A review by biblio_kel
The Hitherto Secret Experiments of Marie Curie by Henry Herz, Bryan Thomas Schmidt

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

An anthology of short stories that imagine dark and bizarre events in the life of a teenage Marie Curie.

When I read the premise for this anthology, I was really excited to read it. I've been interested in Marie Curie, her work and her life, since I was a child and the idea of inserting her into weird and spooky scenarios appealed to my little horror-loving heart.

I enjoyed most of the tales included in the collection, to varying degrees. As is the way of anthologies, some stories were better than others but overall I felt the stories leaned more towards 'good' than 'great'.

I found that reading multiple tales in one sitting didn't work well for me. Due to Marie, and often her family, being the main character in each tale, I found it hard to separate the individual stories from each other which caused the differences between them to feel like inconsistencies. Once I started to read just one story at a time, this feeling of inconsistency went away.

Overall, this is an enjoyable anthology with a unique and interesting theme.

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher, and authors for giving me a free digital copy of this book to read in exchange for an honest review.