The Accidental World

I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed reading The Accidental World. A young adult fantasy adventure novel, it has a steampunk vibe which greatly appealed to me. I found our reluctant hero, Ethan, to be both an engaging character to spend time with and also always believable in his actions and motivations. He doesn't suddenly develop magic powers to save the day, but instead works to his strengths whilst striving to learn all he can about the mysterious world, NHHMM, into which he has been flung. This world has familiar elements, but is also strikingly different. I would pitch NHHMM as somewhere between The Oddfits by Tiffany Tsao and Unbroken Truth by Lukas Lundh, with hints of The Queen's Gambit along the way.

I felt Griffin chose a good balance between describing scenes in detail to readers and keeping up his story's pace. There were times when I would have liked to have known more than we were told, but that's mostly because I love to know how gadgets work! The relationships between the main characters developed convincingly, especially that between Ethan and his grandfather. The side characters were often fun too (poor Peter!) and I loved the mysterious elements such as the man known as Darkest Night. The Accidental World would make a fabulous costume drama TV series and I do hope that Griffin has ideas for a sequel novel because I'm keen to read it.