekick combinations in modern literature. Not to be missed! -- Sharon E. Cathcart, award-winning author of the Seen Through the Phantom's Eyes series
“Read if you: Love all the flowers of narrative that bloom from Pseudo-Victorian bedrock.”
—Worth Reading?
Experience paranormal detective mysteries with a Victorian female sleuth:
A historical fantasy in a mechanical and supernatural London, follow the adventures of an uncanny female sleuth and her senior skull partner set in the same alternate world as Elizabeth Watasin's Victorian supernatural mystery series, The Elle Black Penny Dreads.
Learn more about this intriguing, steampunk lesbian series:
It is 1880; black arts sorcery had its time to grow in England and to battle the eldritch evils threatening, HRH Prince Albert's Secret Commission is born. Executed criminals are brought back to life without memories and to fight as agents. Among those resurrected is Artifice, a six foot two tall strongwoman, Quaker, and artificial ghost, guided by her senior partner, Jim Dastard, the animated skull. And she soon discovers–from her encounters with a madwoman journalist, a mysterious woman in black, and a French prostitute–where her heart lies . . .
Dark Victorian: Bones is the second steampunk novel from storyteller Elizabeth Watasin, who delights in bringing you shilling shockers immersed in Gothic Victorian mystery, women detectives, and the paranormal vestiges of an otherworldly London. Read more in Dark Victorian: Risen, Ice Demon: A Dark Victorian Penny Dread Vol 1, Medusa: A Dark Victorian Penny Dread Vol 2, and Sundark: An Elle Black Penny Dread.
Enjoy a bonus Art Gallery:
The paperback version of Dark Victorian: Bones contains a small gallery of illustrations by Elizabeth Watasin.
- LanguageEnglish
- Publication dateDecember 31, 2013
- File size1071 KB
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Editorial Reviews
From the Inside Flap
"Though I enjoyed the first book I just freaking adored this one."
--Goodreads
"BONES is one of the most unique and entertaining books I have read in quite some time. I applaud Elizabeth Watasin for her ingenuity."
--Steampunk Canada
About the Author
Follow the news of her latest projects at A-Girl Studio.
Product details
- ASIN : B00B58ZGFK
- Publisher : A-Girl Studio (December 31, 2013)
- Publication date : December 31, 2013
- Language : English
- File size : 1071 KB
- Simultaneous device usage : Unlimited
- Text-to-Speech : Enabled
- Screen Reader : Supported
- Enhanced typesetting : Enabled
- X-Ray : Not Enabled
- Word Wise : Enabled
- Print length : 450 pages
- Page numbers source ISBN : 1936622033
- Best Sellers Rank: #2,663,839 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #9,178 in Historical Fantasy (Kindle Store)
- #10,220 in LGBTQ+ Fantasy (Kindle Store)
- #13,726 in Historical Mysteries (Kindle Store)
- Customer Reviews:
About the author
Winner, Best Lesbian Fantasy & Fantasy Romance, 2015 Rainbow Awards. Elizabeth Watasin is the author of the Gothic steampunk series The Dark Victorian, The Elle Black Penny Dreads, the paranormal sci-fi noir series, Darquepunk, and the creator/artist of the indie comics favourite Charm School, which was nominated for a Gaylactic Spectrum Award. Gentlewoman and artist, respected member of the animation guild and mistress of the pencil and paper, she lives in Los Angeles with her ghost cat named Draw, bringing readers uncanny heroines in queer sci-fi, Victorian steampunk, and sapphic diesel fantasy.
Join her community at Patreon, https://www.patreon.com/ElizabethWatasin
Customer reviews
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Learn more how customers reviews work on AmazonCustomers say
Customers enjoy the entertaining story and find it an easy read. They find the book interesting and engrossing, exploring a different world with well-developed characters. The author's world is fascinating and inspiring, with quirky writing style.
AI-generated from the text of customer reviews
Customers enjoyed the story. They found it an entertaining sequel to the first book, with a fun story involving reanimated ghosts.
"...Dark Victorian: Bones' is an entertaining sequel to the fantastic 'Dark Victorian: Risen'...." Read more
"...offbeat dark Victorian London make for another great story involving re-animated ghost good guys (or girls, as the case may be) and a talking skull..." Read more
"...An easy and fun read, with a good story. I can't wait until the next book." Read more
"It's an easy read and an enjoy a me series." Read more
Customers enjoy the book's engaging story. They find it an interesting exploration of a different world with well-developed characters and environments. The book is described as knowledgeable, inspiring, and unique.
"...It is knowledgeable and inspired, written with a quirky sense of humour by the unique and multi-talented Elizabeth Watasin...." Read more
"It is an engrossing and unique whodunnit. I loved the main character and her struggle with her past as she begins to realize who she is now...." Read more
"...The world Watasin has built is fascinating and I adore spending time in it." Read more
"Very Interesting...." Read more
Customers enjoy the character development. They find them likable.
"It is an engrossing and unique whodunnit. I loved the main character and her struggle with her past as she begins to realize who she is now...." Read more
"Richly imagined characters and an offbeat dark Victorian London make for another great story involving re-animated ghost good guys..." Read more
"...I have to say it is a bit strange but I have come to love the characters. An easy and fun read, with a good story. I can't wait until the next book." Read more
Top reviews from the United States
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- Reviewed in the United States on November 3, 2014Skull and Ghost are back! Art is the artificial ghost, Jim is the animated skull. They are supernatural agents of HRH Prince Albert's Secret Commission and reside at the House of Vesta, a private club where clients are sophisticated and queer. In their second case together they are dealing with a black arts surgeon who kills poor people to sell their bones to the rich in need. Art, being over six feet tall, could be the next victim.
Like her predecessors, Art has no memory of who she was before her death. She wants to know and has already found out that she is a Quaker and a sapphist. While getting close to Manon, the Dryad at the House of Vesta, she is also reconnecting with the Skycourt sisters, mad journalist Helia and adventuress Helene.
'Bones' takes us to the college of surgeons in front of which anti-vivisection protesters have set up camp. It takes us to the Black Market where people desperate for healing go as a last resort. We are introduced to streetwise Delphia, Jim's new assistant. We discover many more wonders in this mechanical and eldritch London from 1880.
'Dark Victorian: Bones' is an entertaining sequel to the fantastic 'Dark Victorian: Risen'. It is knowledgeable and inspired, written with a quirky sense of humour by the unique and multi-talented Elizabeth Watasin. It is a must-read for fans of gothic steampunk.
The next instalment, 'Ice Demon', was released recently.
- Reviewed in the United States on May 9, 2013It is an engrossing and unique whodunnit. I loved the main character and her struggle with her past as she begins to realize who she is now. A great exploration of a very different world but with well-rounded characters and good environments. I wait anxiously for each new novel by this author.
- Reviewed in the United States on October 18, 2013I will admit, it took me awhile to get immersed into The Dark Victorian: Bones (Vol. 2). It starts off with quite a fascinating premise but with a slow pacing because of the incredible detail that is taken to introduce the reader into a Victorian London where a mysterious and diabolical dark arts surgeon is removing the bones and organs out of healthy poor people while keeping the rest of their body intact. That's not to say that the detail and the slow pacing is a bad thing. Even though I would have liked the pace to be faster, I immediately appreciated the slow build up to the action because of how it acquainted the reader with London, the dark-art crime that's haunting the city, and the heroine of the novel, Art, and the animated skull, Jim Dastard. Both of these characters are so unique and unusual that you can't help but be intrigued by them, especially by the kick-ass awesome Art. This is a kind of female protagonist who, just like the author does in attention to detail in her world-building, comes to life with each passing page. She's no damsel and is certainly not of her time; she's way, way ahead of her time, and that is what makes this character more amazing considering the time era where the book takes place in. Even the minor characters are complex and unique in their own way.
