The Oversight

by Charlie Fletcher

Overview

"Exciting, exhilaring, scary and moving in equal measure, The Oversight is a teeming world of dark deeds and dark magics, brilliantly realized." -- M. R. Carey

The Oversight of London has been sworn for millennia to prevent the natural and the supernatural worlds from preying on each other.

Now, at its lowest ebb, with its headquarters destroyed and its last members scattered far and wide, this secret society will battle for survival and face the harshest foe it has ever met: itself.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780316279499
Publisher:	Orbit
Publication date:	05/06/2014
Series:	The Oversight , #1
Sold by:	Hachette Digital, Inc.
Format:	eBook
Pages:	560
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Charlie Fletcher is the author of the internationally acclaimed Stoneheart trilogy. He also writes for film, television and as a newspaper columnist. Charlie lives in Edinburgh with his wife and two children.

Editorial Reviews

04/15/2014
There used to be hundreds in the Oversight, guarding our world from magic, but they have dwindled to a single Hand. As long as there are five to hold the line and guard the key, those that would prey on humanity are held in check. Sara Falk leads the last Hand, and when Lucy Harker is brought to her it seems like she might be a new recruit. Unfortunately, powers aligned against the Oversight have sent Lucy to betray their trust and set in place a scheme that could destroy England's last Hand, loosing wild powers on the land. VERDICT This is a strong adult debut from Fletcher, who is the author of the Stoneheart series for children. Although it starts slowly, the long odds and high stakes keep the tension high and the pages turning, while the worldbuilding and characters are worth lingering over. Fans of Susanna Clarke's Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell will enjoy this.

Library Journal

"A teeming world of dark deeds and dark magics, brilliantly realized. This feels like the start of something amazing."—M. R. Carey on The Oversight

"Fletcher's Victorian London is juicily vivid, and laced with macabre wit. There's a real sense of grim danger, both natural and unnatural, hungrily awaiting the slightest mis-step."—Frances Hardinge on The Oversight

"I couldn't stop reading... It really is a richly atmospheric and intensely readable slice of Victoriana: gothic as all get out, with a splendidly eerie sense of the way the unearthly lies cheek-by-jowl with the mundane. Cheerable goodies, grotesque baddies: the whole book is adventurous and flavorsome and gripping. I really enjoyed it."—Adam Roberts on The Overight

"The second book can't come soon enough."—Booklist on The Oversight

"Utterly enthralling: Charles Dickens meets Susanna Clarke."—Lou Morgan on The Oversight

"It's full of clever blendings of real history and imaginary embellishments.... compelling and hypnotic."—Boing Boing on The Oversight

"[The] characters inhabit a complex, beautifully plotted adventure that begins a fantasy series. Go on and relish The Oversight without further prompting - then we can all wait eagerly for more!"—Locus on The Oversight

From the Publisher

"A fantastical, fast paced adventure.""

Publishing News on The Stoneheart Trilogy

"A teeming world of dark deeds and dark magics, brilliantly realized. This feels like the start of something amazing."

Mike Carey

Narrator Simon Prebble weaves together the various storylines of this fantasy and serves as a good guide for listeners to keep them straight. In Victorian London, the barrier between the mundane and the natural worlds is on the verge of collapse. The Oversight work ceaselessly to maintain the barrier, but their numbers have dwindled to five. With the arrival of Lucy, who is delivered to them essentially unable to communicate, they face new challenges. Prebble adeptly presents the varied cast of characters, ranging from a cook who is a former pirate to the slithery proponents of the dark arts and the frail Sarah, who is central to the survival of the group. J.E.M. © AudioFile 2014, Portland, Maine

JULY 2014 - AudioFile

Narrator Simon Prebble weaves together the various storylines of this fantasy and serves as a good guide for listeners to keep them straight. In Victorian London, the barrier between the mundane and the natural worlds is on the verge of collapse. The Oversight work ceaselessly to maintain the barrier, but their numbers have dwindled to five. With the arrival of Lucy, who is delivered to them essentially unable to communicate, they face new challenges. Prebble adeptly presents the varied cast of characters, ranging from a cook who is a former pirate to the slithery proponents of the dark arts and the frail Sarah, who is central to the survival of the group. J.E.M. © AudioFile 2014, Portland, Maine

JULY 2014 - AudioFile

2014-04-17
First of a Dickensian supernatural—or, as Fletcher prefers it, "supranatural"—fantasy trilogy, from the screenwriter and author of Stoneheart (2006, etc.).The Oversight, a secret society that patrols the borders between the mundane and the magical, lost most of its membership during the Napoleonic Wars. Now only five remain: Sara Falk, a "Glint" who can view past events by touching objects associated with them; Cook, an ex-pirate; rat-catcher Hodge, who has an affinity for associates Jed the terrier and the ancient Raven; Wayland Smith; and the eerie Mr. Sharp. Also on the premises is Emmet, a golem. If their numbers dip below five (called a Hand), their powers and control dissipate. At the Hand's London safe house arrives Lucy Harker; she speaks only French, mistrusts them and turns out to be a Glint—and bait for a trap set by mysterious folk-monsters called Sluagh. Also involved are lawyer twins Zebulon and Issachar Templebane and sociopathic wizard-scientist Viscount Mountfellen. The plotters seek the key to controlling the dark side of the universe. Accordingly, Lucy, under a compulsion implanted in her mind by the Sluagh to steal the key, blunders into a magic cabinet of mirrors. In avoiding the cabinet's guardian cobra, she falls into one of the mirrors and vanishes, shattering the mirror. Sara tries to grab Lucy, but the mirror lops off her hand, which vanishes to wherever Lucy went—though somehow it's still attached. A remarkable combination of British folklore, brisk pacing and wide-ranging imagination is enhanced by multiple narrative strands, some not yet fully revealed, and set forth in evocative prose. Set against all this, unfortunately, are characters imbued with a particular monomania rather than genuine personality and presence.Intriguing and with enough potential bubbling underneath to keep readers agreeably optimistic about future installments.

Kirkus Reviews