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A review by ninarg
Blood & Sugar by Laura Shepherd-Robinson
adventurous
dark
emotional
informative
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
3.75
3,5 stars.
I read "Daughters of Night" a couple of years ago, not realising that it was a sort of sequel to this book. Or rather, it's a separate story, but where "Daughters of Night" feature Caro Corsham as the main investigator into a murder, this one has her husband Harry doing the detecting. And since I loved "Daughters of Night" and have been wanting to read more by the author ever since, this felt like the perfect book to pick up. I had such high expectations for it.
And it is good. It's good. But it doesn't reaches the heights that "Daughters of Night" does. Cora Corsham I found instantly engaging and sympathetic, and the story was a ride and a half. Harry Corsham is very nice, he is definitely a good guy, but his character seems not quite fully formed. And I thought the plot was a little too convoluted at times; I found it hard to keep track of the characters and what had happened when, and when the solution came I still wasn't sure how I was meant to have solved that myself. I am very busy at the moment, so it may have been my attention span that's at fault here, but I just felt that the plot could have been neater and a bit more engaging, considering the subject matter. But it is still a very impressive debut, a thoroughly researched historical novel and well worth a read. But it isn't "Daughters of Night."
I read "Daughters of Night" a couple of years ago, not realising that it was a sort of sequel to this book. Or rather, it's a separate story, but where "Daughters of Night" feature Caro Corsham as the main investigator into a murder, this one has her husband Harry doing the detecting. And since I loved "Daughters of Night" and have been wanting to read more by the author ever since, this felt like the perfect book to pick up. I had such high expectations for it.
And it is good. It's good. But it doesn't reaches the heights that "Daughters of Night" does. Cora Corsham I found instantly engaging and sympathetic, and the story was a ride and a half. Harry Corsham is very nice, he is definitely a good guy, but his character seems not quite fully formed. And I thought the plot was a little too convoluted at times; I found it hard to keep track of the characters and what had happened when, and when the solution came I still wasn't sure how I was meant to have solved that myself. I am very busy at the moment, so it may have been my attention span that's at fault here, but I just felt that the plot could have been neater and a bit more engaging, considering the subject matter. But it is still a very impressive debut, a thoroughly researched historical novel and well worth a read. But it isn't "Daughters of Night."