The Curator
March 26, 2023 2:30 PM - Subscribe

It begins in an unnamed city nicknamed “the Fairest”, it is distinguished by many things from the river fair to the mountains that split the municipality in half; its theaters and many museums; the Morgue Ship; and, like all cities, but maybe especially so, by its essential unmappability.

Dora, a former domestic servant at the university has a secret desire—to find where her brother went after he died, believing that the answer lies within The Museum of Psykical Research, where he worked when Dora was a child. With the city amidst a revolutionary upheaval, where citizens like Robert Barnes, her lover and a student radical, are now in positions of authority, Dora contrives to gain the curatorship of the half-forgotten museum only to find it all but burnt to the ground, with the neighboring museums oddly untouched. Robert offers her one of these, The National Museum of the Worker. However, neither this museum, nor the street it is hidden away on, nor Dora herself, are what they at first appear to be. Set against the backdrop of a nation on the verge of collapse, Dora’s search for the truth behind the mystery she’s long concealed will unravel a monstrous conspiracy and bring her to the edge of worlds
posted by jazon (2 comments total)
 
The Amazon pages features this brief review: "Owen, you are a far better writer than your father, a wonderful world-maker." (It's unclear who is the "wonderful world-maker" and so I can't tell whether this is faint praise or a huge encomium.)

So this is horror master Stephen King's son. Maaaan, it takes a lot of brass to venture into such a famous parent's field -- which I admire, so I will definitely give this book a shot.
posted by wenestvedt at 7:26 AM on March 27, 2023


I realize I didn't include the Author in the post - so yes, this is written by Owen King. I had read Sleeping Beauties that he wrote with his famous father, this is the first of his solo works I've read.

I enjoyed The Curator but it's hard to classify - it is SF&F but it's also kind of weird and magical and strange. He's not "Full On King" but has his own approach and voice. His apple fell far enough from the tree, but you can tell where it came from.
posted by jazon at 8:05 AM on March 27, 2023


« Older Time Team: Season 22 - Dig One...   |  Kokdu: Season of Deity: Kokdu:... Newer »

You are not logged in, either login or create an account to post comments