A excellent novel from Jeanette Ng.
The author has a particular gift for writing atmospheric scenes, set in a well-realized and built world. The characters are engaging, the prose is excellent, and readers will be pulled along willingly through the story.
If you've not read any of Ng's work, yet, then I would recommend you rectify that tout suite.

There was much to enjoy here, but I found I couldn't connect with it. I'd read more from this author in the future though.

I loved this book! The story is so unique and well-written! I fell in love with the characters and the world-building. Such a great book

Catherine Helstone's brother is a missionary, but instead of going to Africa, like most of the missionaries of the time, he has gone to Arcadia ... a special land of the Fae. Because she has not received any word from him, Catherine follows to Arcadia where she is met by Miss Davenport - a changeling who is looking after Catherine's brother, Laon. But Miss Davenport, who has been appointed to her position by the Pale Queen, is not exactly looking after Catherine. Instead she takes Catherine to Gethsemane where she abandons the girl. Catherine is now in a very alien world, on her own. She begins to investigate this strange land of Arcadia and finds the journal of the previous missionary to make the journey. From this she learns that Arcadia has some dark secrets.

There seems to be a trend for me lately of books with really fascinating premises and strong characters and yet story-telling that just doesn't hold my interest. This is one such book.

I like the idea behind this book a lot, and I definitely enjoyed having Queen Mab as a character. All the characters were of some interest, in fact. But no one was outstanding. As I think back on this, the character who stands out the most to me was Queen Mab - Christine was just sort of a presence.

The pacing of this book felt very much like a Victorian romance ... slow. It is full of rich images that capture the imagination, but I need more than imagery to keep me interested in a book. Clearly I am not the intended audience for this novel.

Looking for a good book? Under the Pendulum Sun by Jeannette Ng is a fantasy that combines gothic romance pacing with a mix of average characters.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

Under the Pendulum Sun draws up a richly imagined world of fae in a gothic fantasy style, narrated through our protagonist, Catherine. Cathy set out to Arcadia to find her brother and support him in his Mission. The setting of the story is 19th century, with the rise of colonialism and the dispatch of missionaries who set out to bring the Word of God to what they consider heathens. So, similarly, these two think (like all missionaries) that they have come to enlighten the heathen Fae and turn them to God’s light or whatever. Now, I am an agnostic personally, but I have a love for mythology, and since this was concerning biblical mythology, I was interested in what direction it would take with the folkloric nature of fae stories and the stories of the Bible; I am not an expert in either but I have a passing knowledge thanks to endless works in literature.

Now, UtPS relies its mythology heavily on the Bible and knowledge of some other works related to it, preceding this era. Even though the time in Arcadia is moot, the characters belong to a time period, so I guess this can be considered historical. But if you are, like me, not well-acquainted with the Bible and the stories within, it is pretty easy to get lost in the many references the author makes to the Christian scripture. People who have done Bible studies or something might appreciate the allegorical nature of the story and the way the story challenges the scripture and derives from it, but I was mostly disinterested. The chapters begin with passages from the Bible, or works of literature or a fictional Arcadian Voyages collection, and it is all heavy with religious undertones. It passes the territory from mythology into theology, with Cathy and Laon both engaging in frequent discussion on the meaning of the scripture and how it applies to the fae. It also brings up the concept of attribution of soul, since the fae seem to outside the realm of the biblical parables and as such, questionable on the nature of their existence and of their souls’.

Mab, a big figure in fae stories, is also a prominent character here as she controls the realm of Arcadia and is toying with the siblings. The first half of the story is Cathy trying to figure out the mystery of Laon’s predecessor’s death, her developing friendship with Alice (a changeling), and the endless mysteries of Gethsemane, a castle-like place that is anachronistic and builds up most of the gothic atmosphere of the novel. With the reveals that come around mid-way through the novel, the novel takes a disturbing shift, and the earlier concerns are put away in favor of Cathy’s memories (which, by the way, are in-congruent with the ending). The plot drags in the second half until the comes close to the last quarter, which is when there are further twists that the plot takes. Learning about the nature of Arcadia and the connection to the religious tones of the book was great, but the part before it was tortuously slow to keep my awe for long. The romance also kinds of put a damper on the enjoyment, because at one point I was like, how is it any different from what you thought of it before? Just because a thing was revealed didn’t change the nature of the feelings, and I felt it was left pretty unresolved on that front.

