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the_coycaterpillar_reads's review
4.0
Asylum of Shadows does for Victorian England what Jaws did to beaches in the 70s. Stephanie Ellis is a mistress of atmosphere!
Asylum of Shadows is another banging short story from Demain Publishing’s Short Sharp Shocks! Series. Stephanie Ellis excels at being the pin to the grenade. She can write the calm and descriptive but once she eases herself away from that we are treated to a glorious explosion.
We as a species are scared of many things, spiders, enclosed spaces, heights, and reanimated corpses. It’s a reasonable assumption that we are scared of the unknown, but should we be more scared of ourselves? What are we capable of under duress?
I also am guilty of this – incredibly guilty of loving this story so much. The Victorian Era is one that holds so much fascination for me, the dress, the archaic way of life, and disease and medicine. Marian, the main character has been dealt some horrific blows, and now her father is dying of Syphilis. A sexually transmitted disease that had devastating consequences in the 19th century. It can’t be overlooked that this disease was blamed on that other social dysfunction – Prostitution and gender inequalities are there to be seen.
Asylum of Shadows has Marian in the eye of a hurricane. Life is running away without her. Her father is dying, she has no employment due to her caring responsibilities, and will ultimately lose the house because the rent is due. The Doctor attending her father suggests she come and work in the sick house, a solution that will allow her a roof and purpose. All she has to do is some needlework – for shrouds and the executioner’s mask. It’s whispered that other things happen here, but it can’t be too difficult, can it?
Stephanie Ellis doesn’t beat around the bush, but she doesn’t provide you with a map to the elephant in the room either! It doesn’t take too long to realise that Marian has an added element to her role, a role that will take guts of steel and an unwavering resolve. Marian had an addicting voice, it stirred something in me. Grief and anger can act like shackles around your wrists, and she tried to shake them off, but they were stuck tight.
Asylum of Shadows is perfectly paced, and the atmosphere was tighter than two coats of paint. I could imagine the disease-ridden communities, the eerie lantern-like streetlights, the shadows watching from the safety of shadows…it was perfect. Stephanie Ellis had it all figured out, but I did not.
Asylum of Shadows is another banging short story from Demain Publishing’s Short Sharp Shocks! Series. Stephanie Ellis excels at being the pin to the grenade. She can write the calm and descriptive but once she eases herself away from that we are treated to a glorious explosion.
We as a species are scared of many things, spiders, enclosed spaces, heights, and reanimated corpses. It’s a reasonable assumption that we are scared of the unknown, but should we be more scared of ourselves? What are we capable of under duress?
I also am guilty of this – incredibly guilty of loving this story so much. The Victorian Era is one that holds so much fascination for me, the dress, the archaic way of life, and disease and medicine. Marian, the main character has been dealt some horrific blows, and now her father is dying of Syphilis. A sexually transmitted disease that had devastating consequences in the 19th century. It can’t be overlooked that this disease was blamed on that other social dysfunction – Prostitution and gender inequalities are there to be seen.
Asylum of Shadows has Marian in the eye of a hurricane. Life is running away without her. Her father is dying, she has no employment due to her caring responsibilities, and will ultimately lose the house because the rent is due. The Doctor attending her father suggests she come and work in the sick house, a solution that will allow her a roof and purpose. All she has to do is some needlework – for shrouds and the executioner’s mask. It’s whispered that other things happen here, but it can’t be too difficult, can it?
Stephanie Ellis doesn’t beat around the bush, but she doesn’t provide you with a map to the elephant in the room either! It doesn’t take too long to realise that Marian has an added element to her role, a role that will take guts of steel and an unwavering resolve. Marian had an addicting voice, it stirred something in me. Grief and anger can act like shackles around your wrists, and she tried to shake them off, but they were stuck tight.
Asylum of Shadows is perfectly paced, and the atmosphere was tighter than two coats of paint. I could imagine the disease-ridden communities, the eerie lantern-like streetlights, the shadows watching from the safety of shadows…it was perfect. Stephanie Ellis had it all figured out, but I did not.
skyfox24kd's review
5.0
Whoah!
I’m still not sure what to think. That is a story that I may have to read again to let it sink in. It is definitely worth a read if you feel you can read about the dead in this context. Check the summary out first.
This story has that kind of, “Oh, I know what is really going on here!,” type of thing going for it until it doesn’t and you have to figure it out or fill in the blanks on your own.
In a way it reminds me of a Shirley Jackson story. This was eerie, otherworldly, tinted with the macabre and lined with the sublime. The writing drew me in and I felt as if I was with riding with Marion on her shoulder.
We join her sitting beside her dying father as he loses what little is left of his mind to fever. Despite the fact that she is ill also, she wipes his brow as he curses her. During the name calling, in arrives the priest, along with a doctor.
Maybe now there is hope for Marion? She can sew and tend to the dying.
The doctor gives her a job and the dominoes fall.
I’m still not sure what to think. That is a story that I may have to read again to let it sink in. It is definitely worth a read if you feel you can read about the dead in this context. Check the summary out first.
This story has that kind of, “Oh, I know what is really going on here!,” type of thing going for it until it doesn’t and you have to figure it out or fill in the blanks on your own.
In a way it reminds me of a Shirley Jackson story. This was eerie, otherworldly, tinted with the macabre and lined with the sublime. The writing drew me in and I felt as if I was with riding with Marion on her shoulder.
We join her sitting beside her dying father as he loses what little is left of his mind to fever. Despite the fact that she is ill also, she wipes his brow as he curses her. During the name calling, in arrives the priest, along with a doctor.
Maybe now there is hope for Marion? She can sew and tend to the dying.
The doctor gives her a job and the dominoes fall.
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