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A review by mandamoodreads
Rawblood by Catriona Ward
4.0
Christ, that was bleak.
ETA: Ok, I’m back with more of a review now I’ve slept on it.
First of all, I love Catriona Ward’s writing, she writes beautifully, and she has fantastic ideas, which is why I have read 3 of her books now and I will read more. That said, she doesn’t write a tight, cohesive story.
I went into Rawblood expecting a straightforward ghost story, and to an extent that’s what I got, but with a classic Catriona Ward twist towards the end which was so tragic I started crying immediately and didn’t stop til I had finished the book.
Catriona Ward has this strange quality to her writing wherein she can introduce 8 different character perspectives and have everything feel very chaotic whilst the narrative is also slow and takes a while to get through. I don’t know how to explain it, but this 400 page book felt twice as long and took me forever to finish even though I was enjoying it. I found the same thing with Little Eve and Needless Street.
I tried to explain the plot to my friend this morning and ended up confusing myself, which is not to say that I was confused while reading, but there were so many disparate perspectives and timelines it was easy to get a bit lost. Also had to keep referring to the family tree to see how characters were related!
Anyway, all this to say I really enjoyed the book, but it was chaotic whilst also dragging a bit. Also be aware of some quite graphic animal abuse (actually some of the most upsetting mental images I’ve had from a novel), and body horror elements (very effectively written!)
I still have Looking Glass Sound and Sundial on my shelves and I’m looking forward to them!
ETA: Ok, I’m back with more of a review now I’ve slept on it.
First of all, I love Catriona Ward’s writing, she writes beautifully, and she has fantastic ideas, which is why I have read 3 of her books now and I will read more. That said, she doesn’t write a tight, cohesive story.
I went into Rawblood expecting a straightforward ghost story, and to an extent that’s what I got, but with a classic Catriona Ward twist towards the end which was so tragic I started crying immediately and didn’t stop til I had finished the book.
Catriona Ward has this strange quality to her writing wherein she can introduce 8 different character perspectives and have everything feel very chaotic whilst the narrative is also slow and takes a while to get through. I don’t know how to explain it, but this 400 page book felt twice as long and took me forever to finish even though I was enjoying it. I found the same thing with Little Eve and Needless Street.
I tried to explain the plot to my friend this morning and ended up confusing myself, which is not to say that I was confused while reading, but there were so many disparate perspectives and timelines it was easy to get a bit lost. Also had to keep referring to the family tree to see how characters were related!
Anyway, all this to say I really enjoyed the book, but it was chaotic whilst also dragging a bit. Also be aware of some quite graphic animal abuse (actually some of the most upsetting mental images I’ve had from a novel), and body horror elements (very effectively written!)
I still have Looking Glass Sound and Sundial on my shelves and I’m looking forward to them!