think this book is perhaps suffering from a bad title and cover, I read this one at home as the cover made it look like I was reading a naughty bodice ripper.
And while this book did have some interesting and sort of naughty moments, it was a psychological thriller more than anything else.
Interesting historical and pseudohistorical elements about Elizabeth Bathory, fairly interesting main character, but sadly a nearly laughably silly plot about a sort of cult that deifies Bathory and acts out her tortures.
I enjoyed the story for what it was and was pleasantly surprised by the casually presented lesbian elements casually in that there was no “Look how progressive Im being” or “Look, girl on girl titillation” factor.
It was just presented as “so this happened” which I liked, I guess I was hoping for more psychological pathology or philosophy from a book with a main character who is a psychologist treating the criminally insane and sort of fascinated by Bathory.
Dani is a bit of drip in places but I gave her wide berth for being young and not very experienced at life or at least I read her that way.
Who hasnt had a few youthful follies of misplaced trust or getting oneself stuck in a bad situation out of fear of the unknown.
Sort of a fluffy read but enjoyable,
At its core, this book has a confessional autobiographical quality, contrasting the exotic allure of serial killers and psychopaths that draws people into the study of psychology with the stark, quotidian reality of standardized protocols, objectivity and tedium that characterizes the professional practice of psychology.
Psychometrics and bureaucracy give way to aesthetics, especially as captured in the seeming external fragility and delicacy of women that can mask a ruthlessness and strength of mind, inaccessible to men.
As if to emphasize this last point, the male characters are for the most part weak and flawed, playing secondary instrumental roles.
At the same time, a possibly excessive amount of description regarding hair, makeup, dresses and shoes somewhat detracts from the story the word tulle appears too many times for my liking.
In places, the narrative seems clinical and detached, and the course of events is rather predictable.
However, this is a wellwritten, wellpaced, economical piece of storytelling that balances the historical with the contemporary and the horrific with the beautiful.
I'm sorry this book isn't getting better reviews because I think it's extremely well done for what it is.
The problem seems to lie in the marketing they keep saying it's supposed to be a thriller
but it didn't strike me that way at all.
It's much more of a psychological exploration than anything else and no, honestly, not a lot "happens" in the traditional thriller/suspense novel tradition.
It is instead a fascinating look at the way people can form connections between violence and beauty, obsession, and the thin line that separates sanity from madness.
I thought it was very, very well done,
That isn't to say it isn't a disturbing read, This book is certainly not for the faint of heart, the Countess was extremely violent, I have to admit I expected that though, having read about her before, and found the descriptions of animal cruelty to be the worst parts.
I understand why they were there and what each illustrated but I was not happy to read them.
My other disappointment is that the ending seemed to come very suddenly and it feels incomplete in some way.
I didn't get the impression that there would be a sequel, as some have been speculating in their reviews, the book just seemed wrap up too quickly.
Not bad for a first novel but not quite as satisfying as I hoped This novel was incredibly well written and researched.
I thoroughly enjoyed it and dont understand all the negative reviews whatsoever, Give it a read!! This came up as a kindle daily deal the other day and the subject matter really piqued my interest so I took a chance on it.
I'm pretty impressed that this is a first novel, I found the story based around a supposed cult that worships Elisabeth Bathory intriguing,
Danica Winston, a training psychologist, met the mysterious Maria while at a conference several years ago.
They were drawn together by a mutual fascination of Bathory, . her crimes, her beauty, her monstrous nature, Prior to the events of the novel they were scouring Europe for Bathory's personal journals, The mysterious Maria pops back into Danica's life when she's finally found what they looked for for so long.
She wants to write a book and she wants more for Dani, She wants Dani to leave her job and consult with her on the book, It would be 'her time to shine, '
This happens at a time when Danica is assessing and counseling Mr, Foster, a deranged killer that also worships bathory and brutally killed ayear old girl, Did he act alone or did he actually have help And why does everything in Dani's life seemingly fall apart when Maria's around, just trying to help her
One of the highlights of the book, I found, were the translated passages from Bathory's diary that Maria sends to Dani.
VERY disturbing things. It's like seeing through the eyes of a perfect monster,
I also found Maria to be frustratingly fun to read, She obviously wanted to be the marionette to Dani's puppet which was very frustrating for Dani, but Maria's attitudes and actions were fun to read.
I do have a few complaints about the book though, While I liked the main character I felt her to be a little weak, She honestly follows Maria around like a lost puppy despite the fact that Maria seemingly with good intentions makes Dani's life a mess time and again.
There are even flashbacks in the book where Maria treated Dani like garbage and she still kept coming back for more.
It was plainly obvious that Maria was totally selfish and I was a little disappointed in Dani, a trained psychoanalyst, would just put up with that type of treatment and not see it coming a mile away.
It's supposedly because she's fascinated by the whole Bathory thing that she puts up with Maria, but it didn't come across that way.
She just seemed to get punished and loved coming back for more,
I also found that there weren't that many surprises here, I had a feeling which way the book was going to go and who was responsible for what early on.
However, the Bathory journals and reading Maria's quirky dialogue made up for that,
Of note, the book is told in the first person PRESENT tense, I've read plenty of first person novels but not always in that tense so it took a little getting used to.
Overall, I enjoyed the book, It was a quick read with some good ideas and a good flow to the writing.
I'll be keeping an eye peeled for further works from this author! I just finished reading this book which was one of our book club picks.
Book club was on Mayth and today is Mayth,
The book sounded so exciting and interesting on the cover and then just did not live up to the write up.
It was an interesting story and very well written is some ways however the story takes a long time to build, painstakingly slow I would say.
The characters were interesting but there were many of them and most of them aren't likable although they are memorable.
Several gory scenes will make this a difficult read for many, It was not a scary or thriller type story,
This is also a story that jumps from place to place and time to time which is partially the reason it took so long to build.
I finished the book because I was determined that I would and it ended much the way I thought it would which did not endure the main character to me.
All in all not one I would recommend to many, Left me feeling betrayed because it didn't live up to the promise on the cover, I don't know what I expected when picking up a book that so heavily features Elizabeth Bathory, but this was gorier than I was prepared for.
The other aspect is the toxic friendship with sexual tension between Maria and Danica, which I always find simultaneously engrossing and unpleasant.
For the reader coming to this book expecting suspense, excitement, danger, . . well, look somewhere else. While the Quiver's storyline has every opportunity to rig itself up as a psychological thriller, it did not catch and hold me as it might have done.
There are various reasons for this, First off, the main character is about as bright as a lead weight, From nearly the very start it becomes clear that she is being led around the garden path by a dangerously charismatic antagonist.
As a consequence, in terms of the overarching plot line, you can see the ending coming from miles away.
This realization leads you to wonder why exactly you should be walking over every yellow brick on this road.
In trying to answer this question myself, I came upon the idea that the author excused herself from making anything more than a barebones plot so that she might simply use the narrative as a device to explore the gradual shift that a person can go through to bring them from a simple obsession and into a psychotic mania.
Congratulating myself on this realization, I watched with some in this case unintentional, I expect horror as this goal was completely hamstringed in the final few chapters.
It seems that even the author could not convince herself that her main character could be dense enough to let the plot go on unchecked.
In a flurry of activity, the character desperately fights back against the tide, succeeding, in a small way, at frustrating the plans of the antagonist.
The following summary of the protagonist's subsequent difficulties and submersion into madness is a disappointing copout that gives one the notunbelievable idea that the author was just as tired of the plot as her readers.
But perhaps, like me, you feel the need to give the author a chance, and there are some benefits to this.
While you may only be able to stomach a few pages a day of the protagonist's dense plunge into the spider's web, you will find yourself enjoying the author's descriptions of locations and classy events.
The book is peppered with haute couture references the stage set in some of the most unique and trendy clubs and boutiques in London.
The action has a tendency to flow from elaborately described set piece to elaborately described set piece, with great emphasis also on the clothing, makeup and hairstyles of the men and particularly women circling around the story.
Breaking these up are vivid short stories describing the horrific murders attributed to Elisabeth Bathory, and a fictional modernday copycat murderer.
Both these carefully rendered features of the book are interesting in and of themselves, The dichotomy of the height of beauty and heinous murder bound together is practically Bathory's thesis, after all, and it is perhaps here that the author manages to save some face.
One questions whether she shouldn't have simply released the book as a series of alternating short scenes in this vein rather than try to weave them all together with a narrative, but perhaps hindsight is/.
If that kind of thing in any way appeals to you, then there's plenty of reason to delve in.
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