Reviews with content warning for Fire/Fire injury - The Silent Companions

It was slow moving for me at the start. But once i got about halfway through, it picked up substantially and i zipped through the remainder of the book. Very gothic and atmospheric. The overall mood, especially at the Bridge gives very much Wuthering Heights vibes. Concept is fun and fairly orignal. Very haunting. A little gory without being overly grotesque. Saw the end reveal coming but getting there was fun so i didnt mind. Check trigger warnings for this one cause there are a lot. I will never be okay with a modern book using slurs and stereotypes against Romani people regardless of when the book is set. The plot could have been just as successful without that nonsense so shame to the author for that.

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lydiavsbooks's review

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix

4.0

A really solid gothic horror novel with a historical setting and brilliant spooky atmosphere. This follows a pregnant widow as she moves into the family estate of her late husband, where she discovers a set of painted wooden figures, the Silent Companions, and creepy things start happening.

I had loads of fun with this one. The switching between timelines worked really well for me and added to the intrigue in trying to piece together what was going on. The concept of the Silent Companions was brilliant and I loved the eery descriptions of the companions and the setting combined that greater that gothic atmosphere. It may have been that I finished this at 2am when I was home alone, but it also successfully creeped me out a little at times which was a nice surprise: I've been struggling to find horrors that actually scare me recently.

There were times it i was worried it was taking a turn towards an unreliable 'mentally ill' narrator plot twist , which are more often than not handled pretty insensitively, but I was relieved with the direction it did take and the way it handled the themes around that.

I do wish we got more of the main character's personality coming through. It took until very late in the book to feel I had some sort of understanding of the main character, and even when we did get a closer look it was more reveals about her trauma rather than who she was as a character.

I did also see a review that critiqued potential ableism in the way disfigurement is paired with evil. I'm not really sure where I sit with this: it is set in the 1600-1800s and at points it does acknowledge those attitudes to be an unfortunate product of the time, but it still does draw that link within the plot. I do just think its something to be aware of.

Overall it was a really great time, good amount of spookidge as well as some more emotional moments, definitely recommend.

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allisonsmith120's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

5.0

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bookedbymadeline's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

The book could be slow in the beginning and difficult to get through at times. Especially since the chapters were fairly long at the start (I personally prefer short chapters to read between errands). Luckily they did get shorter once the background story was more established.

I really liked the switching timelines and POVs! The novel is atmospheric with a creepy, tense mystery. I couldn’t put it down by the second half and enjoyed the unpredictable plot twists!

I think the eerie ending was well done, even with leaving it kind of open. I was left with some unanswered questions but I didn’t mind that like I normally would! It added to the mystery and unsettling nature of the story, which worked perfectly.

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