Scan barcode
geekmom's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
3.25
Speaking of language…after struggling recently with Olivia Atwater’s delightful book ideas that were so let down by getting the “Regency” language badly wrong, I am so disappointed to find another writer who has clearly taken the time to carefully research the setting and time within which her novel is set but has not addressed the rather important problem of having her characters talk like people from that place and time. So in this book I’m reading about English people (mainly Londoners) in the 19th century— they should not be speaking a weird mixture of modern American English and of the way Americans might imagine English people spoke in the past. I tried hard to get past this issue but, seriously, as just one example— in London in the late 1800s the word “pants” did not mean what it means to a 21st century American reader. And we have plenty of written sources to tell us how Sherlock Holmes spoke - I’m not able to check right now but I’m going to hazard a guess that he rarely if ever used the word “gotten”… How hard would it have been to ask someone familiar with English dialects and the particular way English would have been spoken by people from various social classes at that time to review the manuscript and help fix this? This book would have been great if Goss and her editors could have made the language work; instead I was constantly being jolted out of the world of the book by misplaced and misused words, and I had to work to finish it. I wonder what the editors and publishers were thinking. I’m forced to conclude that they don’t expect their readers to be familiar enough with the source material and setting that inspired this novel to notice or care about this issue, which is a really depressing conclusion given that one would hope this book would motivate readers to go out and read Holmes and the wonderful early speculative fiction that inspired Goss to write this book.
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Torture, Violence, and Murder
Moderate: Slavery and Schizophrenia/Psychosis
gabi_tron's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Violence, Death of parent, and Murder
thepastelnerd's review against another edition
Graphic: Body horror, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, and Murder
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Sexual content
froyobaggns's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Death, Gun violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Medical content, Medical trauma, Stalking, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Fire/Fire injury
anni_swanilda's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Confinement, Misogyny, Kidnapping, and Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Animal cruelty, Forced institutionalization, and Medical content
ijustreallyliketrees's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Body horror, and Death
Moderate: Animal death, Gore, and Violence
Minor: Mental illness and Suicide
clarabooksit's review against another edition
- 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
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Misogyny, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Infertility
madscientistcat's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.5
Graphic: Body horror, Death, and Violence
Moderate: Death of parent and Murder
elizalavenza's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Body horror, and Death
Moderate: Animal death, Gore, and Violence
Minor: Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Death of parent
beca_reads's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
Graphic: Child death, Death, Gun violence, Mental illness, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail