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A review by pushingdessy
The Blue Maiden by Anna Nóyes
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
I received this ARC through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Well, this… wasn’t quite what it says on the tin.
The blurb of Noyes' debut novel caught my eye enough to request an advanced copy - with mentions of witch hunts, the devil, buried history, the patriarchy, isolation, mystery, Gothic horror… but little of that felt of much relevance in the way I expected.
The story opens in the past, as all but a handful of the women in an isolated Northern European island are accused of dancing with the Devil in The Blue Maiden, a neighboring island, and assassinated.
Several generations later, we follow sisters Ulrika and Beata as they grow up with their father, a widower and the community’s Pastor, trying to discover who their mother (an outsider in the island) was and who they could be, living with the stigma of Otherness.
This was a beautifully told story, full of rich, atmospheric descriptions, with a dream-like quality and interesting main characters that we follow as they grow up and their bonds and their place in the world are tested.
Unfortunately, for me, there wasn’t much connection with the history of the wrongfully accused women or the mystery of The Blue Maiden. They existed as a vague threat, neither part of a supernatural horror plot nor directly connected to the sisters in the present. It felt more like a character study than anything else, so if you like that kind of stuff, you might enjoy it. Ultimately, it wasn’t a bad read, but I was expecting a different kind of story.
Well, this… wasn’t quite what it says on the tin.
The blurb of Noyes' debut novel caught my eye enough to request an advanced copy - with mentions of witch hunts, the devil, buried history, the patriarchy, isolation, mystery, Gothic horror… but little of that felt of much relevance in the way I expected.
The story opens in the past, as all but a handful of the women in an isolated Northern European island are accused of dancing with the Devil in The Blue Maiden, a neighboring island, and assassinated.
Several generations later, we follow sisters Ulrika and Beata as they grow up with their father, a widower and the community’s Pastor, trying to discover who their mother (an outsider in the island) was and who they could be, living with the stigma of Otherness.
This was a beautifully told story, full of rich, atmospheric descriptions, with a dream-like quality and interesting main characters that we follow as they grow up and their bonds and their place in the world are tested.
Unfortunately, for me, there wasn’t much connection with the history of the wrongfully accused women or the mystery of The Blue Maiden. They existed as a vague threat, neither part of a supernatural horror plot nor directly connected to the sisters in the present. It felt more like a character study than anything else, so if you like that kind of stuff, you might enjoy it. Ultimately, it wasn’t a bad read, but I was expecting a different kind of story.