A review by kdawn999
The Mysteries of Udolpho by Ann Radcliffe

3.0

I didn’t think I was going to recommend this half way through—and it is long and boring—but I actually ended up liking it once I accepted its caricatured characters and plot absurdities. The “romance” part is mostly sickly, and the main character is unlikeably perfect, but I appreciate reading the author who inspired Austen, the Bröntes, and later mystery writers. The book may feel tropey, but then you realize it started the tropes! I also can’t get over the fact that a 19th century French author decided to make Radcliffe a character in his vampire fan fiction. So it turns out Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter has literary precedent and Pride and Prejudice and Zombies isn’t that radical! So, read this if you are curious about the literary origins of this vein of the Gothic romance—I promise there is blood if you read far enough! If you are looking for entertainment and thrill on the level her original readers might have had it, read Stephen King instead.