House of Salt and Sorrows

[7.5/10 Rating] [2nd paragraph is NOT spoiler-free!]

This book was a delight to read, mainly because of the eerie atmosphere. I loved the way the author set the tone of the book– I believe that this book would be best suited to read on a dark and stormy day whilst curled up in a quilt. I enjoyed the writing and each of the characters, and especially loved the gruesome images the author painted of the things that were happening. I loved the whole horror aspect of Verity being able to see things (I loved how vivid the descriptions were for all the horror scenes). The book hooked me in quickly and overall I really liked it. So why did it get only a 7.5/10 from me?

[MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD]
I was quite disappointed to find out that the whole mystery about the deaths of the sisters was resolved the way it was resolved. The way it was built up made me expect some really mind-blowing
dark and emotional plot twists, so it was really disappointing to discover at the end that everything was due to some supernatural being. I understand that this is supposed to be fantasy and fiction but I felt that it would be way more impactful if the mystery did not delve into supernatural explanations for the things that were happening. It got extremely unrealistic (I know it's fiction but it just seemed really weird that suddenly OOh Cassius is some child of a deity and that all these killings were a result of the sisters' stepmother's bargain with yet another supernatural being). To me, it felt quite funny to read that as the book went from “oh man this is gon be creepy” to “its original eerie atmosphere is completely gone now.. what even is this development..?”

I also felt that the author's pace went from really good to kinda rushed. Suddenly everything was happening at once (the whole twins birth thing and suddenly the place is on fire and burning down at the same time?), and it was a bit difficult to understand what was going on in some parts (The line between reality and ‘dreams' was hard to distinguish (which can be a good thing but I felt the author could have elaborated and explained more about the whole dancing thing in a better way.) Also since we are on this topic, the ‘magic' gateway to the balls was kinda underwhelming to me. The whole book was slowly building up its eerie atmosphere and suddenly it kinda went poof when they found the magic gateway thing :/ Was really disappointed about it). I also disliked the fact that supernatural beings were so easily accessible? It's cool and all but it made the story feel extremely unrealistic (Random mortals are able to strike deals and bargains with supernatural beings so easily??).

Another complaint I have is the romance in the story. I like Cassius a lot but the romance was too predictable (saw it coming from miles away..) and also quite unnecessary. It didn't add a lot to the story, and it was a bit underdeveloped. It could've been written and developed in a much better way so it's quite disappointing. More things could've been done with Fisher as well– the relationship could've been developed more + his death, tho gruesome and painful, seemed underwhelming due to how it was set up. Right away when they wanted to find Fisher I knew he probably died. There could've been more development to the lore and plot surrounding Fisher's character and the balls.

OVERALL: I think anyone who likes eerie atmospheric novels with good descriptions should give this one a go! It was a great read overall and I enjoyed it a lot despite my complaints.