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s_haynes88's review
mysterious
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
3.25
meadamo's review
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
motherofladybirds's review
2.0
I was interested in the New England storyline the most. I found the fact that the family accepted Livia so easily implausible and felt the same about the entire part set in Venice. I almost did not finish at that point but I had invested so much time. A bit predictable.
sarahgibbons17's review
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
almondcookies's review against another edition
1.0
I can't believe I managed to finish this book. The only thing that kept me going was needing to know how it ended and there weren’t any reviews with full spoilers, so I had to keep going. If you're like me, and you desperately want to stop reading but ned to know how it ends, Ima help you out:
I listened to this on Audible so names may not be spelt correctly.
Livia was once married to a rich man (first husband), he was a collector of antiquities, that’s true. Before (but mostly while) he was ill, she smuggled antiquities out of the house to her friend Fillipe, who duplicated them and stored them in his warehouse in Venice. Fillipe also obtained antiquities by grave robbing. After digging up the bodies and antiquities, he would sometimes burry them again, but most of the time either leave them to rot, or sell them to doctors needing bodies to test/examine. Basically his side hustle. It’s also worth mentioning Fillipe has been having an affair with Livia, probably since they first met, and continues doing so whilst she’s married to Rob. Mateo is Fillipe’s son, not Robs.
One day, Rob, at this point a doctor in Venice and married to Livia, is looking for a body to do further research, asks his friend if he knows a supplier. The friend brings him to Fillipe. Rob already knows Fillipe as Livia’s good friend, but he didn’t know that they were duplicating antiques or that he was selling dead bodies, and most certainly not that he was graverobbing. Rob runs back to Livia, all traumatised and Livia’s like ‘oh shit, we’ve been uncovered, I gotta get rid of this guy.’
Livia, never wanting to be the bad guy, gets Fillipe to report Rob to the authorities, under the pretext of Rob using his doctor powers to assassinate Livia’s first husband. Rob gets locked up, and would normally just be rotting in prison, but because he’s a doctor, the authorities send him to a quarantine island to monitor patients. This island is where ill/potentially ill people are sent to, and Rob being sent there is practically a death sentence in itself.
Fillipe and Livia plot their get rich quick scheme which goes as follows:
- She’ll go to England penniless, and find the Reekie wharf.
- Livia will break the news to them about Rob’s death, claim to be Rob’s widow, and that Mateo is Rob’s son. Stay with them and gain their trust
- Livia will tell the women her first husband left her many priceless original antiques, and that she wants to ship it back from Venice and store and sell them from Reekie wharf. She will avoid taxes and duties by claiming it is original furniture
- The Reekie women are to pay for shipping and storage without a single penny coming from Livia
- Rinse and repeat until she’s super wealthy. Eventually when they’re super rich, she and Fillipe will get married.
Unfortunately for her, Livia tells the women that Rob died via drowning, and Alinor, who has the sight, is just like ‘lol no bitch’ and suspects her from then on.
However, Alys plays right into Livia’s trap. Eventually the two of them become lovers, as Livia is able to capitalise on Alys’ loneliness. She basically manipulates Alys into believing everything she says whilst also treating her extremely poorly. Livia constantly tells Alys that she’ll buy them a new wharf with the profits from her sales, but never gives her any. Alys is the only one that believes her, Alinor doesn’t, and neither do any of the grandkids. Speaking of which -
James Avory comes back at the beginning of the book trying to claim his heir from Alinor, because his actual wife didn’t give him any children. Turns out, the two children living at the wharf, Jonny and Sarah, are both Alys’. Alinor child did not survive her drowning in Book 1. When James demands the child, Alinor is like ‘well fuck you. You didn’t want the kid then and you aren’t getting them now. But lol joke’s on you cause the fetus didn’t survive on account of you LETTING them drown me in Book 1.’ Basically a direct quote. Kind of.
