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4.52 AVERAGE
4.52 AVERAGE
In this version of Victorian England, spirits are very much real, but only men are allowed to interact with them - with terrible consequences for women who are found out. Trans boy Silas, unaccepted as his real self, is discovered practicing spiritcraft publicly and sent to a girls school to become the "proper lady" he can never be. But this school is haunted, not only by its tortured tenants but by those girls who have been killed by those in charge for not becoming marriage material.
Despite reading the trigger warnings (very kindly) included in the book and being very uncomfortable with the first few chapters, I decided to finish this book because I really wanted to know what happened. Unfortunately, the unending medical gore made me so viscerally uncomfortable that I had to keep pausing because I was having physical reactions to it. I can't do gross-surgery-goes-wrong stuff, and our main character is always thinking about or performing it. I can read so many horrible things in books, but this one type of thing is the only one to physically upset me. Because of this, I won't be rating the book. If you're like me, I'd avoid this book. If that's something you can take, I do recommend this!
Now my otherwise thoughts on the book. I really enjoyed Silas as a main character. He was well characterized and I deeply wanted everything to be okay with him. The author is also trans and autistic, so those aspects are Own Voices. While it's great to be reading about trans, queer, and autistic characters in a historical setting, this is a more realistic book that depicts the horrible ways such people were treated in the past (and in some places, today). There is deep tragedy in the way that these children are treated and experimented on. I also appreciated that the author acknowledged the history of Black people particularly having horrifying medical experiments done on them. In terms of this being a speculative fiction book, I thought the magic and spirit stuff left some to be desired. I wanted to know more about how this world was affected by spirits being a part of life. I wasn't 100% on the relationship because they don't know each other well and have basically one thing in common, but for the sake of a HEA, I'll take it. I also am unsure that this should be categorized as YA; yes, it follows teen characters, but the content is so very adult.
Overall, I should have DNFed because of the medical gore, but otherwise I think it's a high quality book.
Despite reading the trigger warnings (very kindly) included in the book and being very uncomfortable with the first few chapters, I decided to finish this book because I really wanted to know what happened. Unfortunately, the unending medical gore made me so viscerally uncomfortable that I had to keep pausing because I was having physical reactions to it. I can't do gross-surgery-goes-wrong stuff, and our main character is always thinking about or performing it. I can read so many horrible things in books, but this one type of thing is the only one to physically upset me. Because of this, I won't be rating the book. If you're like me, I'd avoid this book. If that's something you can take, I do recommend this!
Now my otherwise thoughts on the book. I really enjoyed Silas as a main character. He was well characterized and I deeply wanted everything to be okay with him. The author is also trans and autistic, so those aspects are Own Voices. While it's great to be reading about trans, queer, and autistic characters in a historical setting, this is a more realistic book that depicts the horrible ways such people were treated in the past (and in some places, today). There is deep tragedy in the way that these children are treated and experimented on. I also appreciated that the author acknowledged the history of Black people particularly having horrifying medical experiments done on them. In terms of this being a speculative fiction book, I thought the magic and spirit stuff left some to be desired. I wanted to know more about how this world was affected by spirits being a part of life. I wasn't 100% on the relationship because they don't know each other well and have basically one thing in common, but for the sake of a HEA, I'll take it. I also am unsure that this should be categorized as YA; yes, it follows teen characters, but the content is so very adult.
Overall, I should have DNFed because of the medical gore, but otherwise I think it's a high quality book.
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
fast-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:
Complicated
Completely blew my expectations out of the water. The perfect balance of horror and heart. Obsessed.
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Deadnaming, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Hate crime, Homophobia, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual violence, Torture, Transphobia, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Medical trauma, Murder, Pregnancy, Lesbophobia, Outing, Sexual harassment, Dysphoria
adventurous
dark
sad
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:
Complicated
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
dark
reflective
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Deadnaming, Misogyny, Sexual violence, Transphobia, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Abortion
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Miscarriage, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Dysphoria
Minor: Self harm, Cannibalism, Suicide attempt
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
that was so gory and visceral omg the spirit bares its teeth is also too long and wordy for my liking but good for her anyway.
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cover artist: niky motekallem
----
cover artist: niky motekallem
Content Warnings
Graphic: Transphobia, Violence, Medical trauma
Safe to say I will NEVER shut up about this book.
My last review on an AJW book ( Compound Fracture) explains a little bit more on my critiques of that book. For a TLDR, it was described as a gory thriller with trans folks, and I felt that it abandoned the actual gore and thriller scenes and focused.. too much? On the MC's transness. White's writing style is fantastic, no doubts there, but I felt that it abandoned the plot of being grippingly violent and shocking. This book, to say the least, felt as if White personally heard my complaints about Compound Fracture and handed this book to me as a blessing.
This writing was bare-bones, no holds barred violent. There is little I love more in this world than some detailed body horror and gore in books, and DAMN this book signed, sealed, delivered. Silas is a trans man in a time where the word "trans" isn't yet a thing, rather some sort of illness or delusion. The involvement of violet eyed folks having a stronger link to the Veil is really cool, and the paranormal aspects of this were perfectly spooky!
Silas' autism (again, no one knows what autism is, more just odd mannerisms and seen as behind in society) was very well-written, and I LOVED how medical procedures and surgery were used as metaphors for many things in Silas' POV. I also have a big fixation on medicine and surgery, so I felt super seen by this internal monologue. His intrusive thoughts of taking out his eyes, uterus, and other things like that were also incredible, as I often have similar intrusive thoughts of that nature. This book was fantastically disgusting and violent, and I wouldn't have it ANY other way. The mute groundskeeper's sign of the spirit with a hand over the mouth and the eyes slowly making sense over time with the doctors and the headmaster was so smart!
What I loved most was how frank this book was on the topic of how women were treated in the 1800s. This book was not gentle, was not kind, it was real. It was honest, and I respect that so deeply. I was constantly on the edge of my seat from all of the awful injustice that the characters in this book went through, ESPECIALLY the excusing of any problems as simply hysteria (or, in this book's case, Veil-sickness).
A big warning for anyone wanting to read this fantastic book: don't take the gore/body horror warnings lightly. The main character (spoilers if you want to avoid). There are graphic depictions of violence, abuse, torture, murder, and other violent acts, including a description of an illegal vivisection performed on a young woman. While I as a reader love these things in books, you may not! Keep yourself safe above all.
I could yap about this book for pages upon pages, but alas this is just a review and I don't want to talk about the whole dang book. Hopefully this review spurs you on to check it out, because you won't regret it! This was perfectly spine-chilling, shiver-inducing, and perfectly horrifying and I wouldn't have it any other way for this type of book and time period.
My last review on an AJW book ( Compound Fracture) explains a little bit more on my critiques of that book. For a TLDR, it was described as a gory thriller with trans folks, and I felt that it abandoned the actual gore and thriller scenes and focused.. too much? On the MC's transness. White's writing style is fantastic, no doubts there, but I felt that it abandoned the plot of being grippingly violent and shocking. This book, to say the least, felt as if White personally heard my complaints about Compound Fracture and handed this book to me as a blessing.
This writing was bare-bones, no holds barred violent. There is little I love more in this world than some detailed body horror and gore in books, and DAMN this book signed, sealed, delivered. Silas is a trans man in a time where the word "trans" isn't yet a thing, rather some sort of illness or delusion. The involvement of violet eyed folks having a stronger link to the Veil is really cool, and the paranormal aspects of this were perfectly spooky!
Silas' autism (again, no one knows what autism is, more just odd mannerisms and seen as behind in society) was very well-written, and I LOVED how medical procedures and surgery were used as metaphors for many things in Silas' POV. I also have a big fixation on medicine and surgery, so I felt super seen by this internal monologue. His intrusive thoughts of taking out his eyes, uterus, and other things like that were also incredible, as I often have similar intrusive thoughts of that nature. This book was fantastically disgusting and violent, and I wouldn't have it ANY other way. The mute groundskeeper's sign of the spirit with a hand over the mouth and the eyes slowly making sense over time with the doctors and the headmaster was so smart!
What I loved most was how frank this book was on the topic of how women were treated in the 1800s. This book was not gentle, was not kind, it was real. It was honest, and I respect that so deeply. I was constantly on the edge of my seat from all of the awful injustice that the characters in this book went through, ESPECIALLY the excusing of any problems as simply hysteria (or, in this book's case, Veil-sickness).
A big warning for anyone wanting to read this fantastic book: don't take the gore/body horror warnings lightly. The main character (spoilers if you want to avoid)
Spoiler
is described when he performs an unsafe, illegal C-section/abortion on their friend in a bathtubI could yap about this book for pages upon pages, but alas this is just a review and I don't want to talk about the whole dang book. Hopefully this review spurs you on to check it out, because you won't regret it! This was perfectly spine-chilling, shiver-inducing, and perfectly horrifying and I wouldn't have it any other way for this type of book and time period.