Reviews

The Death of Jane Lawrence by Caitlin Starling

humblebee20's review against another edition

3.0

There was a cool book here in concept, but it failed to deliver. The setting and building up of the world's laws were cool, but quickly nosedived when *spoilers* magic is brought into the picture *spoilers* . From that point on, I lost all interest and yet the book drags on for much too long as Jane just freaks out for 200 of 400 pages. Had a different explanation or execution been used, maybe I would have enjoyed it more, but as is, I wasn't sold.

mgakis's review

dark mysterious

4.0

erintowner's review against another edition

3.0

The story was engaging and I kept reading to find out what happened. The thing is, the book keeps contradicting itself and not in a way that makes sense. Other horror books do this in a way that adds to the story but it felt to me like the author didn't know what they wanted to be true. I kept getting lost in Jane's thought and having to re-read passages. The characters made a lot of silly decisions.

francisfrancis's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

mollyvh's review against another edition

3.0

3.5 I went back and forth a lot about if I would round up or down. I settled on down since it wasn't a book I loved enough to give the full 4 stars. Atmospheric and spooky but felt pretty slow. I loved the ghostly elements and a creepy old house full of mystery and secrets but the pacing really was too slow for me. If you like atmospheric haunted houses definitely worth giving this book a read.

swampbooks's review against another edition

3.0

3.5 stars

What started off as a calculated move by Jane in order to keep a stable life eventually spiraled into web of logistical improbabilities - something she was not accustomed to facing as someone who relied on the stability of numbers.

The story captured gothic and medical horror beautifully. It combined math and magic to build something that was constantly on the verge of collapse.

While I loved the unsettling feeling I got while reading this, the writing grew more and more muddled. This reflected Jane’s increasingly erratic state of mind (an intriguing way of storytelling) but it made it a bit too difficult to keep up at times.

gretelchen's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Lovely, haunting book and took several turns I did not see coming!

And I would argue that happy ending was earned after everything Jane and Augustine went through!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood

Moderate: War

autumnvelvet's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.5

booksadoodle's review against another edition

5.0

So unexpected was this tale, and not my usual genre. Really, really liked it though, and it has made a great creepy companion for this Halloween season.

mreadz's review against another edition

3.0

(2.5/5☆)

Personally, this book wasn’t for me. I really thought I would enjoy it more than I did, but simply did not.

It was kind of all over the place in my opinion, but I really loved the gothic atmosphere shown throughout the book!