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wordsofclover 's review for:
The Way of All Flesh
by Ambrose Parry
I received a free digital copy of this book from the publishers/author via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
At the start of a new apprenticeship in Edinburgh in the 1847, William Raven is distracted from his studies into midwifery by a money lender on his tail for a repayment he can’t cough up, as well as the mystery of women who keep showing up dead - seemingly murdered in a painful, gruesome way. Raven, with the help of clever housemaid Sarah, start to investigate the murders and their discovery leads them closer to home than they thought.
The writing in this book suits what I believe the atmosphere of the story is - it’s a bit dark and moody but also holds a lot of intelligence and elegance behind this. The medicine in this book is written very well and the authors definitely knew what they were talking about when they were writing the methods used by the doctors - and the medicine was explained in ways that made it easy enough to understand as well.
I did like the characters of Raven and Sarah though I do think they were both cliche in their own ways - Raven being humble, and striving to rise up from his modest beginnings and Sarah being smart and plucky, and desperately frustrated by her lack of opportunity because of her gender. The things Sarah faced as a woman desperate to learn but not given the opportunity was done well at first but sometimes felt a bit forced down the reader’s throat and became a bit repetitive.
The book was just a tad boring for me at parts. There was nothing in it that really thrilled me and made me want to pick it up to finish. I didn’t have that urge to dive back into the story at any point so it took me longer to finish than I would have liked.
I also WOULD NOT recommend this to readers who are pregnant or may have recently given birth as obviously the main medicine applied in this book is midwifery and some of the methods used are utterly appalling because of well, the lack of knowledge at the time. Some stuff is very upsetting and gruesome and is explained in a little bit of detail and could upset someone currently carrying!
At the start of a new apprenticeship in Edinburgh in the 1847, William Raven is distracted from his studies into midwifery by a money lender on his tail for a repayment he can’t cough up, as well as the mystery of women who keep showing up dead - seemingly murdered in a painful, gruesome way. Raven, with the help of clever housemaid Sarah, start to investigate the murders and their discovery leads them closer to home than they thought.
The writing in this book suits what I believe the atmosphere of the story is - it’s a bit dark and moody but also holds a lot of intelligence and elegance behind this. The medicine in this book is written very well and the authors definitely knew what they were talking about when they were writing the methods used by the doctors - and the medicine was explained in ways that made it easy enough to understand as well.
I did like the characters of Raven and Sarah though I do think they were both cliche in their own ways - Raven being humble, and striving to rise up from his modest beginnings and Sarah being smart and plucky, and desperately frustrated by her lack of opportunity because of her gender. The things Sarah faced as a woman desperate to learn but not given the opportunity was done well at first but sometimes felt a bit forced down the reader’s throat and became a bit repetitive.
The book was just a tad boring for me at parts. There was nothing in it that really thrilled me and made me want to pick it up to finish. I didn’t have that urge to dive back into the story at any point so it took me longer to finish than I would have liked.
I also WOULD NOT recommend this to readers who are pregnant or may have recently given birth as obviously the main medicine applied in this book is midwifery and some of the methods used are utterly appalling because of well, the lack of knowledge at the time. Some stuff is very upsetting and gruesome and is explained in a little bit of detail and could upset someone currently carrying!