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maiagaia's review against another edition
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.25
Like The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle, this book has extremely engaging, compulsively readable prose. I tore through both in only a few days despite their length. The issue is that both have really bad endings. Like book-ruining bad.
The Devil and the Dark Water commits what is, to me, a cardinal sin: a POV character lied to the reader with their own thoughts.Creesjie is the POV character when she finds the governor general's body. She panics and cries and is frightened in the dark. We find out later that she planned the whole thing and planted a fake murder weapon in the middle of that scene. But we don't see it because it would ruin the mystery. And that's the only reason. It makes zero sense.
There are also multiple instances of chapters ending with a random description of something that the character didn't see. These chapters are written in 3rd person limited, so the random omnipotence is clunky.
The reveal of the twist was bad enough , but the final scene was the expired whipped cream on this shit sundae. We have two well-developed, stubborn characters who do a total about face in the last five pages.Arent and Sara are both set up as having strict, particular views on morality, yet at the end, they are suddenly willing to look past the hundreds of deaths Creesjie and Pipps caused??? I could maybe buy it if given more time, but 5 pages is NOT enough.
At this point, I'm not sure I'll be reading from this author again. He has a wonderful writing style, but the endings are just unforgivable.
The Devil and the Dark Water commits what is, to me, a cardinal sin: a POV character lied to the reader with their own thoughts.
There are also multiple instances of chapters ending with a random description of something that the character didn't see. These chapters are written in 3rd person limited, so the random omnipotence is clunky.
The reveal of the twist was bad enough , but the final scene was the expired whipped cream on this shit sundae. We have two well-developed, stubborn characters who do a total about face in the last five pages.
At this point, I'm not sure I'll be reading from this author again. He has a wonderful writing style, but the endings are just unforgivable.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Emotional abuse and Violence
Moderate: Genocide, Sexism, and Religious bigotry
Minor: Child death, Confinement, Slavery, Vomit, Colonisation, and War
taymariereads's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-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
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, and Murder
oliverlang's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-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
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Body horror, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Infidelity, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Grief, Death of parent, and Murder
v171's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Michelle Obama voice: Stuart you have done it again, constantly raising the bar for us all, and doing it flawlessly.
I shouldn't be surprised that this was my first 2021 5 star read, but I'm just so blown away! I say it all the time, but I'm not big on murder mysteries, but this one really had everything, I don't know where to begin. The setting was so vivid and well developed. The atmosphere and culture of the world and setting was conveyed very naturally without blocks of exposition. The characters we were supposed to like were charming, and the characters we were supposed to hate were loathsome, but neither in a heavy handed way. I did find some of the dialogue to be a bit rushed and unnatural, but it was easy to look beyond. There were a few underlying themes around sexism and class disparity that were touched on in interesting ways. The author did a great job of painting a more... gritty? realistic?... picture of sailors than the oft romanticized versions we see today. This added to the danger and suspense for the female characters of the book, without using needless violence towards women as a tool for character development.
It goes without saying, but if you liked Evelyn Hardcastle, or if you like Agatha Christie-esque murder mysteries, you'll love this. I can't recommend it enough.
I shouldn't be surprised that this was my first 2021 5 star read, but I'm just so blown away! I say it all the time, but I'm not big on murder mysteries, but this one really had everything, I don't know where to begin. The setting was so vivid and well developed. The atmosphere and culture of the world and setting was conveyed very naturally without blocks of exposition. The characters we were supposed to like were charming, and the characters we were supposed to hate were loathsome, but neither in a heavy handed way. I did find some of the dialogue to be a bit rushed and unnatural, but it was easy to look beyond. There were a few underlying themes around sexism and class disparity that were touched on in interesting ways. The author did a great job of painting a more... gritty? realistic?... picture of sailors than the oft romanticized versions we see today. This added to the danger and suspense for the female characters of the book, without using needless violence towards women as a tool for character development.
It goes without saying, but if you liked Evelyn Hardcastle, or if you like Agatha Christie-esque murder mysteries, you'll love this. I can't recommend it enough.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, and Murder
Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Sexual content, and Slavery
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Confinement, Gore, Infertility, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Rape, and Excrement
breezer's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Animal death, Confinement, Torture, Violence, and Blood
Moderate: Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, and Excrement
Minor: Genocide
lilifane's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Misogyny, and Violence
Moderate: Confinement
Minor: Animal death
jersy's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
After adoring Turton's previous book I was expecting this to be a favourite of the year. While I liked the mystery at the core of the book, which was really intriguing and provided an unexpected ending, there were some things about this book that just didn't entirely work for me.
The biggest influence on this only earning 3 stars were the characters. Some of them were interesting and I would have liked to spend more time reading about Creesjie and Lia, for example, but what we got from everyone wasn't enough to make them unique or compelling. Arent was fine as a main character, but Sara is your typical too modern woman in historical fiction, which is not only cliché and jarring but I wish there was just more to her.
Speaking of historical, this book does not attempt to be an accurate representation of it's time period, but I think it uses it's set pieces well to tell a fun story. However, it does feel like a lot of other historical adventurous mysteries and was a lot more conventional than Turton's previous book. This will probably make it more accessible to a lot of readers, but for me this meant a lot less original ideas and memorable details.
Something I really enjoyed, on the other hand, was the writing style. It's succinct and has a lot of charm, creating a tone that fit the characters well. There was some repetition, caused by many characters working on the case, having to share new information with everyone, but aside from that there wasn't anything distracting.
This isn't a book I rate 3 stars because it's disappointing, but because it just isn't that special in the ways that matter to me. It's really fun, though, so if you don't expect it to be as mindblowing as The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle and just want a mystery novel with an interesting setting, go ahead and pick it up.
The biggest influence on this only earning 3 stars were the characters. Some of them were interesting and I would have liked to spend more time reading about Creesjie and Lia, for example, but what we got from everyone wasn't enough to make them unique or compelling. Arent was fine as a main character, but Sara is your typical too modern woman in historical fiction, which is not only cliché and jarring but I wish there was just more to her.
Speaking of historical, this book does not attempt to be an accurate representation of it's time period, but I think it uses it's set pieces well to tell a fun story. However, it does feel like a lot of other historical adventurous mysteries and was a lot more conventional than Turton's previous book. This will probably make it more accessible to a lot of readers, but for me this meant a lot less original ideas and memorable details.
Something I really enjoyed, on the other hand, was the writing style. It's succinct and has a lot of charm, creating a tone that fit the characters well. There was some repetition, caused by many characters working on the case, having to share new information with everyone, but aside from that there wasn't anything distracting.
This isn't a book I rate 3 stars because it's disappointing, but because it just isn't that special in the ways that matter to me. It's really fun, though, so if you don't expect it to be as mindblowing as The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle and just want a mystery novel with an interesting setting, go ahead and pick it up.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Animal death
Minor: Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, and Blood
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