Something is off about all the situation. The old Scottish Castle, the too beautiful and too cold Lady, the sounds, the atmosphere. The mysterious children, the dreams, the...missing souls?
Logical 12-year-old Kat tries to find a logical explanation - but could her Great Aunt Margaret be right, could there be a magic going on?

This steampunk Gothic dark story has entertained me, which is more than can be said about many books I have read this year. Sure, Ransom Riggs does this and better - yet, there is an entertaining and reading quality I see and enjoy here (and Ransom Riggs goes for much more horror! This book can be safely given to your *mature* preteens/teens - at least I would enjoy it at that age).

And the open ending suggest a series - which I would like. Sure, Lady Eleanor has been stopped - but who is even darker Magister and what are his plans and reasons to do all the soul-catching?
Bring it on!

I really wanted to like this book. The title and cover are enticing, and the premise looked very promising. I read about halfway through, and it was hard for me to care much about finding out what happens next. I feel like too much information was handed out directly, so I didn't need to think or imagine what was happening. Also, one of the children swears, and although "bloody" is not really a swear word nowadays, in the time period it was set in (mid 1900s), it would've been considered very crass. The book is supposedly set in England, but there were so many non-British terms that didn't give me the British vibe I was expecting. I'm sure some kids will still enjoy this story, but there was more promised than delivered for me.