The writing is, in a word, beautiful. The author creates a wholly unique world where time and distance itself have new meanings. Arcadia is illuminated by a literal pendulum sun and a fish-moon, and yet the concept of time exists as a construct of the fae ideals. That detail added whimsy to a world already bereft of convention and rules, and the warring nature of restrictions and its comparison to the illogical nature of age-old scriptures makes a nice counterpoint to the Victorian sensibilities of the main character.

Overall, I recommend this book for the wonderful world-building and the complicated plot, but this was also a book I did not fully enjoy for various reasons.

"Victorian missionaries travel into the heart of the newly discovered lands of the Fae, in a stunningly different fantasy that mixes Crimson Peak with Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell.

Catherine Helstone’s brother, Laon, has disappeared in Arcadia, legendary land of the magical fae. Desperate for news of him, she makes the perilous journey, but once there, she finds herself alone and isolated in the sinister house of Gethsemane. At last there comes news: her beloved brother is riding to be reunited with her soon – but the Queen of the Fae and her insane court are hard on his heels."

Yeah, I'm basically in this for the copy mentioning Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell.

Really great style--it's unlike anything I've read lately. Great world building, strange and gothic. The story has a few odd twists, but overall an interesting read.

So, this book is set in the land of the fae, called Arcadia, and our main characters are a missionary and his sister. It's set during the Victorian Era and Cathy, the main character, has set off to discover what has happened to her brother. While in Arcadia, she's also trying to discover what happened to the previous missionary who disappeared.

Now, I adored this book almost from the very beginning due to one particularly excellent quote describing the location of Arcadia 'It was said to be underground, but not. It overlaid our own, but not. It was another place, but not." This is one of the best descriptions I've read for describing the magical "Otherworld" found in so many Celtic texts. I know the author is a medievalist, and all that knowledge has really helped bring the worldbuilding to life. In particular, the fact that the only way to find Arcadia is by getting lost is an aspect I really like - it reminds me a lot of the medieval Irish voyage tales where they get blown off course and then discover magical islands.

Our main character, Cathy, is brilliant and I fell in love with her. Due to the time period, as a woman she naturally struggled with her place in society and so jumped at the chance to visit Arcadia. While in Arcadia, she stays at Gethsemane along with three intriguing characters - Mr Benjamin is a convert from the previous missionary, Ariel Davenport is a Changeling from London who serves as Cathy's guide and finally, there is the mysterious Salamander. The majority of the book is set in Gethsemane surrounding the actions and conversations of these characters and I just loved it. We get snippets of Ariel's life before she discovered she was a changeling, we get Mr Benjamin wanting to discuss Theology and how he fits into it as a fae and we get tiny snippets of Salamander. I was not so much a fan of Laon, but that's mostly just because I loved Cathy so much. She adores Laon and I just kept thinking to myself "But Cathy, you're so much better than him!"

The writing is brilliant and one aspect I adored was that the beginning of each chapter contains historical quotations, often adapted to be referring to the fae. I love it when novels do this as it's another great glimpse into the worldbuilding that goes on, plus it was extra fun seeing which quotations were from authors I recognised from my own studies.

To conclude, this is a fantastic novel focusing on the Fae that has had an incredible amount of research put into it. If you're looking for a Fae novel for the Fantasy Bingo then this is definitely a great pick. If you want a book set in the Victorian period but with fae? This is for you! Finally, if you strong worldbuilding and interesting characters, this is for you! Basically, I really love this book and would highly recommend it!

Wonderfully atmospheric ,convincingly gothic, interesting world building.The atmosphere is super convincing and the whole structure of the book is just stylistically brilliant.It is also predictable in the best way possible: as in, I figured things out just a bit before the protagonist and all the twists and turns made perfect sense in the wider world created here.You can tell how much research went into this book and how much Jeannette Ng knows. This research was wonderfully included in the story itself and made this so much fun to read - for the most part.However, there were several things that did not quite work for me. The book is very slow paced and the the characters need to be convincing. Other than that it was a good read.

In Under the Pendulum Sun we are introduced to Catherine, the sister of Laon, a missionary in Arcadia. Arcadia is the land of the Fae. The book is set in Victorian times, where there was a large push to promote Christianity in far-off lands and where better than in the Godless fairylands. Catherine arrives in Arcadia and is greeted by Ms Davenport, a changeling who brings her to Gethsemane. Gethsemane is a castle that her brother is staying in, as the previous missionary Roche set up his mission there. Unfortunately for Catherine, Laon is not there to greet her. Catherine is told on arrival that there are rules that she must follow that will keep her safe from harm.

Catherine has always been inquisitive by nature but has learnt, as all good girls must, to quell these impulses as much as possible. Catherine feels a small amount of jealousy towards her brother, as he was able to leave and travel to far off places. Catherine has had a feeling that Laon is in trouble as he has now been in Arcadia for three years and has stopped communicating with her, this has impelled Catherine to follow Laon to this strange land. Catherine, like all humans that have arrived in Arcadia, knows that any food she consumes must be salted by human hand with salt brought into Arcadia. Catherine is also told that she must not leave the castle as her safety outside the castle grounds is not a given. There are other rules about the castle, but no one will tell her why she must obey them, or what will happen if she doesn’t.
Along with Ms Davenport, Catherine spends her days with the other castle inhabitants, Mr Benjamin, a goblin who was converted to Christianity by the previous missionary. Mr Benjamin is the only Fae to do so and has many questions about his place in God’s plan. Mr Benjamin asks Catherine to help him answer these questions, as he believes that a sister is as good as a brother. The last inhabitant of Gethsemane is the mysterious Salamander who cooks all the food that Catherine eats, but who Catherine has never seen.

Under the Pendulum Sun has a gothic haunted house mystery feel to it. Catherine discovers a lot of half-truths and lies as she tries to find out what happened to the missionary that Laon replaced. Reading Roche’s diaries she picks up traces of what Roche was trying to discover, but Catherine also feels that there is someone else in the castle who is either trying to help or hinder her from finding out the truth. When Laon finally shows up in the novel he is distant and unlike the brother she remembers, Catherine hopes that this could be down to the stress of his job, as Laon has been petitioning Mab the queen of fairyland to allow him more access to Arcadia, rather than being confined to Gethsemane and the port.

There is a lot more action in the second half of the book as Catherine and Laon confront truths that they have been trying to ignore since they were children. There are some interesting discussions on sin and whether the Fae have souls or not. Although, I did feel that the author was trying to have it both ways, as there is a moral contradiction in Catherine’s behaviour as she believes that she has saved Laon’s soul by stopping him from committing murder, but doesn’t stop him from having sex before marriage, which would also count as a sin. As the book focuses a lot of time on morality and propriety in this age, I found, in my opinion, that the author had stopped following her own rules.

Queen Mab was probably the most interesting character in this story, as she makes people face their own truths. This seems to be true for not only the humans who have been allowed into Arcadia, but also her subjects. Mab is also destructive and vindictive, but this may be due to her very interesting back story. Those who belong to her court range from the beautiful to the grotesque, with Mab collecting curiosities as she leads Catherine and Laon deeper into the mysteries of Arcadia.

My biggest problem with the book was that I didn’t care enough about what happened to Catherine and Laon, whether they would get their wish of seeing more of Arcadia or if they would be stuck in Gethsemane forever. The book was beautifully written and there were moments of outstanding visualisation, such as the descriptions of the sun and the moon that flow across the Arcadian sky, but I felt that there has been too much moralising and justifications to really make this an enjoyable read.

I've taken my time reading this, but it's the sort of book that benefits from time to breathe (and time to haunt you). It's a distracting, sometimes-confusing, half-seen whirl of ideas and promises as its protagonist Catherine Helstone ventures into Faerie to find her brother Laon the missionary and help him save the souls of the Fae.

Needless to say, what she finds is not what she expects, and the book does wonders in giving you glimpses of a nightmare Faerie that is wrapped up in Gothic horror (no Victorian flower children here, it's all fangs and scales and blood and cruelty) - and in showing you the perseverance of love and hope.

It's also one of those books where I enjoyed the atmospheric journey, but wasn't completely sucked in until the final act, when I finally grasped the full picture and was utterly won over by the dark elegance and ambition of it all. Bravo. I can't believe this is a debut novel.

Well worth a read for those who enjoy tales that are measured, atmospheric, often ambiguous, religious, profane, and cruel in their beauty.

This was a gorgeously written, rather heavy book. It took me a while to get through but it was worth it. Interesting take on high fantasy, will definitely be seeking this author’s work out in the future.

I am conflicted. And as is customary in such cases here are my thoughts, first in listform and then more elaborated.

Pros:

Wonderfully atmospheric
Convincingly gothic
Interesting world building

Cons:

Pacing
Characters
That super gross twist (mostly this).

I found the premise to be absolutely wonderful: Catherine Helstone is on her way to visit her brother Laon – a Reverend and missionary. When she arrives nothing it quite what it seems – the housekeeper is elusive, her brother is gone, and the place she finds herself in is different than she expected. So far it sounds like a number of gothic novels I have read – and the language fit that feeling perfectly. However, her brother is a missionary not in Africa or Asia but in the land of the Fae – Arcadia. The people he wants to safe are not people, but rather the fae.

I thought this central idea was done exceptionally well – I adored how the story mirrored similar stories but always added its own twist. I loved how truly gothic this book (and especially the first half) felt. The atmosphere is super convincing and the whole structure of the book is just stylistically brilliant.It is also predictable in the best way possible: as in, I figured things out just a bit before the protagonist and all the twists and turns made perfect sense in the wider world created here.

You can tell how much research went into this book and how much Jeannette Ng knows. This research was wonderfully included in the story itself and made this so much fun to read – for the most part.

However, there were several things that did not quite work for me. The book is very slow paced and felt thus much longer than its 400 pages. Normally I do not really mind slow-paced books but then the characters need to be convincing. And while I thought Catherine was for the most part a wonderful protagonist, I thought her brother was a bit of a charisma vaccuum. Which is why I thought the book worked much better when he was not on the page.


Finally, my main problem with this book is a very spoilery one. So, you have been warned: do not keep reading if you do not want to be spoiled.

I hated the whole plot twist in the middle that quickstarted Catherine’s and Laon’s love affair (yes, you read that right). I do not care if she is a changeling and as such not really related to him (or not) – they grew up together, have memories of each other, they are siblings for all intents and purposes. I cannot deal with sex scenes between siblings.

Under the Pendulum Sun is a beautiful Gothic novel that manages to combine a dark mystery with the tricksy-ness of the fae.

Ng's writing is stunning. It's rich and lush, full of description and atmosphere. You can practically feel things moving in the shadows as you're reading. The language Ng has used fits perfectly with the story she's writing -- descriptions balancing on the edge of over-done, utilising old-fashioned styles of perhaps 'telling' more than is common now. It's all beautifully done and Under the Pendulum Sun could easily sit next to any of the classic Gothic Romance novels.

Ng also utilises a lot of classic Gothic tropes, blending them together into something fresh and new. There's the young heroine, exploring the isolated and creepy house, running through the halls in her nightdress. There are mysteries hidden in the books and in the walls, ghostly women hiding in the shadows. Under the Pendulum Sun would be perfect for anyone who's enjoyed Wuthering Heights, Jane Eyre, Dracula or Northanger Abbey.

Some other things.

The romance was beautifully handled -- bittersweet and heartbreaking.

The plot twists were awesome. A few times I thought I'd figured something out, was smugly pleased to have it confirmed, then was shocked when it twisted around again.

