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3.8 AVERAGE
3.8 AVERAGE
Full review now up on the blog: https://www.thewritinggreyhound.co.uk/2022/03/book-review-wakenhyrst-michelle-paver.html
Wakenhyrst is a gorgeous, Gothic story filled with creeping tension, an incredibly atmospheric setting - and, of course, plenty of things that go bump in the night. Wakenhyrst simply oozes the atmosphere of the mysterious Fen. It is one of the constant themes throughout the book. In fact, the storytelling is so immersive that you can almost picture yourself staring out at the Fen, watching the reeds rippling in the breeze, and smelling its unique scent on the air.
The book effortlessly combines elements of horror, mystery, and thriller into a historical context. As with Michelle Paver's other books, the writing is flawless and the pacing immaculate. It's creeping and tense, yet not too slow to lose the slithering fingers of dread that wind their way up your spine as you read.
Maud is the main character, and we experience her life alongside her as the story progresses. From the early days and her relationship with her immediate family, through to her discovery of her father's journal and assistance with his work, each step leads closer to working out what happened and why. Maud is an excellent character, balancing her natural intelligence and love of learning with a passion for the Fen, innate curiosity, and a certain childish innocence. Although she can be jealous and aloof, at her heart, she's just a young girl trying her best to protect the things she loves.
If you love a good Gothic story with a brilliant setting and the requisite crumbling, gloomy big house, Wakenhyrst is definitely the book for you.
Wakenhyrst is a gorgeous, Gothic story filled with creeping tension, an incredibly atmospheric setting - and, of course, plenty of things that go bump in the night. Wakenhyrst simply oozes the atmosphere of the mysterious Fen. It is one of the constant themes throughout the book. In fact, the storytelling is so immersive that you can almost picture yourself staring out at the Fen, watching the reeds rippling in the breeze, and smelling its unique scent on the air.
The book effortlessly combines elements of horror, mystery, and thriller into a historical context. As with Michelle Paver's other books, the writing is flawless and the pacing immaculate. It's creeping and tense, yet not too slow to lose the slithering fingers of dread that wind their way up your spine as you read.
Maud is the main character, and we experience her life alongside her as the story progresses. From the early days and her relationship with her immediate family, through to her discovery of her father's journal and assistance with his work, each step leads closer to working out what happened and why. Maud is an excellent character, balancing her natural intelligence and love of learning with a passion for the Fen, innate curiosity, and a certain childish innocence. Although she can be jealous and aloof, at her heart, she's just a young girl trying her best to protect the things she loves.
If you love a good Gothic story with a brilliant setting and the requisite crumbling, gloomy big house, Wakenhyrst is definitely the book for you.
Evocative, atmospheric and chilling. A superbly dark and gothic Edwardian tale of superstition, religion, history, madness and murder. The characters are really well written and its easy to empathise with Mauds early innocence and admiration of her father, yet later her feelings of frustration, betrayal and loss. Brilliantly written and perfect for the winter months!
Odd structure at start and end - lots of telling you that you should be creeped out without actually doing anything creepy to begin.
Large middle bit intriguing, and a good love-to-hate character - but not very creepy at all.
Large middle bit intriguing, and a good love-to-hate character - but not very creepy at all.
This book was thoroughly entertaining. I really liked the main protagonist, Maud. She is a strong and intelligent. The story is very gothic. I think this is done better than The Wolf and the Watchman. I would give this one a 4/5.
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
3.5 stars.
Annoying accents (even though I'm from there) I don't think of suffolk as 'fenland' although this is technically true. Great story though.
Annoying accents (even though I'm from there) I don't think of suffolk as 'fenland' although this is technically true. Great story though.
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I'm conflicted with this one, I feel like I should have loved it but I found it quite flat. It's meant to be spine chilling but it wasn't descriptive enough to find it so. It was almost juvenile rather than slow burn horror and wouldn't have been out of place in the teenage fiction section with its small horrors and only occasional memtions of sex. Way too much time is spent on Stearne's narcissistic notebooks and not nearly enough on Alice Pyett and the Doom paintings or even his paintings. The academic connections were great and I wish there had been more of them. I could see the inspirations straight away with Pyett being a very obvious stand in for Margery Kempe, so why wasn't this utilised more, why didn't I get to find out more about her. And the Doom was barely explored either, it could have been such an eerie story if we had found out more specifically about it with stronger connections to the exorcism. As someone thats read Kempe and is a Medievalist whose studied a few saints lives, I almost feel like Paver's missed the mark with recreating her account of a medieval 'mystic woman'. Instead of really bringing the world of Pyett alive, we get a focus on the diary entries which felt disjointed with Maud's account and overtook/overwhelmed the narrative with them, making the pacing feel really odd. Also she just threw in Felix at the end. It would have had way more impact if either Maud or Stearne's diary had made ANY mention of him leading up to the ending. The blurb is also misleading with its mentions of Witchcraft when really it's superstition that isn't explored enough to feel that relevant beyond the glass and herbs being part of the murder. Also the Edwardian setting didn't really feel there, (spoilers) especially once her mother was gone and the small descriptions of gowns with it.
Wow, this might just be favorite story of the year. It’s a little slow at first but once the story gets rolling, it becomes utterly haunting and slightly terrifying. The psychological madness builds slowly and comes to a horrifying ending that is so satisfying. If you love horror or psychological thrillers, then Wakenhyrst is a must read!