I have long been a fan of this series and have immersed myself into the world by downloading the podcasts as well. Yet I was somewhat disappointed by this book and that was a real surprise.
Our intrepid heroes Eliza Braun and Wellington Books are out of the archives and in the field. They are let loose on the unsuspecting Americans and that makes for lots of fun. There is some unresolved sexual tension being carried over from the last book between Books and Braun but if you have not read the Janus Affair, do not panic, this book does stand alone. Assisting Braun and Books are two American agents Felicity Lovelace and 'Wild Bill' Wheatley and they add some extra dynamics into the story. The action is thick and fast, plenty of humour and an array of gadgets are used. I mean you have to love a gun that has a setting called ‘pub brawl’. The supporting characters are interesting and the use of historical characters is very well done. There is some wonderful hints/reveals in the last twenty pages or so that set up the next book with a lot of promise.
However there is something just does not click on the deeper levels. The disappointment for me was the lack of character development of Braun and Books. Braun is still gung-ho and hell bent on forcing an issue. Books is remains a stiff upper lip Brit and still not how sure to express himself. Even though they spend quite a bit of the book apart when they came together the sparks just were not there. Both were constrained by not being able to discuss their feelings for a variety of reasons and some of those reasons seemed contrived. When Books and Braun finally sort everything out it was a bit of a letdown.
It is a rollicking tale, fun to read but this one just was not as good as the previous two.

2.25/5

Do you like steampunk adventure novels with hints of romance? Do you like anachronistic weapons and bulletproof corsets? How about intelligence agents who spend nearly as much time arguing with each other as they do investigating peculiar occurrences? Of course you do. And that being the case, you will like this book. It's the third in the series though, so check out "Phoenix Rising" first to get started on the full Books/Braun experience.

Books and Braun National Lampoon American Vacay! Devoured this can't wait for next installment!

Good job New Zealand: Flight of the Concords, Lord of the Rings movies, Karl Urban, my elementary English teacher-thank you Mrs. Ricks & your chocolate biscuits and and these books good job!

Tesla Rules!

I love that the author chooses to incorporate real historical figures into the story. The constant jealousy and indecision between Eliza and Wellington got old, but I like the new characters. Especially Harris.

Three to three and a half stars.

I want to start off by saying that I really, really, really loved the first two books in this series, [b:Phoenix Rising|9795166|Phoenix Rising (Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences #1)|Pip Ballantine|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1319574583s/9795166.jpg|14685275] and [b:The Janus Affair|13085609|The Janus Affair (Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences #2)|Pip Ballantine|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1328960260s/13085609.jpg|18256337]. They were fun and cheeky and just an all-around good time. But I must confess that while I still liked this third installment in the Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences series, I just didn't love it as much. Here's the thing though, the hang up is mine and it's certainly not something that is going to bother everyone, maybe not even anyone. But let me start with what I liked.

As with the first two books, this is steampunk done well, where the gadgets and gizmos that give the genre its distinctive feel are integral parts of the story rather than just in-the-background scenery or accessories. The story does not lack for thrilling adventures or daring escapes, aspects that give it something of an Indiana Jones feel. I also like the manner in which actual historical figures are incorporated into the plot, from the British royal family to some of the great scientific minds of the time. Figuring out who is working what angle, and why, is high on the agenda for our intrepid agents, Wellington Books and Eliza Braun.

The story kicks off mid-foot chase as Wellington and Eliza are trying to run down a thief on the airship in which they are traveling. Anyone who has read the second book knows that it ended with the two agents being ordered on a new mission to the Americas. But what was supposed to be a consulting type of gig to help out America's version of the Ministry, the Office of the Supernatural and Metaphysical (OSM), soons escalates into something quite a bit more complex. And this is where my issue with this particular book comes into play. Not with the underlying mystery, which I thought was well done, but with Wellington and Eliza and how they go about solving it.

What gave the first two books its heart was the relationship between Wellington and Eliza. They make great partners because they're fun and there's a definite spark of humor and attraction when they're together. The problem for me, here, is that once Wellington and Eliza arrive in the Americas they spend far too much time apart for the majority of the book, instead paired off with their opposite gender counterparts in the OSM. I understand WHY it unfolded the way it did and I understand WHY Wellington and Eliza got their wires crossed in terms of their expectations but, for me, Wellington and Eliza working with other partners doesn't have the same...magic. So, there it is, the reason why I didn't love this book as much as the previous two.

That said, I did still like it. We finally get the identity of the Maestro (my theory on that was wrong) and we get more clues about the Restricted Area and how much Doctor Sound knows as well as some tantalizing lead-ins for future storylines. Plus the last fourth of the book did finally see Wellington and Eliza figure some things out, both personally and professionally (mad science, secret societies, and conspiracies - oh my!), and I fully expect a return to the full-time awesome partnership that is Books and Braun in the next installment. And hopefully the return trip home via airship is more to Eliza's liking. *wink*

Just as an incidental, I really don't like how the covers for these books show the woman full-on but only ever show, if anything, a small portion of the man's face. If he's meant to be the romantic interest in these novels, it would be nice to actually have a face, since it's not like they're trying to hide her at all.

Also, I find it interesting that a good chunk of this book takes place in Flagstaff, AZ. Coincidentally, I was just in Flagstaff (for the first time) the week before I listened to this audiobook. However, this makes me question whether the author has ever been there. She describes Flagstaff as being in the desert, dry and very hot and sunny. Flagstaff is actually in the middle of a huge forest. It is in fact dry, but apparently they don't get very hot, though they can get very, very cold in winter. This is due to a very high elevation. It rained while we were there, and I didn't see any umbrellas. In fact, many of the people out and about were in normal summer gear: shorts and sandals. This tells me that they're probably used to such weather. There were a great many trees, as well. So, I think if the author wanted a hot, deserty place to set this story, she should have chosen Phoenix. Or, if she wanted to use Flagstaff, she might have done a bit more research on it and not just assumed it was like every other part of the southwest.

Overall, this was an entertaining story, with a few odd errors such as the previous books had. I particularly enjoy Wellington, and the relationship between him and Eliza is cute and fun.

Every ongoing but somewhat formulaic series has its tipping point, that moment where the overall story arc and mythos of the series’ world begins to subsume the individual plots of each book. For The Dresden Files it was Summer Knight, the fourth book, which adds faeries to the Dresdenverse. For the Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences, that tipping point is here, with Dawn’s Early Light.

On the surface, there is little to make Dawn’s Early Light stand out from the first two books. Once again Eliza Braun and Wellington Books are investigating a curious mystery. This time they are doing it as an officially-sanctioned team of field agents—but they are in disgrace, seconded to the United States to help the American Office of the Supernatural and Metaphysical. Along the way, we find out that the House of Usher has contracted the services of a certain Mr. Edison, who has in turn stolen some very promising plans for a death ray from a certain Mr. Tesla.

Some of you, like me, will be pleased to find out that this book comes down decidedly in the pro-Tesla camp.

Despite the somewhat formulaic framework, though, there are indications that this is different even from the beginning. There is less mystery here: we learn fairly early on about Edison’s involvement. (That’s why I’m not really counting it as a spoiler.) The plot metamorphoses from investigation to a chase across country, and soon Ballantine and Morris send their foursome of agents on a merry little tour of nineteenth-century America. From North Carolina to Michigan to Arizona and then all the way out to San Francisco, Books and Braun get their fair share of travelling in.

Along the way, Ballantine and Morris throw some obstacles between the two. After that passionate kiss from Wellington at the end of The Janus Affair, I assumed that Braun and Books were an item. Clearly I was being naive; Eliza spends most of this book fuming that Wellington hasn’t made any further moves, so she flirts outrageously with her American counterpart, Bill Wheatley. Normally I’m not happy when a series contrives obstacles to two characters’ romantic happiness just ’cause, but in this case I think it works. And, to their credit, Books and Braun eventually have a conversation about it, like two adults. Well, like two adults trying to disarm a bomb. I’m not going to tell you how it works out.

