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A review by emdawgb
The Drowning Pool by Syd Moore
4.0
99p Kindle books are the new charity shop books, people. You heard it here first. Thankfully, this one was definitely worth the 99p. Written in a lively style, The Drowning Pool involves a genuinely scary ghost story, interesting history, and some refreshing feminist views and opinions. There's even a love story in there, and a story of lost love.
I was never bored while reading this book, and it even felt at some points as though there was just too much going on. On the day I downloaded this book, I managed to read around half of it, at which point I stopped and had no idea where the plot was going. While it's nice to be kept guessing, this was more a case of not really knowing what the book was about. After reaching the 50% mark in a day and a half, it took me a further week to read the remaining half, due to the fact that it got genuinely scary. I often read in bed at night, and some of the ghostly scenes were so chilling that reading them late at night, on my own, in an old, cold creaky house was just out of the question.
Not the best book, in terms of writing or plot, but hugely entertaining and a fairly easy read. I would recommend it to anyone who likes a good ghost story, anyone interested in historical literature, or anyone who wants to see just a little bit of feminism in their mainstream literature.
I liked: that witch-hunting was portrayed as misogynistic, and that the main character goes into this in some depth. 'It still puzzles me how "bachelordom" conjures up visions of cheerful young men yet "spinsterhood" gives you sour rejects. Wizard - wise, witch - evil.'
I didn't like: the characters of Sarah's friends felt very underdeveloped, as did the representation of their friendship.
I was never bored while reading this book, and it even felt at some points as though there was just too much going on. On the day I downloaded this book, I managed to read around half of it, at which point I stopped and had no idea where the plot was going. While it's nice to be kept guessing, this was more a case of not really knowing what the book was about. After reaching the 50% mark in a day and a half, it took me a further week to read the remaining half, due to the fact that it got genuinely scary. I often read in bed at night, and some of the ghostly scenes were so chilling that reading them late at night, on my own, in an old, cold creaky house was just out of the question.
Not the best book, in terms of writing or plot, but hugely entertaining and a fairly easy read. I would recommend it to anyone who likes a good ghost story, anyone interested in historical literature, or anyone who wants to see just a little bit of feminism in their mainstream literature.
I liked: that witch-hunting was portrayed as misogynistic, and that the main character goes into this in some depth. 'It still puzzles me how "bachelordom" conjures up visions of cheerful young men yet "spinsterhood" gives you sour rejects. Wizard - wise, witch - evil.'
I didn't like: the characters of Sarah's friends felt very underdeveloped, as did the representation of their friendship.