European Travel for the Monstrous Gentlewoman is the second book in the series "The Extraordinary Adventures of the Athena Club". It is quite long but stays exciting all the way through. The only thing that really bugged me was all the bickering.

As with the previous book in the series, the characters are well developed and likeable, with backstories that cleverly tie them in to famous fictional scientists, like Frankenstein and Dr. Moreau. While the relationships feel totally real, there is a bit too much teasing (the constant comments about what Beatrice eats have gotten old) and bickering (I nearly stopped reading early on, because Mary would just not stop putting down her sister, who might be a loud-mouth but was really trying to help). Some of that got better over the course of the story, but I really hoped that Mary would have stopped being so shrill by the end. Sadly, she didn't. On the flip side, this is exactly what the author intended, I think. I just don't care for that part.

The story is set in about 1900 in Europe. London is well-developed in the book, as are Budapest and the creepy castle. Even the trains have a great sense of place. I feel like Vienna is more a set of locations than an actual city in the story, but that could be because the characters are exhausted and don't do any sight-seeing or walking around the city. The locations the characters visit in Vienna, though, are very fleshed out.

Normally, I get tired of super long books, even if I'm enjoying the story. This book has a plot that moves right along. I can't think of any point where I felt like it dragged. That pace fits with the story, which is about characters who are constantly on the move. Despite the rushing, the telling of the story didn't feel rushed.

The one element of the plot that bugged me was that the characters were often rescued by others, and I can't decide if that was a good thing or not. One of the themes is that the characters are stronger together, so asking for or needing help fits with that. On the flip side, I don't know if there is a single plotline that they resolve entirely on their own, certainly none of the main ones. At the end of each one, someone swoops in and completes the action.

Another weird element was the way two old relationships and one new relationship between the female characters and love interests were resolved all at the same moment with the same outcome. It felt very planned.

That being said, I enjoyed the plot and will definitely read the next book. There are only three books in the series, and I'm disappointed about that.

Should you read this book? It is kind of focused on "girl power" maybe with a slight feeling of YA, so I don't think it is for everyone. However, if you want a kind of sweet, feminist fantasy novel with a dash of realism (they are always broke), this novel is for you.