Scan barcode
kalypsowolf's review
dark
sad
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.5
I just didn't get the point of this one which was unfortunate cause I did highlight and tab quite a few moments of really enjoyable writing (the reason for a 1.5 and not a flat 1). I just think the overall vibe of the book is quite dull. There's nothing really to pull you along and entice you to read more of the story.
The chapters where you follow Clara after the events of the main story didn't really add anything, and, other than maybe the first one to just set up foreshadowing, could have been done with completely while still providing the same impact (and a shorter page count). And maybe the last one, because there was something important to Clara's development as a character in the ending chapter
Even in the main story Clara really feels like she's being pulled along. She has functionally no agency during the entire book, and when she finally does seek to make her own agency, it's pulled out from under her, thus entirely undermining any character development she had in the first place. The men around her are assholes and I mean, at least they made me feel something I guess, but I don't think the main takeaway of this book was supposed to be 'men bad'. One of them, surely, but not the main one. Also as the book goes on they became cartoonishly evil, which took away from the more low-key sinister sort of vibe the beginning had with Henry's letter and behavior.
You do really feel bad for Clara. Shes stuck in this shitty situation right after getting out of another shitty situation that was a result of a mental break caused by - you guessed it - ANOTHER shitty situation. Girl can't catch a break. It's infuriating and depressing. Which I'm all for in a book, but there's gotta be something compelling to go along with it and there just wasn't here for me.
The authors note in the back mentions this idea that Mary Ann Cotton - a very real convicted murderer who was thought to maybe be a serial killer - might not have been found guilty if brought to trial today. Honestly if that was the point of the book, it really didn't do a good job of being convincing at all. So while yes, she may have been found innocent if tried today, reasonable doubt is attempted in the book but not done very effectively. At least in my opinion.
All of the concepts touched upon here could have made for a genuinely amazing book, but almost every aspect of it fell flat for me and I am really sad about that cause I wanted to love it so badly. I just think it spent so much time trying to be ambiguous when it really needed to either commit to the likely innocent angle or the passing on murderous tendencies angle and it could've been significantly better.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape, Domestic abuse, Medical trauma, Sexual assault, and Child death
meowster's review
dark
mysterious
sad
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
Good but nothing more.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Domestic abuse, Confinement, Drug use, Kidnapping, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Murder, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Death, Mental illness, Rape, and Suicide attempt
Moderate: Body shaming and Grief
johnlock's review
dark
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
I really enjoyed this! It was really good, up until the end, which felt simultaneously rushed and like it could have been condensed. It wasn’t enough to put me off the book entirely, but it did sour my enjoyment slightly. Still, it is very enjoyable, and if it sounds like something you would enjoy I highly recommend it!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Toxic relationship, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Sexism, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Rape, Pregnancy, Physical abuse, Mental illness, Medical content, Infidelity, Infertility, Grief, Gaslighting, Forced institutionalization, Confinement, Murder, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Medical trauma, Emotional abuse, and Death of parent
Moderate: Colonisation
It’s about a woman who is forcibly assigned to an asylum by her manipulative husband after a graphic stillbirth, and is traumatized as a result. There’s also a semi-graphic rape scene about midway through.willowy's review
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
The Savage Instinct by M.M. DeLuca
Length: 377 Pages
Genres: Historical Fiction and Psychological Thriller
Rating: 5 out of 5 Stars
"I dreamt I stood at the door of a ruined barn, its roof split open to the moon. I saw a dark-haired woman standing in a pigsty, and as the pigs swarmed round her ankles, she stroked their bristled snouts and whispered, Thou shalt rest well soon, my husbands.
Then she saw me and seemed to float, through the muck and swill until I felt her behind me, whispering in my ear: I am in the city now. Come to me."
A special thanks to NetGalley and Inkshares for providing me with an ARC of this book!
I have a huge fascination with the past, and while I, like many others, am drawn to the glittering clothes, the balls, and the manners, I think more often than not the darker aspects are pushed aside. Glossed over, or gilded through the lens of time. As much as I enjoy the question "If you you could go back in time, when would you go?", I always add an addendum to my answer: Only for a day. Because as shocking and dangerous as it is to be a woman in my own day and age, I could only imagine what it was like for the women of the past.
The Savage Instinct by M.M. DeLuca never flinches away from the reality of life for a woman in the Victorian era. On one end, we follow our protagonist Clara Blackstone, a woman of wealth who is crushed by the miscarriage of her child, and promptly thrown into Bethlem for a episode that ends in violence. Ferried to another asylum, more fitting of a woman of the Upper Classes, she is eventually released, only to be pushed headfirst into her husband's scheming clutches. Soon, at the behest of a genteel society lady, she is visiting the Durham Prison where she makes the acquaintance of one of Britain's most reviled serial killers of all time: Mary Ann Cotton.
Poisoner of eight of her children, seven of her step-children, three of her husbands, her mother, a lover, and a friend. She is destitute, the opposite of Clara, but with shocking similarities in their life. Clara can't help but be drawn into Mary Ann's cunning web, and I was just as charmed by her, at times wondering if she was telling the truth about her innocence or spinning another lie.
