The glass books of the dream-eaters is a mystery/thriller set in an unspecified European city in what seem to be Victorian times, and unites three central characters who, despite different individual motivations, band together to prevent a mysterious cabal of politicians, royalty, and wealthy dignitaries from carrying out a dastardly plan to acquire power across nations. Although we know the central characters motivations, we don't always know the intentions of each member of the cabal. The central characters, Miss Temple, Cardinal Chang and Doctor Svenson were sympathetic and intriguing, and I found myself caring about their fates, although at 752 pages it was quite a slog! I felt the book was repetitive in parts and could have done with some editing down. The language was at times over-the-top, and occasionally comic, but it didn’t stray too far into parody. It reminded me somewhat of Mark Gatiss’s Lucifer Box novels, though these are screamingly funny parodies, whereas Dahlquist’s is a straightforward adventure.

The edition I read had beautiful covers, and while I know you never should judge a book that way, I often do – it was wrapped in blue cellophane reminiscent of the blue glass which is a main ingredient in the story, and has fake foxing on some pages. It also had mock Victorian adverts in the back cover. I was drawn in by the packaging and the title, and found it a fun and entertaining read. It’s a very involved plot and I found the idea of what the cabal were up to an interesting and unique one. It has some very cinematic aspects and it could be adapted to film, which might solve the problem of the book being rather over-long.