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3.91 AVERAGE
3.91 AVERAGE
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Another fun addition to this series! I had kinda forgotten the outcomes of the other books, but it was fantastic and just a ton of fun. I hope there's another book after this.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder
adventurous
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
adventurous
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
Good fun, not my favourite of the series but decent. I loved the descriptions of the Romanian town and the castle. Otherwise I think possibly from reading other reviews that it would be spookier or that I would need to read Dracula in tandem. Unfortunately I was not exactly compelled to keep turning the pages out of fear and excitement, merely just from enjoyment of an easy to read, low stakes mystery. One thing I will say, as always I am appreciative of King never exploiting or over-doing the violence. Even though the kidnapping victims were women there was no sexual violence, which is sadly rare to find in many detective novels! King also kept the historically accurate but nevertheless tiresome racism of the characters at a minimum compared to other books and Mary Russell finally has abandoned her “I’m not like other girls” mentality, both of which improved the book immensely!
Content Warnings
Moderate: Kidnapping
adventurous
mysterious
relaxing
medium-paced
adventurous
mysterious
slow-paced
I will always love the Mary Russell books, but I was a little underwhelmed by this one. Still enjoyable, but it just didn't land for me. The parallel-connection of fairy tales and gothic horror was interesting, but not fully formed; the secondary characters were weaker than what I usually expect in a Russell novel; and the overall mystery was a bit humdrum. I still enjoyed it well enough, and am really hoping that King will finally follow through with the Mycroft issue that has been going on for seven or eight books now but was addressed head on in this one .
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced