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kelli7990's review
adventurous
relaxing
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
nikkigee81's review
2.0
The first book kind of annoyed me, but I was still curious to see what the author meant when she said in the afterword that the second book would be quite different and only be tangentially connected to our original sextet.
It is radically different. We begin in a psychiatric hospital during the same time period (1929) with a young man named Simon, who is there because he sees visions. Even though his clairvoyance has been proven (he alludes to an incident with his mother, which apparently he could not change the course of) and one of the orderlies in the hospital (who doesn't believe he's crazy, anyway, for reasons the reader will later discover), ignorant society fears what it does not understand - thus, his incarceration. And my first beef with this novel. The treatment the doctor proposes to "cure" Simon of his delusions and illusions is electro-convulsive therapy, colloquially known as "shock treatments." Yes, they were used for everything in psych wards in times that are quite bleak in mental health history - however, not until 1938 were electric means used on a person to induce an anesthetized state. (Prior to this, psychiatrists did attempt to use cocktails of drugs to medically induce seizures). This is research I pulled up in SECONDS, thanks to the wonder of the internet. And even though I'm a library student, I didn't use a fancy electronic database or specialty journal to find this information. Which means EVERYONE could do it. And if you write historical fiction, you should do it. Sigh. Anyway.
So, Elizabeth is a new patient on the ward, and she has a "split personality," as they termed the still-highly-controversial diagnosis of Multiple Personality Disorder/Dissociative Identity Disorder back then. Simon is in love with her, and they try to make their escape. In the meantime, Simon has visions of certain characters from the first volume - Jonathan and Aryl mainly.
There is a certain point in the book where it does a complete 180 and becomes a paranormal fiction novel, which could really be set in any time period. And it becomes ridiculous.
It also begs the questions, why is this book needed? It doesn't really add much to the original story, and "explains" things that seem a stretch.
I was able to obtain this book through the Kindle Lending Library. Book three was free, so I will give that one a try and see if it's worth it to continue.
It is radically different. We begin in a psychiatric hospital during the same time period (1929) with a young man named Simon, who is there because he sees visions. Even though his clairvoyance has been proven (he alludes to an incident with his mother, which apparently he could not change the course of) and one of the orderlies in the hospital (who doesn't believe he's crazy, anyway, for reasons the reader will later discover), ignorant society fears what it does not understand - thus, his incarceration. And my first beef with this novel. The treatment the doctor proposes to "cure" Simon of his delusions and illusions is electro-convulsive therapy, colloquially known as "shock treatments." Yes, they were used for everything in psych wards in times that are quite bleak in mental health history - however, not until 1938 were electric means used on a person to induce an anesthetized state. (Prior to this, psychiatrists did attempt to use cocktails of drugs to medically induce seizures). This is research I pulled up in SECONDS, thanks to the wonder of the internet. And even though I'm a library student, I didn't use a fancy electronic database or specialty journal to find this information. Which means EVERYONE could do it. And if you write historical fiction, you should do it. Sigh. Anyway.
So, Elizabeth is a new patient on the ward, and she has a "split personality," as they termed the still-highly-controversial diagnosis of Multiple Personality Disorder/Dissociative Identity Disorder back then. Simon is in love with her, and they try to make their escape. In the meantime, Simon has visions of certain characters from the first volume - Jonathan and Aryl mainly.
There is a certain point in the book where it does a complete 180 and becomes a paranormal fiction novel, which could really be set in any time period. And it becomes ridiculous.
It also begs the questions, why is this book needed? It doesn't really add much to the original story, and "explains" things that seem a stretch.
I was able to obtain this book through the Kindle Lending Library. Book three was free, so I will give that one a try and see if it's worth it to continue.
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