Silent In the Sanctuary

One of the best thing to do (and quite honestly, one of the only things to do) on a cold and blistery day, is to curl up with a cat on your lap to read a good book. Luckily for me as the winds outside whipped up to 30 mph and the temperature dropped to 40F, I had a copy of Deanna Raybourn's Silent in the Sanctuary in my grubby little hands.

For coming into a series on the second book, I have to admit I wasn't too horribly lost. Raybourn did a wonderful job of dispensing enough back story through-out the book while still leaving enough mystery intact to leave one interested in reading the first novel. I must also admit that reading the first novel would probably have been a very good idea, if only to give me a better grasp on the character's previous life, motivation, and character.

One must complement Raybourn on the wonderfully realistic dialog and banter that is the character Julia Gray. Julia is a most likable character with her Victorian wit and sensibilities, reminiscent of Jane Austin's own works. The pages themselves fairly "popped" with the essence of England and I wasn't at all surprised when I could hear accents clearly in my head.

I only have two complaints with this novel as a whole. The first would be the incredibly detailed scenes. Raybourn has build a truly wonderful and in-depth environment, fallowing Julia as she lives out her days from morning to night, and beyond. But having come from reading more fast paced novels, reading through a dinner party from first course to bed seams a bit tedious especially when it fails to move the plot along. My second complaint would be the prolonged delay and avoidance of certain topics only to keep the reader in suspense. Several times Raybourn avoided stating a name or object in hopes of building suspense to instead build annoyance.

All together I must say Silent in the Sanctuary was well worth the read and has indeed whet my apatite for more Julia Gray mysteries and more of Deanna Raybourn.

Now, to write my formal review. Don't be surprised if you see the majority of this post in it.