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dinkumbird's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
I read this book for the Uncorked Readers June challenge and I absolutely loved it. It kept my interest the whole way through and it was not as predictable as other mystery books I have read recently. I also really liked the historical fiction aspect of the book. It takes place in Victorian New York right at the turn of the century. Tilly is a sheltered girl who comes from an affluent family. Her older sister gets murdered by an apparent vampire around the same time that Tilly gets injured in a horse fall. She must solve the murder of her sister while at the same time dealing with an opium and morphine addiction. Along the way she befriends a few newsies and has to figure out how to deal with the advances of her sister’s fiancé.
I liked that this book stayed pretty accurate to historical events of the time. Tilly uses Bram Stoker’s Dracula to research vampires and her sister’s name matches the first victim in Dracula as well. Dracula was first published in 1897 so it perfectly fits into the time frame of the book. Tilly’s addiction to opium through Laudanum and as well as Morphine also make sense as both of these medicines were given to patients to control pain and hysteria and many people quickly became addicted to them.
I found most of the characters to be likeable. Tilly is a very flawed character and at times makes very naive decisions. Some of them did annoy me; such as her wandering around New York City at all hours especially because she is aware that there is a murderer around. Some of her other decisions can chalked up to her sheltered upbringing and her addiction opium and morphine. Ian was another interesting character. He is a newsie with aspirations of becoming a writer and he seems to motivate to help Tilly in part because his own brother was killed while in the care of another woman who did not face any penalties for his death. He does not want the same to happen to Tilly’s killer.
Overall I enjoyed this book and I am very glad that I chose it for my June read.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Addiction, Death, Drug abuse, and Drug use
katjm's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Drug abuse, and Drug use
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