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chronicallybookish 's review for:
The Corpse Queen
by Heather M. Herrman
Quick Stats:
Overall: 1.5 ish stars
Characters: 1/5
Plot: 1/5
Setting: 2.5/5
Writing: 1/5
This was a huge disappointment. Wow.
Marketed as a feminist historical thriller in the vein of Stalking Jack the Ripper, it quickly became one of my most anticipated releases. SJtR is one of my favorite series of all time! And while this book did have a similar premise (girl who does autopsies while trying to solve a crime in the 1800s), it did not live up to its comp title.
There was no character development or growth—not even with Molly Greene, the main character. No one had any personality. Molly was simply a vessel with a goal shoved into her and nothing else and the side characters were NPCs that slooooooooooooowly helped her towards (or in some cases hindered) her progress towards that goal. This book was PAINFUL to get through, and I definitely would have DNFed if not for the fact that it was an ARC and I didn’t want to lower my NetGalley percentage.
Now, I mentioned that Molly had no characterization outside of her goal—finding Kitty’s killer—so you’d think that, at least, would be something that the novel cohesively builds towards, right? Wrong. Molly gets distracted by being a doctor. Molly gets distracted by being a brat to everyone who cares. The plot points happen, but none of them move the story any closer to the resolution. If you took the first two chapters and the last 2-3 chapters and just pasted them together, the story would stay the same, because even though there’s like 2-300 pages in between, nothing of substance happens.
Instead of the plot actually going anywhere, the author relied on shock factors every couple chapters that didn’t always even fit in with the story. Grisly murders and body horror, a brothel, and Molly became a sex worker for an hour??? Nothing fit cohesively. Nothing happened. And half the things that occurred barely made sense in the context of the story.
And then we get to the end. We finally find out who the serial killer is. It’s not the red herring that literally didn’t fool anyone (shocker). And I’ll be honest. The conclusion wasn’t exactly what I thought it would be. It was only like 75% what I thought it would be. But I wasn’t shocked, and even after reading the entire book, I really couldn’t have cared less. I was just happy it was over.
So, moral of the story? It isn’t worth it. Maybe you’ll like it. Everyone has different taste. But in my opinion, you’re better off just rereading Stalking Jack the Ripper.
Overall: 1.5 ish stars
Characters: 1/5
Plot: 1/5
Setting: 2.5/5
Writing: 1/5
This was a huge disappointment. Wow.
Marketed as a feminist historical thriller in the vein of Stalking Jack the Ripper, it quickly became one of my most anticipated releases. SJtR is one of my favorite series of all time! And while this book did have a similar premise (girl who does autopsies while trying to solve a crime in the 1800s), it did not live up to its comp title.
There was no character development or growth—not even with Molly Greene, the main character. No one had any personality. Molly was simply a vessel with a goal shoved into her and nothing else and the side characters were NPCs that slooooooooooooowly helped her towards (or in some cases hindered) her progress towards that goal. This book was PAINFUL to get through, and I definitely would have DNFed if not for the fact that it was an ARC and I didn’t want to lower my NetGalley percentage.
Now, I mentioned that Molly had no characterization outside of her goal—finding Kitty’s killer—so you’d think that, at least, would be something that the novel cohesively builds towards, right? Wrong. Molly gets distracted by being a doctor. Molly gets distracted by being a brat to everyone who cares. The plot points happen, but none of them move the story any closer to the resolution. If you took the first two chapters and the last 2-3 chapters and just pasted them together, the story would stay the same, because even though there’s like 2-300 pages in between, nothing of substance happens.
Instead of the plot actually going anywhere, the author relied on shock factors every couple chapters that didn’t always even fit in with the story. Grisly murders and body horror, a brothel, and Molly became a sex worker for an hour??? Nothing fit cohesively. Nothing happened. And half the things that occurred barely made sense in the context of the story.
And then we get to the end. We finally find out who the serial killer is. It’s not the red herring that literally didn’t fool anyone (shocker). And I’ll be honest. The conclusion wasn’t exactly what I thought it would be. It was only like 75% what I thought it would be. But I wasn’t shocked, and even after reading the entire book, I really couldn’t have cared less. I was just happy it was over.
So, moral of the story? It isn’t worth it. Maybe you’ll like it. Everyone has different taste. But in my opinion, you’re better off just rereading Stalking Jack the Ripper.