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chloeplatt's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Diverse cast of characters? No
3.0
Content Warnings
Minor: Animal death and Domestic abuse
thesawyerbean's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
While I found the mystery in this book to be very enchanting, and I always love mythology-adjacent literature, I simply did not enjoy this as much as I had hoped. I found the pacing to be quite sluggish in parts, the plot somewhat predictable, and some of the characters to be caricatures.
I also found the historical setting of Georgian England to be quite unbelievable due to the manner of speaking, some of the behaviour and some of the social/political attitudes of the characters not being aligned with what I’d expect from characters in this era. While it was refreshing to see in certain ways, it wasn’t exactly historically accurate.
However ultimately I was quite satisfied with the ending. There were some loose ends that I don’t think were properly addressed, which may have just been added to add mystique midway through the book. An interesting take on a greek myth retelling for sure.
I also found the historical setting of Georgian England to be quite unbelievable due to the manner of speaking, some of the behaviour and some of the social/political attitudes of the characters not being aligned with what I’d expect from characters in this era. While it was refreshing to see in certain ways, it wasn’t exactly historically accurate.
However ultimately I was quite satisfied with the ending. There were some loose ends that I don’t think were properly addressed, which may have just been added to add mystique midway through the book. An interesting take on a greek myth retelling for sure.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Domestic abuse, Medical trauma, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Death, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Vomit, Death of parent, Murder, and Alcohol
bookphenomena_micky's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
4.0
Headlines:
Creepy atmosphere
Plundering of other countries
You can literally smell the evil
Pandora was such an all consuming read. I loved how it brought Georgian England together with Greek mythology. The result was a stunning story, with clever characters, ones to really invest in and some to revile.
Pandora ‘Dora’ was the orphaned daughter of two archeologists-excavators-plunderers but they were respected experts and sellers of antiquities prior to their deaths. Dora relied on her uncle Hesakiah who quite frankly was one of the most revolting characters ever, but I loved how well he was written. He was a dodgy dealer in all the ways.
The arrival of the jar brought a creepy atmosphere to the page and the house Dora lived in. She had assistance from Edward with regards to the jar and there were some interesting side characters in Cornelius and Lottie. The Coombes brothers situation made me shudder and I could literally smell some of the things going on, kudos to the description. I have to mention Hermes, Dora’s animal companion in the shape of a magpie. He was fierce, wiley and protective; I enjoyed him on the page.
There’s a small part of me that was uncomfortable reading about the colonial aspects of plundering and acquisition even though that was historically correct. I hate element of British history, our museums are still full of antiquities that are not ‘ours’.
This was a superb debut, easy to read and not overtly historical-heavy. Dora the explorer (look someone had to say it) made for great reading and I’d jump on another release from this author.
Thank you to Vintage Books for the eARC copy.
Creepy atmosphere
Plundering of other countries
You can literally smell the evil
Pandora was such an all consuming read. I loved how it brought Georgian England together with Greek mythology. The result was a stunning story, with clever characters, ones to really invest in and some to revile.
Pandora ‘Dora’ was the orphaned daughter of two archeologists-excavators-plunderers but they were respected experts and sellers of antiquities prior to their deaths. Dora relied on her uncle Hesakiah who quite frankly was one of the most revolting characters ever, but I loved how well he was written. He was a dodgy dealer in all the ways.
The arrival of the jar brought a creepy atmosphere to the page and the house Dora lived in. She had assistance from Edward with regards to the jar and there were some interesting side characters in Cornelius and Lottie. The Coombes brothers situation made me shudder and I could literally smell some of the things going on, kudos to the description. I have to mention Hermes, Dora’s animal companion in the shape of a magpie. He was fierce, wiley and protective; I enjoyed him on the page.
There’s a small part of me that was uncomfortable reading about the colonial aspects of plundering and acquisition even though that was historically correct. I hate element of British history, our museums are still full of antiquities that are not ‘ours’.
This was a superb debut, easy to read and not overtly historical-heavy. Dora the explorer (look someone had to say it) made for great reading and I’d jump on another release from this author.
Thank you to Vintage Books for the eARC copy.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Animal death, Domestic abuse, and Physical abuse
jamieleepilk's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
informative
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Body horror, Death, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail