Reviews with content warning for Sexism - The Strange Case of the Alchemist's Daughter

Reviews tagging 'Sexism'

The Strange Case of the Alchemist's Daughter by Theodora Goss

7 reviews

bzliz's review against another edition

mysterious slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.25

The best I can say is that this sure is a book I listened to. It’s like Disney’s Descendants meets classic monster stories and also Sherlock Holmes is there. The lead character is Mary Jekyll. She ends up bringing together her maybe-half-sister Diana Hyde, a poisonous woman, a woman developed from a puma, a lady Frankenstein, her housekeeper and her former maid to form a club living together and investigating a secret society of men who do inhumane experiments on women.

The characters all get lost because of the attempt to create an ensemble cast and none are interesting enough on their own to warrant undivided attention. There are several asides and interjections within the story from the characters themselves which was charming at first but it quickly became tedious. At least three were Diana asserting that the author can accurately capture her voice when she wants to. Even with this crew of women brought together, they still need Sherlock Holmes to help them investigate and lend them credibility because they are women living in a deeply misogynistic world. On top of that, the villains were so cartoonish that they helpfully spew exposition for the benefit of readers in a way that nobody has ever talked or ever will talk.

I cannot subject myself to the next book no matter how much I need something to listen to while I clean my house. It’s 700 pages long and this entire book felt like a preamble to explain how these women met and I can’t bear to recount it all over again.

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clarabooksit's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

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charlottejones952's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious 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? It's complicated

4.0

This isn’t a book I thought I’d ever pick up but I’ve gotten really into the spooky season this year and though this would be the right level of creepy for me (I get scared easily!).

Drawing on classic characters of Victorian horror such as Jekyll and Hyde, Dr Moreau and Frankenstein’s monster, Theodora Goss creates a band of monstrous women that, joined by Sherlock and Watson, solve the mystery of a series of gruesome murders.

I listened to this book mostly in one day and loved the experience. The characters are flawed but lovable and their relationships are growing in strength. The mystery wasn’t too difficult to solve in my opinion given that you know who these characters are, however I think that the way in which it was unravelled kept me interested throughout.

I’m looking forward to following these characters on their future adventures, particularly now that the whole series is published.

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shoshin's review against another edition

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adventurous funny lighthearted mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

I just loved this book. The characters were compelling, the story was intriguing, and the prose was pitch perfect for what it was going for. I listened to it without realizing it was a YA book, and started gushingly recommending it to other people who turned up their noses because it's a YA book. Their loss.

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