Reviews with content warning for Sexual assault - Things in Jars

I enjoyed the writing style, which evoked the Victorian gothic, creepy and putrid atmosphere very effectively, even poetically at times. The MC is an attractive personality: decisive, intelligent, prepared to put herself at risk for others’ sake. She doesn’t get everything right, but acts reasonably in light of what she knows or suspects.

As I expected with this type of novel, there’s little nuance in the characterisation: the good are good, the bad are bad. But one character struck me as silly and absurd: the MC’s ghost friend cum love interest. I’m bemused by some British authors’ fondness for this sort of fatuous supernaturalism. The MC–ghost–policeman love triangle felt puerile and ridiculous.

At the end I came away feeling that overall this is a great, well-told story with a satisfying conclusion, but with one major flaw.

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dr_aimz's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.25

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millibear's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

Diverse Gothic mystery! There really isn't a way for me to not use the word "romp" to describe this book, at least as far as the plot goes. The action clips along nicely, the little discomfiting supernatural details are engrossing, the gruesome past events are hard to stomach, and the voice--the voice!!--is so strong in this book. Characters' and general narration both. Take a look at a preview to see what I mean.

I will definitely keep my eye out for more of Jess Kidd's work in the future.

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clarabooksit's review against another edition

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dark emotional 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? It's complicated

3.5

I want to say I really enjoyed it because I did—I kept flipping back and forth between the audiobook and physically reading it because I couldn’t put it down—but I also thought parts of it were really disappointing.

I loved the main character, Bridie, and wanted to know everything about her and what her connection was to Ruby, the ghost who was haunting her/looking out for her. I loved the world-building—Kidd exquisitely uses all the senses to capture a time and place—the grungy, macabre Victorian medical setting, and the eeriness of how myth and man entwine and who really is the monster.

But the plot was predictable with clunky foreshadowing, and I didn’t care about the machinations of the other characters. I just wanted more Bridie and Ruby. There were also a few too many characters and not enough space given to properly flesh them all out. And while I dug the atmosphere overall, I do wish more explanations were given for the fantastical elements.

I don’t know. I liked it but the flaws nag at me. Maybe it was just so well paced that my enjoyment outweighed my disappointment. A perfectly paced book makes up for a lot.

If you like historical fiction with magical realism, potent world-building, characters you can root for and/or gothic vibes, then I’d say check this one out. But if you like to be surprised by mysteries, this one probably isn’t for you.

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helen's review against another edition

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4.0

A gothic fantasy set in Victorian London with an Irish pipe-smoking female detective, lush descriptions and a fantastic cast of characters, including a half-naked moustachioed pugilist ghost sidekick. I laughed and I cried.

The descriptions were very cinematic and I could see it adapted for the screen. I haven't read much in this genre, so my comparisons are narrow, but I couldn't help thinking that it had the same sense of place as Aaronovitch's Rivers of London series with the humour and humanity of T. Kingfisher.

It had a bit more violence and gore then I usually like, but the mystery and the characters were so engaging that I didn't mind. The only thing I really didn't like (and I knocked off a star for this) is the implied sexual assault that happens at 73%. The only reason I could fathom why it was there was to underline how much danger Bridie was in - but all the other violence in the book had shown me that. It felt unnecessary and really soured the last part of the book because it wasn't addressed in a satisfactory way.

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feathers4bookmarks's review against another edition

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dark 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? It's complicated

3.0

Graphic depictions of certain scenes. I wish I had content warnings, because I didn’t realize this story would include certain depictions- and I don’t think they were necessary to the storyline always.
I liked the underlying flaws of the protagonist, but the ending was dissatisfying in terms of the last paragraph. There was so much build up of a storyline between the protagonist and another character that I don’t think resolved well for the amount of hype in the text.

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lena_loves_reading's review

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious medium-paced

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

3.5

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