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A review by marianneiriss
Death and the Sisters by Heather Redmond
Did not finish book.
I unfortunately had to leave this book part way through as I felt that I wasn’t enjoying it enough to keep reading. However, there were aspects to this book which I did enjoy, alongside those which I felt were disadvantages. As I don’t want to discourage others from reading this book (I think it may well be it just is not the book for me, and others may enjoy it far more), I do want to give useful/constructive feedback. I thought I would give three things I liked and three things which lead to me not continuing to read this book.
3 things I liked about Death and The Sisters:
- The premise of the book! I loved the idea of giving more time to Mary Shelley (née Godwin) before her marriage and subsequent overshadowing by Percy Bysshe Shelley
- The cover art, which I thought was fantastic. Gothic, mysterious, and I thought the skull was a clever nod to Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein.
- Some of the writing and descriptions, particularly the parts talking about Mary Shelley’s mother, Mary Wollenstonecraft
3 things which I enjoyed less (but which will definitely not be disadvantages in everyone else’s opinions, so don’t let them dissuade you from reading this book!):
- The dialogue, which felt like a mixture of modern (for example “You are so right”) and period accurate (“Faith!”) phrases and I would have preferred it to have stuck to one or the other style
- The narration felt like it was almost switching between first and third person without meaning to, so at times it was hard to tell whose point of view was being described, and I found that this made the writing and descriptions less clear/readable
- The way that Mary’s relationship with her stepmother and sisters was portrayed felt a bit Cinderella-esque, which for me spoilt the book a bit as it felt rather clichéd, however I do understand that this is personal preference of mine to not read that style of writing and therefore I wouldn’t not recommend it because of this, it just wasn’t the right book for me
I really hope this review comes across in the way I mean it to - it’s not a negative criticism of the book or the author, just my personal opinions and a few things which I lead to me not continuing reading it! However, I’m really great full nonetheless for the opportunity to read and review this - many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley!
3 things I liked about Death and The Sisters:
- The premise of the book! I loved the idea of giving more time to Mary Shelley (née Godwin) before her marriage and subsequent overshadowing by Percy Bysshe Shelley
- The cover art, which I thought was fantastic. Gothic, mysterious, and I thought the skull was a clever nod to Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein.
- Some of the writing and descriptions, particularly the parts talking about Mary Shelley’s mother, Mary Wollenstonecraft
3 things which I enjoyed less (but which will definitely not be disadvantages in everyone else’s opinions, so don’t let them dissuade you from reading this book!):
- The dialogue, which felt like a mixture of modern (for example “You are so right”) and period accurate (“Faith!”) phrases and I would have preferred it to have stuck to one or the other style
- The narration felt like it was almost switching between first and third person without meaning to, so at times it was hard to tell whose point of view was being described, and I found that this made the writing and descriptions less clear/readable
- The way that Mary’s relationship with her stepmother and sisters was portrayed felt a bit Cinderella-esque, which for me spoilt the book a bit as it felt rather clichéd, however I do understand that this is personal preference of mine to not read that style of writing and therefore I wouldn’t not recommend it because of this, it just wasn’t the right book for me
I really hope this review comes across in the way I mean it to - it’s not a negative criticism of the book or the author, just my personal opinions and a few things which I lead to me not continuing reading it! However, I’m really great full nonetheless for the opportunity to read and review this - many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley!