Interesting premise not well written

I wanted to like this book - the premise of Christian missionaries to a faerie world is a really interesting one, and the world-building around this is well done. But it is overshadowed by the very boring - and morally yuck - story that involves characters that are not particularly interesting. Ng’s writing is particularly overwrought in places that makes the book feel more like a Mills and Boon than an interesting fantasy.
The narrator does mispronounce words in places that is odd, but I didn’t find it as annoying as some other reviewers.

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A Sumptuous Gothic Masterpiece

I had heard decent things beforehand and the premise was admittedly rather interesting, but I was absolutely gripped by this throughout. Very much my cup of tea.
Ng weaves together the gothic horror, romance, taboo, critiques of religion and colonialism all so incredibly well. The entire book oozes atmosphere, and the themes of sin, temptation, redemption et al are all implemented well. The pacing is intentionally slow and moody, which adds to the unfolding tension, and the imagery is delightfully macabre.
It has big Jane Eyre and Crimson Peak energy, with a dash of Wonderland.

Highly recommend.

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good story ruined by awful narrator

A really good story ruined by poor narration. really bizarre and odd pronunciations meant this took me far longer than normal to finish as it kept pulling out of the story. If they wanted an English narrator they should have got one rather than an American doing what they thought was a good 'English' accent.

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8 people found this helpful

Nice voice and narration but the story is seriously lacking

The reasons I give this book two stars and not one are the great world building and descriptions. They have a gothic tone to it and it’s enchanting. The story though… fae, humans trying to convert fae to Christianity and incest. Nothing major happens through the whole book, and I simply couldn’t feel anything for the characters.

Definitely not my cup of tea.

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Haunting

I enjoyed this book and the research, intelligence and craft of the author shines through. The story itself starts slow and the mysteries layer on top of the other.

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Not bad, just not for me.

Set in a Victorian England world which is very similar to our own historical Victorian England, the main difference is that, in this world, fae exist in a land called Arcadia. Catherine Helstone's brother, Laon, is a missionary in Arcadia, but he has gone missing. As such, Catherine makes the journey to Arcadia in search of news about him. Greeted by April Davenport, a changeling who is also the host of Laon, Catherine is taken to the castle Gethsemane, where her brother was supposedly staying. Not allowed to leave - purportedly for her own safety - Catherine is left to wander the castle and try to work out the secrets.

To say that there are secrets in this book is a bit of an understatement, and Catherine certainly begins discovering quite a few, the biggest of which is a bit of a mindf--k. The writing of the story is very beautiful - almost poetic - but it never quite grabbed me. It was very slow to start, and I felt like it didn't really pick up until we got to the major reveal after the ball. That slowness and the extremely flowery, poetic writing had me frequently putting the book down to go read or listen to something else for a bit. As much as I felt like I wanted to continue the story, the writing made that difficult. Not because it was bad; it wasn't. The writing was appropriate for the time period, too. But where other historical fantasies have pulled me fully into their world, this one seemed to keep me at arms' length.

Oddly, I think what I liked most in this story were the discussions regarding Christianity and whether or not the fae could even be saved. Was it even worth trying to convert them if they didn't have a soul? And what is a soul, really? Those discussions, while not the biggest parts of the book, were quite interesting. Along with that, I found Benjamin's intense fervor and belief, along with Catherine's shifting viewpoint, fascinating - and especially so when they interacted with each other. Indeed, it was largely those conversations that had me coming back to the book to finish it.

I had begun reading the book and went back and forth between reading and listening to the audiobook, which was narrated by Emma Lysy. Her narration style suited the novel very much, and her voice did a wonderful job of keeping me listening when I would have otherwise put the book down as a DNF. Though I don't know that I would read another novel by Ng, I would listen to Lysy narrate again.

Despite this somewhat negative review, I do want to stress that I do not read much historical fantasy, and when I do, it usually has more action than this. I also don't read many novels featuring the fae. As such, I think this book, which I chose because it fit a bingo square for me, just wasn't right for me. If you like gothic, flowery prose and stories about the fae, especially involving their political machinations, you might enjoy this book much more than I did.

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Beautiful writing, terrible narration

The writing and world building is dark and beautiful and I think there would be more to find with multiple reads. However I found the mystery and the end twist predictable from pretty early on which made a lot of the later story drag. Also found some of the subject matter a bit ick all the way through, though I think that might be part of the point.

The biggest let down is the terrible narration, with random simple words completely mispronounced which is very distracting and a lethargy which I think was meant to add to the dream like quality of the story but instead meant my attention wandered quite often. Better to read it if that's an option for you.

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1 person found this helpful

Get the kindle version.

Decent story torpedoed by horrendous narration. Not sure why they didn't get a British narrator if they wanted a British accent. Listening at 125% speed helps a little.

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hated it

it's one of the only few books that I've stopped listening. hated everything about it

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