Reviews with content warning for Homophobia - The Resurrectionist

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The Resurrectionist by A. Rae Dunlap

26 reviews

blewballoon's review

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dark emotional tense medium-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? Yes

4.0

I knew from the premise that this would be dark, but there was a point where I was like "woah this just got extra f**ked up" and I had to put the book down for a bit.

Overall, a very interesting and suspenseful story. It's fairly slow paced for the most part aside from some especially dramatic moments, but during the calmer parts of the story there are always looming threats and the sense that trouble is closing in on the main character. I still have some lingering questions now that the book is over. I did like the romance and the found family elements of the story, they were fairly uncomplicated considering everything else going on. I also enjoyed the the historical scientific elements, but this is not a story for the squeamish.

The audiobook narrator was excellent, I'd definitely like to listen to more of their work.

Bit of a personal criticism, but I did feel a strong lack of women in this story. Up until around 25% into the book there is only a passing reference to the main character's mother and sister, otherwise the world is entirely inhabited by men. I understand that women were not allowed in the medical profession, but surely they did exist in Scotland. The first named woman that does show up is of course flawlessly gorgeous and saintly, which irritated me a bit. The sister mentioned in passing earlier also comes back for two scenes to be generally homophobic and snobby. Again, I understand that this was probably a side effect of the historical setting, but I did feel the absence.

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downtown_kb's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny lighthearted mysterious tense medium-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

4.25

“You are telling me that there is a body stowed in the bushes outside my window?”
“Yes.”
“Well then, for God’s sake, put it back!"

James is in Edinburgh to accomplish his dreams of becoming a physician. And in order to truly learn how the body works, James needs hands on experience. What better way to get that then afterhours lab work with cadavers? However, it quickly becomes clear that not only will James needs to supplement his meager funds to afford school, but this town goes through an awful lot of bodies, thanks to all the medical students, and they have to come from somewhere.

This story is about James coming into himself, and for that it is also a queer awakening, and a sweet MM romance. It is also a clever and well researched crime thriller. Many of these events or people in the story are pulled from real history. It is a great mix of romance and the macabre, crime thriller and hilarious hijinks. Did I mention it was hilarious? There were chapters, especially the first night James finds himself hands-on with the crew after hours, that had me laughing out loud.

"This is the face of Progress, James. Don’t you dare look away.”

The romance in this is sweet but is what lost a star for me. It is not a romance subplot. It has all the feels of an actual romance, the author takes times to build it. But not quite enough time. The pacing was off from the falling to the fell in a way that irked me just enough. It needed just a little more time given to it and then it would have truly been perfection. Which is why it irked me, it was close and ultimately once established so sweet and supportive.

Still despite that this story is so clever. The writing is captivating. The setting and atmosphere is dark and gruesome. The crime and mystery are truly sinister. The history in the book is so fascinating and well portrayed. And it is all balanced by funny moment. And James who is just the sweetest naive boy who strongly comes into his own.

I hope so much to see more adventures of James and Aneurin (its left with room to continue) but either way I will be watching this author, excited to see what they write next.

"It was brilliant. Wicked, yes. But brilliant."

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el2319's review against another edition

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adventurous dark funny hopeful mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

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pink_punk's review

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adventurous dark informative mysterious sad tense medium-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? N/A

5.0

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maregred's review

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challenging dark hopeful informative lighthearted mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

4.5

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jefferz's review against another edition

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adventurous lighthearted mysterious medium-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? Yes

5.0

The debut novel of A. Rae Dunlap, The Resurrectionist is a well-rounded and cleverly crafted historical fiction story revolving around the field of anatomical study and body-snatching in the early 19th century Edinburgh. Despite the story's macabre content and its almost gothic-like visuals, The Resurrectionist is anything but depressing or grim and is surprisingly warm and animated (yeah, maybe not my best puns, I apologize). While the visual descriptions of the dead and anatomical parts may potentially be off-putting for squeamish readers, the novel doesn't unnecessarily dwell on it for shock value and is instead the focus is its entertaining and charming coming of age story. While listed officially as a historical fiction novel, The Resurrectionist is just as much a true crime retelling featuring many very real historic people woven in and around Dunlap's fictional ones. That being said, absolutely no knowledge of the source material is needed, I recommend not reading into it ahead of time as it may give away some spoilers to the story. In fact I was completely unaware of the novel's true crime angle for majority of my read and was floored when I discovered the connection near the book's conclusion and author's acknowledgements. The fact that so many other reviews for this book don't even mention the true crime element is a possible indicator that it was so well-incorporated, many didn't even realize it. That the novel also manages to have a compelling queer m/m romance (with all the traditional implications of the time period kept in-tact) on top of having fascinating and well-researched scientific references connected to its mystery storyline, it's a marvel how much Dunlap accomplishes in <350 pages. And to top it all off, the story is beautifully written and incorporates its various narrative elements effortlessly.

