I will be extremely excited if this book is going to movie adaptation. I have been deprived of a smart comedic literature for such a long time, I don't even remember when was the last time I read anything as funny as this. The last humorous, and equally gory book, I've remembered reading was Alfred Kropp. Months had already passed since I've finished that one. Heh. Well, here's the synopsis.
Queen Victoria is crowned; she receives the orb, the sceptre, and an arsenal of blood-stained weaponry. Because if Britain is about to become the greatest power of the age, there's the small matter of the demons to take care of first.
But rather than dreaming of demon-hunting, it is Prince Albert who occupies her thoughts. Can she dedicate her life to saving her country when her heart belongs elsewhere?
This story is loosely, very loosely, based on the life of Queen Victoria. A.E. Moorat incorporated demons and zombies into history with some illustrious fictional characters as well like Lord Quimby and his manservant, Perkins. Both of whom provided much of the comic relief throughout the book. This book is in the mashup genre, which has just started to appear around the bookstores in town (considering I had just realized about the existence of mashup genre). For example, Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, Bored of the Rings, Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monster, and so much more.
I had wanted to buy Abraham Lincoln first, but I bought this one instead. This book had sat around in my bookshelves for an amount of time I forgot about it for a while. So I started reading this perhaps a few weeks ago (I was busy with other things) and had just finished it an hour ago. This book is indeed an interesting experience, and it is funny as hell.
The plot is accordingly to the time period of Queen Victoria's life. It has a nice pace which gripped me from the beginning to the end of the story. It started first with the introduction of Lord Quimby and a certain hint that zombies' existence are not really surprising in that era. The conflict was immediately established with the death of the present king which prompted Princess Victoria's ascension to the throne. Now, this event proved to be a very big thing; for instance, the moment Princess Victoria received the news of the King's death, a succubus came to assassinate her before another memorable character of the book, Maggie Brown the Protektor, dashed into the rescue. Early suspense scenes like these are among the best things in the books, apart from the clever jokes and gory for mirth.
The characters are also presented in amusing ways; Queen Victoria is introduced earlier in the book writing in her diary expressing her utter dislike towards turtle soup, Lord Quimby is shown to be some-kind of a sex-deviant with a sort of affection for zombies (considering he became close to Perkins only when Perkins was a zombie), Maggie Brown is a no-nonsense warrior woman with a bad ass Scottish accent. All in all, none of the characters in the book is going to bore you down. And if you think this book do not provide character's development, you're really wrong. Yes, some of the characters are already fully developed like Maggie Brown and Lord Melbourne or Lord Quimby and Perkins. These characters are focused for their complexity or the adults who make occasional grave mistakes. Queen Victoria undergone a heavy development for example. She grew up from a naive young girl, having a crush on Prince Albert and anxious with her new responsibility, into a strong opinionated woman who took up swords to save her lover and protect her country as its Queen.
I really love this book for everything it is. I'm going to give this a 4 out of 4 stars.
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