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3.73 AVERAGE
3.73 AVERAGE
The Nightingale’s Castle
Genre: historical fiction
Rating: 3/5 ⭐️
My deepest thanks to HarperPerennial and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for my review.
The Nightingale’s Castle gives readers an insight into daily life in the court of Elizabeth Bathory, the infamous woman who was said to inspire Bram Stoker’s Dracula. According to legend, she murdered hundreds of young girls to use their blood for her beauty regimen. In reality, she was most likely the victim of being a woman in power surrounded by men who wanted her land and money and used slander to get it.
The story has a handful of POVs including the countess herself, three servants that were accused with her in historical records, and an original character who is brought to the castle as a new serving girl.
To be entirely honest, I was hoping for a spookier story given the subject matter, but instead we got a generous retelling to defend the countess to history and instead focus on the horrors committed by her servants of their own accord. [Relevant content warning: infanticide, sexual violence and cruelty]
Pros:
- Love a good historical fiction based on real female characters in history.
- I appreciated the interest shown to how precarious Elizabeth’s role in society was as a female land holder, surrounded by men who don’t believe women should hold power.
- This was clearly a passion project for the author, you can tell how much care went into weaving the historical record and research into the narrative and I can respect it.
- When the cruelty is described, it is done effectively without being gruesome just to be gruesome. You get a true feeling of dread because it doesn’t veer into cartoonishly villainous.
Cons:
- The POV characters were not quite fleshed out enough — once character in particular was implied to have multiple personalities but we never really saw that play a role in the story.
- It could have benefitted from either eliminating one of the POVs or making the story longer so we could get more page time out of each character.
- There’s a magicy storyline that I was not a fan of, but it technically served its purpose of finding a spot in the story for our original character.
Genre: historical fiction
Rating: 3/5 ⭐️
My deepest thanks to HarperPerennial and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for my review.
The Nightingale’s Castle gives readers an insight into daily life in the court of Elizabeth Bathory, the infamous woman who was said to inspire Bram Stoker’s Dracula. According to legend, she murdered hundreds of young girls to use their blood for her beauty regimen. In reality, she was most likely the victim of being a woman in power surrounded by men who wanted her land and money and used slander to get it.
The story has a handful of POVs including the countess herself, three servants that were accused with her in historical records, and an original character who is brought to the castle as a new serving girl.
To be entirely honest, I was hoping for a spookier story given the subject matter, but instead we got a generous retelling to defend the countess to history and instead focus on the horrors committed by her servants of their own accord. [Relevant content warning: infanticide, sexual violence and cruelty]
Pros:
- Love a good historical fiction based on real female characters in history.
- I appreciated the interest shown to how precarious Elizabeth’s role in society was as a female land holder, surrounded by men who don’t believe women should hold power.
- This was clearly a passion project for the author, you can tell how much care went into weaving the historical record and research into the narrative and I can respect it.
- When the cruelty is described, it is done effectively without being gruesome just to be gruesome. You get a true feeling of dread because it doesn’t veer into cartoonishly villainous.
Cons:
- The POV characters were not quite fleshed out enough — once character in particular was implied to have multiple personalities but we never really saw that play a role in the story.
- It could have benefitted from either eliminating one of the POVs or making the story longer so we could get more page time out of each character.
- There’s a magicy storyline that I was not a fan of, but it technically served its purpose of finding a spot in the story for our original character.
dark
emotional
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This was a really well done feminist retelling.
(Might write a more in depth review later)
(Might write a more in depth review later)
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
I have long thought of Elizabeth Bathory as this ruthless psychopath. But this author’s reimagining of Elizabeth Bathory’s life through a different lens (including some historically accurate information) has me rethinking her whole narrative. We are typically fed history through the eyes of men and rarely do we question it. It takes books like The Nightingale's Castle that allows us to consider an alternative point of view that is entirely feasible and historically sound. I would recommend this novel to anyone who is a fan of historical fiction, and I’m interested in reading Sonia Velton’s works in the future.
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
emotional
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Moderate: Confinement, Death
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
Thank you Harper Perennial and BiblioLifestyle for the gifted copy of The Nightingale's Castle! All opinions in this review are my own.
I am always excited to read about a historical figure I know nothing about and Erzsebet Bathory did not dilsappoint! While The Nightingale's Castle is definitely more speculative fiction than historical fiction, this was a fun fall read. I highly recommend reading the Author's Note at the end because Sonia Velton details what we actually know about the Blood Countess and what she imagined into the unknown spaces.
dark
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes