Reviews with content warning for Physical abuse - The Essex Serpent

I read this one in obsessive fits - almost breathlessly in two days, through the night and past dawn. My favorite part was reading it as the night shifted into morning and a thunder storm shook my apartment and rain hit the paved walkway just outside my window (isn’t that just the best thing you’ve ever heard? the drama!)

This is the best book I’ve read in a very long time. There are so many layers, things seething under the surface, no obvious metaphors, only complexity. It feels masterful and it’s unsettling and absolutely beautiful and when I finished I actually gasped and that turned into a cough (again, the DRAMA)

I already can’t wait to re-read this. Thank you Goodreads for a copy of this one; I was truly overjoyed when I saw I had won a giveaway for a book I had been wanting to read for a long time.

Content Warnings

rieviolet's review against another edition

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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.

Content Warnings

elzibub's review

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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

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