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vireogirl's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
tense
fast-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
5.0
Delightful. Spunky young heroine, full of clever perspectives and gutsy ideas. The story included real chemistry, anatomy, and stamp collecting. And wonderful phrases, like "One of Inspector Hewitt's eyebrows rose up like a cobra."
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child death, Death, Physical abuse, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Alcohol
silver_valkyrie_reads's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
mysterious
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? Yes
4.25
2023 reread: I'm dropping the rating a tiny bit on this re-read, but that may just be because it was audio and narrator really overinflected a lot of Flavia's thoughts. Still an enjoyable story, and I'd like to both continue with a re-read of the series, and come back to this one in a non-audio format and see if it's the format or the repetition that dropped it out of the 'potential all time favorite' zone.
Original review:
The only thing that could possibly make this book better (aside from maybe not activating my mild claustrophobia in a couple of scenes) is if I'd discovered it a couple of decades ago when I was eleven.
Original review:
The only thing that could possibly make this book better (aside from maybe not activating my mild claustrophobia in a couple of scenes) is if I'd discovered it a couple of decades ago when I was eleven.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder
Moderate: Suicide, Death of parent, and Toxic friendship
Minor: Sexual assault
bosco29's review against another edition
dark
funny
mysterious
slow-paced
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Kidnapping, and Murder
lilawsahar's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
This book read like a Wes Anderson film. Lots of dry humor and goofy moments —like her using poison ivy to get back at her sister. I also enjoyed her dark humor and curious disposition. Anyone who is fond of poisons can be my friend! You can definitely tell that this book was written by a man though.
Gripes with the book:
- Lots of description to the situation and scenery going on which makes it hard to read at times. I think the authors writing gets better as the novel goes on. The description about how Flavia was rescued at the end was so confusing.
- The conversations between Flavia and the detective seemed flirtatious.
- The author is American and is writing about Britain and their customs. Just seems wrong tbh. Do research.
Side note: I love how I read about poisons before this book and this novel references different types of poisons!
Gripes with the book:
- Lots of description to the situation and scenery going on which makes it hard to read at times. I think the authors writing gets better as the novel goes on. The description about how Flavia was rescued at the end was so confusing.
- The conversations between Flavia and the detective seemed flirtatious.
- The author is American and is writing about Britain and their customs. Just seems wrong tbh. Do research.
Side note: I love how I read about poisons before this book and this novel references different types of poisons!
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Torture, Kidnapping, and Murder
Minor: Racism
mint_julippe's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
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? It's complicated
4.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Suicide, Violence, and Murder
Minor: Confinement, Racism, and Kidnapping
kenderful's review against another edition
lighthearted
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child abuse and Violence
Minor: Death and Murder
katherine_alexis's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Kidnapping
Moderate: Racism and Murder
anniup's review against another edition
mysterious
slow-paced
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Racism, Kidnapping, and Murder
Moderate: Suicide
purplepenning's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
mysterious
medium-paced
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement and Kidnapping
Moderate: Death, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Suicide, Xenophobia, Grief, Murder, Toxic friendship, and Classism
Minor: Animal death, Bullying, Sexism, Torture, Islamophobia, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Cultural appropriation, Colonisation, and War
About halfway through the book there's a long monologue that features an extended depiction of racist stereotypes, with a few others scattered throughout.emileereadsbooks'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? Yes
4.5
Overall, I really enjoyed this book. I did struggle to get through it but that was more about me and my reading life than this book.
Pros: I like how spunky and confident Flavia is. She is smart and the mystery element was very interesting. I feel like there was a good setup for relationships between characters to grow in the following books (which I will be giving a shot).
Cons: Flavia is a bit too cocky at times for my liking and her contentious relationship with her sisters bothered me a bit.
The biggest reason I think this book is a "really liked" rating vs. a "loved" rating for me is that last year I read and fell in love with Myrtle Hardcastle. Myrtle and Flavia are very alike but Myrtle is more humble and virtuous, and I read her first, so I like Myrtle more. I do think that it would be a great book club for a group to read both the first Flavia and first Myrtle books and contrast and compare them. That being said, Flavia, because of the content, I would label as more young YA while Myrtle is firmly middle grade.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Kidnapping
Moderate: Murder
Minor: Bullying, Death, and Suicide