I liked that Cathy was 25 (I think?). An unusually age for a protagonist but it gave her a little more maturity, while the novel itself would definitely still appeal to YA readers with its themes of protecting family and finding yourself etc.

This review will be posted on my blog, Foxes and Fairy Tales on 3 Dec 2017.
https://foxesfairytale.wordpress.com/2017/12/03/review-under-the-pendulum-sun

Jeannette Ng’s debut novel UNDER THE PENDULUM SUN is a stylishly told Victorian gothic that prompts many moral reflections, even as readers revel in her sumptuous descriptions. Fans of classic novels like Jane Eyre, traditional fairy tales, and those with an interest in Christian theology, rejoice!

Miss Catherine Helstone embarks on a perilous journey into Arcadia, the Faelands, to reunite with her beloved brother Laon. Working as a missionary, Laon’s duty is to bring the Christian faith into Arcadia and convert the mercurial fae to the true faith; once as close as two people can be, Catherine fears that Arcadia has had a devastating effect on her now-distant brother, and prays that she isn’t too late to save him. But all is not as it seems in Arcadia, and the mysterious manor Gethsemane has secrets even darker than Cathy’s imaginings…

It’s not often that I’m left feeling conflicted about a book, but UNDER THE PENDULUM SUN is that rare beast. Jeannette Ng has penned a flawlessly-written story about complex characters in a fascinating world, but it failed to consistently hold my attention. As soon as I would feel immersed in the world of Arcadia and invested in Cathy’s emotional journey, the minutiae of Christian theology and doctrinal arguments would pull me back out again. Which is disappointing, because Ng’s world of pendulum suns, fish moons, and doors that should never be opened is a fascinating one indeed.

Ng masterfully crafts a sense of growing unease and “wrongness” that permeates traditional Gothic stories, implying many dark deeds and sinister plots at work beneath the otherworldly beauty of Arcadia. As Cathy seeks to unravel the mysteries of Arcadia, Gethsemane, and Laon’s behaviour, the feeling of impending disaster becomes more intense. Conflicting accounts of the previous missionary’s death, a mysterious and disturbing journal, and Cathy’s increasingly creepy dreams also contribute to the atmospheric land of the Fae.

Beyond the mission to convert the Fae and unravel the mysteries of Gethsemane, UNDER THE PENDULUM SUN is really a story about what it means to be monstrous, and who gets to assign that label to whom. Are Laon and Cathy better than the Fae simply because of their humanity? Or is it their humanity that brings them closer to the changeable nature of those they seek to convert than they ever considered? These questions become even more complex when the cruelty of the Fae and the immorality of Cathy and Laon’s true desires are compared to the strict dictates laid out by their beliefs. There’s a lot to unpack in this standalone novel, and although I found it difficult to stay invested in the story, the questions that Ng posed here kept me thinking for weeks afterward.

UNDER THE PENDULUM SUN us an eerie, unsettling, and accomplished first novel. While it didn’t hit all the right notes for me, I’m incredibly impressed by Jeannette Ng’s talent and I’m eager to see what she comes up with next.

I ALMOST bumped this up to 4 stars because it is such a unique and interesting book but ultimately decided to stick with 3. The world building is incredible and there are so many little details on what makes the world of faerie so uncanny even when the characters are dealing with something that should be familiar. I also love the idea of Christian missionaries trying to interact with the world of faerie and it's not something that I've ever seen before.

The majority of this book is built on character development and interaction and while I did find it ultimately satisfying I thought that a lot of the 'twists' were fairly predictable, especially when you factor in the fake historical documents at the beginnings of the chapters [which were a great touch! I love things like that]. Although my lack of surprise might just be because I read so many fantasy books, I have seen a few reviews on here saying that the person was very confused about what was going on so I guess your mileage may vary.

There are some really great revelations about the faeries at the end which is what ultimately really made the book for me and almost made me bump up my rating. But ultimately once I knew those things I kind of wished the book had spent more time on the actual biblical mythology of it all and less time on the missionaries. I don't know if there's a sequel planned but I for one would LOVE to have more direct knowledge of Mab's background and the founding of faerie. It's a great blending of biblical mythology and faerie lore.

