Name: Things in Jars
ISBN: 9781528878982

Jess Kidd

London, 1863. Bridie Devine, the finest female detective of her age, is taking on her toughest case yet. Reeling from her last job and with her reputation in tatters, a remarkable puzzle has come her way. Christabel Berwick has been kidnapped. But Christabel is no ordinary child. She is not supposed to exist. As Bridie fights to recover the stolen child she enters a world of fanatical anatomists, crooked surgeons and mercenary showmen. Anomalies are in fashion, curiosities are the thing, and fortunes are won and lost in the name of entertainment. The public love a spectacle and Christabel may well prove the most remarkable spectacle London has ever seen.

Things in Jars

A January Book of the Month Pick “Miraculous and thrilling…A few pages in and I was determined to read every word Jess Kidd has ever written.” —Diane Setterfield, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Once Upon a River “An impossible wonder: a book for everyone, and yet somehow a book just for you...A sumptuous tour of Victorian London, resurrected here with a vigor and vibrancy to rival The Crimson Petal and the White...Utterly magical.”—A.J. Finn, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Woman in the Window “A perfect mix of hilarity, the macabre, and a touch of romance, Things in Jars is ridiculously entertaining, all as it sneaks up and makes you feel things…Simply: Jess Kidd is so good it isn’t fair.” —Erika Swyler, bestselling author of The Book of Speculation and Light from Other Stars In the dark underbelly of Victorian London, a formidable female sleuth is pulled into the macabre world of fanatical anatomists and crooked surgeons while investigating the kidnapping of an extraordinary child in this gothic mystery—perfect for fans of The Essex Serpent and The Book of Speculation. Bridie Devine—female detective extraordinaire—is confronted with the most baffling puzzle yet: the kidnapping of Christabel Berwick, secret daughter of Sir Edmund Athelstan Berwick, and a peculiar child whose reputed supernatural powers have captured the unwanted attention of collectors trading curiosities in this age of discovery. Winding her way through the labyrinthine, sooty streets of Victorian London, Bridie won’t rest until she finds the young girl, even if it means unearthing a past that she’d rather keep buried. Luckily, her search is aided by an enchanting cast of characters, including a seven-foot tall housemaid; a melancholic, tattoo-covered ghost; and an avuncular apothecary. But secrets abound in this foggy underworld where spectacle is king and nothing is quite what it seems. Blending darkness and light, history and folklore, Things in Jars is a spellbinding Gothic mystery that collapses the boundary between fact and fairy tale to stunning effect and explores what it means to be human in inhumane times.

A Novel

Colleen

1 Star
 
*An overly-stylized story that gets lost in its own maze of bombastic meanderings*

ARC provided by Atria Books via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.


There was a ton of hype around Things in Jars. I had never read anything by this author, but everyone was raving about it, and I was intrigued. I was honestly excited to read this and was thrilled when I got an ARC.

Ultimately, I'm going to put this in the "It's not you; it's me," category. I can't say this is a terrible book. But I can unequivocally say that I had a horrible time reading it! In fact, if this hadn’t been an ARC, I absolutely would have abandoned it.

In some ways, this book reminded me a lot of Once Upon a River. They have a similar setting, meandering stories told from multiple views, and never seem to focus in on what genre they wanted to be. But while I like Once Upon a River, Things in Jars was utterly frustrating to read.

What drove me completely up the walls was Kidd's extremely stylized writing. This is where the love it or hate it, it's not you; it's me aspect comes in. The people that enjoyed this book seemed to really love it. And then there's me... 

I’ll skip my usual complaints about novels in present tense. It’s there; I don’t like it. But Kidd couldn’t even stick to one format. The bulk of the story is in third person, present tense. It is mostly told by an omnipresent narrator. Sometimes this narration zooms in to focus on scenes from the view of random animals that happen to be in the vicinity. As if that random bird sitting on that building gives a damn about what the humans below are up to. Maybe the unnamed, incorporeal narrator sees through the animal’s eyes like some Three-Eyed-Raven who has nothing better to do than spy on boring people. Anyway, the spastically inconsistent narration puts monumental effort into making the reader feel immersed in the world. It often goes into verbose descriptions of random tidbits of the world. These dissertations often went on for several pages, had little-to-nothing to do with the core story, and were more distracting than immersive. It was a “can't see the forest through the trees” situation. Relevant details were often glossed over in order to disproportionately delve into random, irrelevant things. 

One of the most oft described things was the smell. Victorian London was certainly a smelly place, but I did not need (or want) page after page after page of inundating detail about the pervasion stench of disease and (literal) shit of London. It made me repeatedly thankful that I was not immersed in the story. I am not a squeamish person, but I was so tired of all those descriptions of shit (in both the literal and figurative use of the word). 

But on top of that, there were flashback scenes that were told in past tense. I did find the plot of the flashbacks to be more interesting that the main storyline, but that just made it all the more annoying to return to the present timeline. 

Worse than all of that though, were the random times that the narrative switched to second person, present tense! If third person, present tense is nails-on-a-chalkboard, then second person, present tense is the written equivalent of cats-in-a-blender – a murderous cacophony so discordant that I longed to through either myself or this book in that blender too just to end the misery.

There were other aspects to the hyper-stylized writing: overly used italics, stories within stories, the excessively circuitous story… But I think I’ve covered enough about the style of this book. I will mention though that I every time I saw the name “Bridie” my brain read it as “Birdie.” And that is how it remains in my mind. 

Also adding to the disappointment of this book was that it really is not a Mystery. The prologue literally gives the entire thing away. That is the reason the present timeline was so boring. The who and why and how are known literally from page one. And since I felt an utter lack of attachment to any of the characters, I simply could not find it in me to care about what was going on. 

The only other thing I will mention is that I was expecting this story to be Magical Realism. But considering everything in the book, it’s more of an outright Fantasy story. All in all, Things in Jars did not live up to any of my expectations. I wish I could have liked it, but it was extremely frustrating and disappointing all the way through.

Clearly, many other people love this book; so don’t let my review stop you from reading it. All I can say is, “Better you than me!”


RATING FACTORS:
Ease of Reading: 1 Star
Writing Style: 1 Star
Characters and Character Development: 1 Star
Plot Structure and Development: 1 Star
Level of Captivation: 1 Star
Originality: 1 Star

Rachel Kanyid

I feel like this started off really strong and then got harder and harder to follow. Overall a good story but a bit messy.

After a brief break from this book I finished it! As compelling and well crafted as all of Jess Kidd’s work! A bit dark for me personally which is in part why I needed to take a break but really well done on the whole! She is really good at creating a sick to your stomach vibe but not in a bad way at all, just in an suspenseful, twisted, and dark way. This is not typically what I go for but she does it so well, and combined with her well crafted stories and characters I can appreciate it!  And as always with Jess Kidd books for me it pulled my heartstrings a good deal by the end. 

Kerry McHugh West

McKayla Bohnsack

I was really excited for a mermaid story, but I literally had no idea what was going on most of the time. 

I liked Bridie's character and her connection to Ruby as well as the mermaid myths, but I could not follow what was going on in the plot for the life of me. Maybe my reading comprehension is sub par or maybe this just wasn't for me.

Emily Doucwt

This is an incredible book. The gothic feel to the horror, the vibrant characters and the dark atmosphere of the entire novel balances the reader on the knife’s edge between sick-fascination and genuine disgust. An amazing read for anyone who likes dark academia, creature reads, thriller and mythology. Wish I could read it again for the first time!

Sydney Tipton

** spoiler alert **
           Screamed at the end. Justice for Ruby, I NEEDED that to happen.

Barbara Williford

This book was chosen by my book club so it wasn’t one I would have typically have chosen. I guess it would be classified in the gothic genre.

The first couple of pages into the book I was thinking “what in the world is this?” I was a little thrown off and had to go read some reviews before I continued.

Yes, there are some colorful characters including a 7 ft tall woman, a ghost and mermaids but it turn out to be an enjoyable book.

Bridie is a woman detective during Victorian England and has been commissioned to find a missing child. As the mystery unfolds, more colorful characters come into the storyline. A bit of mystery and a bit of humor. I ended up enjoying this book.

Trigger warnings: violence, language, child neglect and harm.

'Thrilling, mysterious, twisted' Graham Norton'Delivers chills galore' GuardianThe case of the extraordinary child . . .London, 1863. A strange puzzle has reached Bridie Devine, the finest female detective of her age. To recover a stolen child, Bridie must enter the dark world of medical curiosities. The public love a spectacle and this child may well prove the most remarkable spectacle London has ever seen.Things in Jars is a Victorian novel unlike any other, one that explores what it is to be human in inhumane times.

Salwa Mohamed

4.8/5 but rounded up to 5 start on good reads. I enjoyed every page of this book, but hoped for a more tight ending. Unless Jess Kidd is planning a sequel, then I will forgive the loose strings at the ending.

Lauren Attaway

Every now and then I read a book that is completely outside of my usual romance-horror-thriller fare, and I am left wondering, why don't I read more historical fiction? Or in this case, historical fiction crossed with the right amount of fantasy and mystery to keep me constantly turning page after page until I force myself to stop and immediately fall asleep?

I could not have enjoyed the story of Bridie Devine, on the case to find a missing child, aided by her giantess housekeeper Cora, and Ruby, the ghost with the alleged ties to Bridie. This book reminded me of another popular whimsical fantasy novel I read recently that I will not name as I did not enjoy it like this one. The descriptions and insights to even the villains of this story kept me reading page after page. The mystery was never boring or too easily spelled out. I loved the fantasy elements because they were viewed with well-written skepticism by the characters. I would love to watch this television series or read a sequel, mainly because I do not want to let these characters go. This is what I would call a slow burn, but once the pace picked up for me it did not stop. Definitely would recommend this one.

Annalee Harris

DNF @ 41%

I tried to finish this novel, but it proved itself to be impossible. The long, flowery paragraphs are nonsensical (take the first line: "As pale as a grave grub she's an eyeful". What? The author has a PhD in writing!!), the characters are utterly unlikable and indistinguishable from each other, and the plot progression is hardly existent. It feels like Jess Kidd watched Sweeney Todd and Guy Ritchie's Sherlock Holmes series and decided she wanted to write a novel based on those. Only, Things in Jars lacks the humor, intrigue, or art that those films do.

Bridie, the main character, touts herself as a fierce investigator who only believes in science, but she not only ignores the fact that a ghost is following her, she falls in love with him. She is disrespectful to everyone she meets. The whole "I'm not like other girls!! I'm quirky and smart and sexy to boot" is tried, boring, and lazy writing. If that wasn't bad enough, animal deaths and tortures are described in detail with nonchalance. That was the final straw for me.

Things in Jars in an insufferable novel and I expected more out of Book of the Month. The book is 369 pages of torment, which is about 400 pages too long.

Kirsty

I ADORED this book so much! It was so creepy and interesting. All of the characters were so thoroughly fleshed out and the mystery aspect shocked me so much. I was just so wrapped up in the beauty of the story that when all of these twists and turns happened I didn’t see them coming at all. It’s so incredible and definitely one of my favourite books now.

Emily S

Review of Things in Jars by Jess Kid.

One sentence description 📖: A macabre exploration of 1800s London with some strange creatures and lots of characters out for exploitative gain. 

Things I liked 👍🏻: The atmosphere was very well crafted, and the writing style was beautiful. (And that cover 🤩)

Things that were ehh 🤷🏻‍♀️: While I loved the audiobook narrator (including accents!), I think I would have gotten more out of this in print. Pretty sure I missed a good amount...

Things I didn’t like 👎🏻: The time spent on the atmosphere came at the cost of character development. Literally until the last few pages I didn’t really care about the characters or the ending. I could have walked away from this book at any time and not cared, though the writing style kept me going. 

Would I recommend: If you want to feel like you’re in 1800s London and it’s raining all the time ☔️ , go for it. If not, maybe hold off.

Ruby Huber

Witty and whimsical detective story, I loved this thing. Takes place during that time where anatomy was IN and so were anatomical mutations but I feel that the story handled those elements with the right attitude of let’s not.

