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3.8 AVERAGE
3.8 AVERAGE
Well I had no idea where that was going. Unfortunately, part of that was the confusing time jumps. A good read overall. Culty freaky vibes.
Considering it’s only 271 pages ( for me that’s a novella ) I was surprisingly immersed in the story. The first chapter was a great and shocking start, you give me a mystery from the beginning and you have my ADHD-ridden brain’s attention! The plot twists were perfectly foreshadowed and planted in the back of your mind even if you weren’t completely aware of it. The type of plot twists that make you think “Ohhhh that’s why she did that! Damn it, I should’ve known!" instead of “Where the hell did this shit come from” you know?
I think it was very clever of Catriona Ward to plant things in our consciousness to make us believe one thing when it was another. Read the book and you’ll get why :)
I applaud the author for setting the story during the First World War because it accentuated the misery and pain this book brought me.
“I returned to these shores, glad to leave War behind. War is a hungry beast, my Children. It must be fed boys, and when it spits them out they are no longer the same.”
There were 2 main characters, Evelyn and Dinah, and they were the 2 main points of views in this book. The book goes back and forth (very smoothly) in time, Evelyn’s part is from 1917-1921 and Dinah’s is from 1921-onward. Most of the book is told from Evelyn’s perspective because she has the longer chapters and in the beginning, she is around 14 years old and Dinah is only slightly older, and they are part of a small group of children from the sea led by their uncle. They live in a secluded and old castle upon a segregated isle believed to be blessed by the inhabitants but, haunted by the people who live in the village nearby. The relationships in a family explored in this book are truly horrific and heartbreaking.
“You may be part of raising her. One part of many, of all of us. But first we must break the false bond that ties you. The stifling affection of motherhood.”
The characters are all flawed (some much more than others) and there’s no hero in this story. I love how everyone has their questionable morality and the characterization of every child and adult introduced in the book contributes to the gloomy and gothic haze that embraces every page of the novel. While there aren’t heroes, there are true red-blooded villains.
Now that I’ve finished the book, and know everything about everyone, I feel rolling waves of disgust and/or sadness and/or compassion, when I understand the behaviour of certain characters.
I hope this review makes sense because writing this felt like I was fishing for meaningful rocks with my bare hands in the crowded belly of one angry and trashing water snake.
I think it was very clever of Catriona Ward to plant things in our consciousness to make us believe one thing when it was another. Read the book and you’ll get why :)
I applaud the author for setting the story during the First World War because it accentuated the misery and pain this book brought me.
“I returned to these shores, glad to leave War behind. War is a hungry beast, my Children. It must be fed boys, and when it spits them out they are no longer the same.”
There were 2 main characters, Evelyn and Dinah, and they were the 2 main points of views in this book. The book goes back and forth (very smoothly) in time, Evelyn’s part is from 1917-1921 and Dinah’s is from 1921-onward. Most of the book is told from Evelyn’s perspective because she has the longer chapters and in the beginning, she is around 14 years old and Dinah is only slightly older, and they are part of a small group of children from the sea led by their uncle. They live in a secluded and old castle upon a segregated isle believed to be blessed by the inhabitants but, haunted by the people who live in the village nearby. The relationships in a family explored in this book are truly horrific and heartbreaking.
“You may be part of raising her. One part of many, of all of us. But first we must break the false bond that ties you. The stifling affection of motherhood.”
The characters are all flawed (some much more than others) and there’s no hero in this story. I love how everyone has their questionable morality and the characterization of every child and adult introduced in the book contributes to the gloomy and gothic haze that embraces every page of the novel. While there aren’t heroes, there are true red-blooded villains.
Now that I’ve finished the book, and know everything about everyone, I feel rolling waves of disgust and/or sadness and/or compassion, when I understand the behaviour of certain characters.
I hope this review makes sense because writing this felt like I was fishing for meaningful rocks with my bare hands in the crowded belly of one angry and trashing water snake.