I don’t think I’m going to finish this book. I was initially very excited at the idea of Christian Missionaries,from the Victorian era, visiting the land of Fairy, as that is such a novel concept, but this book has turned out not to be what I’d hoped. What I thought would be a kind of expedition to strange lands and peoples, with grand adventures, heroes and villains, turned out to be a lot slower and more contemplative. This isn’t a bad book, I just don’t think I’m the audience for it.

First, let me start off by emphasizing, for me, this is a very slow book. There’s almost no action, and little investigation of the Fairylands, even though I’m almost a third of the way through. The main character, a woman searching for her brother who has become lost in Fairyland, has been trapped in the same location since the beginning of the book, a large mansion where her brother resided. She is an acceptably brave and intelligent character, and I like hearing her thoughts as she narrates the story, but she hasn’t gotten a chance to have any real adventure, which I thought this book would be about. The most notable thing she has done is find an important book in the mansion’s library, meet a couple of fairy house servants, and hold a church service.

I also feel some type of way about missionaries in general (as in not approving of them) but so far the proselytizing has been kept to a minimum. It’s not that type of book, for which I am grateful, but I still don’t know if I want to keep reading it.

Under the Pendulum Sun is a dark, psychological fantasy in a gothic vein, paying considerable literary homage to authors such as the Brontës. Impressively, Jeannette Ng manages to keep her debut novel grounded in historical reality despite its taking place entirely in the faelands. She accomplishes this by immersing us entirely in the Victorian missionary mindset of her characters, a subject that she has clearly researched in great detail. To a modern fantasy reader, the idea of converting the fae to Christianity is obvious and absurd folly, but to Catherine Helstone and her brother Laon it is only the natural course of action. Since childhood they have dreamed of seeing distant lands, and for products of their time and place, such adventure is inexorably tied to the salvation of the "heathens." So what more thrilling country could there be to venture to than fairyland? And what nobler place to spread the word of God? And yes, it does indeed go rather poorly for them... but not necessarily in the ways you might expect given that premise.

In this alternate history, the English have established trade with the fae country known as Arcadia (also referred to at times as Elphane), at whose shores one can only arrive by getting lost. The sun here is a lantern on a pendulum, and the moon a fish that swims through the sky, constant reminders that this place is unlike any other known to humankind. The story begins with Cathy's arrival in Arcadia, anxious for news of her missionary brother and certain that he needs her help. She finds to her dismay that her brother's mission is a remote and near-deserted castle with no access to the local population, that her brother is not there, that no one will tell her where he is, and that she is not allowed to leave. So much for adventure, all Cathy can do is knit and make small talk with her changeling guide Miss Davenport, field theological questions she can't answer from the mission's sole convert, a gnome named Mr. Benjamin, and wonder what happened to cause her brother, once her ally and professed equal in all things, to abandon her to an empty and unfulfilled woman's existence in England. But the castle also holds a mystery that puzzles her. What happened to the previous missionary, Reverend Roche? Is the answer in the papers Cathy discovers, written in a language she cannot decipher, or in Roche's journal, which she has been instructed not to read?

Under the Pendulum Sun is a seeming contradiction of a book, set in a rich fantasy land, but with action contained to a single locale, wherein the characters incapable of questioning the existence of either their God or the fae magic that surrounds them. The first portion of the book is incredibly slow-moving, and while the pace picks up somewhat after Laon's arrival, followed by that of the fae queen Mab (known as the Pale Queen) and her court, it never ceases to be dense going. There's an incredible amount to unpack here, and a lot of it relies heavily on complicated theology. (I did a lot of Googling and re-reading of passages, which is part of why it took me a rather long time to finish.) Everything must hinge on the question of Arcadia's place in God's Creation, outside the bounds of the understood natural world as it is. What is the nature of the fae and their presumed souls? How might a human preach to them? And what point is there to parable in a land where everything is already in some way a story? These are just a few of the many questions posed.

