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A review by ruth_miranda
Priory by Becky Wright
5.0
I love a good haunted house story, and if it's done with the flare of gothic style writing - the kind that sings poetically - even better. I simply thrive on ghost stories that involve some kind of dark and unclear entity that preys on the lives and innocence of children and wants to take them for its own - I could name countless films and books that became cult to me and that I found echoes of in Priory. I've loved every Becky Wright book I've read so far. When the two combine, I know I'm in for something of a treat.
To start, one of the things I enjoy the most is when I don't know what the heck is going on while reading a book and my brain starts trying to read through every line and paragraph, in between each line, in search for clues and evidences that sustain the conclusions it comes up wit. I absolutely love it when suddenly, validation slaps me in the face and I go lilw 'I KNEW IT, I DAMN KNEW IT!'. This happened to me a lot while reading it, and it always makes me feel like I'm some kind of little genius who can find every single easter egg authors leave in their books - I normally fail. So, going through the story without being sure of what's what and having to make my way very much like the MC - in the dark - always makes me feel more connected to the tales, as I become far more invested and attentive in my reading. By the time I came to the end, I had something of an idea about what lay behind the priory's dark secrets, but then again, not all is disclosed for the reader at this point, which only makes me want to read the second book even more.
Seconds, I love me a cast of really good characters, with really 'loud' - as in they stay with me - voices, and this book has provided. From Oliver to Elliot, Josie and her mum, Nancy, Lady Hardacre, Lizzie, the solicitors, the bedsheet man, the forces at work, these voices were clear and present and real at all times. I especially liked the way the author makes us hesitate between liking and hating some of these characters, as she keeps us wondering about their true intentions and which side they are on... very well done, that, in my opinion.
But the best part of it all, for me, is the way that house becomes a character of its own, and the most memorable, the most remarkable. Everything about the Priory and its grounds is alive and sentient, and you feel it in the book. It breathes and plots and schemes, it grows and shrinks, binds and weakens anyone who dares enter its gates. For me, this was the best character of the entire novel, and the one that had me on tenterhooks at all times. Because I firmly believe houses have souls, and some of them are indeed very dark...
To start, one of the things I enjoy the most is when I don't know what the heck is going on while reading a book and my brain starts trying to read through every line and paragraph, in between each line, in search for clues and evidences that sustain the conclusions it comes up wit. I absolutely love it when suddenly, validation slaps me in the face and I go lilw 'I KNEW IT, I DAMN KNEW IT!'. This happened to me a lot while reading it, and it always makes me feel like I'm some kind of little genius who can find every single easter egg authors leave in their books - I normally fail. So, going through the story without being sure of what's what and having to make my way very much like the MC - in the dark - always makes me feel more connected to the tales, as I become far more invested and attentive in my reading. By the time I came to the end, I had something of an idea about what lay behind the priory's dark secrets, but then again, not all is disclosed for the reader at this point, which only makes me want to read the second book even more.
Seconds, I love me a cast of really good characters, with really 'loud' - as in they stay with me - voices, and this book has provided. From Oliver to Elliot, Josie and her mum, Nancy, Lady Hardacre, Lizzie, the solicitors, the bedsheet man, the forces at work, these voices were clear and present and real at all times. I especially liked the way the author makes us hesitate between liking and hating some of these characters, as she keeps us wondering about their true intentions and which side they are on... very well done, that, in my opinion.
But the best part of it all, for me, is the way that house becomes a character of its own, and the most memorable, the most remarkable. Everything about the Priory and its grounds is alive and sentient, and you feel it in the book. It breathes and plots and schemes, it grows and shrinks, binds and weakens anyone who dares enter its gates. For me, this was the best character of the entire novel, and the one that had me on tenterhooks at all times. Because I firmly believe houses have souls, and some of them are indeed very dark...