The plot, as the reader can tell from the very beginning, is a whodunnit novel. It brings to mind and has the feel of being part Sherlock Holmes and part Les Aventures de Tintin (The Adventures of Tintin) mixed with a little dash of Dickens in its tight and rich writing style. And if you are still confused as to what "steampunk" is, well, this novel will certainly be an exemplary example of just how steampunk fiction is done! As with stories of that ilk, we're engrossed in the exploits of the main characters as they try to solve the macabre mystery. There is more behind the surface though. There are a lot of layers to this story that makes it more interesting and unique. There are dark aspects as well as very enlightening areas, mostly in particular to Art's past and also the exploration of "unconventional" sexual relationships. The most intriguing aspect of this story, though, was the world-building, particularly when we are given a detailed look at a secret club called Vesta where wealthy "sexual deviants" unite. The details are so rich that you feel like you are actually there. A lot of times I often find that some authors don't take enough time creating those rich details to take the reader into the world that they've created that is far different from our world. When that attention to detail isn't taken on, it leaves me as a reader not really feeling immersed into the author's fantasy, sci-fi, or steampunk world. In the case of The Dark Victorian: Bones (Vol. 2), the author not only takes that attention to detail quite seriously, but she's made it into a work of art that I can actually visualize even with my eyes closed. She's created characters and a romantic/adventure plot that---although dark, chilling, and very strange and disturbing at times---is quite compelling and remarkably impressive.
This novel may not be for everyone. It's a melting pot of all sorts of genres and influences---steam punk, adventure, romance, crime, and mystery---and involves lesbianism (though at the time where the story takes place, the term "lesbian" didn't exist), an artificial six-foot tall ghost lady warrior (Art), an animated skull, and all sorts of other interesting wonders that should be read to find out what they are! Though the novel started off slow for me, it does pick up, and once it does, you are lost in it. Ms. Watasin's creative mind and exquisite writing is one not to be missed or taken for granted. This novel is part of her The Dark Victorian gothic steampunk series but can be read as a standalone piece without having to read the first volume. Whichever volume you choose to dive into first, you won't regret it and will be in for a journey that is dark, fun, witty, creative, and truly unique.
- Reviewed in the United States on October 29, 2018One of my new favorites, glad I stumbled into this. Have purchased all books in series. Now going to read the next one.don't miss out read now.
- Reviewed in the United States on November 4, 2014Once again Artifice and Jim Dastard must solve an occult mystery, this time one of dead bodies being found completely without their skeletons. But this book is not only a mystery. As a matter of fact, this mystery is actually a minor plot in this book, which is far more concerned with the mystery of Artifice's pre-resurrection identity, and her lovelife where it concerns Manon the dryad-prostitute and Helia Skycourt, the demon-tainted journalist. It also spends a great deal of time with Delia, Jim's new assistant, the cozy triangle of Manon-Arlette-Oleg, Helia and sister Helene and their connection to Artifice past and present, and Jim's quite odd manner of speech. The world Watasin has built is fascinating and I adore spending time in it.
- Reviewed in the United States on May 12, 2013Richly imagined characters and an offbeat dark Victorian London make for another great story involving re-animated ghost good guys (or girls, as the case may be) and a talking skull in a top hat. Very much looking forward to a next installment!
- Reviewed in the United States on July 23, 2013I am hooked on this series. I have to say it is a bit strange but I have come to love the characters. An easy and fun read, with a good story. I can't wait until the next book.
- Reviewed in the United States on May 30, 2015It's an easy read and an enjoy a me series.
Top reviews from other countries
- PaulaReviewed in the United Kingdom on May 29, 2016
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
excellent read and lovely series.
- hazeyfantaseyReviewed in the United Kingdom on May 14, 2015
4.0 out of 5 stars A fascinating read
This is book#2 in series and I enjoy the concept even though the subject matter is really rather dark. A fascinating read but not as funny as Risen.