Wakenhyrst by Michelle Paver
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I have a lot of good things to say about this book. It has a great atmosphere, going the full gothic feel, stifling Edwardian English culture right before WWI, and it always sticks to its course, landing the ending with a near-perfect pitch. It is written very well.

It fulfills every promise of the standard gothic mystery formula.

And I also have something bad to say about this novel: It fulfills every promise of the standard gothic mystery formula.

The big surprise is that there is no big surprise.

Don't get me wrong. It's very good for what it is, but I've been spoiled by really great surprises in mysteries throughout the years and when I don't get wowed, I get a little curmudgeonly. While I have nothing bad to say about this, I also have nothing extremely awesome, either.

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