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3.68 AVERAGE
3.68 AVERAGE
With thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for gifting me an advance reader copy in exchange for an honest review.
Honestly? There wasn’t an awful lot happening in this book. The first half dragged on with endless repetitions of how scared women felt and how the executions in 19th century Edinburgh were on the rise. The author is quite effective in portraying the suffocating oppression of women during this time, but that’s really all there is to it, and it all becomes a bit boring. This book could really do with a good edit, as there are both spelling and stylistic errors throughout. As a personal preference, I also really dislike it when a story set in Britain is written in American English. On a smaller scale, the author could not seem to decide whether the characters (in the first half of the book) spoke with a Scottish accent (using “ye”, for example) or just plain English (moving back to “you”). There is an awful lot of “tell” rather than “show”, which is why at times the story feels one dimensional and lacking in depth. A lot of the political commentary felt very on the nose, as opposed to being written into the story itself. I also felt something was missing in the time-jump; so much of the main character’s growth and healing (or lack thereof) completely omitted. As others have also pointed out, the ending comes to a very quick conclusion, with very little input from the main characters themselves, and this felt a bit disappointing. There are fragments of really beautiful writing, and I did love Jean and Nellie’s relationship, but again, there just wasn’t enough meat to get properly into!
Honestly? There wasn’t an awful lot happening in this book. The first half dragged on with endless repetitions of how scared women felt and how the executions in 19th century Edinburgh were on the rise. The author is quite effective in portraying the suffocating oppression of women during this time, but that’s really all there is to it, and it all becomes a bit boring. This book could really do with a good edit, as there are both spelling and stylistic errors throughout. As a personal preference, I also really dislike it when a story set in Britain is written in American English. On a smaller scale, the author could not seem to decide whether the characters (in the first half of the book) spoke with a Scottish accent (using “ye”, for example) or just plain English (moving back to “you”). There is an awful lot of “tell” rather than “show”, which is why at times the story feels one dimensional and lacking in depth. A lot of the political commentary felt very on the nose, as opposed to being written into the story itself. I also felt something was missing in the time-jump; so much of the main character’s growth and healing (or lack thereof) completely omitted. As others have also pointed out, the ending comes to a very quick conclusion, with very little input from the main characters themselves, and this felt a bit disappointing. There are fragments of really beautiful writing, and I did love Jean and Nellie’s relationship, but again, there just wasn’t enough meat to get properly into!
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I kept wanting to DNF throughout the book, I didn’t even get to the last chapters because I just didn’t care enough to get through to it.
Basically this was just a book telling us the worst thing that could ever happen to you is to be a woman and men suck. And which is partly true but the way it’s written here just makes it seem that it’s a curse to be a women, in 1800s all the way to 2022. And because of this the MC was fearful all throughout and it was exhausting hearing her monologues about how much it sucks to be a women especially when she kinda wasn’t doing anything to help herself.
This book felt more “telly” than showing us anything. And it was heavy on the internal monologues. Like she would be asked “how are you” and she goes through like 2 min internally, then will “bit her tongue or words will get stuck in her throat” and she will just say “I’m fine”. Like every conversation was like that, and you would even forget it’s a conversation because of the monologues (I was listening to the audiobook). There was no character development whatsoever and never also got to see other characters beyond the MCs own eyes. The magic wasn’t really explained or explored, we were just told about it instead of seeing it.
However the vibes and descriptions of Edinburgh were amazing, and maybe because I have been there but it really was atmospheric and that’s why I think I lasted so long in this book, but towards the end, I just didn’t care enough to listen to it through
Basically this was just a book telling us the worst thing that could ever happen to you is to be a woman and men suck. And which is partly true but the way it’s written here just makes it seem that it’s a curse to be a women, in 1800s all the way to 2022. And because of this the MC was fearful all throughout and it was exhausting hearing her monologues about how much it sucks to be a women especially when she kinda wasn’t doing anything to help herself.
This book felt more “telly” than showing us anything. And it was heavy on the internal monologues. Like she would be asked “how are you” and she goes through like 2 min internally, then will “bit her tongue or words will get stuck in her throat” and she will just say “I’m fine”. Like every conversation was like that, and you would even forget it’s a conversation because of the monologues (I was listening to the audiobook). There was no character development whatsoever and never also got to see other characters beyond the MCs own eyes. The magic wasn’t really explained or explored, we were just told about it instead of seeing it.
However the vibes and descriptions of Edinburgh were amazing, and maybe because I have been there but it really was atmospheric and that’s why I think I lasted so long in this book, but towards the end, I just didn’t care enough to listen to it through
As a woman, I understand why this book exists. I’m a girl’s girl through and through.
However, I read something I didn’t sign up for based on the description. I enjoyed the first half of the book in the 1800’s, but when we travel to current times that’s when I sort of lost interest and it felt less fiction, more non-fiction. I went into it hoping to read a more fantastical story of witches, not heavy on the scary statistical info of being a woman. I’m all about reading books like this, but this is a fiction book that I was hoping to escape into with folklore and witch stories, when it was more realistic of life as a woman and I just wasn’t in the head space to read that. I felt a little catfished.
However, I read something I didn’t sign up for based on the description. I enjoyed the first half of the book in the 1800’s, but when we travel to current times that’s when I sort of lost interest and it felt less fiction, more non-fiction. I went into it hoping to read a more fantastical story of witches, not heavy on the scary statistical info of being a woman. I’m all about reading books like this, but this is a fiction book that I was hoping to escape into with folklore and witch stories, when it was more realistic of life as a woman and I just wasn’t in the head space to read that. I felt a little catfished.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Misogyny, Sexual assault, Sexual violence
dark
hopeful
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
I wanted to like this, but I like the author’s better. The characters just weren’t fleshed out enough. The story was good.
dark
emotional
inspiring
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I literally don't understand when queer books are written in a way that implies the reader needs to be hand held through the simplest concepts of diversity. And same with the women's issues like we're not trying to be subtle are we. Isn't this adult fiction??
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
the authors note at the end was the best part, overall pretty disappointing
inspiring
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes