* I would like to thank NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to review this book. *

Jeff is dying. He flees from his home in Australia to the north of Scotland so that he can die alone, haunted by the secrets of his past. He takes with him an experimental technology that allows him to inhabit the mind of another person, in another time. While he has been warned not to overuse it, it is a temptation that he struggles to resist.

Leonora is a young woman living in the Highlands in 1860. Living alone with her widowed father on a small farm, Leonora likes nothing more than the company of animals. However, her father remarries and sends her to Edinburgh to live with her aunt and prepare herself for the seemingly inevitable marriage.

Leonora starts to sense intrusions into her mind, seeing visions and hearing unusual music. She suspects that these are some kind of spiritualist experiences and seeks help. She also feels drawn towards some medical students that she encounters at the university, company that her aunt does not approve of.

Meyer touches on issues of gender fluidity, class differences, the dawn of feminism, the exploitation of women, the imminence of death, the abuse of technology and a few other weighty concepts, all in the space of about 350 pages. Her characterisations are excellent. Leonora is easy to feel for, a fairly typical historical romance heroine. Meyer does very well to present the fundamentally flawed person that is Jeff in a light that does not lead to the visceral rejection you might expect. I was surprised at the degree of empathy that I felt for him.

This is a really good debut from an Australian author of great promise. ( )

Made it half way. I really tried to like this. I love the idea and the setting. It sounds like something I’d love, and I hate stopping a book before I’m finished it but I just couldn’t. Writing was quite bad and the characters are either unlikeable or just so plain and boring. It was so hard to keep picking this book up to continue. I couldn’t do it. ( )

Made it half way. I really tried to like this. I love the idea and the setting. It sounds like something I’d love, and I hate stopping a book before I’m finished it but I just couldn’t. Writing was quite bad and the characters are either unlikeable or just so plain and boring. It was so hard to keep picking this book up to continue. I couldn’t do it. ( )

An interesting concept, if delivered a little slowly. I was a little disappointed with this book, hoping for something that would explore more of the science fiction part of this scifi/personal drama crossover. The author seems to spend too much time introducing the premise, and not enough time exploring it in depth, and then it seems to finish before it's resolved. I would really like to have seen this concept more fully explored. Nevertheless, it's a good read.

Sensitive readers may want to note there are a few fairly graphic sexual references but these are short - skip the paragraph and you're all good. ( )

This cleverly titled novel is an intriguing mix of gothic psychological thriller and dystopian science fiction. In A Superior Spectre Meyer explores the inner workings of the mind, the home of desires and passions deemed unseemly either by society, their hosts, or both; offering up through creative extrapolation, the personal insight that may be gained by experiencing the world in another’s shoes.

Meyer’s dark and often disturbing depiction of the physical impact Jeff’s self-inflicted shame has on the otherwise strong-willed and free-thinking Leonara, serves as a powerful metaphor for the unseen control myriad day-to-day decisions of disclosure wield in relationships. Read full review >> ( )