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fireinherveinzz's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Reread the first half which made it make a lot more sense. Did not love the random inclusion of all the extra side character povs like Thomas Taylor who didn’t contribute anything to the story . Also the end cut off without a conclusion which I hate like mid story. There was a lot of will they won’t they that just turned into fade to black eh. Story needed more passion less dryness . The show is definitely giving this story more life so far. I loved Cora and Will’s dynamic , Martha coming into her own independence from Cora and chasing her passions as well in social work. Loved Katherine Ambrose’s line to Cora “you cannot always keep yourself away from things that hurt you. We all wish we could , but we cannot: to live at all is to be bruised; I know that none of us was made to be alone. You told me once you forget you are a woman, and I understand it now you think to be a woman is to be weak you ours is a sisterhood of suffering! Perhaps so, but doesn’t it take a greater strength to walk a mile in pain than seven miles in none? You are a woman, and must begin to live like one. by which I mean: have courage “. Also another great one liner Cora telling Will “we are cleaved together , we are cleaved apart everything that draws me to you is everything that drives me away “. 😭 Could’ve liked this story better had it not been so focused on both Luke’s and Cora/ will’s and just Cora and Will. Luke deserved his own story not to be clumped in with theirs. He had nothing to do with this besides helping Cora with advice and Stella with her illness and being a part of a pseudo love triangle with her and Will.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Blood, and Terminal illness
bookedbymadeline's review
dark
mysterious
relaxing
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Body horror, Terminal illness, Suicidal thoughts, Animal death, Death, and Medical content
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Ableism, Alcoholism, Sexual content, and Infidelity
Minor: Child death and Cancer
innerweststreetlibrarian's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
reflective
slow-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? Yes
3.5
This feels less like a novel and more like an observation of the intersecting lives of the characters over a period of time. The presence and fear of the serpent is pervasive, it changes people’s behaviour and impacts the way they live their lives. The writing is excellent, the narrative interesting enough to be unpredictable and it held my attention, but not engrossing enough to read it fast. I could have happily read a chapter a month and kept pace with the passage of time.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Medical trauma and Medical content
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Violence, Sexual content, Chronic illness, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Terminal illness, Death, and Death of parent
Minor: Child abuse and Infidelity
rieviolet's review against another edition
emotional
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
I went into the book not really knowing what to expect (it's a book that I've seen recommended many times and wanted to give it a try) and now that I've finished it I can say that it was a nice enough read and clearly well written and researched but it just fell a bit flat for me in terms of story.
Unfortunately, I did not care much about the two main characters and their relationship and I was more intrested in the various side characters, their portrayal and plot lines. Also, on various occasions, the
choices and actions made by the characters left me very perplexed and just felt a bit out of place.
Overall, I quite appreciated the writing stlye/prose, although there were some segments where the author narrated in a sort of sequence each characters' progress within the story and those parts I found a bit dragging.
Also, I didn't particularly enjoy the detailed description of injuries and medical procedures, maybe they seem quite tame for many people but I am squeamish and so I found it really difficult to go through those parts.
Unfortunately, I did not care much about the two main characters and their relationship and I was more intrested in the various side characters, their portrayal and plot lines. Also, on various occasions, the
choices and actions made by the characters left me very perplexed and just felt a bit out of place.
Overall, I quite appreciated the writing stlye/prose, although there were some segments where the author narrated in a sort of sequence each characters' progress within the story and those parts I found a bit dragging.
Also, I didn't particularly enjoy the detailed description of injuries and medical procedures, maybe they seem quite tame for many people but I am squeamish and so I found it really difficult to go through those parts.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail and Medical content
Moderate: Blood, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Terminal illness, Toxic friendship, and Sexual content
Minor: Ableism, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Bullying, Death, Body shaming, and Sexual violence
elzibub's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness, Terminal illness, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, and Ableism
Moderate: Ableism, Animal cruelty, Body shaming, Dementia, Grief, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, and Medical trauma
Minor: Suicidal thoughts and Suicide attempt
vonmonsta's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
informative
mysterious
slow-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
"Not even knowledge takes all the strangeness from the world"
I've heard such polarising views on The Essex Serpent that I didn't really know what to expect but having been sat on my to-read pile for a good few years, it was about time I picked it up.
Inspired by tales of a serpent lurking in the saltlands, newly widowed amateur naturalist Cora Seaborne moves to Essex, chasing after the idea of the fabled Essex Serpent.
Set in the late 19th Century The Essex Serpent is lyrically written & evocative, slightly gothic at times; there were so many descriptions and phrases which delighted me with how beautiful they were! It all moved so easily!
It's a beautiful story exploring faith, superstition and scientific fact, friendship and romantic love, the boundaries of which keep blurring, liminal like the landscape it's set in.
It was rather a slow book, with the plot not really kicking in until the last third, however it didn't prevent my absolute enjoyment of it; I was really charmed by the protagonist, (in fact all of the characters were really interesting & charming in their own way, & I enjoyed reading elements of the tale from their point of view), the way the narrative was woven together, the mounting panic & fear of the townspeople & there was enough of a slight unease running through the novel to keep me reading.
The menace is, however, never quite fully formed and remains a little misty and vague at times & I did feel that there were sparks of potential subplots but they either fizzled out or didn't altogether properly manifest, but it remains an absorbing tale that I throughly enjoyed!
⭐⭐⭐⭐/5
I've heard such polarising views on The Essex Serpent that I didn't really know what to expect but having been sat on my to-read pile for a good few years, it was about time I picked it up.
Inspired by tales of a serpent lurking in the saltlands, newly widowed amateur naturalist Cora Seaborne moves to Essex, chasing after the idea of the fabled Essex Serpent.
Set in the late 19th Century The Essex Serpent is lyrically written & evocative, slightly gothic at times; there were so many descriptions and phrases which delighted me with how beautiful they were! It all moved so easily!
It's a beautiful story exploring faith, superstition and scientific fact, friendship and romantic love, the boundaries of which keep blurring, liminal like the landscape it's set in.
It was rather a slow book, with the plot not really kicking in until the last third, however it didn't prevent my absolute enjoyment of it; I was really charmed by the protagonist, (in fact all of the characters were really interesting & charming in their own way, & I enjoyed reading elements of the tale from their point of view), the way the narrative was woven together, the mounting panic & fear of the townspeople & there was enough of a slight unease running through the novel to keep me reading.
The menace is, however, never quite fully formed and remains a little misty and vague at times & I did feel that there were sparks of potential subplots but they either fizzled out or didn't altogether properly manifest, but it remains an absorbing tale that I throughly enjoyed!
⭐⭐⭐⭐/5
Content Warnings
Minor: Domestic abuse, Infidelity, Medical content, Suicide, and Terminal illness
tqlikesbooks's review against another edition
relaxing
slow-paced
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
I haven't got much to say about this. Though I recognise it is a very well written and crafted novel, it just didn't work for me.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death
Moderate: Alcoholism, Death, Terminal illness, Domestic abuse, Medical content, and Medical trauma
Minor: Miscarriage and Infidelity
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