The Strange Case of the Alchemist's Daughter

The Extraordinary Adventures of the Athena Club, #1

by Theodora Goss

Trade Paperback, 432 pages

English language

Published Feb. 26, 2018 by Saga Press.

ISBN:: 978-1-4814-6651-6

(21 reviews)

Mary Jekyll, alone and penniless following her parents' death, quickly finds herself drawn into the secrets of her father's mysterious past. A clue leads her to believe that Edward Hyde, her father's former friend and a murderer, may be nearby, and there is still a reward for information resulting in his capture—a reward that would solve all of her immediate financial woes.

But her hunt brings her not to Edward Hyde but to Diana, his daughter, a near-feral child left to be raised by nuns. With the assistance of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson, Mary continues her search for the elusive Hyde, and soon gathers around her more women, all of whom have been created through terrifying experimentation: Beatrice Rappaccini, Catherine Moreau, and Justine Frankenstein.

When their investigations lead them to the discovery of a secret society of immoral and power-crazed scientists, the horrors of their past soon arrive on …

When their investigations lead them to the discovery of a secret society of immoral and power-crazed scientists, the horrors of their past soon arrive on their doorstep as well, and now it is up to the five women to stop the malicious machinations of the Société des Alchemistes. Quite simply, it is time for the monsters to triumph over the monstrous.

5 editions

scmbradley reviewed The Strange Case of the Alchemist's Daughter by Theodora Goss (The Extraordinary Adventures of the Athena Club, #1)

Silly, but fun

3 stars

This was a fun, silly, adventure story throwing in lots of references to 19th century classic stories like Frankenstein, Jekyll and Hyde, the Island of Doctor Moreau etc. It has a bit of the "first book in a series, here's a bunch of characters" vibe: the story itself chugs along but isn't that interesting.

There were some clanging americanisms and anachronistic speech that snuck into the prose. I think if you're going to do this sort of pastiche, you could try a little harder to capture the style of the language of the original books.

I don't feel compelled to continue with the series.

Kathrin Passig reviewed The Strange Case of the Alchemist's Daughter by Theodora Goss

Review of "The Strange Case of the Alchemist's Daughter" on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

Es fing stilistisch durchschnittlich an, aber das Erzähldevice der sich ständig ins Erzählen einmischenden Romanfiguren hat mich dann doch interessiert, und ungefähr die Hälfte war auch gut und lustig. Aber es ist halt schwierig, wenn man sehr viele Figuren einführt und dann unbedingt von allen erzählen muss, was sie zu jedem Zeitpunkt anhaben und essen und erleben und wie genau die Haushaltsführung funktioniert. Ich finde es redlich und nicht verkehrt, das alles mitzuerzählen, aber hier führt es leider zu einer sehr zähen Zeitlupenhandlung, und im letzten Drittel passiert dann einfach überhaupt nichts mehr.

patchworkbunny reviewed The Strange Case of the Alchemist's Daughter by Theodora Goss

Review of "The Strange Case of the Alchemist's Daughter" on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

When Mary Jekyll's mother dies, she discovers a secret bank account used to make payments in connection with Mr Hyde. Mary cannot fathom why and faced with an uncertain financial future, she seeks out Sherlock Holmes to find out if there's still a reward for the capture of Mr Hyde. Their investigation leads them to meet many other young ladies who have been wronged by a mysterious society of alchemists.

The Strange case of the Alchemist's Daughter is the first book in Theodora Goss's Athena Club series, which follows family members from classic genre fiction. Whilst Mary is obviously Mr Jekyll's daughter, when her father was Mr Hyde, he had another daughter. There are also characters from Frankenstein, The Island of Doctor Moreau and Dracula.

Beatrice Rappaccini is a character from a short story (by Nathaniel Hawthorne) that I had to look up, but like the others she is given life beyond that short fiction. Some of the characters have had to lead lives as sideshow freaks in order to make a living, until Mary takes them in. I liked how it explored what happens outside those stories, that there are innocent people left behind.

I listened to this on audio and the characters interrupting the narrative all the time was a bit pointless and distracting. I don't know if this works better in print at all. Catherine is the one supposedly writing the story and they other characters keep chiming in to correct her or agree.

This first story also borrows from the Whitehall Murders attributed to Jack the Ripper and, like many writers before have done, an alternate narrative is given with a supernatural angle.

It was a little slow in places, spending a lot of time on each woman's backstory as well as the character comments. I think now that I'm familiar with all the characters I would consider reading more. It was simple, escapist fun set in a mock Victorian era, where attitudes to women and science are just starting to turn.

mageofmip@books.solarpunk.moe reviewed The Strange Case of the Alchemist's Daughter by Theodora Goss

Review of "The Strange Case of the Alchemist's Daughter" on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

3.5*

You don't usually have to do homework for a book you read for fun. But after reading about 50 pages of this book, I knew I would have to do just that. I felt in over my head at the mentions of Beatrice and Diana and Catherine. Who were these people? Why did it feel like I needed context for them, when this was the start of the series?

So I put the book aside and, with some easy research, found the other books I should read and started on them. If you're at all confused by the start of this book, you should definitely read [b:The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde|51496|The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde|Robert Louis Stevenson|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1318116526s/51496.jpg|3164921], [b:Rappaccini's Daughter|364985|Rappaccini's Daughter|Nathaniel Hawthorne|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1390176453s/364985.jpg|1189453], [b:The Island of Doctor Moreau|29981|The Island of Doctor Moreau|H.G. Wells|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1388230211s/29981.jpg|68894], and [b:Frankenstein|35031085|Frankenstein|Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1498841231s/35031085.jpg|4836639]. For more context, some other books you should read would be the modern [b:The Dark Descent of Elizabeth Frankenstein|38255342|The Dark Descent of Elizabeth Frankenstein|Kiersten White|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1518635930s/38255342.jpg|58014825], and of course, any of the Sherlock Holmes stories.

At this point, you might be thinking this story is crazy, and you'd be right. I haven't read a published book that read more like fanfiction in my life. And yet, it's just crazy enough to work. It's fun, and well-characterized. It's incredibly silly at times, but there's an interesting mystery here and aren't crossovers just so much fun to read or watch?

It's an odd little book, for sure. Somewhere in the realm between outright fanfiction like you find online, and a retelling. It's unique, and an easy read once you get the characters sorted out. And you don't need to read all those classics I listed in order to do so, things get explained in time. However, I feel I got more out of the characters knowing their original backstories and comparing them to how they were changed for this book. If there were women mentioned at all in the original tales, they got the short end of the stick. In this book, they're given a new chance at life in a way.

jayvall reviewed The Strange Case of the Alchemist's Daughter by Theodora Goss

Review of "The Strange Case of the Alchemist's Daughter" on 'Goodreads'

No rating

I just couldn't get past all of the narrator interruptions. I completely get that the author clearly thinks this is funny and/or cute, but it's distracting to say the least, and serves no purpose.

alien_sunset reviewed The strange case of the alchemist's daughter by Theodora Goss

Review of "The strange case of the alchemist's daughter" on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

Not bad, a fun little romp of a story, the writing was good and the story very engrossing, I found the interjections more distracting than anything and the characters a bit flat but otherwise a very good book