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bergha1998's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.25
The mystery was interesting and the characters were great; I just really didn’t care for the pacing or the way the plot unfolded. Basically, in the beginning of the book the main mystery is all lead up to, but when it finally gets to the thick of it all of a sudden we are going back into Maudie’s backstory. That parts, although interesting, takes up half the book. Then it gets back to the main mystery and it’s like whiplash. If the book had been written in chronological order it would have been far more enjoyable.
Historic Mystery, War Trauma, Good Character Development
Historic Mystery, War Trauma, Good Character Development
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Body shaming, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Alcohol, War, and Injury/Injury detail
raggedmagpie's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
informative
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75
Content Warnings
Moderate: Ableism, Medical trauma, Murder, War, and Classism
tea_at_mole_end's review against another edition
mysterious
sad
slow-paced
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Medical content, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Violence, Grief, Medical trauma, and Murder
Minor: Blood
lawyergobblesbooks's review against another edition
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
This has potential -- it was a problem for me that the book took a detour in the middle for a long backstory/flashback. I think the backstory could've been sprinkled throughout. That said, I plan to plow through this series because I like Maisie and the writing.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Violence, Blood, Medical trauma, and War
astropova's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-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? It's complicated
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Medical trauma and War
Moderate: Mental illness and Suicide
Minor: Murder
rachaelbunny's review
challenging
emotional
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Well written but poorly edited. The first half of the book dragged so much that I nearly abandoned it. The chapters about how Lady Rowen met Monsieur Blanche or about Maisie’s childhood seemed overly drawn out. I understand why Winspear wrote them, but they should have been significantly trimmed in the editing process or had their information sprinkled throughout the story instead of taking multi-chapter breaks to have flashbacks unrelated to the plot.
I plan on reading the second in the series and I am hoping that it is better paced.
I plan on reading the second in the series and I am hoping that it is better paced.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gore, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, and Medical trauma
Moderate: Suicide and Suicide attempt
library_kb's review
informative
mysterious
sad
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? No
2.0
I listened to this on audiobook, which was really well read. And, I did enjoy it, as long as I thought about parts of the book rather than the whole thing. I am unsure if I will continue on with the series, but I can see that some of my problems with this book will not show up in future books. My main problems with the book had to do with pacing and characterization. The pacing for this book really didn't work for me. I was really interested in the mystery set up at the beginning of the book, but then that was all put on pause for a very extended (like 40% of the book) flashback, which was interesting, but since I was waiting for the mystery to be solved, really slowed down the pace of the book for me. For me, I probably would have preferred the flashbacks to be interspersed with the present mystery. Similarly, I felt like the main character Maisie was kind of set up as a perfect character, brilliant, always knows the right thing to do/say, etc. Sometimes I felt like her perfection was overemphasized, and the depth of her characterization really always came from outside sources like her relationship with Simon. However, I could see that future books, which will need less setup on Maisie's background and can focus more on the mystery aspects. I did really enjoy the mystery (even if it wrapped up very quickly at the end, and used the explaining in retrospect trope that I don't love) and I really did enjoy the WWI historical aspects of the book, especially if I ignored the fact that there was an unsolved mystery still hanging over my head!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Suicide, Grief, and Medical trauma