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3.47 AVERAGE
3.47 AVERAGE
adventurous
challenging
dark
hopeful
lighthearted
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
dark
mysterious
slow-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:
No
This was really good. But sooooo slow. I do appreciate the fact so much care went in to building the relationships, but the real plot doesn't kick in until 60%. It was just too slow.
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Hm, I was so so on this one, but the audiobook had a solid narrator which really helped. I was excited to read a queer gothic retelling, but feel like I got a somewhat tensionless and meandering romance with sparing mystery elements that finishes in an info dump at a creepy manor.
I thought the atmosphere and scenery descriptions were really well done. The language felt period appropriate and there was just enough description for me to really feel where this story takes place and I felt like I could “see” the locations.
The relationships and heart of this story, however, fell flat. The book opens with our main character, Emile, starting to work for a count as part of his staff. He’s a marquise in hiding and he’s hiding from his aunt who’s discovered he’s gay and wants to force him to marry or go into an asylum.
Emile is determined to wait it out as a servant until he comes of age and can take his inheritance. So what does he do? Immediately gets 2 boyfriends. Immediately. If it were comedic, I would buy it, but it’s not. As the story unfolds, we get the barest hints of “funny business” going on, but not enough to get us invested in a mystery story that’s unfolding in the background. Instead, in the first half of the book we watch Emile struggle with which boyfriend to choose with little to no tension outside of the fact that the family he works for is mean.
When the mystery does pick up pace, it feels like the author has to throw in a lot of gothic elements really quickly and altogether to “fit them in” after meandering in no discernible direction for the first half of the book. If the tension in the relationships or the character growth happening at all raised the stakes of the main mystery, I would understand the time investment, but it just seems to be…there. The only real character growth actually appears to be from one of the boyfriends.
This all kind of fizzles out at the end when Emile proposes that they enter a polyamorous relationship and just lock up the werewolf boyfriend during the full moon (literally). I don’t like seeing polyamory being used as an out for a character who just doesn’t want to choose especially when in relationships that weren’t open to begun with. It feels unfair to the others in it.
This ended up feeling like a dud of a romance wrapped in some really nice gothic scenery. I think if more investment were put into the main mystery plot with some pacing that married the romantic and gothic elements, this one could’ve been a winner, but as it stands…meh.
adventurous
emotional
tense
medium-paced
adventurous
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
This book was WONDERFUL, and will be loved by fans of classic horror. There are several references to horror classics, the mood is well established, and there was several times I was at the edge of my seat for the story's hero and his companions. I'm a sucker for a main character who is a self professed romantic, so Emile endeared himself to me immediately. Even though I saw the ending coming, it was still lovely and the journey made the expectation a good thing instead of a let down.
Beautiful writing, wonderful sense of place, fun characters....I would strongly recommend this book to any fans of classic horror.
Beautiful writing, wonderful sense of place, fun characters....I would strongly recommend this book to any fans of classic horror.
adventurous
dark
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
** I WAS GIVEN THIS BOOK FOR MY READING PLEASURE **
Copy received through Netgalley
~
The Alchemy of Moonlight, by David Ferraro
★★★★★
377 Pages
1st person, single character POV
Content Warning: mentions of blackmail, corrupt police officers, violence towards servants, murder, violence, suicide, homophobia, forced captivity, threats to commit the MC to an asylum for 'deviancy' for being gay, spiders!, off-page beheading, mentions of medical situations
Themes: unrequited infatuation, arranged marriage, stolen inheritance, forced proximity, manipulation, swapped societal roles, morally grey characters, love triangle, MMM, FF off-page side characters, taxidermy
~
The Alchemy of Moonlight is an excellent gothic horror that takes its cue from classic werewolf literature, while adding a new spin. As my second book by the author – the other a vampire novel – I can see they enjoy juxtapositions. In A Vile Season, the MC was a vampire turned human; here, we have a noble, a Marquis, becoming a servant, to escape his life. And the concept that humans can be just as monstrous as the actual monsters worked perfectly in both books. Here, this worked well, by putting Emile immediately off kilter and in a situation out of his control.
From the start, we know that Emile is yet to turn 18, so he's only 17 at this point, which felt quite young. I definitely felt like he was written as older than that, but maybe he was just mature for his age. There were definitely times when he acted his age, which was great to see, but I don't remember any ages being given for Bram or Henri – the two love interests – and they both definitely read as much older. I would have liked a little clarity, because I think the only mention was that they were 'around' Emile's age. Although, saying that, the book is set in 1873, where are wasn't much of a concern, especially among nobility, so I didn't let that affect my rating too much.
I adored the formatting – again! – because they take the time to have everything so prettily and neatly arranged. It was just as beautiful as the style of writing, which is so evocative and makes the story crystal clear in my mind. I'm not always a fan of 1st person, since a lot of details can be left out due to the limitations, but I never felt that way with Ferraro's writing. Everything was exactly as I would have wanted it. They have a knack for beginning with a stunning opening line/paragraph, that really sucks you into the story.
By 9%, we had been introduced to pretty much every plot point of the blurb, except the reality of who Emile really was. I love this, because we already know this information from the blurb so there's really no reason to hesitate over telling us in the novel. I like to have that out of the way quickly, so that I feel settled into the story and can anticipate getting to the parts I know nothing about.
There were a lot of twists in this story. I did guess two from the very end of the book, but I still found myself surprised – always pleasantly so – often, along the way. I really felt like the story went places I wasn't expecting, while giving me everything I wanted from a gothic horror. There were times when Emile needed to flee, and it wasn't a clear cut situation. I loved the times when events didn't happen cleanly or clearly, just to resolve an issue, but they didn't fall apart in ridiculous ways just to continue a bad situation or to force the characters towards a path that didn't feel natural. Everything was so well plotted and paced that nothing felt out of sync.
I was quite surprised by the fact that all of the characters are morally grey. They all have that moment where they face some moral dilemma and make the selfish, arrogant or unexpected choice. They all have flaws, they all make mistakes. I loved that when Henri made a mistake that hugely impacted Emile, Henri grovelled and Emile didn't instantly forgive him. For that situation, he needed to not forgive Henri, otherwise it wouldn't have felt right.
Saying that, I did feel like there was one big issue I couldn't really get past. I chose not to let it affect my rating, because it's a me problem: Bram. I have to admit that I never really warmed to him, as a central character. He's part of the love triangle that takes us the majority of the book – Emile is torn between the kind doctor Bram and the egotist noble Henri. However, I just couldn't take to him. I never felt like he was a genuine competition to Henri, who I adored. Maybe it was because he came across as too good to be true, for most of the book, and Emile saw him through rose-tinted glasses. Or maybe it was just that I liked Henri more, but I definitely didn't see Bram as a real love interest, even to the end.
I loved Emile as a main characters. He's young, a bit naïve, alone and afraid, but he's got a strength about him that comes out when he most needs it. He can stand up for himself, even if he has those teenage moments of temper tantrums and running off to avoid his problems. I think this might be another reason I preferred Henri as a love interest, because he shared those teenage traits, whereas Bram read as much older and wiser, like he just didn't fit with Emile, on the same emotional wavelength.
The plot was split into Parts.
Part 1 focused on Emile being a servant, exploring the new position, and meeting his two potential suitors. It felt a little slow, especially compared to A Vile Season, which I read just before this. There's one death in this part, which happens off page, but lots of mystery and uncertainty.
Part 2 built on that story and progressed better, as Emile was exposed as being a Marquis and his aunt appears at the chateau, to make his life miserable. Two more deaths happen, all off page, where Emile either stumbles upon the remains or sees the aftermath.
Part 3 is when they head to Udolpho; his aunt is now a fixture in the plot, there have been multiple deaths, and there's a forced proximity with Henri.
I really enjoyed the vast array of secondary characters – Annette, Henri's sister Blanche, Montoni and Ludovoci. They all had so much individuality and potential. I particularly loved how close Blanche grew to Emile, their banter with each other, and the late and brief appearance of Carmilla.
Were there any downsides? This was an ARC, so there were a few editing issues, with Emile once being called Henri, as well. I also didn't connect to Bram, probably since he didn't get nearly as much page time as Henri or Emile. I felt the beginning was slow.
However, despite all of that, I really enjoyed the book and I feel like it did exactly what it set out to do and I was left feeling satisfied, when I was finished. It was exactly what it needed to be, and what I wanted to read, so I chose not to dock any stars. My enjoyment was a definitive 5* and even taking my issues into account, I would only have marked it as a 4.5 and marked it up to 5 anyway.
~
Favourite Quotes
“Did he really think he could just...order me to fall in love with him? Did he really expect a command could thaw a heart? It was shocking. It was unthinkable.”
“I never wanted you to leave me, Emile, but I've come to understand that I have to let you go.”
adventurous
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
The plot was good and definitely has a lot of potential. I am hoping a second book will fill out the gaps that were left.
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Putting my thoughts into a list because I literally JUST finished reading and my thoughts are all jumbled
1. wish the mystery/supernatural of it all was revealed earlier than 75% of the way into the book
2. BEGGING for more development for Bram.it was immediately obvious to me that the friend outside the cell window would be dead and my first instinct was to be afraid for Annette
3. like another review said, this could have been extraordinary if it was adult fiction and really lean into the Gothic romance
4. grossed/freaked me out way more than I was expecting which wasn't totally unwelcome as spooky season arrives!
5. the romance was cute at times butHenri's... forceful nature at the beginning left a bad taste in my mouth for just about every other romantic moment they had together
6. I know this is mostly complaints but I actually thoroughly enjoyed it and read it super fast for my usual speed
1. wish the mystery/supernatural of it all was revealed earlier than 75% of the way into the book
2. BEGGING for more development for Bram.
3. like another review said, this could have been extraordinary if it was adult fiction and really lean into the Gothic romance
4. grossed/freaked me out way more than I was expecting which wasn't totally unwelcome as spooky season arrives!
5. the romance was cute at times but
6. I know this is mostly complaints but I actually thoroughly enjoyed it and read it super fast for my usual speed
Deliciously awful
I ve read fanfictions with more core than this
I ve read fanfictions with more core than this