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.

The Curator had such a wonderful synopsis, and starting out I was truly invested in this courageous tale. The world-building was great, but I found myself lost within a vast sea of characters with too many alternative names/titles. It was hard to keep track of who was who, and just when I thought I had it figured out, more characters were introduced.

Overall, there was a lot in this book that I enjoyed, but for other readers, you might want to keep a list of characters to help keep people and their connections straight while reading so you don't end up confused like I did in the end.

My thanks to both NetGallley and the publisher Scribner for an advanced copy of this fantasy novel about missing relatives, cats, and looking for answers in a city loaded with questions.

Fantasy books don't always need dragons, swords or halflings to work. Some of the best fantasy tales are those that take the familiar and make them slightly different. A little more gaslight, a little more polite in society settings, a different mode of dress, even the importance of cats. Add in unsettling feelings, political disorder, an a mystery of life beyond death, and again cats, one has a very good setting for a fantasy book. Owen King in The Curator has all this and more and has created a city, a time and people trying desperately to get answers for questions that make others uncomfortable, and over them all are the cats.

The tale takes place in a city with out a name, but called "the Fairest" by those who inhabit the city's environs. The city has its charms, beautiful rivers, and ports, morgue ships and many, many museums, some well known, others forgotten on side streets for reasons. The city has also recently been wracked by revolution, and suddenly those who fought so long against those in power, suddenly have the power, which is causing quite a bit of upset and dissent. Into this comes Dora, a retired domestic from the university who is looking for what happened to her brother after his death. Dora starts looking of answers at the Museum of Psykical Research, but finds that has been the one museum that has been burned to the ground, during the change of government. Soon the more that Dora digs the more people around her try to get in her way or stop her from looking for answers for questions that should just stay dead.

The Curator started as a short story and has been expanded on and added to, making the novel almost 600 pages. I have not read the short story, so I am not sure where the changes come in, but enjoyed the book quite a bit. As in a lot of books this length, some cutting could have been done, some of the side quests were a little long, and some dialogue was a little, rough I guess. However the story, the setting and most of the characters, in fact a few of the characters really stand out and I would like to see more about them, are quite interesting. The world is almost like a Dickens story, with the political influence of Kafka tossed in, especially in the revolutionaries. The museum ideas were quite good, and much can be done with that idea, which I am not sure if that was what King was planning, but one can hope. The cats will please a lot of people, and is something that is pretty pivotal to the plot. Getting into the story does take a bit, but once the writing style and the descriptions that King is giving, plus how certain characters interact with each other, readers get more of a sense of what is going on, and will want to know more. Patience is helpful, and worth the journey.

Recommended for fans of fantasy novels that aren't sword but a little bit of sorcery. Readers of V.E. Schwab works or Adrian Tchaikovsky's City of Lost Chances novel, which has a similar vibe and setting. Also readers of Charles Palliser as both books have that city as the star of the book kind of feel.

For now my thoughts are on Goodreads, but when the release date approaches I will post on social media and on Amazon.

Owen King has created such an interesting and fun and scary world in The Curator. Cats, wax figures, interesting characters and a mystery. What more could you ask for?

Dora is searching for where her brother went after his death and along the way meets strange and funny people AND the end of the world.

I really enjoyed learning more about this other world and the mystery of what happened to Ambrose. The world in this story was often times scary and yet I still kind of wanted to be there to see it for myself. Owen did a wonderful job of describing the scenes and the surroundings. You could almost see and smell them for yourself!

I found out this is based on a short story that he’s also written and now I want to go read that as well.

Put this one in a frame to admire! Come visit the other worlds. You won’t be sorry.

I would like to thank Scribner for providing a digital copy of this novel via NetGalley. The Curator is a tale of a revolution told in three parts. There are protests, gun fights, spirits, and cats. Yes, there's plenty of cats. There are chapters that deviate from the narrative format. For example, there is chapter written as part of a play. This story has many layers and does take its time revealing its secrets. Essentially, Dora wants to be the Curator of special museum because she believes this will help her discover what really happened to her brother. The story we are told is that he passed away of cholera. But we are led to believe early on that there's more to the story. This "more to the story" is a slow burn. Nevertheless, I enjoyed the journey. There is a pervading wit and sarcasm throughout the novel that I really enjoyed.

DNF @25%

The plot was interesting and the writing is ok. If you like books with gratuitous amounts of sex and gore, then you might like this. I would rather there be more focus on the actual plot and characters in books like this.

*Full review to be posted closer to publication date!*

The Curator is one of those books that is almost impossible to describe in any short form manner, so I won't attempt to do that. Instead, I'll tell you that if you're looking for a book with a lot of really unique ideas and that will stray as far away from 'predictable' as possible, then you should check out The Curator. I really enjoyed the unique narrative voice and getting to explore this world. I found myself a little confused at times and my attention did waver at times because of how odd or complex some things were, but overall I thought this was a pretty fun story to read.

"From New York Times bestselling author Owen King comes 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.

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."

Eastern European in scope and mythmaking.

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.