I received an advance digital copy in exchange for an honest review via NetGalley and the publisher. Thank you.
Great premise! The story was pretty great and I enjoyed the multiple points of view but overall the characters of felt a little thin and the ending left something to be desired. But I sure did enjoy my time.

The Curator is the debut novel of Owen King (yes, he is related to that King). It takes place in a nameless city nicknamed ‘The Fairest’, which is in the midst of a revolution where the aristocracy has been overthrown. The city is a bleak place full of little wonders that make it feel unique: the poor worship cats at ancient shrines, a floating morgue ship shows off preserved bodies of famed criminals for the rich to gawk at, and a secret society operates from the shadows. The story mostly focuses on Dora, a young woman who, in the aftermath of the revolution, tries to gain ownership of a strange building called The Museum of Psykical Research. Dora’s late brother was enmeshed with the Museum before his untimely death, and she believes the building holds some answers. Unfortunately, she arrives at the museum to find it burned to the ground, and instead is given curatorship of a neighboring one, The Museum of the Worker. The story unfolds in the aftermath of the revolution and peels back the mysteries surrounding the city, the revolution, and the forces that threaten it.

The Curator is incredibly well-plotted. Honestly, it is one of the most tightly plotted books I've ever read. King manages to weave an intricate web that connects nearly every character the reader encounters, no matter how throwaway they might feel. The background train driver or scarcely-mentioned roommate might end up getting their own POV chapter by the end. This book feels like a love letter to the plotter's muse: seemingly small actions and dialogue end up connecting to one another in elegant ways. These are often quite subtle, and The Curator rewards careful readers. Once I realized this, my entire approach to reading it changed, and I started actively highlighting small things or background characters that stood out. My diligence rewarded me with a burst of endorphins every time I pieced together another layer of the connective tissue. And those are just the ones I noticed—The Curator is a book that begs for a reread almost immediately after finishing, and I have no doubt that more nuances would reveal themselves during a second trip.

If books were rated on plotting alone, The Curator would be an easy five stars. Unfortunately, other aspects aren't done as well. Many characters feel paper-thin, and more like personified bullet-points than nuanced individuals. In fairness, these are often interesting bullet-points, and there are some good moments, but this is a book where plot always comes before character. Personally, I was fine with the trade—the plotting is so precise and there were so many characters that it didn’t bother me that they didn’t have much individual depth.

But what really makes The Curator hard to recommend is its pacing. The intricate plotting reveals itself less as a focused march towards a climax and more throughout a collection of scattered vignettes from multitude of perspectives. In many ways, its similar to a slice-of-life novel, but with much darker themes and tone. The chapters are well-written and I found King's prose to be very consumable throughout (with the exception of an awkward opening), but unfortunately it makes the pacing feel incredibly slow at times. There are a lot of little things happening that seem to have no impact at all in moving the story forward, and while it does undoubtedly move, it does so at a languid pace. It is worth mentioning that this also created a sort of richness to the city, so it isn't entirely without benefit, but I would have still preferred a faster pace.

King's debut is one of big strengths and but weaknesses, and he's undoubtedly talented as a writer. Ultimately, I found the journey of The Curator to be better than the final destination, and I expect this will be a book that creates both vocal admiration and enmity. I simultaneously really enjoyed my time with it, and left wanting it to better than it was. If the strengths appeal to you, and you can ignore the weaknesses, you might find it to be something special.

3 ½ out of 5 stars

You should read The Curator if:

- You like books with intricate plotting where everything seems to connect together.
- You’re fine with slow books that meander towards a destination.
- You’re fine with dark tones and themes—this is not a happy book.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Where to begin. The story takes place in an unnamed city with a rich monarchy and ruling class, and significant number of poor. After a revolution, buildings are being given to those loyal to the revolution. Dora, the lover of one of the student revolutionaries, wants The Museum of Psykical Research, where her deceased brother did work, but the building was nothing more than a burned out shell. Her lover, Robert, changes the paperwork so she can instead have The National Museum of the Worker. She sets about cleaning and repairing the items in the museum. Soon, she notices that things are not as they seem.

