What an absolute pleasure.

Liss’ narrative style is dazzling from the get-go, and I was swept up immediately into both the protagonist’s mind and Victorian London. Liss’ talent for transporting the reader effortlessly, and within seconds, must be commended. The eccentric plot line is often simultaneously evocative and hysterical, and I will certainly be recommending the work to anyone interested in historical, quirky, or fantastical fiction. I can’t believe I have never read anything by Liss before!

Thank you to NetGalley and Tachyon Publications for the advanced copy!

Upfront: I have always been a fan of David Liss' novels, even since A Conspiracy of Paper. I love the way he explores hidden history through his stories. His writing is peppered with the type of small details that bring a moment in time alive. Yet, his novels are more than simply history lessons. He tells a wonderful story with fascinating characters. I was excited to have the opportunity to read an advanced copy of his new novel, The Peculiarities, courtesy of NetGalley and Tachyon Publications in exchange for an objective review.

Set in vividly detailed Victorialn London, The Peculiarities is historical fiction with a supernatural bent, a comic picaresque romp, a love story, an extraordinary fantasy where women give birth to rabbits and men slowly turn into trees, and a riveting drama of a banking family slowly being destroyed from within. Liss' tale is filled with familiar faces, including Aleister Crowley, and Arthur Conan Doyle tangled up in complex and murderous conspiracies and secret societies. A young Thomas Thresheis is set on discovering why his family bank appears to be purposefully failing, and why his brother is dead set on Thomas marrying a woman he does not love. There is so much plot afoot, and rather than causing considerable confusion, it's great but serious fun as the stakes are high. It is a different and mesmerizing tale, drenched in both history and fantasy.

A joy, a laugh, a total pleasure. How can I express how much I enjoyed this book.! I have read several other books by Mr Liss and this is what drew me to this one. That said, while I have enjoyed all of his books I found this one completely different and refreshing. The other books were historical fiction, engaging stories created within a mostly believable historical context. The peculiarities may use historical places and people, but without any pretense of believable or indeed even of plausibility. And therein lies the joy. While I was enjoying each page of the book I couldn't help imagining that Mr Liss had enjoyed writing each page ----- and with a smile on his face the entire time. this was one of those rare books where the ending didn't matter. sure, I wanted to know how it would end, but that felt far less important than the pleasure that came from each chapter. I cannot even begin to try to summarize the plot; it would just sound too ridiculous. And indeed, that is the very point -- the whole thing was ridiculous. But who cares, the story built one ridiculous idea on top of the next --- and left me wanting for more. This book felt like the near perfect antidote for dealing with the stress and strain of the pandemic. I greatly thank Netgalley for sharing a copy and to Mr Liss for writing this unique and wonderful book.

The Pecularities was a very good read, I particularly appreciated how the historical atmosphere was done, with a lot of actual references, real characters and facts mixed with magic.
The apparition of alternative humans, the reality of the consequences of breaking oaths, all the bizarreries of a world slowly but ineluctably changing made for a very attractive read. Guessing things was also quite enjoyable, especially when one was still surprise in the end.
Incidentally (I was curious and went googling) there actually was a real story about a woman who supposedly gave birth to rabbits - even if it wasn't anything like live ones and if it's rather easy to understand how the entourage was mistaken and thought she could have been gravid with rabbits (of course, she wasn't !).
Another strong point was the strong underlining feminism, without any anachronic modernism.
And to finish, the cover is gorgeous and the reason why I first spotted the book!

1899. London is about to turn a new century leaf and life has never been stranger. In fact, it’s downright peculiar. There are irregularities with the world, women are birthing rabbits, people are changing appearances, magic seems to be on the rise but there are few who can understand it and fewer still to control it.
A challenging time to come of age and for a young Mr. Thresher, a scion to a prosperous banking family, it is a belated in many ways ascendance. All he has known until now was a life of leisure, funded by his older brother, the bank’s director. Now he has been brought into the family business and the most unreasonable of demands have been laid upon him, mainly he is to marry a wealthy Jewish young woman…a woman he finds as unattractive of a prospect as the marriage itself. There is also a not insignificant matter of him slowly but surely turning into a tree.
So why is this marriage so important? Why has the bank been giving out strange loans and acquiring seemingly random properties all over London? What’s the deal with the Hermetic Order of The Golden Dawn? Time to step it up, roll up one’s sleeves (if only to find leaves sprouting there) and solve a few mysteries.
And there you have it. A very entertaining historical fantasy or alternate historical reimagining of a fascinating magic soaked London. Plenty of mysteries to solve, plenty of action, suspense, romance, etc. It’s a story about magic that actually manages to be magical. And a pleasure to spend time with. Slightly longer than ideal, but read well. The narrative unfolded itself in an exciting and imaginative manner. It did remind me of something so much the entire time and I can’t quite put a finger to it still, so it was like a two day déjà vu for no reason. And I found some of the plot twists (especially those of personal nature) to be quite predictable. But overall it was well worth a read. London, as many places, has been reimagined as magical before, but it’s always nice when it’s done as proper literature. So yes, charmed, I’m sure. Recommended. Thanks Netgalley.

