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oddduck's review
4.0
I've owned this book for at least a decade and never read it, and I'm actually glad I waited so long. At the time I got it, I don't think I was mature enough to really understand what all was happening here.
Many others have discussed not liking certain aspects of this book and I find myself agreeing with them, but despite that, I did really enjoy the overall story. I think this is the kind of book that is significantly better as a reread, where you know exactly what’s happening and can see the build up coming for the big reveals toward the end.
That is because this is a story about the aftermath of gaslighting, which has made Briony an unreliable narrator. Because of how young she was when this started, she (and consequently the reader) doesn’t even realize how unreliable her memories are until the very end of the story, when she is finally able to straighten them out at the trial.
I accidentally spoiled part of the trial reveal for myself pretty early on, which I think actually greatly improved my reading experience (see thoughts re: reread). I hadn’t realized that Briony was an unreliable narrator, so a lot of what she was talking about was confusing. Even only knowing what was going on with Stepmother helped tremendously, because I was able to see where her manipulation was and this let me pick up on a lot of foreshadowing. And I only managed to spoil the reveal about what Stepmother was, and not the circumstances of her death, so I even got to enjoy a nice little twist still. And learning exactly how Stepmother died was an excellent reveal.
Honestly, I was not particularly interested in the “don’t drain the swamp” plotline. It was fine and served a purpose, but I was much more interested in Briony’s past. Learning about her childhood really helped clarify some things that were going on in the present. I didn’t particularly like Briony for much of the book (more on that soon), but I did find her to be an interesting and compelling character.
I also found Rose to be interesting and compelling. She was probably my favorite out of this cast, though I also liked the brownie and Tiddy Rex. For the most part, the characters were well developed and they definitely helped give the world more flavor. I could have used more from the Chime Child, but what we do get works fine for the story.
The worldbuilding was well done and enjoyable, though I’ll admit I’m still a bit confused by the Dead Hand. But I liked everything else. The swamp setting was very different from anything I’ve read in the last year (at least) and was a good change.
Despite how much I liked the story, there are a few things about the writing that I didn’t like very much. I’m not sure if they could have been done better, or differently, because I do think they were effective, it’s really just that I personally don’t like them.
One of them was Briony’s narrative style. The frequent “Don’t forget to hate yourself Briony” and “Shut up Briony!” and other comments of the like got annoying real quick. I personally just don’t like it when characters talk directly to themselves in the narration. Despite this, I do think it was a useful tool for showing how Briony’s mind works and what kind of mental state she’s in.
A lot of the language was just also not really my thing. Like, Briony’s whole thing about describing Eldric as a lion boy-man and herself as “wolfgirl”. It kind of added to the feel of the world, but it just wasn’t my thing.
I also was not a huge fan of Briony for much of the story. Partly for the above reasons, but she was also giving me “I’m not like other girls” vibes, which I am so over. Though she wasn’t my favorite character, I do think she made sense, given her situation, so this, again, comes down to personal preference.
Something I didn’t like that I do think could have been handled better was Briony’s father. He’s not a very central presence in the story, but I think it would have been a stronger story if he was. I understand his actions, but they would have had more impact on me if he’d had more page time and especially if he’d had more positive moments with Briony. She spends most of the book very angry with her father, which is totally fair, but we don’t really see them making any effort to repair their relationship. Maybe we’re supposed to intuit this at the end, when Briony gets a new tutor and chance to continue her education, like she was supposed to before Stepmother got sick. This just didn’t have an emotional impact for me like it could have if Briony had spent more time with her father on page.
I also wish more had been done with the witches from the first third of the book. After the wrong person is convicted, this entire plotline is just dropped. I know it was there to illustrate the seriousness of Briony's situation for the reader, but it would have been nice if more had been done with this. Could the witches have replaced the Dead Hand, perhaps? That change could have helped with the worldbuilding and would have shown the witches "evilness" (important, because Briony tells us over and over that witches are evil and heartless and that's why they have to be hanged). That would have really helped, because as it stands, the witches tease Rose and that's really the extent of their cruelty. They feel pretty lackluster honestly, especially compared to what Briony says about them.
I also wish more had been done with the witches from the first third of the book. After the wrong person is convicted, this entire plotline is just dropped. I know it was there to illustrate the seriousness of Briony's situation for the reader, but it would have been nice if more had been done with this. Could the witches have replaced the Dead Hand, perhaps? That change could have helped with the worldbuilding and would have shown the witches "evilness" (important, because Briony tells us over and over that witches are evil and heartless and that's why they have to be hanged). That would have really helped, because as it stands, the witches tease Rose and that's really the extent of their cruelty. They feel pretty lackluster honestly, especially compared to what Briony says about them.
It’s been a while since I read a book and had mixed feelings like these. Typically, my mixed feelings stem from liking the general idea of the story and being unhappy with the execution of it. But I actually liked how this story was handled. By the time we have all the answers at the end, everything that was confusing is retroactively cleared up (that’s why I think this book would be much better as a reread). And knowing that Briony was gaslit into believing she was responsible for everything her stepmother did explains why we (the readers) are so confused for much of the book. Really, this is a very effective use of an unreliable narrator. I only wish the writing style had been a bit different, so that I could have enjoyed this story more.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gaslighting, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, and Ableism
Moderate: Blood, Fire/Fire injury, Self harm, Grief, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Sexual assault
Minor: Suicidal thoughts and Drug use
wyllora's review
emotional
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism and Gaslighting
Moderate: Self harm, Sexual assault, Emotional abuse, and Sexual harassment
Minor: Physical abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Religious bigotry, Animal death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Murder, and Suicidal thoughts
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