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3.29 AVERAGE
3.29 AVERAGE
WTF WAS THAT ENDING?! Lol terrible. First half was promising and somewhat exciting. Last half was straight nonsense.
dark
medium-paced
4.5 stars
TW: medical gore, gaslighting.
Thank you so much to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for allowing me to read this early in exchange for an honest review!
For fans of Rebecca, Crimson Peak, Bunny, and Jane Eyre, this gothic horror set in an alternate version of England revolves around our main character, Jane. Jane is an extremely practical young woman orphaned from war who knows what she wants - she has to get married to secure her future, but she wants to continue being independent and doing her work. She finds that Augustine Lawrence, a local surgeon, is the best fit for her, and he accepts her strange proposal, on one condition - that she never stays the night at his family estate. Jane unknowingly embarks on a journey of mysterious cults, dark magic, vengeful spirits, and tests of strength in this nightmare of a novel.
When I say I love weird books, this is exactly the type of thing I'm referring to. Too many horror books I've read recently just haven't gone far enough for me, but this got exactly where I wanted it to. As a debut horror novel, this absolutely shocked me. The atmosphere was spot-on and was extremely reminiscent of classic gothic literature. I became attached to our two main characters quickly, even if Augustine isn't the best person. I kept wanting to flip the pages to see what would happen next, but I think this book should be taken slower to absorb it all. The speculative elements were fascinating and I liked that it played into Jane's already established strengths. The tension was always kept very high; there was never a dull moment.
However, the ending got a little muddled for me; I needed to reread some. When it comes to this type of book, you're meant to be confused on some parts, but the logic near the end got a bit convoluted when it wasn't supposed to be confusing. I also thought that the main end goal Jane is pursuing was somewhat strange and I'm still unsure how to feel about it.
Overall, I was extremely impressed by this novel. I'm definitely going to pick up anything from this author in the future and will be recommending this to all my friends who like "weird" or gothic books like I do.
TW: medical gore, gaslighting.
Thank you so much to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for allowing me to read this early in exchange for an honest review!
For fans of Rebecca, Crimson Peak, Bunny, and Jane Eyre, this gothic horror set in an alternate version of England revolves around our main character, Jane. Jane is an extremely practical young woman orphaned from war who knows what she wants - she has to get married to secure her future, but she wants to continue being independent and doing her work. She finds that Augustine Lawrence, a local surgeon, is the best fit for her, and he accepts her strange proposal, on one condition - that she never stays the night at his family estate. Jane unknowingly embarks on a journey of mysterious cults, dark magic, vengeful spirits, and tests of strength in this nightmare of a novel.
When I say I love weird books, this is exactly the type of thing I'm referring to. Too many horror books I've read recently just haven't gone far enough for me, but this got exactly where I wanted it to. As a debut horror novel, this absolutely shocked me. The atmosphere was spot-on and was extremely reminiscent of classic gothic literature. I became attached to our two main characters quickly, even if Augustine isn't the best person. I kept wanting to flip the pages to see what would happen next, but I think this book should be taken slower to absorb it all. The speculative elements were fascinating and I liked that it played into Jane's already established strengths. The tension was always kept very high; there was never a dull moment.
However, the ending got a little muddled for me; I needed to reread some. When it comes to this type of book, you're meant to be confused on some parts, but the logic near the end got a bit convoluted when it wasn't supposed to be confusing. I also thought that the main end goal Jane is pursuing was somewhat strange and I'm still unsure how to feel about it.
Overall, I was extremely impressed by this novel. I'm definitely going to pick up anything from this author in the future and will be recommending this to all my friends who like "weird" or gothic books like I do.
dark
mysterious
slow-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:
Yes
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
The senses of the human body bring light into darkness, scent into blankness, sound into emptiness, taste into nothingness, touch into the cold of the unmade. Through our senses, we know the world and we are alive...As the senses are aligned with the unseen, so too, shall we be aligned.
★★½
I was totally blown away by Caitlin Starling's Yellow Jessamine and so maybe my expectations were a little high for her newest novel. However, I really feel like whatever she wanted to accomplish here she did so much better with that book. The body horror, the oppressive atmosphere, the gothic feel, the mindfuckery! The Death of Jane Lawrence was a tale of madness, medicine, and mathematics that ended up being another case of "amazing, 10/10 ideas but not so amazing execution." My two biggest problems with this book were the pacing and the main relationship. Once again, I totally appreciate the *incredible* ideas in this book - it's the execution that ultimately let me down. The story meandered too much for me, oftentimes droning on and on and thus killing the suspense and killing my interest in the story with it. I find myself usually saying the opposite, but I really believe that this would've packed more of a punch if it was a novella/more condensed.
Spoiler
Also speaking of execution, I really did NOT like how this story ended aka the last 2 chapters or so of the book. It would have been so much more impactful if the ending was at a certain chapter zero which REALLY delivered.I also could not bring myself to care at all about the main relationship (around which this book heavily revolves). I liked Jane and her love of numbers. She was an interesting take on the type of leading lady you would expect for this type of story. However, I really did not like Augustine with his lying and his pity-partying and could not understand why the intensity of her feelings and devotion to him went from 0 to 100 so fast (damn you instalove). But maybe that was the point? I suppose I'll never know because my attention was lost more times than I'd like to admit.
On the other hand, some of the imagery here is so deliciously grotesque. The medical horror and description of Victorian-eraish surgery were amazingggg I wish we had more of that.
Spoiler
Also, just the concept of magic having horrifying bodily consequences for the magic-user (like nasty cancerous growths)? Yes pls
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
N/A
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Like it better as an audio book but would not recommend audio on the first read-through
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:
Yes
Spoiler
The image of Dr Lawrence squeezing the heart of his dying ex-wife to keep her alive is so gothic and hardcore I can't get it out of my mind.Lost the understanding of the plot towards the end. I literally couldn't tell you what happened during one of the last chapters, it was so confusing.
Still liked it, the plot just ran away from the story and became a jumble of words?