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ClareR (6225 KP) rated The Silence Factory in Books

Jul 16, 2024  
The Silence Factory
The Silence Factory
Bridget Collins | 2024 | Fiction & Poetry, Mystery, Science Fiction/Fantasy
9
9.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
I’m an arachnophobe. I run from rooms when there’s a particularly large spider around - and I still loved this book. I have to admit, I did have to visualise them as chunkier and furrier with fewer legs. Web-weaving Jack Russells, if you will 🤦🏼‍♀️ But that’s the joy of reading!

A factory in Telverton seems to have acquired a particular breed of spider whose web, when spun into a silken fabric, can bring silence to the person/ people sitting inside. However, if the fabric is the other way round, it produces sounds that can make people go mad (they don’t make too much of that fact). So, no the best factory to work in, then!

I enjoyed the two timelines: the discovery of the spiders in 1820, told through the journals of Sophia Ashmore-Percy; and the manufacture of the silk in a factory town decades later along with an audiologist who goes to work for Sir Edward Ashmore-Percy. He has the task of helping Sir Ashmore-Percy’s deaf daughter to hear.

I love how Bridget Collins mixes historical fiction and fantasy, and makes it all seem perfectly reasonable. There’s a lot to be said in this story about taking advantage of people for profit (in the factory in particular) and how nature can be used for man’s own ends, regardless of the consequences. Humans aren’t painted in the best of light, and I actually felt sorry for the spiders 🕷️🕷️🕷️

Still don’t like spiders though.
  
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ClareR (6225 KP) rated The Shadow of Perseus in Books

Mar 10, 2023  
The Shadow of Perseus
The Shadow of Perseus
Claire Heywood | 2023 | Fiction & Poetry
9
9.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Have I said lately how much I’m enjoying these retellings of Greek myths? Keep ‘em coming, I say!

And here’s another take on the story of Perseus, except this has more of a historical fiction slant to it. There’s no magic, no snakey hair, no sea monster come to take it’s sacrifice. Instead there is a story packed full of adventure with women who try to make the best of their lives in a world where the patriarchy always comes out on top.

Much like the Perseus in Natalie Haynes’ Stone Blind, Perseus in The Shadow is very unlikeable. He’s immature, sulky, and believes the world - and his grandfather - owes him something. His ability to spin his own heroic deeds (are they heroic?!)makes fools of all the men, I felt. The women aren’t fooled though, and as in the original, Medusa pays the ultimate price.

The Narrator on the audiobook, Olivia Darnley, does a really good job of bringing the characters to life. She evokes the bravery and determination of all three of the female characters: Danae, Medusa and Andromeda. They all for a time become mistresses of their own fate, and I loved them for that. But of course, Perseus puts an end to all of that for all three of them. All through his own selfishness.

I’m going to have to go and read Daughters of Sparta, aren’t I? Oh yes I am! If it’s as good as The Shadow of Perseus, it’ll be time well spent!
  
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Acanthea Grimscythe (300 KP) rated Green Darkness in Books

May 16, 2018  
Green Darkness
Green Darkness
Anya Seton | 2013 | History & Politics, Romance
8
8.0 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
Having picked <i>Green Darkness</i> up from the local library bookstore sale for only a quarter, I truly had no idea what I was getting myself into. Historical fiction, in any form, is not a genre that I've spent much time with, and coupling that with paranormal romance? Well, we can safely say that I was in for a ride.

<i>Green Darkness</i> shares the harrowing tale of forbidden love in mid-1500s England between an unfortunate peasant girl and a Benedictine monk, betwixt the reigns of King Edward VI, Queen Mary I, and Queen Elizabeth - a time when Catholicism and Protestantism (depending on the ruler) were met with persecution. It doesn't begin in that era, however; rather, the story starts in the 1960s, when Celia and her newly wedded husband, Richard Marsdon, arrive at his family's ancestral estate in Sussex. A baffling illness befalls the Marsdons, leaving the unorthodox physician, Doctor Akananda, to unravel the mysterious past that haunts the pair from hundreds of years before.

The twisting tale that unravels of that love affair is only a small part of what I enjoyed about this book, as romance is not typically my cup of tea. What truly enticed me was [a:Anya Seton|18930|Anya Seton|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1224813438p2/18930.jpg]'s faithfulness not only to history, but to location, legend, and use of historical figures. Cowdray House and Ightham Mote are real places, and an unfounded rumor regarding the Mote suggests that a female skeleton was found within its walls - which Seton used as a basis for her story. Through Seton, I discovered an unknown love for Tudor England, and undoubtedly I will read more books set in that time period.

Despite my praise for the book, I was unable to give it a five star rating because of its conclusion: it was as if Seton ran out of fuel. The idea of reincarnation takes a more ridiculous turn when Doctor Akananda hints at more pasts that conveniently interlock the same people. As if that were not enough of an affront, the resolution itself fell flat. With the Marsdon family tragedy conveniently wrapped up, Celia and Stephen seem aloof and their interaction felt a bit too forced. It is for this reason that I gave the book four stars.