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woundworship's review
tried reading this on audio and my GOD 😭 the narrator is so bad... why do you enunciate words likw that jfc just speak normally
timinbc's review
3.0
Mixed feelings here.
We see a successful shipping magnate, but from then on everything crumbles. We realize that she';s broken, and in developing her business she never found time to deal with
OK,so we have Lucrezia Borgia, and things are slipping out of control for her. Are we supposed to feel sorry for her? Or for dear sweet Violetta, who doesn't realize she lives with a monster?
We got yer blank-eyed shells taken over by The Thing. So ... is that a creature from another dimension? A Poe-like manifestation of her repressed guilt? Has Evelyn been amnesiac until now?
It's a novella, so we'll never know. I would have liked to.
We got yer omniscient narrator PoV, except that the narrator isn't omniscient and appears to be discovering things about Evelyn just as we and even Evelyn do. Fair enough, but confusing at times.
I even wondered if we had an unreliable 3rd-person narrator. Was the deal with the enemy real or imagined?
Finally, I didn't care for the contrivance in which the soldier wouldn't explain himself unless he had her name, and she wouldn't give it. This is just the old rom-com trick of "Dammit, why don't you just TELL her!"
Nice atmosphere, great build, but as others have said here, Starling has chosen the ending, and only Poe could ever pull that off.
We see a successful shipping magnate, but from then on everything crumbles. We realize that she';s broken, and in developing her business she never found time to deal with
Spoiler
having killed her brutal dad (on purpose) and her mom (by accident), then her two brothers (on purpose).OK,so we have Lucrezia Borgia, and things are slipping out of control for her. Are we supposed to feel sorry for her? Or for dear sweet Violetta, who doesn't realize she lives with a monster?
We got yer blank-eyed shells taken over by The Thing. So ... is that a creature from another dimension? A Poe-like manifestation of her repressed guilt? Has Evelyn been amnesiac until now?
It's a novella, so we'll never know. I would have liked to.
We got yer omniscient narrator PoV, except that the narrator isn't omniscient and appears to be discovering things about Evelyn just as we and even Evelyn do. Fair enough, but confusing at times.
I even wondered if we had an unreliable 3rd-person narrator. Was the deal with the enemy real or imagined?
Finally, I didn't care for the contrivance in which the soldier wouldn't explain himself unless he had her name, and she wouldn't give it. This is just the old rom-com trick of "Dammit, why don't you just TELL her!"
Nice atmosphere, great build, but as others have said here, Starling has chosen the
Spoiler
then-it-all-fell-apartbooks_and_keys's review
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
eagoldberg's review
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
coraline88's review
This absolutely haunting gothic tale spun by master storyteller Caitlin Starling places its hand around your throat with an iron grasp and doesn't let go. From the beginning, the forboding atmosphere really lends itself to the plot and the characters of the story, though the former serves the latter during most of the story. Nevertheless, one may argue that is the beauty of this novella, examining the past and present of our protagonist Evelyn Perdanu, revealing to the reader how and why she has become the power-hungry ship magnate we see carrying the story with a steel heart. The sacrifices she is forced to make along the way, her undying love for her servant and also her knowledge of plants and herbs all slowly conform an Evelyn Perdanu that belies complexity.
In short, it's easy to become immersed in this gothic novella which, in such a short span of pages, offers a rich, deeply layered complex story whereupon a woman with a clenched heart, though still unyielding by the end of the book, is, above all, willing to go above and beyond to save Delphinium from an illness that threatens to destroy everything she has built.
In short, it's easy to become immersed in this gothic novella which, in such a short span of pages, offers a rich, deeply layered complex story whereupon a woman with a clenched heart, though still unyielding by the end of the book, is, above all, willing to go above and beyond to save Delphinium from an illness that threatens to destroy everything she has built.
cady_sass's review
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
What a weird, strange little book to add to my pile of “I don’t think I fully understand what this is trying to say”
thekindworthreading's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
loveykei's review
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
noirverse's review
4.0
A wonderful gothic horror that reveals just enough to be greatly satisfying without tipping its hand. I would've loved to see this concept as a full-fledged book with a bit more detail on the worldbuilding, but what we do get is lovely.
kt_jams's review against another edition
dark
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death and Blood