Heather Harrington

Bridie Devine is a formidable woman who never shies away from a challenge. A woman making her own way in Victorian England is usually frowned upon, but that doesn't stop Bridie from pursuing her career as a detective. Her latest case is certainly an interesting one: a young child, Christabel Berwick, the secret child of a baronet, has been kidnapped. The strange thing is that this child has been rumored to have a particular set of powers--she can read people's deepest thoughts and even drown someone on dry land--which have caught the attention of curiosity collectors. Chasing down this mystery isn't as straightforward as Bridie was hoping for, and her investigation unearths long buried secrets from her own past, which she must confront head-on if she hopes to rescue Christabel.

I really liked the mystery aspect of this. It had just the right amount of supernatural elements where it didn't feel so far-fetched. I enjoyed Bridie's character and learning about her past which was a mystery in itself. There were so many pieces that intertwined and came full circle which was very smart. I did find myself slightly more interested, at times, in finding out how Bridie knew Ruby, the ghost haunting her, rather than the case with Christabel, though. Other than that, it was definitely an interesting and strange mystery to check out if you're a fan.

Roberta Dee

The writing is very beautiful and a great autumnal read. I had some trouble with the pacing at parts. What made this most enjoyable was the audiobook narrator. She had a variety of accents for each character from Irish to Cockney. Highly recommend the audiobook!

Elise Eanes

Jolie

When I read the blurb for Things in Jars, I knew that I needed to read the book. A mystery set in Victorian England that had a paranormal/fantasy bent to it. Another thing going for this book is that I had read Himself by the author and loved it. So, yes, I was excited to read the book. I am glad that I did because Things in Jars were fantastic!!

Things in Jars had a great storyline. Bridie Devine is a female detective who takes on a case that she thinks will be easy. A 6-year-old girl has been kidnapped, and her father is frantic to get her back. But, as Bridie starts to investigate this story, she notices that things aren’t adding up. Then Bridie’s past collides with her present in a way that could derail her investigation. What is so special about that girl? Why are so many people after her? And what will happen when Bridie is forced to face her past?

The plotline for Things in Jars was lightning fast. That surprised me because when a book goes from past to present, there is always some lag. But not in this case. The author was able to keep up the pace of the plotline and seamlessly go from past to present. There are also no dropped characters or storylines. It made reading this book absolutely a joy!!

I am not a massive fan of when books got back and forth in time. But in this case, the author made it work. As Bridie investigated Christabel’s kidnapping, the author showed what it was like for Bridie growing up. It wasn’t pretty. There were parts of her childhood that made me want to hug her. The time spent in the Eames household, and what Gideon put her through was awful. But, it showed where she got her medical skills and how it shaped her into the woman she was in the present day.

The storyline with Christabel’s kidnapping was interesting. I liked it because I had to figure out if Christabel being a freak of nature was true or not. For a time, I did think that Christabel was an innocent child. But, then there was a crucial scene that involved snails and feet that changed my mind.

I liked that the author took the Irish myth of the Merrow and ran with it. I wasn’t familiar with that myth and spent some time reading about it after I finished the book. I loved it!!

I also loved how the author tied Bridie’s past and present together. There were a couple of people from her past that showed up, not including Ruby Doyle. I was surprised at how they were tied in.

I loved the paranormal angle of the book. I did feel that Ruby’s storyline was dragged on, and I did think, for a time, that his connection to Bridie was forgotten. But, it wasn’t, and the reveal was heartbreaking. I’ll admit, I cried.

The end of Things in Jars was nothing short of amazing. The author did a fantastic job of wrapping everything up. My heart broke a few times when reading the ending. I was wondering if there was going to be another book, but I don’t think so. If I’m wrong, that’s great. But the vibe I got was no.

Jana Pashovska

I was intrigued by the prospect of reading a gothic novel entwined with elements of folkore and mythology, featuring a strong and independent female lead, but sadly I wasn't much impressed.

The storyline was interesting enough—a kidnapping under mysterious circumstances, a child which may or may not be of unusually supernatural origin, violence and gore and a fair share of despicable villains, but even that didn't propel me to show much enthusiasm for this book.

The style of writing simply wasn't my cup of tea, I didn't feel for the dialogue and the characters, and I found myself skimping through pages just to get to the end. Not an overtly satisfying read, and the 3 stars I give are simply for the creative plot.

Things in Jars

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