Lauren OwenRezensionen

From the very first pages of Small Angels by Lauren Owen I knew this would be a book for me. A gothic ghost story, set in a haunted and magical wood, full of lore and superstition. There are sisters living in the wood and set apart from the village, and keeping secret and sacred the power there… till a strange girl from the village wanders close and one of the sisters is drawn to her. Four stars, for sure, and one that will linger with me for a while.

Some of the big criticisms of this novel are that it is slow, confusing, dense… these are all big selling points for me. I loved that it was almost painfully slow. I loved the luxurious writing. It was one of the most atmospheric books I’ve picked up this year. Yes, I agree, sometimes the way the story was told made it a little {or a lot} confusing, but by the end I wasn’t confused at all. I think the storytelling, being so layered, and at times detached, was intentional, to keep a tension and confusion IN the reading experience. The pace does pick up in the last 80-ish percent, and some people might say it makes for pacing issues, but it feels to me, again, intentional. The tension is continuously cranked up for the entirety of the novel, till it POPS and a rush of terrifying action sweeps you up. It was emotional in it’s unfurling, so satisfying after being nervous and unsettled the entire time. I loved that in the wake of this climax there is a tender and cautious closing, one that brings you back down to earth.

The woods in this novel are incredible. They are their own character, with demands and history, beauty and terrors. It’s set in late Summer/early Autumn and you can feel the chill that flows across the village from the wood. The sense of place is palpable. This is only amplified by the way the whole of the small village keeps the legends and happenings so close to their chest.

This is one of those reads that reminds you about the importance of storytelling and the ways that the stories we tell, are passed down and carry with them a power. It reminded me of growing up so far from the city and with my own wood just across the field and behind the barn. There was a magic then, one that you could feel in the stillness. So I gravitate towards stories like this, to remember what it was like to hold sacred, the soul of a forest and the secrets it keeps.

I want to pick up more from Lauren Owen in the future, her writing style really works for me. The vibes, perfection — and if your go in for an experience, as opposed to concise plot, I think you’ll get a lot out of this one.

Last month, my Insta group read Small Angles by Lauren Owen for our book club. While it was a bit of a mixed bag on who did and did not enjoy the book, it was a sold 5⭐️ for me.

At its core, Small Angels is a ghost story, but it is also about the power of stories and their ability to change our lives through their telling and retelling. Told across multiple points of view and timelines, Small Angels is the story of the Gonne family, caretakers of Mockbeggar Woods and St Michael of the Angels church (known by the locals as Small Angles); the Gonne sisters themselves and the memories and ghosts of their past; and Kate, who is trying to save the present, her brother’s fiancée, and her first true love.

It is a slow burn of a story, with a sprinkling of Gothic flare to give it a little moody sparkle, and it immediately put me in mind of Diane Setterfield’s The Thirteenth Tale, another tale of sisters and the memories that haunt them. I loved everything about this book, from the description of Mockbeggar Woods (I would absolutely live there), to the underlying menace of the hauntings, to the layering of stories over stories. It really is quite a beautifully told ghost story. It is slow, but I felt it gave the story plenty of time to properly draw me in. I’ve not read Owen before, but I’ll definitely be searching out more of her books.

#laurenowen #smallangels #randomhouse #horror #gothic #haunting #ghost #ghoststory #bookreview #books #book #bookstagram #frommybookshelf #frommybookshelfblog #bookclub

Lauren Owen's "The Quick" initially comes across as a slow-burning Gothic period piece, rich in poetic and atmospheric descriptions of a decaying country house, its unkempt gardens and the family which inhabits it. It suddenly flares up to become a fast-paced supernatural thriller, crowned with a bloody action-packed climax worthy of a Tarantino movie. Some readers have spoken of a "twist" in the plot. In actual fact, the novel provides many twists and turns as it meanders through the grimy, foggy streets of Victorian London. This is an assured, genre-bending début from a novelist to look out for.

TW/CW: Death, death of a child, haunting, fantasy violence, mild sexuality, child abuse

RATING: 4/5

REVIEW: Small Angels is the story of a wedding in a small town that stirs and awakens supernatural forces that have been in play for generations. It’s a ghost story, and the story of a family, and a creepy atmospheric look at the secrets of a small town.

