A review by maaikereadsbooks_
Maddalena and the Dark by Julia Fine

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Many thanks to Headline and Julia Fine for the advanced copy of Maddalena and the Dark via NetGalley, in return for my honest and unbiased review. Quick note: I don’t recap plots in my reviews, as it’s easy enough to read the book’s synopsis and blurbs, I purely focus on my feelings & opinions of how the books makes me feel. 

This is a tale of longing and horror. Of lust and jealousy. 

I do wish book blurbs would stop comparing books to other, already-published books. This can unfairly set a book up to fail if it is compared to a particular favourite if it does not quite meet the standards of the mentioned book in the reader’s mind. 

Maddalena and the Dark is well written and is a sapphic tale of unrequited, jealous love. The strong and, at times rather terrifying, emotions come through well on the page, and Julia Fine is obviously an accomplished writer. 

However, somehow the book just didn’t quite do it for me. It just fell flat for me. Maybe it’s a lack of detail surrounding some of the more important aspects, a convenient ability for the characters to do what they like to make the story work, when it would not really work that way. Maybe it’s a lack of depth that would have added too many pages to this novel. I’m not sure. 

Overall, this is a good book and well written and I do recommend it. I just can’t say it’s a great book. And that’s fine! 

Themes: forbidden love, ‘If I can’t have you, nobody will’, LGBTQ+, oblivious to love, orphan, peril, unrequited love 

Spice: 0.5/5 

Trigger warnings: Death, Misogyny, Physical or mental abuse, Sexism 
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