[amazon_link id=”1451621302″ target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ][/amazon_link]Title : The Book of Lost Fragrances
Author : M.J. Rose
Publisher : Simon & Schuster
Genre : Mystery
Pages : 384
Source : NetGalley/Publisher ARC
Rating : 2.5/5

The Book of Lost Fragrances has an interesting premise about the afterlife and reincarnation. Robbie and Jacinthe L’Etoile are now the proprietors of the famous House of L’Etoile known for its perfumes. Their mother dead and father out of the picture, the two must come to grips with their new responsibilities. Reality is harsh though, and the business is in financial jeopardy. A way out of the predicament would be to sell two signature scents, but while Jac favors this, Robbie opposes it.

Also, during his efforts to make sense of his father’s perfume workshop, Robbie has come across ancient shards from a pot which contained an unknown perfume. History has it that the perfume was developed by Egyptian Queen Cleopatra’s chief perfumer as a memory aid – a tool to enable one in remembering past reincarnations and lives. All Robbie has are the shards. They do give out a faint scent but Robbie cannot fathom all the ingredients. It would need a skilled perfumer like Jac to nose out the exact composition, but Jac, given to delusions and mental frailty, is not upto the task. Complicating this is the fact that different factions from across the world would like access to the memory tool, so the shards are in high demand, and the greedy may stop at nothing to possess them . . .

This is the 4th book in M.J. Rose’s Reincarnationist series – a fact I found out after reading the book. This book stands well enough on its own; there are a few references to the past but not so much that they would affect the storyline. This book started off well with an introduction to Giles L’Etoile’s encounter with the Egyptian tombs and the unearthing of the memory tool. Then we progress pretty quickly to the modern world and Jac and Robbie. While Jac and Robbie were interesting characters, I couldn’t quite root for them, and found them shallowly and inconsistently described. For all the information on artistic Jac’s delusions and hallucinations, I feel I didn’t know her well enough to be interested in her life. What I did know of her hinted at conflicting character traits and made her seem flighty (which probably was the intent).

I found the writing choppy. Many times the narrative would abruptly shift to the other people in search of the memory tool, like the Buddhists, the shadowy governmental agencies or the lone reincarnationist and it was hard to tell who the person was and how they related to the story. The tale ties together in the end, but seems stretched out on very thin legs. The author did more “telling” instead of “doing”, which made it hard to “get” into the book. I felt that it needed more development – more meat so to speak.

Unfortunately this book didn’t work for me. It could be that this was not my genre (ethereal/paranormal premises aren’t my cup of tea) , but I’d like to think that the constraints for page-turning writing would stand strong in any genre.