It started so fantastic, but the ending was a complete let-down...seriously?! I decided to wait a few days before writing this review to calm down a bit from my disappointment and not risk writing something offensive in the heat of the moment...

The book was a weird mixture of utter beauty and shocking horror. A man who calls himself the Gardener holds over twenty girls captive, marking each with a butterfly tattoo on their backs and 'collecting' them in a huge conservatory. Here he visits them to satisfy his desires, even considering himself in a very twisted way as their benefactor. But whenever a girl reaches her 21st birthday he kills and preserves her in a glass cabinet like in a real butterfly collection. Most of the girls learn to arrange themselves with their situation, and others don't stay for long...

The story is told from the POV of Maya, as the Gardener named her, after most of the girls are finally rescued. Some passages read like the girls live in a secluded artificial kind of paradise, especially within the beautiful setting of the glass conservatory, complete with a small waterfall and stream. But the next moment, the reader is taken back into reality - the girls are held captive, repeatedly raped and eventually killed. It was fascinating how within such an unbelievable and cruel situation there where still glimpses of hope and spontaneous happiness to be found. However, each such moment was easily revealed as illusion by the next horrific and inhuman treatment.

I was glad that Maya did not completely fall for the Gardener's younger son, but efficiently manipulated him into helping the girls escape. However, once the release was set into motion, the story was getting more and more unbelievable. At the end the reader learns that a former roommate of Maya was the only 'Butterfly' who ever managed to escape, and that Maya may even have provoked her capture on purpose. For me, that was the turning point where everything went downhill, and fast. The whole story ended with such a ridiculous and constructed solution, I was wondering if I was still reading the same book. How could such a fantastic story end in such a way? I guess a lot of readers may disagree, but the book left me completely disappointed.

As the main part was a real pageturner easily worth five stars, but the short ending passage was barely worth anything imho, I decided to diplomatically rate the book three stars. However, if the description of the book catches your eye, I strongly recommend to nevertheless give it a try, as I did enjoy reading most of it.

(I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review) ( )