One of the novel's biggest strengths is Dunlap's distinctive and consistently entertaining style of narration provided by the main character and young aspiring surgeon James Willoughby. Fully committing to its historical fiction angle and setting, the story's narration and dialogue are not only written using appropriate phrasing and mannerisms of the time, but also different social classes. Despite wishing to avoid being viewed as a "toff boy", the character narration is written with full commitment to James's aristocratic upbringing that serves as major plot elements for character growth. Consistently witty and lowkey quite funny, I was constantly entertained by Dunlap's storytelling, with even simple monotonous outings being interesting to read. Early chapters utilize the comedic fish out of water trope effectively, both in terms of James being out of his element from home and to adjusting to a more modest, urban life. While these early sections can be off-putting due to James's posh upbringing and obsession with grandeur, they're entirely in-character which was a highlight for me. However once Nye is introduced and their unorthodox arrangement of necessity turned partnership is established, the story really takes off and strikes the perfect tonal balance between partners in crime banter vs the macabre topics. The way the story is setup almost feels purposeful to comfort and encourage readers that might find the grisly elements off-putting before slowing transitioning into its more mystery thriller, historical true crime back-half.

The historical true crime connection is hard to review and discuss without going into too much detail that would give away its story, but I found it compelling and very cleverly plotted. A lot of retold fictional true crime novels often struggle with balancing and working original character into the real historical events but the line separating Dunlap's original characters from her slight fictional portrayals of real people is indistinguishable. While certain real people's roles in the historical events are occasionally embellished or reworked for stronger narrative connections to James and Nye (both being fully original characters), a good deal of the source materials is kept fully in-tact. That being said, while it's evident that the the novel's true crime element was the starting point and the rest of the story was likely reverse engineered to fit around it, Dunlap's fictional coming of age story is actually more compelling than the true crime its based off of. The historical world-building around the anatomical scholastic community is very detailed and James's personal narrative is well-crafted, you almost forget about the nature of the crime and mystery going on, Dunlap's material is that good.

Besides James's entertaining narration and reactions, the other big contributing factor to the novel's success is his relationship with Nye. Their partnership takes on a sort of Artful Dodger x Oliver Twist, except aged up to young adults and meshed with a Sherlock x Watson vibe in the back-half mystery part of the story. Their sparring banter slowly softens to comradery which felt like a callback to many of my favorite urban YA novels (Cornelia Funke's The Thief Lord particularly). However unlike many other novels that stop there as friends or cops out with queer coding, The Resurrectionist commits to it and goes exactly where the reader wants it to go. While the romance element serves more of an opportunity for character growth and added urgency rather than being the book's primary selling point (I would not classify this as a romance novel personally), it's seamlessly balanced with the other narrative elements. James and Nye's shifting relationship over the course of the story feels natural and while the romance angle is perhaps the most predictable element in the story, it's consistently a warm and sweet comforting hug through the chilly urban streets and back alley dealings. On top of that, the character growth for James is great and the story comes full circle by its ending, effectively concluding and delivering on James's self-proclamation in the prologue:

Yet I must insist that, in the end, this is not a story about Death. It is perhaps a Life story—or even, yes, a Love story. It is the story of how I clawed my way from the decay of a crumbling legacy into the modern era of Reason and Science. It is the story of how I escaped the prison of archaic superstition to the freedom of enlightenment. It is the story of how a rose can blossom from even the bloodiest soil, of how light can grow from shadow, how love can grow from despair. This, dear reader, is the story of my Resurrection.

Great plotting and story aside, from the get-go I was impressed by Dunlap's writing style which I found heightened the material that could easily be played for shock value or body horror (this novel is a lot of things but it is not horror). From the ash-covered gray streets of Edinburgh, to the descriptive yet somehow also beautiful descriptions of dissected or dismembered body parts, the writing is detailed and lyrical. Even when it comes to the romance that is entirely clean, the breakaways to things happening off-screen/page are tasteful and creative. I already touched on James's aristocratic background, but the variety of tones and mannerisms based on the different socio-economic classes are all appropriately varied, particularly James posh-sounding sister Edith. The phrasing felt very immersive to me, though I can also see some casual readers used to contemporary fiction finding the phrasing to be mildly difficult to follow. I've also seen some other reviews that criticize The Resurrectionist for being overwritten or slow which I don't agree with. The plotting and pacing is good and just when the story appears to drag, an appropriately timed developed kicks things back up.

