Adeline
3.25 stars
Historical horror following Rafaela, a young nun who is newly committed into another convent after escaping a horrifying experience. At this convent of the Sisters of Divine Innocence however she soon experiences another terrible event, hoping that the priest in the nearby village would help her discover if her fellow nuns are graced by a divine miracle or by the devil.
So this book didn’t truly work for me.
There was some truly gruesome and gory images throughout the novel that I liked, and the oppressive atmosphere was well present.
However, pacing wise it felt too repetitive, with the characters rehashing thoughts and questions too often so it felt cumbersome to read at one point. Because of that, the slow burn pace felt more like dragging rather than advancing the plot.
Rafaela was a rather meek, unreliable and unsure character. Now normally I don’t mind this and while it felt understandable because of her past, those repetitive passages felt tiresome and less compelling to read as the story went on.
I personally didn’t really care for the other point of view nor for the character of Father Bruno, I felt he didn’t really add anything interesting and also I kind of cheered at his end lol.
The writing was good especially the gory stuff, though my eyes glazed over the whole prayer parts (understandable given the setting but it added to my frustration with the repetitiveness).
In essence the plot felt lacking and some elements were thrown into it with no apparent reason or aftermath.
I really liked the ending though, how tragic and bleak it felt. It really added a more horrific and helpless atmosphere of the novel.
Unfortunately while I did like some elements, the overall reading experience of this novel left me more unsatisfied than pleased.
3.25 stars
Historical horror following Rafaela, a young nun who is newly committed into another convent after escaping a horrifying experience. At this convent of the Sisters of Divine Innocence however she soon experiences another terrible event, hoping that the priest in the nearby village would help her discover if her fellow nuns are graced by a divine miracle or by the devil.
So this book didn’t truly work for me.
There was some truly gruesome and gory images throughout the novel that I liked, and the oppressive atmosphere was well present.
However, pacing wise it felt too repetitive, with the characters rehashing thoughts and questions too often so it felt cumbersome to read at one point. Because of that, the slow burn pace felt more like dragging rather than advancing the plot.
Rafaela was a rather meek, unreliable and unsure character. Now normally I don’t mind this and while it felt understandable because of her past, those repetitive passages felt tiresome and less compelling to read as the story went on.
I personally didn’t really care for the other point of view nor for the character of Father Bruno, I felt he didn’t really add anything interesting and also I kind of cheered at his end lol.
The writing was good especially the gory stuff, though my eyes glazed over the whole prayer parts (understandable given the setting but it added to my frustration with the repetitiveness).
In essence the plot felt lacking and some elements were thrown into it with no apparent reason or aftermath.
I really liked the ending though, how tragic and bleak it felt. It really added a more horrific and helpless atmosphere of the novel.
Unfortunately while I did like some elements, the overall reading experience of this novel left me more unsatisfied than pleased.