This book left me breathless and outraged, and I could hardly put it down, despite my growling stomach when dinner rolled around! In the end, I wondered how much truth there is in history's version of Mary Ann Cotton - was she really a heartless killer? Or was she another victim, of men, of circumstance, and time, much like Clara is? The Savage Instinct is a deftly woven work of historical fiction, ran through with bits of truth, and all the questions and chills of a psychological thriller, that will surely leave you wanting more.
For more reviews visit my blog!
Length: 377 Pages
Genres: Historical Fiction and Psychological Thriller
Rating: 5 out of 5 Stars
"I dreamt I stood at the door of a ruined barn, its roof split open to the moon. I saw a dark-haired woman standing in a pigsty, and as the pigs swarmed round her ankles, she stroked their bristled snouts and whispered, Thou shalt rest well soon, my husbands.
Then she saw me and seemed to float, through the muck and swill until I felt her behind me, whispering in my ear: I am in the city now. Come to me."
A special thanks to NetGalley and Inkshares for providing me with an ARC of this book!
I have a huge fascination with the past, and while I, like many others, am drawn to the glittering clothes, the balls, and the manners, I think more often than not the darker aspects are pushed aside. Glossed over, or gilded through the lens of time. As much as I enjoy the question "If you you could go back in time, when would you go?", I always add an addendum to my answer: Only for a day. Because as shocking and dangerous as it is to be a woman in my own day and age, I could only imagine what it was like for the women of the past.
The Savage Instinct by M.M. DeLuca never flinches away from the reality of life for a woman in the Victorian era. On one end, we follow our protagonist Clara Blackstone, a woman of wealth who is crushed by the miscarriage of her child, and promptly thrown into Bethlem for a episode that ends in violence. Ferried to another asylum, more fitting of a woman of the Upper Classes, she is eventually released, only to be pushed headfirst into her husband's scheming clutches. Soon, at the behest of a genteel society lady, she is visiting the Durham Prison where she makes the acquaintance of one of Britain's most reviled serial killers of all time: Mary Ann Cotton.
Poisoner of eight of her children, seven of her step-children, three of her husbands, her mother, a lover, and a friend. She is destitute, the opposite of Clara, but with shocking similarities in their life. Clara can't help but be drawn into Mary Ann's cunning web, and I was just as charmed by her, at times wondering if she was telling the truth about her innocence or spinning another lie.
This book left me breathless and outraged, and I could hardly put it down, despite my growling stomach when dinner rolled around! In the end, I wondered how much truth there is in history's version of Mary Ann Cotton - was she really a heartless killer? Or was she another victim, of men, of circumstance, and time, much like Clara is? The Savage Instinct is a deftly woven work of historical fiction, ran through with bits of truth, and all the questions and chills of a psychological thriller, that will surely leave you wanting more.
For more reviews visit my blog!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual assault, Rape, Miscarriage, Violence, and Gore
bookedbymadeline's review
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Thank you to NetGalley and Inkshares for the eARC of The Savage Instinct by Marjorie DeLuca!
“This case was notable for the media attention it received, and that inspired me to create a story, not necessarily about Mary Ann Cotton’s crimes, but about the impact her arrest and trial had on Victorian society at the time, as well as what it revealed about that society’s attitudes towards women who strayed from their natural “God-given” roles.”
The writing was a little bumpy in the beginning but it smoothed itself out by the second half. The last couple chapters were intense with plot twists and that ending blew my mind! The book is fast paced and I loved the characters. Clara has some good developments over the course of her story. I especially loved seeing Mary Ann Cotton become unreliable as we see her through Clara’s eyes and never know what to believe.
Overall an enjoyable read and if you like Victorian era books, true crime based fiction, The Familiars by Stacey Hall, or books about women going against society’s expectations, you may enjoy this one!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Forced institutionalization, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Violence, Infertility, Sexism, Misogyny, Death, and Blood
Moderate: Medical trauma, Medical content, Miscarriage, Grief, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, and Rape
Minor: Death of parent
justagirlwithabook's review
dark
informative
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
Savage Instinct takes on a really interesting feminist perspective of the woman and events surrounding Mary Ann Cotton, a tried and convicted English serial killer from the mid-late 1800s. The story is told through the perspective of a fiction character, Clara, whose husband is really absolutely everything that any self-respecting woman would completely despise: he's misogynistic, abusive, manipulative, and self-seeking. His marriage to Clara is simply a means to an end; she is to be a doting, perfect wife and fulfill all her wifely duties with obedience and without complaint, and when her grandmother dies, he'll come into a large inheritance and his life will be perfect as he climbs the social ladder. Any actions on her part that are contrary to this vision, and she's accused of being mental unstable and threatened with the asylum.
At the start of the story, we discover that Clara has suffered through her own kind of trauma and reacted in a way that anyone would. As she arrives home from a few stints in a couple different asylums, her carriage is greeted by a crowd which, in turn, is welcoming the arrival of Mary Ann Cotton, a woman who supposedly killed many of her own children and husbands in an effort to claim insurance money and thus better her life. Clara's curiosity gets the better of her, and in the guise of being charitable, begins visiting with Cotton. Clara's husband's actions and manipulation come to light, and she begins to embark along a path that she won't be able to turn back from (with the guidance of Cotton).
