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3.94 AVERAGE
3.94 AVERAGE
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
reflective
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
A great second installment of this series. Even better if you’re a fan of Sherlock’s Irene Adler!
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
I had to force myself to get through this book.
The book is certainly too long, with inefficient prose and unnecessary interjections from the main cast—why not just write a chapter from each of their perspectives? But what bothered me most was the voice of the main character, Mary Jekyll. She is set up as the obvious foil to her sister Diana Hyde, and one would expect some personality clashes as they grow to reflect and respect each other. But it seems like actually everyone hates Diana, even though she’s the only one acting instead of thinking for 20 pages first; and Mary is incredibly nasty to her. Mary whines frequently about being a victim of sexism while policing strict gender roles for everyone else, not to mention the privilege she ignores of being an upper class cis/straight white Christian woman at the height of the British empire. It’s a perspective certainly shared by many at the time, but grates for modern progressive readers. I could stomach it like I do for most fantasy of manners if she wasn’t so nasty to Diana. Not enough fun to sit through a 24 hour audiobook!
Content Warnings
Minor: Body horror, Forced institutionalization, Classism
Multiple instances of breaking into institutions for the mentally ill im Victorian England. Implied that some are committed by their families. Implied body horror in characters’ pasts. I hear blood and gore is more extreme later in the book
The fun sequel takes adds Irene Adler and the Dracula story to the mix.
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
It was fun revisiting the characters from the first book in the series and meeting some new ones. I like the writing style and how the characters routinely interrupt the narrative with their own thoughts, insights, and comments. I'm looking forward to the next one in the series!
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
tense
Another installment in this fun series. More "monsters" defeating the monsters who created them. But why are they not calling themselves superheroes? It's long, though, and a little tedious in places.
Story was fine but this was twice as long as it needed to be!