Through the Looking Glass Children's Book Reviews
The Story of Cirrus Flux
Fiction
For ages 9 to 12
Random House, 2010 ISBN: 978-0385733816
When Cirrus Flux was just a baby he was brought to the Foundling Hospital and left there. Cirrus does not know what it means to have parents or a family, and he fully expects that he, like all the other orphans at the hospital, will eventually find a place in the world when some tradesman takes him on as an apprentice. Surely there is no reason to think that his future will be different. But it is.
Instead Cirrus soon finds himself running through the streets of London, trying to get away from two terrifying villains. One is a beautiful woman, Madame Orrery, who also happens to be a skilled mesmerist. The other is a man called Mr. Sidereal who has built a system that allows him to spy on the lives of just about everyone in the great city of London. Both these people believe that Cirrus has a small metal pendent in his possession, something that Cirrus’ father, James Flux, left with his baby son when he left him at the Foundling Hospital. The pendent contains a scrap of something called the Breath of God, a powerful force that James Flux collected at the ends of the earth. Both Madame Orrery and Mr. Sidereal want to possess the Breath of God, and it is up to Cirrus and his new found friends to make sure that they fail in their attempts.
With a story that shifts between the past and the present, this exciting and intriguing novel will delight readers who enjoy stories that are full of adventure, colorful villains, and fantastical occurrences. Throughout the book author gives his readers a fascinating and extremely vivid picture of what life was like in England in the 1700’s.
