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navayiota's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
informative
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
I'm upset with myself for not starting it earlier. What a stunning fantasy period piece, also a retelling of three separate classics. I rarely read blurbs so I was flabbergasted when Sherlock Holmes entered the picture. How smart, and masterfully done. It took me a while to adjust to the writing style as it was difficult to understand what was going on by ear, but after I caught on, I was utterly charmed. I have a few nitpicks, like the fact that in real life, corsetry was a way for women to take back an aspect of their lives and not something they rebelled against. It turns out that the myth was perpetuated by men who found it ridiculous to undermine the women (which worked, since so many people believe that it was constricting. Tight lacing was extremely rare and frowned upon, so there was no reason for Beatrice to be so emphatically against it)
Also, I found the narrator slightly irritating in the way she voiced Beatrice, sometimes pushing her accent too far to the point where it was a bit ridiculous. Other than that, I enjoyed the narration.
Also, I found the narrator slightly irritating in the way she voiced Beatrice, sometimes pushing her accent too far to the point where it was a bit ridiculous. Other than that, I enjoyed the narration.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abandonment, Death of parent, Grief, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Murder, Child abuse, Death, Suicidal thoughts, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Medical content, and Infidelity
blacksphinx's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Animal death, Death of parent, Grief, and Murder
Minor: Kidnapping, Self harm, and Suicidal thoughts
clarabooksit's review against another edition
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
Content Warnings
Moderate: Murder, Violence, Death, Animal cruelty, Sexism, Misogyny, Toxic relationship, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Death of parent, Confinement, and Child abuse
Minor: Infertility
charlottejones952's review against another edition
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.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Murder, and Body horror
Moderate: Abandonment, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Sexism, Medical trauma, Grief, Death of parent, and Blood
typedtruths's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
mysterious
slow-paced
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
quick thoughts:
the moment riley marie talked about this book in her vlog, i knew it was going to be a new favourite of mine too.
PROS
• fun. i read this, mostly, during my state's first proper lockdown and it was a breath of fresh air.
• found family. i sound like a broken record at this point but found family is my favourite trope. there's nothing quite like a ragtag group of misfits finding each other and making a home where they can all be their unabashed selves.
• the writing style. the book itself is written like the girls are writing an account of their adventures. catherine, a novelist, is in charge but the other characters write in the margins & interrupt when they think catherine is romanticising a certain moment or interject to say, 'no, i wasn't *scared* then, i don't get scared' or 'i was not blushing! the sun had gotten to my cheeks'. it adds this whole other layer to the story, and the banter? top notch.
• the whole cast. it is rare that i don't have a favourite narrator in a book with multiple perspectives, but the entire cast was delightful. i loved the whole crew, down to charlie & mrs poole.
• girl fighting their abusive fathers. a squad of women that society has snubbed overcoming systemic obstacles to band together and save other women from their abusive fathers? hell yeah.
• sherlock. i'm basic. i love me a sherlock retelling 🤷
CONS
• the pacing. it was a tiny bit on the dense side. i know a lot of historical fiction favour a slower pace (which i actually like), but it did stagnate a little in the middle.
• the "time-period appropriate" -ism. again, i know historical fiction tends to be as accurate to the era as possible, but i can't deny it is extremely difficult to read blatant ableism, racism & misogyny regardless. there is a fair amount of ableism and sex worker shaming as well as two downright racist sentences (as quoted below) which easily could have been edited out.
the racist comments on pages 199 & 347 respectively (in my edition):
the moment riley marie talked about this book in her vlog, i knew it was going to be a new favourite of mine too.
PROS
• fun. i read this, mostly, during my state's first proper lockdown and it was a breath of fresh air.
• found family. i sound like a broken record at this point but found family is my favourite trope. there's nothing quite like a ragtag group of misfits finding each other and making a home where they can all be their unabashed selves.
• the writing style. the book itself is written like the girls are writing an account of their adventures. catherine, a novelist, is in charge but the other characters write in the margins & interrupt when they think catherine is romanticising a certain moment or interject to say, 'no, i wasn't *scared* then, i don't get scared' or 'i was not blushing! the sun had gotten to my cheeks'. it adds this whole other layer to the story, and the banter? top notch.
• the whole cast. it is rare that i don't have a favourite narrator in a book with multiple perspectives, but the entire cast was delightful. i loved the whole crew, down to charlie & mrs poole.
• girl fighting their abusive fathers. a squad of women that society has snubbed overcoming systemic obstacles to band together and save other women from their abusive fathers? hell yeah.
• sherlock. i'm basic. i love me a sherlock retelling 🤷
CONS
• the pacing. it was a tiny bit on the dense side. i know a lot of historical fiction favour a slower pace (which i actually like), but it did stagnate a little in the middle.
• the "time-period appropriate" -ism. again, i know historical fiction tends to be as accurate to the era as possible, but i can't deny it is extremely difficult to read blatant ableism, racism & misogyny regardless. there is a fair amount of ableism and sex worker shaming as well as two downright racist sentences (as quoted below) which easily could have been edited out.
the racist comments on pages 199 & 347 respectively (in my edition):
"To those readers who are not familiar with London, who may be reading this in the wilds of America, where we hear there are bears and savages, or in the wilds of Australia, where there are also savages but no bears (unless, adds Justine, they are marsupial bears), the problem that now presented itself to Catherine and Diana was as follows."
and
"And he was excited: he had finally decided that we would go to Africa. With our superior strength, we could traverse jungles and desert that made the interior of the continent dangerous for white men. We would see what no European had ever seen. Surely the rude savages would worship us as gods."
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Content Warnings
Graphic: Death
Moderate: Ableism, Body horror, Blood, Child abuse, Confinement, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Misogyny, and Violence
Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Racism
misogyny, ableism & ableist language, sex worker shaming & slurs, underage sex work recounted, domestic abuse mentioned, psychiatric hospitalisation, the suicide of a parent mentioned, suicide & suicidal ideation mentioned, alcohol consumption, pregnancy & teen pregnancy mentioned, graphic dead body & body parts, blood & gore depiction, physical injuries & illness, nonconsensual surgery mentioned, dismemberment and decapitation discussed, nonconsensual medical experimentation (central theme), death of father & mother, death of an infant recounted, murder & attempted murder (multiple on-page & recounted), strangulation, poisoning, kidnapping & confinement, animal experimentation (off-page), animal death, and poverty themes
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