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
challenging
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Murder, Gaslighting
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Confinement, Incest, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Torture, Kidnapping, Grief, Pregnancy
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
(This one is a bit better going into it slightly blind in my opinion. So as such I will be giving a shorter synopsis.) On the treacherous rocky Scottish island of Altnaharra lives a family that spends their days preparing for the return of The Addler. Along with the Addler’s prophesied destruction of man kind are also stories of a great power that one will inherit. However a murder investigation brings an outsider to their island, threatening everything the family knows to be true.
Set between 1917 to 1921 this gothic mystery/horror starts out strong, taking the reader to the horrific scene of brutal ceremonial murders. This intense intro truly sets the atmosphere for this entire read as Ward takes you on a journey filled with eerie cult fulled nightmares. The setting alone of the Scottish island of Altnaharra provides an extra layer of bleak isolation with its jagged rocky coastline and cliffs. Add in the incredibly descriptive prose and foreboding stone castle that sits atop the island and I was thoroughly creeped out. While the initial introduction to this books is jarring and dark it does take a bit of patience to get thru as after that you are met with a more slow haunting build of suspense. However, if you stick with it you will not be disappointed as the twists become more disturbing the farther you read. This book delves heavily into the psychology of cult dynamics as well as some triggering child abuse so keep that in mind prior to reading. This would be a perfect gothic mystery/horror book to read as a buddy read or book club, as at the end of the book are added thought provoking questions that will leave you thinking about the book long after completing it. Overall Little Eve was a dark and bleak gothic whodunnit mystery filled with murder, horror, suspense, cults, and creepy Scottish castles that make it the perfect atmospheric fall read.
Dark and monstrous, as I have come to expect from Ward! She captures human anguish and fragility and tenderness, alongside cruelty and violence and darkness, incredibly well. I see some reviews calling this gothic horror, but it felt more like folk-horror to me. I enjoyed everything about this book. The characters were wonderful, complicated, untrustworthy, messy, and relatable. No one was simple or underwritten, everyone felt (sometimes painfully) real. The writing and pacing were quite skilled. The story jumps between time periods, but not in a tricky or manipulative way, with each chapter title announcing what year it took place in, and this was a great device for this story. It allowed the story, along with expectations and ideas, to grow and swell and then crash against the shore as each new bit of information challenged what you thought you knew. The story, and the heartbreak of the story, is wonderful. Very dark, dealing with intense violence and trauma visited upon children, some of it explicit, but it never felt like it was being shocking for the sake of it, everything fit together really well. The ideas of family and faith and truth and identity are all wrapped up together as this story digs into you, like a knife slowly piercing the skin. There is a mystery element to the story, and having read two other novels by Ward I was able to guess a lot of the ending reveals before they happened, but that didn’t make the journey less enjoyable. Also, they weren’t telegraphed in any painful or obvious way, the story was incredibly tight and a joy to read, it never felt like it was plodding along or wasting time. It is simply a familiarity with the depths of emotional twists that Ward has shown in other novels that let me guess what might be happening.
I know this was actually Ward’s second novel, written before “The Last House on Needless Street” or “Sundial,” even though it is being newly published after those novels in the USA. It doesn’t feel sophomoric, though. It feels like an author in command of her voice and the story she wants to tell, even if that story is darkened by pain and despair. Although the subject matter was a little heavy, it was a delight to read, and it sped along. I didn’t want to put it down once I started, it was well-paced and enticing and shows that Ward really has a strong command of her craft.
I want to thank NetGalley and Macmillan-Tor/Forge, Tor Nightfirewho provided a complimentary eARC in exchange for an honest review.
I know this was actually Ward’s second novel, written before “The Last House on Needless Street” or “Sundial,” even though it is being newly published after those novels in the USA. It doesn’t feel sophomoric, though. It feels like an author in command of her voice and the story she wants to tell, even if that story is darkened by pain and despair. Although the subject matter was a little heavy, it was a delight to read, and it sped along. I didn’t want to put it down once I started, it was well-paced and enticing and shows that Ward really has a strong command of her craft.
I want to thank NetGalley and Macmillan-Tor/Forge, Tor Nightfirewho provided a complimentary eARC in exchange for an honest review.
challenging
dark
tense
medium-paced