Sparks of Bright Matter

It feels like we take science for granted in the modern world; buildings that tower into the sky, above them flying machines made from metal. Stop and think for a moment at how wonderous all these advances have been, how we use the internet to communicate today, or how a simple invention like the LED has transformed lighting. For people in the 18th century these innovations would seem like magic, even as the enlightenment progressed. However, the advance into science was not linear, some believed at a different pace. Sparks of Bight Matter by Leeanne O’Donnell is a book set in the latter period of when mystics and science were still wrapped together. 

By the 18th century the most ardent supporters of Alchemy had gone out of fashion. People stopped believing that you could turn lead into gold, or resurrect the dead. Peter Woulfe always thought differently, even as a child, so when he stumbles across a book that may contain the secret of the Philosopher's Stone, he makes it his life work. Life does not always work out so easily in a city like London. 

I read over a hundred books a year and on occasion I come across one that I struggle to understand. Sparks was one of these books; a mash of different genres, filtered through a prism of spiritualism and science. O’Donnell writes the book in a way that makes the truth just out of reach for the characters, but it also made the plot just out of reach from me. 

It starts off simply with Woulfe deep into researching the secrets of Alchemy, only to fly into a rage and commit a terrible crime. This sends his life into a spin. Meanwhile we meet a young lady, Sukie, who supplements her income on the streets, and we meet the victim of Woulfe, who appears to be less dead than at first thought. 

What threw me is once this storyline is established, we are thrown into a non-linear timeframe as the book leaps back and forth. At first this is with Woulfe, but increasingly with Sukie. The book jumps from a form of historic urban fantasy to folklore horror to a relationship piece. It never truly settles in any of them and leaves you unsatisfied in all. 

I sense that there is a book I can understand somewhere among all the parts, but Sparks feels like a jigsaw that has been dropped on the floor and the pieces put together in the wrong order, you get a sense of what the image is meant to be, but it does not feel right. It is an ambitious narrative, especially from a debut author, but I think a more linear plotline would have allowed me to understand what was happening.  

It is not the first time, nor will it be the last, that I do not comprehend a book. There are greater minds out there and more patient readers. I still believe that many people will find joy in the mix of characters, mysticism and science found within the pages of this book, just not me.