I enjoyed this book. At times it seemed to move a little bit slow, but the creepy atmosphere made me still want to read it, regardless. It was scary and sad both at different points. It’s told from a bunch of different viewpoints, but thankfully they’re pretty easy to tell apart and I didn’t find myself lost or confused as it flitted from one to the other.

I wouldn’t quite call this book horror, but if you’re easily frightened by creepiness, this might not be the book for you. Nonetheless, I really liked it and I would recommend it to anyone who likes atmospheric, small-town ghost stories.

It had some good moments, but really fizzled out toward the end. I did not experience a big twist...did I miss something? Will collect my thoughts for a proper review.

If Anne Rice had gone back in time to collaborate on a novel with William Thackeray, author of Vanity Fair, I think the result might have turned out something like this. The lush writing and creepy turns of the novel fascinated me from the beginning, and Owen's nuance with characterization, setting, and hints that offered just enough foreshadowing without going too far...all of it came together for me beautifully. It wasn't quite the book I expected (somehow), but it was kind of a wonderful journey. I will say that the pacing occasionally threw me off, but all told, I rather adored this strange historical horror novel, and I look forward to more of Owen's work.

So, what can I say about this book? Three things really, a) it is a debut novel for this Author b) I really didn’t see that coming and c) Noooooo!!!

I found this book by chance on a rummage through my local lending library the other day, and was intrigued both by the cover and the synopsis, so home with me it came and I’m glad I took a chance on something so unknown to me. If other readers have already heard of this novel they may think I live under some rock and rarely venture out; that is not the case, I never read reviews on books and choose them purely on their own merit when out and about and this was the case with this one.

From a character point of view they are plentiful in this novel, and they are morose, they are arrogant; you may love them or you may hate them, but each of them will bring about a reaction in the reader of some description. In my opinion it was hard to pinpoint one main character in the whole of this novel, as so many come and take centre stage in a way that will impact all those around them; and once they step away from the limelight they do not fade out of the plotline entirely as many Authors have their lesser characters doing. Despite the time period in which this novel was set, there was one particular character I really connected with and I was rooting for her every time she appeared in the story; there were also others that no matter how hard I tried I could not find anything redeeming in their character and found myself chuckling when rough things happened to them.

Because of the way in which this book is written it is hard to write an in-depth review without giving away the plot. It is written from a multi-perspective point of view , as each character comes to the front and also includes journal entries; all the good stuff that combine together to make an exceptional Victorian gothic novel. It is very apparent from the way in which the Author addresses class issues and gender expectations that they have done an extensive amount of research into this period of history; the shock one woman expresses at seeing another wearing trousers is a good example. The location descriptions are the best I have read in a long time, and in this area put me in mind of Dickens and Conan-Doyle in the way the Author uses the surroundings to propel the storyline along. The grandeur of some buildings is, in the next paragraph startling contrasted against the poorer areas of London; along with smells and attire I could almost feel I was back in this time with the characters.

This is a moody, dark and gritty novel which really doesn’t show London at its best, but this is what adds to the novel. There is no sugar coating of the privations some suffered and the excesses others enjoyed. Because of its abrupt ending however, I am hoping that this may be the start of a series, one that I will definitely be following. If not, and the Author decided to leave the reader with a cliff-hanger, I don’t really mind as I will definitely be reading this Author again.

I would highly recommend this book to lovers of historical fiction, and those who enjoy a good gothic novel. Also those who enjoy Victorian crime fiction may find this to their liking.

Originally reviewed on: http://catesbooknuthut.com/2014/07/16/review-the-quick-lauren-owen/




This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

For a moment I really thought there was an occult wikipedia.Kind of disappointed lol


http://readthequick.com/

I have literally just finished the book, so this is written in the heat of the moment. Quite frankly, I'm rather pissed about the ending. Not satisfying.

Lauren Owen's "The Quick" initially comes across as a slow-burning Gothic period piece, rich in poetic and atmospheric descriptions of a decaying country house, its unkempt gardens and the family which inhabits it. It suddenly flares up to become a fast-paced supernatural thriller, crowned with a bloody action-packed climax worthy of a Tarantino movie. Some readers have spoken of a "twist" in the plot. In actual fact, the novel provides many twists and turns as it meanders through the grimy, foggy streets of Victorian London. This is an assured, genre-bending début from a novelist to look out for.

