Name: katherine's review of Wakenhyrst by Michelle Paver
Item: Wakenhyrst
Rating: 5
Author: katherine

Michelle Paver

A Times Best Book of 2019. "Something has been let loose..." In Edwardian Suffolk, a manor house stands alone in a lost corner of the Fens: a glinting wilderness of water whose whispering reeds guard ancient secrets. Maud is a lonely child growing up without a mother, ruled by her repressive father. When he finds a painted medieval devil in a graveyard, unhallowed forces are awakened. Maud's battle has begun. She must survive a world haunted by witchcraft, the age-old legends of her beloved fen – and the even more nightmarish demons of her father's past. Spanning five centuries, Wakenhyrst is a darkly gothic thriller about murderous obsession and one girl's longing to fly free by the bestselling author of Dark Matter and Thin Air. Wakenhyrst is an outstanding new piece of story-telling, a tale of mystery and imagination laced with terror. It is a masterwork in the modern gothic tradition that ranges from Mary Shelley and Bram Stoker to Neil Gaiman and Sarah Perry.

Wakenhyrst

everlinet

The new novel everyone's been waiting for from bestselling author Michelle Paver. "Something has been let loose..." In Edwardian Suffolk, a manor house stands alone in a lost corner of the Fens: a glinting wilderness of water whose whispering reeds guard ancient secrets. Maudis a lonely child growing up without a mother, ruled by her repressive father. When he finds a painted medieval devilin a graveyard, unhallowed forces are awakened. Maud's battle has begun. She must survive a world haunted by witchcraft, the age-old legends of her beloved fen - and the even more nightmarish demons of her father's past. Spanning five centuries, Wakenhyrstis a darkly gothic thrillerabout murderous obsession and one girl's longing to fly free by the bestselling author of Dark Matterand Thin Air. Wakenhyrstis an outstanding new piece of story-telling, a tale of mystery and imagination laced with terror. It is a masterwork in the modern gothic tradition that ranges from Mary Shelley and Bram Stoker to Neil Gaiman and Sarah Perry.

katherine

michelle paver owns my heart and soul at this point. this was so engrossing, i was completely swept up in the mystery and the characters. the plot moved along at excellent pace, and the revelations felt well-earned and surprising. the foreshadowing was perfectly executed to create a mysterious atmosphere of rising terror. i would recommend this to anyone who loves spooky historical fiction.

Janice Hopper

I've read other books by Ms. Paver that I enjoyed, so that when I saw this one was out, I was happy to have a chance to read another one. 

Wakenhyrst is a story about a man's slow descent into madness, as seen through the eyes of his daughter. The daughter, Maud, has issues of her own. She's unlovely (at least in her eyes), and unloved by her father. Her mother, who DID love her, is dead. 

We meet Maud toward the end of her life, when interest in her father's story has been reignited when paintings he did in the asylum have been found. The story's told through the father's journals and Maud's recollections, in flashbacks. 

The horror is all in Edmund Stearne's fascination with a subject becoming an increasingly unhealthy obsession. Poor Maud, sidelined and unloved, seems mostly to have to just sit by and watch - or does she? Maud's not quite as helpless as her father thinks she is.

The book is well-written and evocative. I liked it.

Alfredo santos

3.5 Stars. 

This book has an amazing gothic feel to it. I hardly can distinguish if it's Victorian or Edwardian (can you actually can?) 
The pace is fast, and there are so many things happening that is hard to let down. I personally finished it in one setting and didn't feel it was long. The characters are not as deep as you would ask for but they are just right for the story. 
The story itself is very interesting and more plots keep unfolding. It's not based on super twists or is the story mindblowing, but the prose just makes you feel a strong uneasiness all the time and dread, which I love. 

There isn't more stars on this amazing read since I feel that there was still some part of the story that wasn't quite finished or polished. It left you asking some questions, but I don't believe that was part of the plot, but just felt a bit unfinished. 

I Do recommend it.

Sarah Chauvidon

I was disappointed as it's not as dark as I anticipated. It's not really a horror, more of a slightly creepy thriller.

