Maplecroft
Ratings12
Average rating3.7
15
Ratings12
Average rating3.7
Lizzie Borden took an axe and gave her mother forty whacks; and when she saw what she had done, she gave her father forty-one.... The people of Fall River, Massachusetts, fear me. Perhaps rightfully so. I remain a suspect in the brutal deaths of my father and his second wife despite the verdict of innocence at my trial. With our inheritance, my sister, Emma, and I have taken up residence in Maplecroft, a mansion near the sea and far from gossip and scrutiny. But it is not far enough from the affliction that possessed my parents. Their characters, their very souls, were consumed from within by something that left malevolent entities in their place. It originates from the ocean’s depths, plaguing the populace with tides of nightmares and madness. This evil cannot hide from me. No matter what guise it assumes, I will be waiting for it. With an axe.
Series
2 primary booksThe Borden Dispatches is a 2-book series with 2 primary works first released in 2014 with contributions by Cherie Priest.
Reviews with the most likes.
This one is really hard to rate. I guess overall it gets a 3.5 from me - it starts out so strong, but suffers from inconsistencies and dumb science toward the end. Still, I loved the idea and the atmosphere so much, I'm rounding up my 3.5.
The key, enchanting question is, “What if Lizzie Borden did kill her parents, but she had a very good reason to do so, that must be kept secret?” It has to be a secret because no one would believe it, and she needs to stay free and prevent interference as she tries to defend her sister, her town, and perhaps the entire world from a force only her family has confronted . . . so far.
This was at its best when it was setting up the situation, establishing characters' relationships (the sisters' conflicted feelings toward each other, and the bond between Nance and Lizzie were key drivers of the story, and felt very genuine - also nice to see LGBTQ+ representation!). During the first half, the novel creates a sense of mystery and dread, and gets the reader invested in the players. The sense of desperation and isolation is palpable and touching.
As the story develops, Priest tries to create scientific insight and rules, a la your average zombie or vampire plot. This not only feels hamfisted, it also introduces a turn in the story where I feel like Priest or her editor lost their organizational and logical skills.
First, the wafer-thin scientific justification for a potential cure (becoming a monster involves symptoms x, y, and z, and this known infection creates symptoms y, z, and q, so . . . immunizing . . . er, no, infecting . . . ummm, both? will fight the monsters? Somehow?) is so silly as to be insulting.
Second, continuity errors suddenly abound. How many guns are in the house? (Early chapters two, later chapters, one) All the tables in the basement get overturned, but are magically back in order two scenes later. Lightning follows thunder. Tetanus comes from a well-understood pathogen, but also somehow comes from rusty iron. Lizzie hits a monster in the neck, explicitly missing its head, but two paragraphs later it has a head wound. It just becomes too much of a mess for suspension of disbelief, which is a shame because I was still very invested in the characters and I thought the evil (when not stupidly reduced to a scientific puzzle) was very compelling.
So, read this if you love eldritch monsters from the deep and Lizzie Borden, but go in knowing that it goes off the rails a bit at the end.
A quick, fun read – and a nice hook with the fantasy-historical-fiction twist on Lizzie Borden.