Yet another book in which I was fooled! I LOVED the first part of the book. If I could have more of that book, please, that would be wonderful. But then part two happened, and everything I loved was gone. I knew that this was going to take a supernatural/paranormal turn, and I'm generally okay with that. But the turn it took, was, unfortunately outside of my interest area. No fault to the book. This is my own failing for not doing a little more research. I went ahead and read to the end, but it just isn't my book.

It almost hurts me to give this book just three stars. Because there are some amazing things about it. If you're someone who appreciates a "well-written" book, the language is quite beautiful all the way through evocative and rich, delicate when it needs to be, and quite terrifying in other places. The world-building is quite nice as well. The frame of the story is intriguing. It's told in a non-linear fashion from differing points of view. But even though it is quite well done, it does make the story a little confusing and hard to follow. And just look at the cover. I really need to stop judging books by their covers; this isn't the first time that's gotten me into trouble.

Overall, a great book that I just wasn't into.

Started strong, then I lost interest.

My god, does anything ever happen in this book? 70 pages in, and...

...nothing...

...has...

...happened.

There's pages of description. There's dialogue. There's even some homosexuality.

But other than that, this feels more like a big collection of words than a story. I'm out.

How does one take a potentially good story and make it deadly dull? By being an ineffectual and plodding storyteller. Sorry Lauren, in spite of my loyalty to Oxford, I am unlikely to read anything else you write.

2.75 stars

I finally finished! M'kay, so there was nothing really wrong with this book, I guess, it just didn't deliver on what I might have liked and did deliver on some things I really could have done without. So. Exhibit A for why books should have content labels. There was a smattering of mild language throughout and a couple uses of the f-bomb. A gay relationship that I just would have liked some warning or lead-up to, because even if it had been any other relationship it came out of nowhere. Some unnecessary sexual content (and some necessary content that was handled tactfully, which I appreciated; not sure why the tact level differed where it did?). Since it's a vampire novel it was necessarily violent, although there were times it kind of toed the line for me as far as what I felt was strictly necessary.

But with the content labeling out of the way. The first half of this book (sans a chapter or two) was my favorite part of the book. One thing this book does really well is vampire lore, and the first half was full of it. The worldbuilding aspect of this book was fantastic.

The prose is also a nice style. There were several places where there was nothing but straight dialogue for a few lines and I had to back up to sort out for sure who was talking, but it wasn't terribly off-putting amidst the rest of the prose.

I didn't personally connect well with any of the characters, at least not long-term. They each had their moments, but none of them really stuck with me. Except Howland. I liked Howland. Howland and Charlotte's interactions saved the last portion of the book, for me, and I likely would have DNFed the book without them.

Unfortunately... that's about all I can say for it. :P

A spooky chilling vampire tale -- no teenagers, no "magic" or relationship angst. Set in victorian England, the plot unfolds as James Norbury moves from Yorkshire to London to pursue a career as a poet. He leaves behind his older sister Charlotte, who is nursing their dying Aunt. Somewhat of a bumpkin, James gets caught up in London and class issues and begins to mingle with some above his station who are part of the exclusive Aeolius Club (vampires as it turns out) When he disappears, Charlotte heads to London to track him down -- some excellent vampire hunter action unfolds as Charlotte tries to free her brother from their clutches. Shades of Henry James' Turn of the Screw -- where is the line between sanity and insanity? And it is all entwined with repression and social mores in dreary London in the same time frame as Jack the Ripper (maybe he was a vampire?)

An entertaining read. The climax of the novel was a little lackluster.

The first 100ish pages were a be rough - the changes in style, POV, cast, and time-frame was jarring - but it picked up a bit after

An excellent genre novel, compelling and well developed. I wasn't waylaid by all the nonsense about a twist, just picked the book up in a store and started readings. I suggest you do the same. There is no twist.

So, what can I say about this book? Three things really, a) it is a debut novel for this Author b) I really didn’t see that coming and c) Noooooo!!!

I found this book by chance on a rummage through my local lending library the other day, and was intrigued both by the cover and the synopsis, so home with me it came and I’m glad I took a chance on something so unknown to me. If other readers have already heard of this novel they may think I live under some rock and rarely venture out; that is not the case, I never read reviews on books and choose them purely on their own merit when out and about and this was the case with this one.