Throw in the poor populace that worships cats, a Morgue Ship, political instability, and a murdering government official, along with a legion of other characters and their backstories, and you have this book that slowly plods along to its unremarkable ending.

Thank you Net gallery for the advanced copy.
This was quite a quirky and different kind of a book. Multiple points of view of well, dying. Sort of. The end was a little choppy but would definitely recommend.

Unfortunately this book is not for me and I’ll be DNF’ng. I really enjoyed Sleeping Beauty so thought I’d enjoy another book by Owen King, but the Dickenson flavor and prose is just not my cup of tea.

This book is a really interesting concept; however, I do not think it is really for me. It just didn't resonate with me, which happens from time to time, but it's no fault of the Owen King. I really liked SLEEPING BEAUTIES so I know King is a good and capable author. THE CURATOR is well written, so I would definitely recommend for someone who likes dark mysteries.

I did not finish this title.

In short, it was cumbersome and the characters were not developed enough to be likeable (halfway in to the book). Characters were dumped in, given a lenghty back story, and then disappeared in favor of someone else.

The concept, the premise attracted me. Odd mix of fantasy and government coup, in what felt vaguely Victorian. It should've worked. And for some readers, it certianly will.

The "romance" bothered me greatly. Clearly, sex was a means to an end. Dora was uninterested and uninvolved--just "lay there and took it" in a way that is demeaning for even an underdeveloped female character. Every sexual encounter felt like amateur porn.

I know this will be a 5-star read for someone, but it's definltely not for me.

I enjoyed this story from Owen King. Great characters, good story line and CATS! Immense talent definitely runs in the King family, but with each a unique style of their own.

While this is a long book and really hard to stick with at first - I'm glad I did.

It's not my normal genre but it will definitely stick with my for awhile.

The characters weren't exactly likeable, I did find myself rooting for D & Bobby towards the end.

A little too graphic for me.

This book wasn't quite what I expected, but I loved it! I would LOVE to buy a copy of this book for myself and I would definitely recommend it to anyone that enjoys fantasy. It was extremely original and inventive. The co-existence of worlds and the whole magic system was lovely, although there are still enough unanswered questions that I would love a sequel, if the author ever chose to explore this universe further. I also really enjoyed the discussion of classism, not just with the revolution itself but with the scholars frowning upon the poor for worshipping cats, etc.

This book takes a while to get going and I almost gave up, but it really gets good around 25% in. The middle chapters were very well paced, and the last few chapters were especially exciting. It felt like a nice payoff for the slow build-up.

It switches perspectives a LOT, sometimes to that of a character that was mentioned once 50 pages ago, and there are also a lot of small, seemingly trivial details sprinkled throughout that end up being very significant later on. This sometimes requires you to go back a few chapters to remind yourself where you've heard that name before. This was a little confusing at first, but everything comes together so satisfyingly that I cannot complain too much. In fact, it makes me excited to reread this book because I'll be able to pick out all of the foreshadowing that I completely missed the first time around.

I really, really wish we had gotten more of Lionel and Mosi. They were pretty important characters, but we didn't get to see much from their perspective; it's a shame because they were my favorites and I loved their relationship. I think that the story would have really benefited from a more in-depth look at their interactions and their role in the revolution. Likewise, I wish we had learned more about the actual revolution itself. The story focuses on the aftermath, and while we learn the gist of why the revolution happened, we don't get to see what it actually looked like.

The only Owen King book I have read was Sleeping Beauties (which was co-written along with Stephen King) which I liked. But with The Curator, I just couldn't seem to get into it.

I really did enjoy the concept of this book, and some of the whimsical prose scattered throughout the book. But the cerebral flow of the writing made it a struggle for me to follow the story. I had no idea what was going on but kept pushing forward thinking it would come to fruition, but halfway through the book I still didn't really know what was going on, and I wasn't invested enough to care.