To be honest, the actual chase-Edison-and-the-Pinkertons plot is rather ho-hum. Edison’s motivations are never explored to a satisfactory depth. The House of Usher is at its most transparent here, with its agents walking around with little rings to identify their affiliation. (Clearly they subscribe to the Hydra school of secret, shadowy bad guys—branding is everything!) And neither of the two subplots—much like the Campbell subplot from the previous book—mesh very well with the main story.

The first subplot concerns our favourite Italian assassin, Sophia. This time the Maestro sends her to San Francisco on a mission. She gets to play dress-up to get closer to her target, but nothing really seems to come of it. Similarly, the House of Usher contracts an Episcopal priest named Van to bring Wellington to them alive. She eventually tracks Wellington down, but then people start shooting at both of them. As with Sophia’s subplot, Van’s never seems to amount to much. I wouldn’t have missed its absence, but its presence doesn’t add another interesting dimension to the story.

So if I’m so dissatisfied with the plot, why do I think Dawn’s Early Light deserves to be called a tipping point? Why do I think it’s the best of the books in the series so far?

Simply put: the ending.

I’m not going to spoil it. Suffice it to say that there is no going back. Ballantine and Morris definitively put the series on a very specific track; the next book cannot hew to the “mystery of the month” formula. Shit is going to go down. Chaos is going to happen. We’ve got the House of Usher, the Maestro, and now something happening with the Queen of England. Maybe we’ll even get to find out what Doctor Sound has in that mysterious Restricted Section of the Archives of his. (I’m not holding my breath.)

My point is, for two books now, Ballantine and Morris have been carefully building up certain background elements of this universe. In this third book, they continue in the same vein. But suddenly, in the last chapter, everything comes to a head, and there is no going back.

There is no better way to ensure I read the next book in the series than to leave it at such a tantalizing, promising point. How are Books and Braun going to figure into this? What is Doctor Sound’s game anyway? I can’t wait to find out.

If you read the first book of this series but didn’t bother picking up The Janus Affair … skip it. Read Dawn’s Early Light instead, then read the fourth book when it comes out. This is steampunk the way I like it.

My reviews of the Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences series:
← The Janus Affair | The Diamond Conspiracy →

The third installment of the Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences changes everything. The continuation is going to be one hell of a ride! Good thing we have a handy motorcar at the ready for the adventure.

Dawn's Early Light takes our duo across the Atlantic, on quite the adventurous tour of the United States, in order to help their American counterparts solve one hell of a convoluted mystery. Of course, Eliza is never one to pass on the action and adventure - being in the field is what suits her best.

Still the same as ever, she tends to solve her problems with bullets, and fists. I was absolutely giddy when she knocked one particular American cowboy flat on his arse in the middle of a pub (a woman after my own heart, she is). However, emotions are running high.

I recall being very excited at the end of the last book that the romantic undertones between Books and Braun were finally coming to a conclusion. Well, I was wrong. It takes a few thwarted conversations, a few misguided flirtations, and a lot of frustration before Eliza and Wellington see fit to resolve their unspoken feelings for each other. While disarming a bomb. Because when else are you supposed to confess your undying love for your partner?

As we come to our climax and conclusion, everything changes, and everything we thought we knew turns on a dime. There is, undoubtedly, a distinct feeling of being punched in the gut.

The first two books of this series, and a good portion of this third book, do a fantastic job of setting us up for what's to come. We have fully established the world, the technologies, and how everything works. We've meshed technology, science, and clockwork into the mechanics of what keeps this world going. We've met our main cast, and we know them very well (with a few mysteries left to solve, but that's all in the character development).

We are now set for what's to come - and it's going to be on hell of a hair-raising adventure. Eliza and Wellington definitely have their work cut out for them.

Welly! I still want to know more of his backstory.