8th grade and up
This book was one of those that acts on its title: it haunted me every time I passed it on the shelf, staying in my mind as one of those I meant to read, but never found the time. "Alaizabel Cray," that tiny little voice repeated inside my brain. "What a cool sounding name." Finally, I picked it up, read the blurb on the inside cover, and decided to give it a try.
The book is set in an alternative London, circa the 1890s, although it’s never quite clear how "circa" it is. There are gas lights and horse-drawn carriages, but there are also dreadful and awesome airships and electricity. In the perpetual fog that blankets the cityscape dwell the wych-kin, gruesome and frightening creatures of the night that prey on the lowly, the forlorn, and the forgotten of London’s people. The wych-kin are growing in strength and number, and only the new breed of wych hunters, those like Thaniel Fox and Cathaline Bennett, with their Wards, talismans, guns, and daggers, stand between the foul, undead things and the citizens in their homes. Thaniel is, if not happy, then at least content in his life as a wych hunter until the night he meets Alaizabel Cray. This beautiful, bedraggled girl, whether mad or possessed, is the key to either London’s salvation or its destruction. For there are dark forces at work in high places, and it’s up to Thaniel to stop them. If you’re looking for a creepy adventure story, with psychology and science thrown into the lot, look no further. This book satisfies from beginning to end.
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