Book Review:  Splendors and glooms by L.A. Schlitz

Have you ever read a book, and at the end you felt like you needed to process for a bit?  That was this book for me.  I honestly cannot say whether I liked it or not.  The premise is interesting - two orphans (Parsefall and Lizzie Rose), working for an evil magician-puppeteer (Grisini), are called on by his nemesis (Cassandra) to break a curse that is slowly killing her.  At the same time a privileged young girl (Clara) disappears, and only the magic of Grisini or his Cassandra can free her.  Parts of the story are quite intriguing - what deep dark secret is Clara hiding, how did Parsefall lose his finger, and how can Clara be freed?  I also enjoyed the characters - they are not one dimensional.  All, except for Grisini, have good and bad characteristics.  Clara acts the role of the proper British child, but she secretly resents her home life.  Parsefall loves Lizzie Rose like a sister, but, because of his upbringing, shows his love in abusive ways.  Lizzie Rose is a kind and gentle soul, but she explodes with emotion when cornered like a feral cat.  This makes them much more realistic.  The issue I have is with the story line.  When Grisini disappears, Lizzie Rose and Parsefall must fend for themselves.  As they try to survive without a guardian, they receive a letter in the post from a mysterious dowager who wants to leave her fortune to them.  Believing they will be inundated with riches, they leave their life in London to go to Strachan's Ghyll, the woman's home.  However, the old woman has an evil ulterior motive - the curse that has been plaguing her for her life can only be broken by a child, and she can use one of Grisini's foolish orphans to break her dreaded curse.  The story takes a long time to "rev up", but once it gets going it is quite good.  The ending, however, is lacking.  Too neat and tidy.  The dreariness of the entire book was erased with an ending as cliched as "and they all lived happily ever after".  Overall, the book had great characterization and description, but I feel the story line could have been much better.  It's a "meh" for me.