Society of Unknowable Objects is an enjoyable follow-up to The Book of Doors, though an uneven one. The first half is a genuine pleasure — a gradually unfolding puzzle as the secrets of the Society and its Unknowable Objects come to light, with a likable cast (Henrietta and Will could use a bit more fleshing out, but the core characters hold up well).
The second half is where things get bumpy. The story shifts abruptly in tone, a new character with seemingly limitless power is dropped in, and the internal logic of the magic system starts to strain. A few questions I couldn't shake: one of the magical objects in play is the Book of Doors — the same eponymous book from the first novel — which allows travel through time. So if the protagonist is forced to lay low and wait out seven or ten years, why wouldn't she be quietly making advantageous stock purchases and setting herself up for the future? And while this book's central conceit — a special book that creates magical objects, which can never be destroyed, which the Society must then safeguard — is a strong one, it raises a question the novel never quite addresses: why can't the same book un-create what it made? The contrast is especially sharp given that Imelda was so precise and careful in wording her own object's creation, while another character creates a human-like magical object with almost no defined parameters. That gap in care felt like a missed opportunity rather than a deliberate mystery.
I also found myself wanting more from James' medical subplot — specifically, whether his condition is something that might be resolved through the story's magical logic, and what the stakes are if he stops his medication.
If you're considering this series, I'd honestly suggest starting here rather than with The Book of Doors — this one is the stronger of the two.
REVIEW: The Society of Unknowable Objects by Gareth Brown
RATING: 4-stars
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