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whimsyhoard 's review for:
Her Wicked Roots
by Tanya Pell
dark
emotional
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Thank you to Netgalley and Gallery Books for the eARC
'Her wicked roots' gives what the cover promises : gothic, plan, mansion and secrets. The prose carries the story well, lush and dense like a full greenhouse. There are a lot of descriptions, forcing the story to meander and follows the slow trickle of water on a leaf. We are in Cordelia's head, with a third person narrative enabling the story to build in the things that aren't said or dismissed by Cordelia, helping the unease to grow as the pages turn.
The romance isn't really one, not in my view. I could stretch it a little and say it is a love story, but even that isn't the right fit. Yes, love is at the centre of the narrative (family love and "romantic" love), but it is also the curse binding the story, with its layers of manipulation and deceit.
Cordelia's feelings spring up from nowhere (well, it seems like it does at the very least), making it hard to really get into her head at times. There is a distance there.
In the same tone, the pacing didn't help me get really invested in the story. What was the ending would have been a really good middle or three quarter mark for the book, leaving space to add something more regarding the twists, to get a more fulfilling ending (at least for me).
The whole idea of a place where men are refused, where women who had been wronged by them are supposed to find a solace is a nice setting for a horror novel. A small paradise turned into something grimmer. Misandry isn't benign, the pain of the victims isn't either. The duality is interesting here, and explored enough to my liking.
Don't take me wrong, I think the author managed to do what they wanted here, in reinventing a story. But I don't really buy into it, not with the revelations the epilogue brings. It might be because I don't read this kind of horror ofter, it's the kind of ending I enjoy, but it felt unresolved. Sure, Cordelia fulfilled what she wanted. But that's only half the story, in the end.
Still, a book with a beautiful cover, nice imagery and good prose, delivering on the unsettling (and a bit depressing) aspect.
'Her wicked roots' gives what the cover promises : gothic, plan, mansion and secrets. The prose carries the story well, lush and dense like a full greenhouse. There are a lot of descriptions, forcing the story to meander and follows the slow trickle of water on a leaf. We are in Cordelia's head, with a third person narrative enabling the story to build in the things that aren't said or dismissed by Cordelia, helping the unease to grow as the pages turn.
The romance isn't really one, not in my view. I could stretch it a little and say it is a love story, but even that isn't the right fit. Yes, love is at the centre of the narrative (family love and "romantic" love), but it is also the curse binding the story, with its layers of manipulation and deceit.
Cordelia's feelings spring up from nowhere (well, it seems like it does at the very least), making it hard to really get into her head at times. There is a distance there.
In the same tone, the pacing didn't help me get really invested in the story. What was the ending would have been a really good middle or three quarter mark for the book, leaving space to add something more regarding the twists, to get a more fulfilling ending (at least for me).
The whole idea of a place where men are refused, where women who had been wronged by them are supposed to find a solace is a nice setting for a horror novel. A small paradise turned into something grimmer. Misandry isn't benign, the pain of the victims isn't either. The duality is interesting here, and explored enough to my liking.
Don't take me wrong, I think the author managed to do what they wanted here, in reinventing a story. But I don't really buy into it, not with the revelations the epilogue brings. It might be because I don't read this kind of horror ofter, it's the kind of ending I enjoy, but it felt unresolved. Sure, Cordelia fulfilled what she wanted. But that's only half the story, in the end.
Still, a book with a beautiful cover, nice imagery and good prose, delivering on the unsettling (and a bit depressing) aspect.