Livia meets James, sees his wealth and an opportunity for profit. She originally manipulates him into thinking that if he helps her sell her antiquities, she will help the two women at the wharf. So by helping her, he’s indirectly helping Alinor. Like an idiot, James agrees, and uses his London house to sell her wares. Eventually Livia manipulates James into sleeping with her, which forces him to marry her asap. (I say manipulate, but honestly, James is an idiot and he should have seen it coming, it was painfully obvious).
Alinor is fed up of Livia’s nonsense and sends the granddaughter, Sarah, to Venice to investigate Livia’s backstory. She meets Fillipe, finds the dirt, but when he’s about to ’get rid of her’, Sarah does a Hail Mary and tells him about Livia’s new plan to marry James. It works, and out of spite, Fillipe agrees to work with Sarah to expose Livia. They travel back from Venice to London, and on the way pick up Rob from the quarantine island (long story, I’m not typing it out).
Back in London, James and Livia have just said their vows, when the whole gang burst in to the church. Rob tells the minister that no, Livia can’t marry James because she’s already married to him (much to James’ relief). Plot twist, Livia turns around and says that she was a Roman Catholic when she married Rob, and she was supposed to convert before the ceremony but never did, rendering their marriage null, and turning baby Mateo into a bastard (Fillipe chimes in that Mateo is actually his child, so was actually a bastard all along anyway).
Long story short, James gets what he deserves: a lying, manipulative witch for a wife.
Livia gets what she wants: Money and James’ estate
Alinor and Alys are finally left in peace, but end up taking in baby Mateo. They also get the prize of being reunited with Rob.
Sarah ends up getting together with Fillipe (also a long story. If you want to know, read the book.)
Jonny…. I have no idea what happens to him, he was basically a side character.
Tahdah! The end. You’re welcome. You can dnf the book guilt free now.
If you read all that and are thinking, it sounds pretty good, why did I hate this book so much? It’s because things moved so slowly, and the fun stuff only happens at the last 20%, but by that time I wasn’t invested in anyone and just wanted it to end.
I hated both Livia and James; Livia was very obviously up to something and James was like an annoying pest that wouldn’t leave. Alinor was hardly in the book, and Alys, a wonderful character in Book 1 suddenly turned into a feeble mouse (I’m pretty sure the manipulation sends a bad message for LGBTQ+ community too, but I’m not going to get into that). Sarah was a deus ex machina, and there was no reason for Jonny to be in this book.
Ned also has half the book dedicated to him and his adventures in New England, which are interwoven throughout the London/Venice chapters. It was so jarring to read, especially because none of the chapters ever converged with what was going in London/Venice. Might have been good as a side story, but definitely not woven into the book.
--------------
Past the half way mark, and now asking the question of if I should finish this or dnf it.
Reading this is like being acutely aware a train wreck is approaching, but then realising you don't care about any of the passengers.
Spoiler
I listened to this on Audible so names may not be spelt correctly.
Livia was once married to a rich man (first husband), he was a collector of antiquities, that’s true. Before (but mostly while) he was ill, she smuggled antiquities out of the house to her friend Fillipe, who duplicated them and stored them in his warehouse in Venice. Fillipe also obtained antiquities by grave robbing. After digging up the bodies and antiquities, he would sometimes burry them again, but most of the time either leave them to rot, or sell them to doctors needing bodies to test/examine. Basically his side hustle. It’s also worth mentioning Fillipe has been having an affair with Livia, probably since they first met, and continues doing so whilst she’s married to Rob. Mateo is Fillipe’s son, not Robs.
One day, Rob, at this point a doctor in Venice and married to Livia, is looking for a body to do further research, asks his friend if he knows a supplier. The friend brings him to Fillipe. Rob already knows Fillipe as Livia’s good friend, but he didn’t know that they were duplicating antiques or that he was selling dead bodies, and most certainly not that he was graverobbing. Rob runs back to Livia, all traumatised and Livia’s like ‘oh shit, we’ve been uncovered, I gotta get rid of this guy.’