But in addition to being ideologically dense, Under the Pendulum Sun is one of the most genuinely creepy and haunting books I've read in a long time. Mab holds the keys to inner Arcadia and had the power to grant true access to the faelands, but she is playing mind games with her "pet missionary" supplicant and his sister, and frighteningly dark ones at that. Unsurprisingly, sin turns out to be a major theme, as Arcadia contrives to test these mortals' convictions to their breaking points.

I'll admit, I went into this book sort of expecting a more pointed modern critique of religious ideology and colonialism, but this isn't a particularly "pointed" book; it's a book that makes you do your own thinking, and having seen the whole story play out, I'm satisfied with what it accomplishes. At times, Under the Pendulum Sun scratched the itch for "literary" fantasy (for lack of a better term) that I've been harboring since finishing Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell. Though Ng's tone is more brooding and less witty than Clarke's, both books share a rich sense of lived-in alternate history and acute understanding of fae folklore.

I still have some questions about things that happened in this book that I've been turning over in my head since I finished it, and I know that there are some arguments that I didn't quite follow. There are a surprising number of twists, reveals, and reversals, given that it's a nearly action-less and essentially idea-driven book. Regardless, it's dark and moody, and was a good reading choice for the month of October.

Note: This review will appear on my blog on 16/10/2017.

Under the Pendulum Sun is a dark, languid, and utterly immersive novel exploring fae politics and Christian theology. The writing within this book is confident and richly atmospheric, it’s hard to believe that this is Jeanette Ng’s debut novel. What the novel lacked in terms of pacing, it made up for in the sheer scope of the worldbuilding, which felt at once authentic and fantastical. However, it is a novel that I would hesitate to recommend for readers who prefers fast-paced books.

Catherine Helstone decides to travel to Arcadia, the fabled land of the faes, in a desperate attempt to find her missing brother, Laon. Both siblings work as missionary, and Laon travelled to Arcadia some months earlier on a mission to convert the Faes to Christianity. What unfolds is part mystery, part thriller, and a whole lot of theology and subtle criticism of the Empire’s colonisation by way of Christianity. The novel is incredibly grand and ambitious in its scope. However, the pacing of this novel becomes stagnant after the first three chapters. While there was a pervasive and visceral sense of danger throughout the novel, there was little action.

The world that Jeanette Ng constructs in Under the Pendulum Sun is impeccable. Numerous intricate details, both historical and imagined, weave together to combine a vivid and oppressive world. Alongside with the fantastical elements of the setting, Under the Pendulum Sun also manages to incorporate the Victorian era’s love for inventions by the introduction of several ingenious devices. The Fae lands of Arcadia is sinister and seductive, readers will feel the tendrils of its power strengthen with every page. Visually, this book will captivate the imagination with a fae land where the sun never quite sets, and there is hidden menace in every dark corner.

We get to now Catherine intimately throughout the course of the novel as she hones her skills in Fae politics. As mentioned previously, the pacing of the book is slow – and this is in part due to the conflicts being waged and won via battles of wit rather than by physical strength or accomplishment of certain tasks. As Catherine and Laon attempt to complete the insurmountable task of converting faes to Christianity, they’re also trapped by the Unseelie Queen in web of deceits. While the pacing is very slow, the layers of complexity it contains makes it a worthwhile read for those in the mood for a fully immersive experience in a dark Fae land.

Overall, despite issues with pacing, this was an excellent debut novel. I cannot wait to see what else Jeanette Ng has in store for us!

While extremely unique, and a bunch of twists and turns to keep you intrigued, I found this one a bit of a challenge to read. The plot was a little slow; however, the characters and hidden meanings/deciphering going on throughout the book made a fun read for me.
Arcadia and the world building were nicely done.
The cover is absolutely stunning as well; unfortunately, this was not the book for me, as it was a little too heavily based on religion, yet still worth a read.
Would highly recommend this to someone looking for a more theology based fae fantasy book, as this would be perfect.


I received a copy of this book through Netgalley for an honest opinion. I would like to thank Jeanette NG and Angry Robot for the opportunity to read and review this book.