So I fell in love with the cover as I’m sure most have you are also just as mesmerised by. However I had flashbacks to Jesse Burton’s The Miniaturist … another book with a fancy cover and flashy marketing. I was worried that like The Miniaturist – The Essex Serpent would be completely over-hyped and would be impossible to fill any readers expectations.
I don’t blame the authors… I blame the publishers for tricking readers into buying books by putting some releases on such high pedestals that people can’t help but be a little disappointed.
To manage my expectations I went into the book expecting nothing at all. And YAY it done the trick…
At first I was quite irritated with the writing style. Although textbook “beautiful”, I felt the choice of words and imagery was a little forced and didn’t flow. Words such as ‘implacable and ceded’ were thrown around a little too often. But I won’t criticise the book on its word choice because of my ‘limited’ vocabulary :D. As the story progressed (with my Thesaurus beside me) I got in the rhythm of things.
I felt Sarah’s characters were very balanced, loveable and charismatic. Sarah Perry was able portray most of the main characters quirks and emotions so the audience was able to relate to them. From their feelings of jealousy and temptation to embarrassment and guilt, the complex group dynamics was comical and full of emotion.
As a reader who really doesn’t enjoy Fantasy, Science Fiction or even the slight Magical Realism; I wasn’t sold on the whole serpent tale. It didn’t keep me gripped or in suspense. But I loved how it was used draw the characters together. Cora Seaborne is definitely my favourite, she’s the star of the show. Without her there would be no show. We didn’t get to know Cora on a very personal level as the narrative was a little distant. But like the Serpent Cora was used to hold the story together.
The Essex Serpent has put me in the mood for Historical Fiction 😀 and I’m sure I’ll find plenty of those to keep me warm through the upcoming Autumn/ Winter. It’s a shame the book wasn’t released in Autumn because it would’ve been a perfect Winter Read.
My Rating: 4.5 stars
Have you read this? What did you think of the book? Impressed / not?
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