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A review by mooca
The House of Whispers by Laura Purcell
5.0
It took me a minute to realize she has different names for some of her books and I don't really understand why. The House of Whispers is also called Bone China in older editions, and the Poison Thread was also called the Corset. I don't think I've noticed this kind of publishing shenanigans for other books so it was just a little confusing. Anyway.
While I didn't adore this one as much as I did the Silent Companions, I felt the character building and ambience she puts to page really sells her writing to me. I don't feel like I'm going through a slog of visual descriptions with her writing. It flows super easy and deliberate.
For this book I expected more mystical spookage like in Silent Companions. The paranormal horror tapered out at a point in this book on account for me. I know the point is mystery which has its own appeal, but it came at the cost of what made Silent Companions so fun to me: the magic that could be there with plenty of evidence to suggest it is there and just enough reason to say it isn't there. By the end I was leaning toward it all being in their heads, just barely teetering on mystical where I wanted stronger doubts on reality.
Adding to that, I felt it ended too abruptly before I was sold on the odd magic of the caves and Morvoren House. Plus I didn't feel the ending did Hester justice. I didn't feel like she had that much reason to "solve" the situation the way she chose to. While I may not have agreed with everything she did throughout the book, I loved the consistency of her character flaws. So when the ending came, even though I could bargain with myself that she might make those decisions under the circumstsances, I didn't feel they aligned with who I expected her character to be.
While I didn't adore this one as much as I did the Silent Companions, I felt the character building and ambience she puts to page really sells her writing to me. I don't feel like I'm going through a slog of visual descriptions with her writing. It flows super easy and deliberate.
For this book I expected more mystical spookage like in Silent Companions. The paranormal horror tapered out at a point in this book on account for me. I know the point is mystery which has its own appeal, but it came at the cost of what made Silent Companions so fun to me: the magic that could be there with plenty of evidence to suggest it is there and just enough reason to say it isn't there. By the end I was leaning toward it all being in their heads, just barely teetering on mystical where I wanted stronger doubts on reality.
Adding to that, I felt it ended too abruptly before I was sold on the odd magic of the caves and Morvoren House. Plus I didn't feel the ending did Hester justice. I didn't feel like she had that much reason to "solve" the situation the way she chose to. While I may not have agreed with everything she did throughout the book, I loved the consistency of her character flaws. So when the ending came, even though I could bargain with myself that she might make those decisions under the circumstsances, I didn't feel they aligned with who I expected her character to be.