I felt like there was a lack of characterization. I just wasn't interested and didn't care for any of the characters, and felt like I never got to know any characters on a deeper level than the surface.

I really wanted to like this, but sadly I just couldn't get into this one.

I have written and discarded so many reviews for The Curator. They all said too much or not enough. So I’ve decided to just keep it extremely simple since I want to get a review posted before 2030.

I hadn’t read a big book since I think Fairy Tale back in September of last year. It isn’t really a surprise that the next one I chose was by another King. This is an imaginative story where cats are revered and since I’m a cat person right away this book got lots of great meows from me.
Dora who is not a cat is looking for her brother, even though he is dead. This story is just a little less than 500 pages and it’s a journey to another world. The author has created such an interesting place as we follow Dora through the Looking Glass. Oh wait, that’s Alice, but Dora takes us on a magical adventure as well.

That’s all I’m going to say. Everything else you need to know is in the book synopsis. I wound up really enjoying my time with this story, and actually feel bad that I unlike one of the King’s cannot seem to find the right words to describe my experience.

I was really interested in the premise of this novel but found it difficult to connect with any of the characters, who did not seem like real people. I was also interested in the cats/religion aspect that was in all of the promotional copy but didn't really have all that much to do with the plot of the book. It all felt very long and complicated, honestly.

An absolutely brilliant fantasy in a world not so different from ours. But there is another plane of existence that is trying to make its way through. And cats may secretly run the world, or not. Fans of Thomas Pynchon would likely enjoy this book.

I mean, this book had me very intrigued with the description:
"a Dickensian fantasy of illusion and charm where cats are revered as religious figures, thieves are noble, scholars are revolutionaries, and conjurers are the most wonderful criminals you can imagine".
I definitely think that this will be a niche read that isn't for everyone but I did enjoy the fantasy/mystery blend in this one. I'll likely get a physical copy, just because I think a re-read might help me pick things I might have missed.
Thank you so much Scribner for the ARC of this one.

Thank you to NetGalley and Scribner for providing an eARC copy of The Curator by Owen King.

There is something about the way that Owen King writes that I love, especially after reading Sleeping Beauties. There is a beautiful twist on the third/second person voicing that draws you in and the wonderful world building makes you feel like you are there. I even more the love the fact that Owen King is expanding his short story and who wouldn't want to be in a world where cats were seen as gods? Dora is also a beautifully written character.

An interesting story that will certainly find its audience! Something a little too fantistical for me to fall in love with, but I appreicate the story and know it will work for many readers. I will continue to read from Owen King as well!

This was my first Owen King read. I’ve been reading Stephen and Joe Hill for years, and I was thrilled to give the other of the King brood a read. This book did not disappoint! I will certainly be reading most or all of the Owen King works I have missed out on this far. I have recently discovered my love of fantasy, and The Curator is exactly the kind of book that continues to fuel my love for this newfound (to me) genre.

Thank you, Netgalley and Publisher, for this Arc!!

I really wound up loving this. It's bizarre, whimsical, and has cat worship! I do feel like this is the kind of fantasy that half of the readers will not enjoy saying it doesn't make sense, and the other half will enjoy immensely as the treat it is.

Dora is the main character in this story, and really, the heart of this tale. There are many other characters throughout the book that different chapters follow, which, admittedly, was a bit confusing at first. But, my feelings on books like this is to simply go with the flow and trust the author and in this case, that definitely worked out!

There is revolution, a secret society and a whole entire community of people interacting throughout this novel. What made me really fall in love with this was how all these tiny pieces started fitting together at the end to make this quite amazing full picture that really is quite beautiful.

Out March 7, 2023!

There are some disturbing scenes and images, suicide, violence, torture.

I really wanted to like this one, as I like Owen King’s past book, Sleeping Beauties, but it was just okay for me. The writing was good, but I wasn’t very interested in the characters or this particular storyline.