David Liss is known for his somewhat baroque novels usually dealing with finance or speculation or similar matters revolving around money, and this novel is no different. In an England wherein people are turning into animals and women truly are giving birth to rabbits, a young man of a banking family finds strange goings-on in the bank and investigates, learning about the real-life Hermetic Order of the Ancient Dawn and coming into contact with figures like William Butler Yeats, Aleister Crowley, and others. With the help of a motley group of friends and allies, he must use maths as magic to stop extra-dimensional killers and the bank's board from bringing about worldwide devastation. Liss's writing style is meant to emulate the writers of the period, but I've never thought this to be very good--instead, in instills a sense of dullness to the writing and to the plot and feelings of the characters, and I find it incredibly distasteful to emulate, unchecked, the antisemitism and other prejudices of the time period. But if you don't mind that the narrator is an antisemite and mostly a jerk, feel free to read. It's too bad that Liss's desire to recreate the nastier aspects of Victorian writing overshadow theclever ideas that make up the plot and the interesting characters.

3.75 stars. This historical fantasy was a little iffy in the beginning, but it got much better after a certain point.

Thomas Thresher is a 23 year old man who has lived a mostly carefree life without any hardships or obligations. Now he has a low-level clerical job at his family’s bank in London. On top of the tediousness of his job, his older brother, Walter, is pressuring him to marry Esther, a wealthy woman. Neither of whom have any interest in the other.

Oh, and Thomas is also mysteriously growing leaves on his body. He thinks it might be connected to something called the Peculiarities, which are strange occurrences and creatures that no one is really talking about.

In addition to all that Thomas has begun to notice strange dealings at the bank, dealings that are not conducive to a bank making money. Thus, Thomas goes on a journey to uncover the bank’s odd dealings and to learn more about these Peculiarities.

This book artfully combines magic with mythology and historical figures. Lycanthropy, Ovid influences, rabid rabbits and secret societies all blend together in this late nineteenth century tale.

I was excited that I got approved for the ARC of this, then as I began reading it, I slowly started to hate it. I thought the main character was a whiny, self-pitying, insufferable man who equates his problems with that of persons of colour. I was going to stop reading it after some horrific descriptions of sexual assault. But then I read a review that said that the story was presented this way purposefully, so I continued, not fully convinced, but willing to see where it went. I’m glad to say that the story did improve about fifty pages in. And while, Thomas may have started out as a privileged brat, he goes through a major character arc that I quite enjoyed. All of the characters were well-developed. I enjoyed Aleister Crowley’s character the most; he was as funny as he was arrogant. There was also a big reveal at the end that I did not see coming.

Thank you to Netgalley and Tachyon Publications for this e-arc.

The Peculiarities was an enjoyable fantasy adventure story. I liked the style of the narration, which worked well for the piece, and I had fun following Thomas on his journey as he fought to find the truth behind the goings on at his family bank while also combating the supernatural threat of the Peculiarities. It was amusing to see some real life figures like Aleister Crowley make an appearance in the tale, giving the book the vibe of an alternate history. The world building was mostly well done. I had a few questions, but in general we only learnt more as Thomas learnt more, and he did not have a perfect knowledge of how everything worked, so neither could we. I didn't really get the vibe of his first romantic relationship, where love seemed to spring up almost instantaneously; however, the other relationships in the book came across well. Overall, this is a different and intriguing tale and I recommend it to fantasy fans looking for something with a bit of a twist. For me it was a 4-star read.

This was as it's title suggests peculiar. The writing style is different and I found I had to really concentrate on the words. It has an old-time sort if writing style reminiscent of the century that it's based in but slightly modernized. It's written in second person? Which I always find hard to connect with personally as I'm reading.

