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woshuaa's review
dark
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
i feel like this book was about three different things at one time and none of them managed to blend with each other. i was excited for the black magic angle but then they spent pages upon pages debating the practical logic behind even believing in magic and things never got more interesting from there honestly. i think there were a lot of good ideas at play here but none of them were implemented in a way i found interesting or unique unfortunately
Content Warnings
Graphic: Medical content, Blood, and Gore
brethebookbean's review
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
2.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Medical content, Gore, and Death
Moderate: Child death
ermw0's review
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.5
I was so exhausted by this book. It seems like Jane goes through a personality change every other page. The magical world was muddled and uninteresting, it felt like nonsense at some points. I was heavily skimming the end because of this. I was on board for the first half, but this quickly became an obligatory finish. I enjoyed “the Luminous Dead” so I thought I enjoy this. So much is crammed into this story and so much of it feels half baked, so I didn’t end up enjoying any of it. I was frustrated by this because if certain elements were the focus (the surgical scenes and more real dynamic between Jane and Augustine were good) it could’ve been great. But the magic world felt confusing and honestly like nonsense and ruined the book for me. I’ve read better gothic horror /magic inspired so I wouldn’t recommend this.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Medical content, Blood, Body horror, Child death, Death, and Medical trauma
Moderate: Death of parent
Minor: War and Schizophrenia/Psychosis
elanuruysal's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
fast-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
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Medical content, Drug use, and Medical trauma
Moderate: War and Injury/Injury detail
animafeline's review
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Medical content, Mental illness, Murder, and Death
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Body horror, and Gore
Minor: Addiction, War, Fire/Fire injury, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, Child death, and Drug use
smylieman's review
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gore, Medical trauma, Blood, Miscarriage, Injury/Injury detail, Self harm, and Medical content
Moderate: Sexual content, Terminal illness, and Pregnancy
stbyleth's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
I enjoyed this book overall, I think. The prose was extremely well-written and the author did her research into the time period. I had started off with the audiobook and found it was not going as fast as I wanted (even though the audiobook was EXTREMELY well acted and well worth it), so I ended up buying a copy since I can read faster than listen.
I was put off by the magic at first but after suspending my disbelief it made sense in the narrative. That's what I get for not fully reading the summary.
The pacing is rather fast. Jane falls in love with Augustine and he, with her, in a matter of a week. I suppose that's par for the course for these types of novels but I think it would have been better if it had leaned more into her wanting to keep it a business relationship strictly (him falling in love with her, however, would still make sense to me; he is very controlled by his emotions, whereas she is very logical and cunning).
Rest of the review is spoilers.
"Chapter Zero" was odd, to me. Somehow I still hoped that Elodie was the real Elodie (I was guessing that Jane would offer up her life so that Elodie could live as Jane or perhaps they mix together, and that was what the title meant (the death of the "true" Jane)). I had assumed the rest of the ghosts were not who they said they were from the start, and it only became more apparent when it was shown that Augustine and Jane saw different things out of the same shadows. But the time travel plot seemed very... off, in a way. Perhaps that was the intention. It certainly pulled the narrative together but that was it. I will say, though, that the author was good at giving small hints that, upon looking back, make more sense knowing what we know now. Also, for the longest time, I assumed that it would actually not be any ghosts whatsoever and that there was actually a gas leak of some sort since there was a LOT of focus on the house being piped with gas. But then nothing came of it.
I think it would have been more fun if the concept of the mirror world was played with more. When "Elodie" showed up in the mirror I got excited because for some time I had been thinking that this was a mirrored version of our world, with some key differences, like the names of the locations and outcome of the war. I still don't know why it was set in an alternate reality if this was not the case.
Overall, good book that could have used some fine tuning, but I still think it was worth it.
I was put off by the magic at first but after suspending my disbelief it made sense in the narrative. That's what I get for not fully reading the summary.
The pacing is rather fast. Jane falls in love with Augustine and he, with her, in a matter of a week. I suppose that's par for the course for these types of novels but I think it would have been better if it had leaned more into her wanting to keep it a business relationship strictly (him falling in love with her, however, would still make sense to me; he is very controlled by his emotions, whereas she is very logical and cunning).
Rest of the review is spoilers.
Overall, good book that could have used some fine tuning, but I still think it was worth it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Medical trauma, Gore, and Medical content
Moderate: Miscarriage
shaunna_elaine's review
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Medical trauma, Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Blood, and Gore
Moderate: Death
luceeefur's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
All anyone really needs to do to get me to read something is include 'Crimson Peak' in it's description.
I really enjoyed this book. It was a great example of Gothic story telling, and I almost felt as though I was going mad with the characters towards the end. The romance between Jane and Augustin worked well with the plot and the setting. The anticipation of things about to go very bad was there early on in the novel, and ramped up appropriately for the genre.
I really enjoyed this book. It was a great example of Gothic story telling, and I almost felt as though I was going mad with the characters towards the end. The romance between Jane and Augustin worked well with the plot and the setting. The anticipation of things about to go very bad was there early on in the novel, and ramped up appropriately for the genre.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Medical content, Blood, Gore, and Body horror
alienor's review
dark
mysterious
3.75
The Death of Jane Lawrence feels like a fever dream at times, and the kind of novels one can very easily dissect and unearth bits to criticize. This is why I fully understand the mixed reviews it got, really. In the end however I thought it was weird in a way I personally found delightful, and for me the horror lay more in the loss of agency of its characters than in anything else—even though some parts were disgusting. All in all, a book I'll certainly reread but that I'll have a hard time recommending.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Medical content, Gore, and Blood
Moderate: Child death, Gaslighting, and Drug use
Minor: War and Death of parent