If I had to nitpick anything with this novel it would perhaps preferring a bit more foreshadowing or incorporating the true crime storyline earlier as it feels like the story distinctively shifts in direction once it starts. And while I personally enjoyed James and Nye's relationship and the general plotting, the material and themes can feel a bit PG and juvenile at times. However neither takes away much from how fun, entertaining, and surprisingly wholesome the story can be. I loved pretty much everything The Resurrectionist was doing, especially it's occasionally dark morbid humor. While I acknowledge many elements of this novel were well catered to my personal tastes, I do think there's a lot to like and if given the chance, it's definitely more accessible than it seems based on its summary and marketing. Between the witty banter, the well-researched historical details, and seamless blending of genres, A. Rae Dunlap has left me impressed and I'm definitely looking forward to her future works!

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mary_catherine's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-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? Yes

3.0

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soobooksalot's review

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adventurous challenging dark funny lighthearted mysterious 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? Yes

4.75

I added The Resurrectionist to my cart for the cover. But I stayed for the corpse procurement.
(Having the Aardvark edition of this is a pure bonus, as the quality of their books is awesome.)
Author A. Rae Dunlap made me an instant fan, as I loved the writing style from the start. It's kind of a tongue-in-cheek old timey classical feel, infused with dark humour.
I also loved the characters, the romance, the medical and the mystery, the overall atmosphere of the streets and underbelly of 1820s Edinburgh.
Yes, I'm gushing. Do check this one out!

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yellowbinge's review

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adventurous dark mysterious medium-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? Yes

4.5

Publishing date: 24.12.2024 (DD/MM/YYYY)
Thank you to NetGalley and Kensington Publishing for the ARC. My opinions are my own.

TLDR: Gothic, romantic, a little slow to start, and also full of dead bodies

I have many thoughts about this book, and this review is not going to be coherent so strap in.

The setting and the atmosphere of this book? Oh I loved it dearly. It was so gothic and so London I simply couldn't believe it. I was envisioning dingy brick buildings, a light drizzle, dark streets lit up by too few street lamps, the smell of petrichor in the air, and of course people dressed in suits and simple gowns. The whole time reading I was somewhere completely different than where I was really sitting. I felt like a spectator to the spectacle in front of me.

The characters ... Hit and miss. There is a very clear distinction between the main characters and the side-characters. Some weren't fleshed out at all and had only their name to go by. Some had attempted "fleshings" but were still somewhat flat and bare. This is a little nitpick only, I wish more people in the background had more going on for them.

The romance? Oh hell yeah. It had the perfect amount of "we don't care who catches us in the act", but also "ohmygod we are going to be hanged if anyone sees us". A good blend of companionship and desire. These two were so good together. The moment the relationship was "estabølished" I was hooked. Stunning work.

The story itself had a hard time actually catching me in the beginning I fear. I was waiting for things to happen, things happened, then it didn't really carry on anywhere. It kept this strange pace almost throughout the whole book. Except for the final 20% or so, that's where the story took a more exciting turn. For me at least. Maybe the pace fits others fine, but I wish it was more focused or had more events scattered throughout. Another nitpick truly.

All in all, I was very pleasantly surprised with the quality of the book. Really enjoyed the time I got with it. Highly recommend to those who like the "walk in a graveyard" vibe. 4.5 stars, stunning read.

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brooke_city's review against another edition

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3.0

3 stars for an interesting read on history and medical science.

I... didn't like Nie. I thought sure James would come to his senses that he was being used, and realize his mates (Charlie in particular) were actually concerned for him.

I was surprised they went along with the dangerous plan to trap Hare and Burke. And Nie wanted the clueless newbs to go alone! When it was obvious the killers were onto them from the start. At least James had the decency to put his own life on the line as well, while Nie sulked about it.

The situation with the sister was... oddly resolved? but not really.

It didn't make sense to me that she had so much power over him, him being male after all. He's a third son, not the heir or spare, he can do what he wants. How would his family force him into a straight marriage. They'd never decimate the family reputation by outing him. And they don't have the money to go after Nie. Tbh, James held all the cards. His acquiescence didn't make sense.

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