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Immortality concludes the Anatomy duology, and I’m so happy I was able to read these two gothic young adult books fairly close together.
Hazel Sinnett has faced off with Dr. Beecham, who has disappeared. She knows her beloved Jack has been hanged, Beecham’s crimes pinned on the lowly resurrection man. Her heart is broken, but life has to move on. So she is staying busy treating sick and injured people in Edinburgh, most often the poor.
Then after she saves one woman’s life, she ends up in prison and is facing hanging herself. Fortunately, at the last minute she is rescued and taken to London. The Prince Regent himself is employing her to diagnose his sick daughter, Princess Charlotte. Hazel’s circumstances and the focus of her work have changed dramatically. She meets a handsome young doctor and is introduced to the brilliant and influential members of a secret club called the Companions to the Death.
Hazel has to use all her skills (medical and etiquette training, persuasion, thinking on her feet) to solve the conundrums that face her. And there’s more at stake than may appear on the surface — the future of the monarchy, the happiness of a couple of people who come to mean a lot to her, even her own future all ride on her stepping carefully.
Immortality is a fine conclusion to Hazel’s story. She is a character who’s a pleasure to be around: she’s smart, determined, ahead of her time, and perfectly happy to flout social norms to pursue her dreams and help others. This book does have some distinctly perilous segments, and some dark threads of the story are kept hanging for a while, but it’s a bit lighter than the first. Hazel gets to keep learning medicine, soaking up readily available information like a sponge. And she gets to be in the company of people who give her a lot to think about. She blossoms even more in this story, in the environment of the finest social circles of London.
But that doesn’t mean she necessarily intends or wants to stay there. That depends on a number of things that happen in the story. I won’t spoil it, though! Suffice it to say I enjoyed it a lot and recommend it. Immortality (and Anatomy) bring together lots of elements I love and do it well: romance, historical fiction, Regency times, medicine, fantasy, and gothic setting and tone. Great stuff.
Rated: Moderate. Profanity includes a couple of instances of moderate profanity, a few uses of mild language and a dozen instances of the name of Deity in vain. Sexual content includes kissing, removal of clothes, understood sex, and one scene where two people are half-naked and embracing in a bed. Violence includes hangings, references to a beheading, shooting injuries, and plenty of descriptions of anatomy and surgical interventions.
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*I received an ARC in exchange for my honest review.
