This novel is a proper comedy caper! It reminds me of a mash up between Terry Pratchett and Jonathan Strange with a touch of Gatsby style about it!

I will say this didn't make me belly laugh like I thought it would but I did have a few smiles to myself throughout my reading of this book!

The story is chaotic and calamitous with none of the stereotypical characters you'd expect for a story of Victorian England; in fact they are the complete opposite and that is what I loved about this book.  It was all so unexpected!

I loved the Monty Python satire mixed with the Victorian theme and the foot notes by Hubert were amusing but I did feel sometimes they got in the way of the story in so much that if you didn't flick to the next lot of foot notes at the time you hit the mark for it (which would break the flow of the story) then they didn't make sense but they definitely added an extra depth of comedy to the story!

The author has great character building talent and Lionel, Lizzie, Lancaster and Simmons are all wonderfully eccentric and lovable. I particularly liked the authors characterisation of the Devil!

For a debut novel it really is excellent and I feel that perhaps we saw an inkling into the authors own sense of humour and can't wait to see what comes next!

I haven't even mentioned the illustrations yet.....they are fantastic and I only received them in proof format! They definitely elevate the book for me into something that would stay on my bookshelf (and believe me their isn't much space for keepers!!)

The characters were archetypes and the plot was ridiculous but the whole thing was so light heartedly hilarious that I loved it.

Zippy for the most part (the middle sags a bit) and witty novel that's not meant to be more than what it is. Yes, a man sells his wife to the Devil and yes some of the characters are a little out there (including, of course Savage) but take this for the romp it's meant to be. It's a good debut novel that I agree with other reviewers would be a good travel read. No deep thinking here. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC (and apologies for my long overdue review!) Looking forward to more from Leo.

A highly entertaining pastiche of late-Victorian comedic writing. The main character is hilariously self-deluded, and all the others are each delightful in their own way. Lionel's sister Lizzie is particularly fun, as are his wife Vivien (for all that she is missing for most of the book) and the glorious, often facetious footnotes provided by one of the minor characters.

The unnecessary introduction of some mildly steampunk elements brought the whole thing down a bit, mostly because they included boring technical descriptions and necessitated an underdeveloped character, the young inventor Will, whose presence seemed otherwise random. I also did not like the artwork that was included in my eARC because of how Lizzie's chest was perpetually busting out like that of a comic book cover superheroine. But overall I really liked this book. Very clever, without being the least bit deep. I look forward to seeing what Forrest Leo does next.

While I wasn't addicted to this book and read it pretty slowly, I had a lot of giggles and laugh out louds. Witty and humorous characters.

Absolutely lovely prose and a wonderfully old fashioned story. I can hardly wait for the UK edition.

This was comical- but not over the top- and perfectly paced! I can't wait to read more by Forrest Leo!