Livia, never wanting to be the bad guy, gets Fillipe to report Rob to the authorities, under the pretext of Rob using his doctor powers to assassinate Livia’s first husband. Rob gets locked up, and would normally just be rotting in prison, but because he’s a doctor, the authorities send him to a quarantine island to monitor patients. This island is where ill/potentially ill people are sent to, and Rob being sent there is practically a death sentence in itself.
Fillipe and Livia plot their get rich quick scheme which goes as follows:
- She’ll go to England penniless, and find the Reekie wharf.
- Livia will break the news to them about Rob’s death, claim to be Rob’s widow, and that Mateo is Rob’s son. Stay with them and gain their trust
- Livia will tell the women her first husband left her many priceless original antiques, and that she wants to ship it back from Venice and store and sell them from Reekie wharf. She will avoid taxes and duties by claiming it is original furniture
- The Reekie women are to pay for shipping and storage without a single penny coming from Livia
- Rinse and repeat until she’s super wealthy. Eventually when they’re super rich, she and Fillipe will get married.
Unfortunately for her, Livia tells the women that Rob died via drowning, and Alinor, who has the sight, is just like ‘lol no bitch’ and suspects her from then on.
However, Alys plays right into Livia’s trap. Eventually the two of them become lovers, as Livia is able to capitalise on Alys’ loneliness. She basically manipulates Alys into believing everything she says whilst also treating her extremely poorly. Livia constantly tells Alys that she’ll buy them a new wharf with the profits from her sales, but never gives her any. Alys is the only one that believes her, Alinor doesn’t, and neither do any of the grandkids. Speaking of which -
James Avory comes back at the beginning of the book trying to claim his heir from Alinor, because his actual wife didn’t give him any children. Turns out, the two children living at the wharf, Jonny and Sarah, are both Alys’. Alinor child did not survive her drowning in Book 1. When James demands the child, Alinor is like ‘well fuck you. You didn’t want the kid then and you aren’t getting them now. But lol joke’s on you cause the fetus didn’t survive on account of you LETTING them drown me in Book 1.’ Basically a direct quote. Kind of.
Livia meets James, sees his wealth and an opportunity for profit. She originally manipulates him into thinking that if he helps her sell her antiquities, she will help the two women at the wharf. So by helping her, he’s indirectly helping Alinor. Like an idiot, James agrees, and uses his London house to sell her wares. Eventually Livia manipulates James into sleeping with her, which forces him to marry her asap. (I say manipulate, but honestly, James is an idiot and he should have seen it coming, it was painfully obvious).
Alinor is fed up of Livia’s nonsense and sends the granddaughter, Sarah, to Venice to investigate Livia’s backstory. She meets Fillipe, finds the dirt, but when he’s about to ’get rid of her’, Sarah does a Hail Mary and tells him about Livia’s new plan to marry James. It works, and out of spite, Fillipe agrees to work with Sarah to expose Livia. They travel back from Venice to London, and on the way pick up Rob from the quarantine island (long story, I’m not typing it out).
Back in London, James and Livia have just said their vows, when the whole gang burst in to the church. Rob tells the minister that no, Livia can’t marry James because she’s already married to him (much to James’ relief). Plot twist, Livia turns around and says that she was a Roman Catholic when she married Rob, and she was supposed to convert before the ceremony but never did, rendering their marriage null, and turning baby Mateo into a bastard (Fillipe chimes in that Mateo is actually his child, so was actually a bastard all along anyway).
Long story short, James gets what he deserves: a lying, manipulative witch for a wife.
Livia gets what she wants: Money and James’ estate
Alinor and Alys are finally left in peace, but end up taking in baby Mateo. They also get the prize of being reunited with Rob.
Sarah ends up getting together with Fillipe (also a long story. If you want to know, read the book.)
Jonny…. I have no idea what happens to him, he was basically a side character.
Tahdah! The end. You’re welcome. You can dnf the book guilt free now.
If you read all that and are thinking, it sounds pretty good, why did I hate this book so much? It’s because things moved so slowly, and the fun stuff only happens at the last 20%, but by that time I wasn’t invested in anyone and just wanted it to end.
