The travelling book

Thanks to Polenth I have a copy of Ars Memoriae by Beth Bernobich for you to review while it's on tour. It goes to the first person replying to this post who asks to review it, provided they meet the following criteria:

1. You have a blog and you're not afraid to use it.
2. You're willing to read the book.
3. You'll photograph the book somewhere... in your home, on a rollercoaster, by your pet cat. Somewhere. Only one photo is needed but you can take more.
4. You'll post a review, and your book photograph, to your blog.
5. You send it along to the first person who replies to you, as long as they're willing to review/photograph/pass it on.

I've been very slow in reading it, partly because it's a  beautiful book and I didn't want to get soup on it. Let's not go there.

Here's the book in the wild at my house:

(The netting is Rufus's hammock. It was originally part of a scheme to stop the kittens falling off the landing onto the stone floor below but Rufus has made it his own. He is not spoilt.)

My review:

This is a story of intrigue set in an alternate history which gave me the sense of a steampunk novel without the steam. It begins with mathematics and theories abut time and we're told that Adrian Dee, the main character, is remembering things that haven't happened. That made me want to read on and there are snippets of his other memories dropped in from time to time.

I found the beginning rather slow, as the politics of the situation were laid out and Dee's mission for the queen put before him, but the action speeded up as the story went on and there were some tense action scenes which I enjoyed. The descriptions of places and people were very vivid and I found the ending satisfying.

Edited to add: it looks like stacy is the next reviewer.