The Lights of Prague

Read Time: 2 Minutes

The Lights of Prague by Nicole Jarvis is a gothic historical fantasy set in the shadowy streets of 1800s Prague, where lamplighters not only keep the gaslights burning but also defend the city from supernatural threats. On the surface it sounds right up my alley, but it really failed to live up to my expectations. I sorely wanted to enjoy more than I did.

The story follows Domek, a lamplighter tasked with hunting pijavica (a sort of vampire-leech hybrid type thing), and Lady Ora, one of the creatures he’s sworn to destroy. Naturally, a slow-burn, doomed-romance dynamic is in play. The book spends a lot of time with this tension between hunter and hunted, as well as the broader implications of a rumoured cure for pijavica’s condition (basically standard vampire problems).

But despite these stakes (ha! sorry, no pun intended), I had a hard time connecting with either character.

The prose didn’t help. It’s the kind that’s trying to sound rich and lyrical, but often just came across as overwrought or pretentious. It felt like the writing was getting in the way of the story. Kind of like every line had to prove how beautifully it could describe something instead of just letting the moment breathe. That slowed the pacing a fair bit, especially early on, and by the time the action finally picked up, I was already a little checked out.

The one character I did enjoy was the will-o’-the-wisp bound to Domek. A powerful magical creature with a bit of personality that contrasted just how lacking the others were. Every time he showed up, I perked up a bit. Honestly, I’d probably read a book about him alone!

The whole lamplighter organisation also seemed like fertile ground for a more engaging adventure. Maybe monster hunters in top hats patrolling Prague by gaslight? Yes please! This just wasn’t quite that book, and maybe that’s on me for thinking that’s what I was getting.

As for the narration by Pete Cross… it was fine. Competent and clear, with no real missteps, but nothing especially memorable either. One annoyance I had was there was a special effect added to the wisp, which was fine and I think that worked well. But in an extended scene where the wisp is talking at length, the effect just stops and he’s talking normally. So I guess not a huge deal but it was weird.

If lush, romantic gothic fantasy is your jam, you may get more out of it than I did. But for me, the slow pacing, distant characters, and stylised writing kept this one from ever really landing. Not a bad book, just not one I see myself revisiting.

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