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elwoody 's review for:
A Haunting in the Arctic
by C.J. Cooke
challenging
dark
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I picked this up because "selkie themed Arctic shipwreck horror" is a concept that, on paper, is entirely up my street. I kept reading in the hopes that it would eventually live up to the interesting premise, but it just didn't.
Every chapter of this book is exactly the same. In the 1800s povs Nicky experiences terrible things done to her. In the 2020s povs, Dom is scared and knows her companions are hiding something from her. And that's it, that's the book. Sprinkle in mentions and vague descriptions of SA just about every other chapter and frankly you don't even need to read the book because there's no more to it than that.
The writing is fine, innofensive if not remarkable, some of the scenes have something approaching a spooky atmosphere, but none of it lands. In a book that seems to be trying to get into the "female rage making monsters" thing there's also a disturbing lack of actual rage- a lot of telling not showing about the vengeance the Selkie Wife has taken.
I cannot recommend this book, but if you do pick it up make sure to check out a list of content warnings first.
Every chapter of this book is exactly the same. In the 1800s povs Nicky experiences terrible things done to her. In the 2020s povs, Dom is scared and knows her companions are hiding something from her. And that's it, that's the book. Sprinkle in mentions and vague descriptions of SA just about every other chapter and frankly you don't even need to read the book because there's no more to it than that.
The writing is fine, innofensive if not remarkable, some of the scenes have something approaching a spooky atmosphere, but none of it lands. In a book that seems to be trying to get into the "female rage making monsters" thing there's also a disturbing lack of actual rage- a lot of telling not showing about the vengeance the Selkie Wife has taken.
I cannot recommend this book, but if you do pick it up make sure to check out a list of content warnings first.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Rape, Self harm