Nyssa Glass and the House of Mirrors by H.L. Burke

The villains got me curious and I wished we’d had a closer look at them, especially Albriet (I envisioned her as Eva Green for some reason), who showed such facets to behaviour and speech that I wished she’d hung in there longer. I even liked her fashion sense and can see her in a movie. In a way, I did get my wish, but that remains to be explained for those who read the story. She is a witty survivor with a good heart, and the only thing I missed was a sidekick for her. Nyssa Glass is a very curious and skillful teenager, great with electrical gadgetry but slightly weaker in social skills, who has pulled herself out of her shady, thieving, troublesome past, only to be pulled back in through scheming, blackmail, violence and, ultimately, her own curiosity. The infinite whatifs in the potential of AI combined with human character are clearly displayed in the story with many of their positive and negative effects. The use of artificial intelligence and robotics will probably be a thrill for the geeks among readers, although for me, it was their human aspect which interested me most. The author’s style is fluent, easy to read and well-edited, with no superfluous words, but the right amount of description and action. The story oozes with elaborate gadgets and the quirkiness of details (vehicles, clothes, machines) is both fascinating and scary. The main character, the 16-year-old orphan girl Nyssa, is well-portrayed you practically get the full picture on her character through action scenes of the first 2 chapters, and then some added info later.

This book was recomended to me by a friend who knows my fascination with old houses and their secrets, and quirky stories balancing the thin line between fantasy and reality, and my friend was right – I like this book.

Nyssa Glass and the House of Mirrors by H.L. Burke