I hated both Livia and James; Livia was very obviously up to something and James was like an annoying pest that wouldn’t leave. Alinor was hardly in the book, and Alys, a wonderful character in Book 1 suddenly turned into a feeble mouse (I’m pretty sure the manipulation sends a bad message for LGBTQ+ community too, but I’m not going to get into that). Sarah was a deus ex machina, and there was no reason for Jonny to be in this book.
Ned also has half the book dedicated to him and his adventures in New England, which are interwoven throughout the London/Venice chapters. It was so jarring to read, especially because none of the chapters ever converged with what was going in London/Venice. Might have been good as a side story, but definitely not woven into the book.
--------------
Past the half way mark, and now asking the question of if I should finish this or dnf it.
Reading this is like being acutely aware a train wreck is approaching, but then realising you don't care about any of the passengers.
girl_of_books_and_wheels's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
grannyg's review
adventurous
challenging
emotional
informative
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
caputoce's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
iddedidde's review
3.0
Återigen visar Philippa Gregory vilken fantastisk författare hon är. Mörka strömmar är en händelserik och intressant berättelse som bjuder in läsaren till 1600-talets London, New England och Venedig. Det är en berättelse om mörka hemligheter, djupa familjeband och makt där välskrivna dialoger och fint gestaltade miljöer har ett bra fokus.
Handlingen är snabb men samtidigt välskriven och djup, det finns många händelserika kapitel och spännande scener som etsar fast läsaren och gör det svårt att sluta läsa. Neds berättelse i New England var intressant med alla välskrivna karaktärer, men samtidigt kändes den något onödig till bokens helhet. Jag hade hellre sett ett fokus på Sarahs berättelse i Venedig, och hur hon utforskade en, för henne, helt annorlunda och spännande värld.
Jag fastnade lite extra för Sarah och hennes charmiga och mogna personlighet, men det var samtidigt spännande och härligt att få återse så många älskvärda karaktärer från Tidvatten. Philippa Gregory har en fin svärta i alla hennes karaktärer vilket skapar ett bra djup. Jag tycker om att boken innehåller korrekta historiska detaljer och karaktärer, vilket dessutom skapar en fin trovärdighet till berättelsen och gör boken ännu mer intressant och genomtänkt.
Generellt är Mörka strömmar en välskriven historisk roman fylld av unika karaktärer och intressanta dialoger. Det är diskussioner om makt, pengar, samhälle och krig vilket gör berättelsen fängslande och dramatisk. Om ni tyckte om Tidvatten är detta ett måste för er, men även för alla er som tycker om historiska romaner med ett bra fokus på miljöer, karaktärer och familjeband. Trollbindande, händelserik och oerhört välskriven!
Handlingen är snabb men samtidigt välskriven och djup, det finns många händelserika kapitel och spännande scener som etsar fast läsaren och gör det svårt att sluta läsa. Neds berättelse i New England var intressant med alla välskrivna karaktärer, men samtidigt kändes den något onödig till bokens helhet. Jag hade hellre sett ett fokus på Sarahs berättelse i Venedig, och hur hon utforskade en, för henne, helt annorlunda och spännande värld.
Jag fastnade lite extra för Sarah och hennes charmiga och mogna personlighet, men det var samtidigt spännande och härligt att få återse så många älskvärda karaktärer från Tidvatten. Philippa Gregory har en fin svärta i alla hennes karaktärer vilket skapar ett bra djup. Jag tycker om att boken innehåller korrekta historiska detaljer och karaktärer, vilket dessutom skapar en fin trovärdighet till berättelsen och gör boken ännu mer intressant och genomtänkt.
Generellt är Mörka strömmar en välskriven historisk roman fylld av unika karaktärer och intressanta dialoger. Det är diskussioner om makt, pengar, samhälle och krig vilket gör berättelsen fängslande och dramatisk. Om ni tyckte om Tidvatten är detta ett måste för er, men även för alla er som tycker om historiska romaner med ett bra fokus på miljöer, karaktärer och familjeband. Trollbindande, händelserik och oerhört välskriven!
oliviaehrhart's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5