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A review by leahsbooks
There Came a Contagion by Doug Ingold
4.0
CONTENT WARNING: death, mention of child abuse, abortion, blood, religious intolerance, torture
Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of this book. I am offering my honest opinion voluntarily.
I have always been equally intrigued and horrified by witch trials, so this book definitely piqued my interest.
At first, I wasn't sure what I thought about the story. The beginning was slow-moving, and the characters seemed superficial, but I was hoping things would improve, so I kept reading. Fortunately, this is one of those times where I got more involved in the story as I read on.
Further in, the characters definitely develop more depth, and move from mainly one-dimensional to well-rounded individuals. I wanted to learn more about them, and there was a lot of change in them throughout the story. The characters were endearing, and I genuinely enjoyed getting to know them. The juxtaposition between the church’s rigid teachings and enforced acceptance of all of its rules and the few people within these small, rather isolated communities who dare to ask questions was highlighted clearly. I was scared for the few characters who don’t conform to the generally accepted schools of thought, since I already knew that they weren’t going to have an easy path in this story.
I did like the way that the characters didn’t just passively sit around and accept their fates, or do exactly what was expected of them. They were independent thinkers, and more importantly, they had their eyes open to bigger issues at work in the witch trials. It wasn’t just a fear of witches and the devil to explain things that they couldn’t find any explanation for, but also a way to manage fear amongst people in the villages when they were struggling to survive amid poor harvests and bad weather conditions, a way to address perceived wrongs between people they may have issues with, a way to increase the financial holdings of the church, and as always, a way for the church to exert control over the people in the diocese, even as the Protestants were gaining traction.
The plot wasn’t overly suspenseful, but I loved seeing how things unfolded. While I do think it would have been much more interesting if the fate of three main characters weren’t included in the summary. I would have preferred to read it for myself and leave a little suspense as to what was going to happen, but it was still a good book.
Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of this book. I am offering my honest opinion voluntarily.
I have always been equally intrigued and horrified by witch trials, so this book definitely piqued my interest.
At first, I wasn't sure what I thought about the story. The beginning was slow-moving, and the characters seemed superficial, but I was hoping things would improve, so I kept reading. Fortunately, this is one of those times where I got more involved in the story as I read on.
Further in, the characters definitely develop more depth, and move from mainly one-dimensional to well-rounded individuals. I wanted to learn more about them, and there was a lot of change in them throughout the story. The characters were endearing, and I genuinely enjoyed getting to know them. The juxtaposition between the church’s rigid teachings and enforced acceptance of all of its rules and the few people within these small, rather isolated communities who dare to ask questions was highlighted clearly. I was scared for the few characters who don’t conform to the generally accepted schools of thought, since I already knew that they weren’t going to have an easy path in this story.
I did like the way that the characters didn’t just passively sit around and accept their fates, or do exactly what was expected of them. They were independent thinkers, and more importantly, they had their eyes open to bigger issues at work in the witch trials. It wasn’t just a fear of witches and the devil to explain things that they couldn’t find any explanation for, but also a way to manage fear amongst people in the villages when they were struggling to survive amid poor harvests and bad weather conditions, a way to address perceived wrongs between people they may have issues with, a way to increase the financial holdings of the church, and as always, a way for the church to exert control over the people in the diocese, even as the Protestants were gaining traction.
The plot wasn’t overly suspenseful, but I loved seeing how things unfolded. While I do think it would have been much more interesting if the fate of three main characters weren’t included in the summary. I would have preferred to read it for myself and leave a little suspense as to what was going to happen, but it was still a good book.