What I didn't love:
- The first part of the story was a little bit bumpy, writing wise; it could've used an editor's hand in smoothing out some of the disconnect and disjointed descriptions. I continued to read though, and as the story moved along, it seemed the author had found their groove and the writing flowed a bit more naturally.
- Clara's character was also a bit bumpy at the start -- we see her as a very delicate and meek woman at the start, very traumatized by her experiences, but there are times throughout the story when her actions are contradictory to the character we were introduced to. She seems to go from meek to courageous in waves and I think her development could've been better written over the course of the story.
- There was a small blurb towards the end about Victorian England and Mary Ann Cotton but it was very brief and followed by a list of recommended reading, which is great, but I would've appreciated a bit more on what aspects of the story truly were historically accurate (including general historical information on the inequality of women, the role of asylums in society, etc.) and what things were written with a bit of liberty.
What I did love:
+ I did know some about Mary Ann Cotton before diving into the story and really enjoyed seeing this historical character from a different perspective.
+ I enjoyed how Mary Ann Cotton's character fed us information that led us to really doubt what was true, what had really happened, and what was just lies and manipulation.
+ I, for the most part, was able to envision this Victorian London decently well and, though I find myself fuming at the male characters and the things they said and did, this remained true to the time period. (I would never wish to ever travel back in time to this time period - I don't know how it could've been anything but miserable for the vast majority of women or anyone really who wasn't a wealthy white man).
Mixed feelings (Spoilers!)
~ I had some mixed feelings about the end of the story. I didn't love this cyclical nature of the ending ... finding ourself in the same place we were to begin with. Clara tried to do what she could to escape under an authoritative husband and live as a free woman in society, but instead, she ended up in the same position as she started: in need of a husband to provide for her. I was hopeful that Clara would be the one to get out, to truly be free. Her husband's death felt a bit like a cop-out. Part of me thought, "Well, that was sort of nice (?) of Mary to sort of 'help out her friend, Clara' even after she was gone, in her own way." But then I also thought that this was just an easy way to dispose of her husband so Clara could free herself, sort of, without having to also resort to murder ... but then we find ourselves at the end where she's basically set her mind to resorting to murder. I sort of liked that twist, but then at the same time just felt sad for her. Like I said, mixed feelings.
Overall, this was a fast-paced and I think an interesting read. I'd probably rate it anywhere between an arbitrary 3-4 stars.
Thank you to Inkshares and Netgalley for the e-ARC in exchange for an honest review!
At the start of the story, we discover that Clara has suffered through her own kind of trauma and reacted in a way that anyone would. As she arrives home from a few stints in a couple different asylums, her carriage is greeted by a crowd which, in turn, is welcoming the arrival of Mary Ann Cotton, a woman who supposedly killed many of her own children and husbands in an effort to claim insurance money and thus better her life. Clara's curiosity gets the better of her, and in the guise of being charitable, begins visiting with Cotton. Clara's husband's actions and manipulation come to light, and she begins to embark along a path that she won't be able to turn back from (with the guidance of Cotton).
What I didn't love:
- The first part of the story was a little bit bumpy, writing wise; it could've used an editor's hand in smoothing out some of the disconnect and disjointed descriptions. I continued to read though, and as the story moved along, it seemed the author had found their groove and the writing flowed a bit more naturally.
- Clara's character was also a bit bumpy at the start -- we see her as a very delicate and meek woman at the start, very traumatized by her experiences, but there are times throughout the story when her actions are contradictory to the character we were introduced to. She seems to go from meek to courageous in waves and I think her development could've been better written over the course of the story.
- There was a small blurb towards the end about Victorian England and Mary Ann Cotton but it was very brief and followed by a list of recommended reading, which is great, but I would've appreciated a bit more on what aspects of the story truly were historically accurate (including general historical information on the inequality of women, the role of asylums in society, etc.) and what things were written with a bit of liberty.
What I did love:
+ I did know some about Mary Ann Cotton before diving into the story and really enjoyed seeing this historical character from a different perspective.
+ I enjoyed how Mary Ann Cotton's character fed us information that led us to really doubt what was true, what had really happened, and what was just lies and manipulation.
+ I, for the most part, was able to envision this Victorian London decently well and, though I find myself fuming at the male characters and the things they said and did, this remained true to the time period. (I would never wish to ever travel back in time to this time period - I don't know how it could've been anything but miserable for the vast majority of women or anyone really who wasn't a wealthy white man).
Mixed feelings (Spoilers!)
~ I had some mixed feelings about the end of the story.
Overall, this was a fast-paced and I think an interesting read. I'd probably rate it anywhere between an arbitrary 3-4 stars.
Thank you to Inkshares and Netgalley for the e-ARC in exchange for an honest review!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Misogyny and Forced institutionalization
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Sexism, Rape, Physical abuse, and Murder
Minor: Blood, Child death, and Confinement
More...