A review by dannycakez8808
Things in Jars by Jess Kidd
4.0
4.5 Stars
It took me a day or so to gather my thoughts before writing a review on this one. I thought that this would be a fun detective story that took place in Victorian era London.. but boy I was WRONG! The darkness in this novel shocked me but in the best ways. The Gothic setting was very beautifully written; it was engaging without being too drawn out or wordy.
Our leading lady Bridie was an unconventional heroine who has been hired as a detective to find a missing girl. Bridie takes her missions very seriously and goes as far as cross dressing as a man to gain leverage in her cases. As the investigation goes on we find out that the missing girl (Christabel) is no ordinary girl. She is in fact a Merrow (mermaid) who has the power to make people remember things. Interesting right?!
The oddities things seem to follow our protagonist- Bridie alao dabbles into the supernatural and has the power to "read dead corpses" and she even sees ghosts. One of those ghosts being an ex-boxer named Ruby who is head over heels for her. Queue the love triangles.
Beyond those supernatural oddities we also get go see some of the darker underground happenings of this era- live operating theaters (no anesthesia during these surgeries), pickled babies in jars, wicked knife yielding surgeons, heads in boxes, and some even more peculiar findings in an old crypt. We got to meet some very interesting people who were fans and collectors of these "remarkable specimens" and curiosities. To say the least this is not for the faint of heart.
One of my favorite relationships in the book was between Bridie and Cora; Ruby's 7ft tall house maid. The two of them cracked me up and it was nice to have these lighter times in the book. I also loved that this added alme LGBT rep into our story. I highly recommend grabbing this book if you are into magical realism and enjoy the darkness of the gothic era.
It took me a day or so to gather my thoughts before writing a review on this one. I thought that this would be a fun detective story that took place in Victorian era London.. but boy I was WRONG! The darkness in this novel shocked me but in the best ways. The Gothic setting was very beautifully written; it was engaging without being too drawn out or wordy.
Our leading lady Bridie was an unconventional heroine who has been hired as a detective to find a missing girl. Bridie takes her missions very seriously and goes as far as cross dressing as a man to gain leverage in her cases. As the investigation goes on we find out that the missing girl (Christabel) is no ordinary girl. She is in fact a Merrow (mermaid) who has the power to make people remember things. Interesting right?!
The oddities things seem to follow our protagonist- Bridie alao dabbles into the supernatural and has the power to "read dead corpses" and she even sees ghosts. One of those ghosts being an ex-boxer named Ruby who is head over heels for her. Queue the love triangles.
Beyond those supernatural oddities we also get go see some of the darker underground happenings of this era- live operating theaters (no anesthesia during these surgeries), pickled babies in jars, wicked knife yielding surgeons, heads in boxes, and some even more peculiar findings in an old crypt. We got to meet some very interesting people who were fans and collectors of these "remarkable specimens" and curiosities. To say the least this is not for the faint of heart.
One of my favorite relationships in the book was between Bridie and Cora; Ruby's 7ft tall house maid. The two of them cracked me up and it was nice to have these lighter times in the book. I also loved that this added alme LGBT rep into our story. I highly recommend grabbing this book if you are into magical realism and enjoy the darkness of the gothic era.