1906: A large manor house, Wake's End, sits on the edge of a bleak Fen, just outside the town of Wakenhyrst. It is the home of Edmund Stearn and his family - a historian, scholar and land-owner, he's an upstanding member of the local community. But all is not well at Wake's End.

Cerys

An effortless read. Paver's writing allows you to feel as if you are within the book without having to go through pages of overexplained settings. However, eventhough, this novel was effortless to read, my understanding of the novel didn't come to fruition until the final page. Therefore it could be seen as rather slow paced. An excellent novel, nonetheless. I would definatley recommend.

sara louise

'put not your faith in men, she thought. that out there is all you can trust: that hedge and that wet grass. those dripping trees.'

maud grows up under the oppressive thumb of her father in the early 1900s, and after he finds a medieval doom painting his infernal obsession ends with murder. the story is prefaced with an excerpt from an investigation into why he did what he did, thus telling the reader what will happen right off the bat. in this case it was an effective approach, as it added a sense of urgency to an otherwise slow paced story. 

'I dun't believe in bad luck, miss.'
'that doesn't matter. it believes in you.'

I enjoyed this a lot, and found myself rooting for maud's revenge through the entire novel. I loved her connection and kindness towards nature and animals, which is a common theme in paver's works. I also really liked clem's character, as he added a much needed contrast to other male characters. 

'he was kind to her. that was all it took.'

the one thing I'd say I maybe didn't like as much was the excerpts from the book of alice pyett and maud's father's journals. they slowed down the story a lot and I didn't particularly enjoy reading the thoughts of a privileged man in the early 1900s, who constantly looked down on those around him, when the option to read his daughter's more forward-thinking ideas were an option. the excerpts did add depth to the story however, so I wouldn't want to remove them completely.

Grace Emilia Machon

** spoiler alert **
           Hello this is a incoherent rant. 

Somehow infuriating and dull at the same time. I was bored, I was irritated, I was insulted. 
This book gets one star because I finished it and the second is because I love the fens. 
I know so many people who enjoyed this and I just need to know why. I wasted 4 hours on this. Just listening to some strange mix of sexist ranting and victim porn, the highly unlikable ugly daughter lives alone for ever because of the sin of her father, and what a surprise the only decent person dies. 
SHES SO LONELY BUT DOESNT EVEN SPEAK TO HER BROTHERS OKAY (why do they even exist, Richard is apparently horrible but oh wait he’s at birding school for ever, and felix is just dead in a war, it’s okay they aren’t close 😳😳😳) also IVY ERGH. She’s pretty so obviously terrible. Daisy is stupid but kind because women can only be one thing. 
How did a woman right this book. Yes, it’s about sexism but it’s so full of troupes it’s like she didn’t even think. 

also the word Brouhaha came up twice and that’s too many for me ever. Just say fuss. 

I love reading books where everyone is a character and everything is dumb. 

Every single person in this mess of words was terrible, literally every single person was trash and if they aren’t then they are dead. 

If I hadn’t loved Thin Air I would have swear off Paver for good.

A tale of mystery and imagination laced with terror. It is a masterwork in the modern gothic tradition that ranges from Mary Shelley and Bram Stoker to Neil Gaiman and Sarah Perry. By the bestselling author of Dark Matter and Thin Air , an outstanding new piece of story-telling, a tale of mystery and imagination laced with terror. It is a masterwork in the modern gothic tradition that ranges from Mary Shelley and Bram Stoker to Neil Gaiman and Sarah Perry. "Something has been let loose..." In Edwardian Suffolk , a manor house stands alone in a lost corner of the Fens : a glinting wilderness of water whose whispering reeds guard ancient secrets. Maud is a lonely child growing up without a mother, ruled by her repressive father. When he finds a painted medieval devil in a graveyard, unhallowed forces are awakened. Maud's battle has begun. She must survive a world haunted by witchcraft , the age-old legends of her beloved fen - and the even more nightmarish demons of her father's past. Spanning five centuries, Wakenhyrst is a darkly gothic thriller about murderous obsession and one girl's longing to fly free.

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Wakenhyrst by Michelle Paver

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