Reviews tagging 'Slavery'

The Murder of Mr. Wickham by Claudia Gray

8 reviews

aseel_reads's review against another edition

funny lighthearted mysterious medium-paced

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

3.75

Very wholesome, loved having all Austen's characters together. I enjoy Jonathan being autistic coded. The way the murder was resolved ended up being good but it took ages to get to it and felt like a more minor part of the story, and the main part was the characters interacting instead of the murder mystery 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia

Moderate: Murder, Child death, Toxic relationship, Sexual harassment, Ableism, and Sexual assault

Minor: Slavery

leahlizzm's review against another edition

medium-paced

1.0

such a fun premise and such a disappointment 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Slavery, and Sexual assault

mattyb's review against another edition

adventurous funny lighthearted mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Bullying, Homophobia, and Death

Moderate: Child death, Racial slurs, Sexual assault, and Alcohol

Minor: Miscarriage, Slavery, and Sexual harassment

blewballoon's review against another edition

emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.0

This was a fun, easy read to celebrate finishing reading all of the Jane Austen novels. I enjoyed the crossover aspect and seeing the characters from different stories interact, I think that's the real selling point of the book. I did enjoy the murder mystery and the author did a good job of creating plenty of motives and red herrings to keep you in suspense. I would recommend this if you are familiar with Jane Austen's works and characters, but would not recommend it otherwise. The author assumes you know these characters well already. There is a lot of POV switching. In my opinion, probably too much switching, it may have been better to just focus on the POV of the two new characters. The many POVs makes it harder to follow especially if you haven't already got the backstory and nuance of their perspectives from their characterization in the Jane Austen novels.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Murder and Homophobia

Minor: Racial slurs, Sexual assault, Classism, and Slavery

mandkips's review

mysterious tense 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

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Murder

Moderate: Racial slurs, Sexual assault, Child death, and Homophobia

Minor: Slavery, Colonisation, and Miscarriage

purplepenning's review against another edition

emotional lighthearted mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No

4.0

A lot of fun for Austen fans! Not only do we get Wickham's comeuppance, but it happens in a super-sequel where characters from Austen's books are gathered together at a house party hosted by Emma and Mr. Knightly! In addition to our favorite established couples (Elizabeth and Darcy, Marianne and Colonel Brandon, Fanny and Edmund, Anne and Captain Wentworth), a few delightfully original characters of marrying age are introduced — Elizabeth and Darcy's eldest son, Catherine and Henry Tilney's daughter, and Jane and Frank Churchill's daughter. As the only two members of the house party to have an alibi and no motive, Jonathan Darcy and Juliet Tilney set aside propriety for investigative camaraderie. But neither propriety nor camaraderie are easy in a house where everyone is protecting secrets and someone is an actual murderer. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Religious bigotry, Violence, Ableism, Alcohol, Child abuse, Child death, Homophobia, Sexism, Classism, Death, Grief, Miscarriage, and Sexual assault

Minor: Colonisation and Slavery

In context: Ableism is from

a neurodiverse character in a historical setting being (lovingly) corrected and coached on proper behavior, mostly as part of the backstory but still very present in POV narration

. Racial slur is from

using a historical name for Romani people in England

. Homophobia is from

historical Christian characters struggling to reconcile homosexuality with their faith (and only getting halfway there; judgment is suspended so welcome is offered but acceptance is not).

odrib's review against another edition

funny lighthearted mysterious medium-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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder

Moderate: Child death, Classism, Homophobia, Racial slurs, Grief, and Outing

Minor: Sexual harassment, Misogyny, Miscarriage, Slavery, and Sexism

phantasmaboo's review

adventurous emotional mysterious tense fast-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? Yes

4.0

The Murder of Mr. Wickham by Claudia Gray is a murder mystery centered around the death of the characters from Pride and Prejudice. It's ensemble story-telling guides you through the events of the night as well as subsequent nights as Mr. Darcy's heir Jonathan and the young Ms. Juliet Tilney attempt to discover who among them may be the murderer. 

I give this book 4 stars. Other than it being the characters from Pride and Prejudice, it followed the beats of any murder mystery story exactly and I thought that it was well executed. Gray also builds in a lot of character and world building that add depth to the characters while also advancing the plot. Gray does seem to take liberties with the characters from Pride and Prejudice, so if you are looking for a book that is perfectly in line with previous iterations, you will likely be disappointed. Still, as someone who is not a huge Pride and Prejudice fan, I enjoyed this version of the characters. 

The main fault that I found with the text was how it handled representation of marginalized groups. There are several instances in which the characters use a racial slur, which the author addresses in an author's note at the beginning of the text. While I see their point of view that this was a word used at the time, I believe that the text would have functioned just as well without it and should not have been used. After all, there are many other historical issues that are not presented accurately and the book does not suffer for it. The author could have used the proper name "Roma" instead of a slur, and I doubt anyone would have noticed or cared. 

There are also storylines of ableism (directed toward a potentially autistic character) and homophobia (directed toward an unseen male character). I didn't find any particular issue with how these storylines were handled, but they could be triggering to those who have experienced ableism/homophobia. 

Overall, I thought this book was a solid murder mystery with some great character development. I highly recommend it. 
  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Classism, Misogyny, Murder, Death, and Homophobia

Moderate: Sexual violence, Outing, and Violence

Minor: Child death, Racial slurs, Racism, and Slavery