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apeter's review against another edition
Not a fan. Had an old English vibe that I didn’t care for
girlglitch's review against another edition
2.0
I was hooked by the opening chapters of Bone China. Purcell is brilliant at location horror, and the remote Cornish setting of Morvoren House is promisingly creepy. I really enjoyed The Silent Companions and I was pleased to see echoes of it here, alongside a fresh gothic concept.
However, the atmosphere seemed to dissipate all too quickly. Bone China is not structurally sound: it's disjointed and poorly paced, all the tension seeping through the cracks of a confused plot. The dual timeline structure that was used to such great effect in The Silent Companions seems clumsy and random here, and the result is that the horror never really hits home.
Bone China was still an enjoyable read, and Purcell is clearly a capable writer - I was just hoping for something more.
*Thank you to ThePigeonhole.com for sharing this story!*
However, the atmosphere seemed to dissipate all too quickly. Bone China is not structurally sound: it's disjointed and poorly paced, all the tension seeping through the cracks of a confused plot. The dual timeline structure that was used to such great effect in The Silent Companions seems clumsy and random here, and the result is that the horror never really hits home.
Bone China was still an enjoyable read, and Purcell is clearly a capable writer - I was just hoping for something more.
*Thank you to ThePigeonhole.com for sharing this story!*
livres_de_bloss's review against another edition
3.0
3.5
This was a good read that was creepy and atmospheric at times; however, I felt the pacing was a bit off and in my view, there’s nothing all that frightening about fairies.
This was a good read that was creepy and atmospheric at times; however, I felt the pacing was a bit off and in my view, there’s nothing all that frightening about fairies.
krobart's review against another edition
4.0
See my review here:
https://whatmeread.wordpress.com/2022/05/09/review-1851-the-house-of-whispers/
https://whatmeread.wordpress.com/2022/05/09/review-1851-the-house-of-whispers/
thebookboy's review against another edition
4.0
Do you ever get so caught up in a book that you simply have to keep reading to know what happens next? For me, Bone China was that exact experience, but with one fatal flaw - the plot once all was said and done was somewhat of a disappointment.
I loved the whole setting, the gorgeous writing, the very visual feel of it all, but the nonsensical choices by certain characters at the end and rather unfulfilling revelations meant that this book went from a solid 5 star read to more of a 3.5.
I think Laura Purcell is a fabulous writer and I very much enjoy the stories of hers I've read, I just think this book needed to be tightened up at the end and a more satisfactory finale to have accompanied the excellent material that came before it. I still had a great time being lost in the world (thus the 3.5 rating) but it definitely pales in comparison to her previous works and does fail to capture the creepy feel of her other stories too.
I loved the whole setting, the gorgeous writing, the very visual feel of it all, but the nonsensical choices by certain characters at the end and rather unfulfilling revelations meant that this book went from a solid 5 star read to more of a 3.5.
I think Laura Purcell is a fabulous writer and I very much enjoy the stories of hers I've read, I just think this book needed to be tightened up at the end and a more satisfactory finale to have accompanied the excellent material that came before it. I still had a great time being lost in the world (thus the 3.5 rating) but it definitely pales in comparison to her previous works and does fail to capture the creepy feel of her other stories too.
nora_rue's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
sunrune234's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
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
3.75
incrediblemelk's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-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? Yes
3.0
Having read The Silent Companions by Purcell and found it to be "meat-and-potatoes" Gothic pastiche, I was hoping for something more distinctive from Bone China but didn't really get it.
While the section in which troubled young nurse Hester is maid to rich but unhappy Lady Rose reminded me a lot of Sarah Waters' Fingersmith, or Michel Faber's The Crimson Petal and the White, the Cornwall setting was much more Daphne Du Maurier.
But this story lacks Du Maurier's cynicism about human nature. Just as it dawned on me that Purcell meant to imbue her silent companions with some genuinely supernatural magic, the malevolent fairies in Bone China were treated as real, rather than as a source of superstition used to frighten or manipulate.
Therefore the creepy retainer Creeda deserves her name as a 'true believer' – I see that Purcell has not lost her taste for elbow-jabbingly obvious names.
While the story was atmospheric it was never truly unsettling, and the multiple strands of the story didn't really coalesce in a satisfying way. Hester's attachment to Lady Rose seemed to come from nowhere, so I had to wonder if there was something else in her past that had helped turn her into a hopeless laudanum and gin junkie.
And Louise Pinecroft was an irritating character in her prime – and I never really understood why she felt compelled to sit in the cold air with all the bone china. I think it might have been as simple and annoying as "otherwise the fairies would get her".
When everything in your book can be explained away as the work of "the fairies", you're letting your human characters off the hook.
While the section in which troubled young nurse Hester is maid to rich but unhappy Lady Rose reminded me a lot of Sarah Waters' Fingersmith, or Michel Faber's The Crimson Petal and the White, the Cornwall setting was much more Daphne Du Maurier.
But this story lacks Du Maurier's cynicism about human nature. Just as it dawned on me that Purcell meant to imbue her silent companions with some genuinely supernatural magic, the malevolent fairies in Bone China were treated as real, rather than as a source of superstition used to frighten or manipulate.
Therefore the creepy retainer Creeda deserves her name as a 'true believer' – I see that Purcell has not lost her taste for elbow-jabbingly obvious names.
While the story was atmospheric it was never truly unsettling, and the multiple strands of the story didn't really coalesce in a satisfying way. Hester's attachment to Lady Rose seemed to come from nowhere, so I had to wonder if there was something else in her past that had helped turn her into a hopeless laudanum and gin junkie.
And Louise Pinecroft was an irritating character in her prime – and I never really understood why she felt compelled to sit in the cold air with all the bone china. I think it might have been as simple and annoying as "otherwise the fairies would get her".
When everything in your book can be explained away as the work of "the fairies", you're letting your human characters off the hook.