From a character point of view they are plentiful in this novel, and they are morose, they are arrogant; you may love them or you may hate them, but each of them will bring about a reaction in the reader of some description. In my opinion it was hard to pinpoint one main character in the whole of this novel, as so many come and take centre stage in a way that will impact all those around them; and once they step away from the limelight they do not fade out of the plotline entirely as many Authors have their lesser characters doing. Despite the time period in which this novel was set, there was one particular character I really connected with and I was rooting for her every time she appeared in the story; there were also others that no matter how hard I tried I could not find anything redeeming in their character and found myself chuckling when rough things happened to them.

Because of the way in which this book is written it is hard to write an in-depth review without giving away the plot. It is written from a multi-perspective point of view , as each character comes to the front and also includes journal entries; all the good stuff that combine together to make an exceptional Victorian gothic novel. It is very apparent from the way in which the Author addresses class issues and gender expectations that they have done an extensive amount of research into this period of history; the shock one woman expresses at seeing another wearing trousers is a good example. The location descriptions are the best I have read in a long time, and in this area put me in mind of Dickens and Conan-Doyle in the way the Author uses the surroundings to propel the storyline along. The grandeur of some buildings is, in the next paragraph startling contrasted against the poorer areas of London; along with smells and attire I could almost feel I was back in this time with the characters.

This is a moody, dark and gritty novel which really doesn’t show London at its best, but this is what adds to the novel. There is no sugar coating of the privations some suffered and the excesses others enjoyed. Because of its abrupt ending however, I am hoping that this may be the start of a series, one that I will definitely be following. If not, and the Author decided to leave the reader with a cliff-hanger, I don’t really mind as I will definitely be reading this Author again.

I would highly recommend this book to lovers of historical fiction, and those who enjoy a good gothic novel. Also those who enjoy Victorian crime fiction may find this to their liking.

Originally reviewed on: http://catesbooknuthut.com/2014/07/16/review-the-quick-lauren-owen/




This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

Got an advance copy to review. Gothic and vampire-y. Blech.

étrange, assez captivant mais désagréable; donné à Luc

A gothic vampire novel with a difference. The story had a nice Victorian atmosphere and lots of vampires who passed as human in their daily lives. A lovely creepy ending.

No full plot summary in order to avoid spoilers! This is a British gothic novel that has a very promising beginning and a decent almost-ending, but the middle and the very end were overly long and frustrating. This book begins with the sweet tale of a brother and sister, Charlotte and James, growing up rather neglected at their estate in the country. They really only have each other, until James is sent to Boarding school and Charlotte is left behind with an Aunt. We soon meet up with James who has now graduated from Oxford and decided to give London a try. We are then treated to a beautifully written description of Victorian London and the lifestyles of the young, rather wealthy and aimless young men. Then there is a BIG plot twist that takes the novel in a different direction. New characters are introduced, new parts of the city explored, and yet somehow, when the action should be picking up the pace of the novel seemed to slow to a crawl. James pretty much gets pushed to the background and Charlotte to the forefront. There is so much going on and yet it seems to be take soooo long!

I loved the descriptions in the book, but the pacing was off. The way the author changed the pace of the action made no sense to me, and she often had characters make decisions that were very out of character. I did not like the ending which left much unresolved and seemed to be leaving the door open for a sequel. I think a better editing/advising relationship could have easily pushed the book from 3 to 5 stars.

Siblings, James and Charlotte Norbury, raised in a English mansion, were inseparable as children. After James finishes school as Oxford, he moves to London to establish a career as a poet and rooms with a college friend and bon viveur, Christopher Paige. Christopher introduces James to his brother, who is a member of Aegolius Club, an ancient and secretive London organization whose members comprise males from the English aristocracy. Although membership must be requested, James is involuntarily indoctrinated. When Charlotte fails to hear from his brother, he travels to London to determine his fate. What she discovers is groups of vampires, members of the club and not, which mirrors the social strata of Victorian London.

After reading the blurb on the novel's dust jacket flap and read the praises from Kate Atkinson, Hilary Mantel, and Tana French, authors I have read and enjoyed, I thought this book was worth a read. Unfortunately, I found the writing as arcane as the plot. Too many characters were introduced with little description for me to visualize and separate from the others. After awhile, I found myself turning pages with little understanding regarding what was occurring. I believe that this author's debut novel could have benefited from better editing.