I did not like the main character at all, he seemed very dull and obstinate. The story takes a while for anything to really happen and gain momentum.

The aspect of the Peculiarities was a very interesting concept with interesting characters, as well as the inclusion of literary influences such as Doyle and Crowley.

This is not a bad read and I can see why there are people who enjoyed it, it just was not a read that I was expecting from it's description and all together. I do urge people to read it and see for themselves as I am sure it will be a treat for some or not for others.

Thomas Thresher has a boring junior job working in the family bank with no prospect of promotion in the near future. His brother is keen for him to marry and he has no inclination to do that. In addition to all of this he is in the process of turning into a tree. All around London, people are experiencing weird transformations.
This is an unusual and original story but I just didn't enjoy it. I found the characters unpalatable and as much as I tried I couldn't get them to grow on me. Also, I didn't feel comfortable with the anti-semitic language. Not my cup of tea.

4.5 stars

Such an imaginative, compelling take on the matter of magic! The Peculiarities shines in its storytelling, its worldbuilding, and the development of its characters.

However. Reader, beware: The first few chapters, I worried I might not like the book terribly much, if at all. The main character (Thomas) was so passive, the other characters so lightly sketched, and a few chapters in there was a disturbing scene that made me worry the book as a whole was going to be in bad taste.

But as it turns out, the beginning was calculated. As the book goes on, Thomas turns from a listless superfluous man into a perceptive and determined hero; the side characters are revealed, through Thomas’s increasing attention to them, to be complex and interesting. And the world, though cruel, is a place of hope. This is a novel which demonstrates real character growth and change over the course of the story, and not just because our protagonist is slowly turning into a tree. I loved this book, and I think those who stick past the first few chapters will as well.

Content warnings: rape, anti-Semitism

I'm not really a fan of the writing style in this book, it feels like the author is trying too hard to make themselves sound smart, which they do, don't get me wrong. I read to escape not to read a page only to have to reread it approximately 3 more times simply to understand what the author is trying to portray.

Great world-building, story, and characters

I loved everything about this book. The world building is excellent. The magic system makes sense and is consistent throughout the book. There is great character development with a protagonist I cared about. The story is intriguing, with some very good humor. Overall, this is a great book. Thank you to Netgalley and Tachyon Publications for the advance reader copy.

The Peculiarities by David Liss
Thank you to Tachyon Publications and NetGalley for providing an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. The book will be published on September 7th, 2021.

Writing: 4/5 Characters: 4/5 Plot: 5/5
In the Age of Peculiarities, women give birth to rabbits, well-dressed ghouls roam the streets of London, individuals start sprouting leaves, and terrible luck to those who break contracts — though these oddities mostly impact the very poorest, so who cares? It’s 1899 and Thomas Thresher — the younger, largely ignored, son of the Thresher banking family — turns to the occult to find out why the bank seems so very involved in the pervasive disasters. He seeks to save the bank and return it to its original charter — to serve those with nowhere else to go.

Portals to astral realms, a magical society, and Aleister Crowley himself are at the center of this wild-ride style adventure. Plenty of surprises, wry asides, and a strong sense of duty — but what I really love is that the ability to see and manipulate the patterns within mathematics is the powerful magic that is able to do what the best stylings of the Crowley gang cannot.

A real page-turner — well-written, humorous, exciting, and with a wide array of interesting, non-stereotypical, characters.

Good for fans of Alix E. Harrow and Susannah Clark.

The Peculiarities is a unique occult tale about a young banker who becomes embroiled in a supernatural mystery set in Victorian London. A mysterious fog, strange maladies, and deadly creatures wreak havoc in an increasingly magical oriented London in this entertaining alternative history novel.

I have never read a book quite like this before which I am very pleased about. This was a quirky and unusual story with intriguing characters suffering from an array of pecuilarities that made this book absurd, devilishly comedic, and curious. In this story the magic of Victorian London was not something hidden, but rather, out in the open and accepted. Is there more power when things are hidden in plain sight? Or do visibility and obscurity need each other more than they realize for their own survival?

The secret societies, dark magic, and deadly plots conjured an arcane story about the power of being different in a world on the cusp of a supernatural transformation.

David Liss assembles a fascinating mingling of reality and suprareality in a book that brings together history and imagination. The Peculiarities was a unique and powerful reading experience.