Name: Rachel Kanyid's review of The Strange Case of the Alchemist's Daughter by Theodora Goss
Item: The Strange Case of the Alchemist's Daughter
Rating: 4
Author: Rachel Kanyid

Theodora Goss

Based on some of literature’s horror and science fiction classics, this is the story of a remarkable group of women who come together to solve the mystery of a series of gruesome murders—and the bigger mystery of their own origins. Mary Jekyll, alone and penniless following her parents’ death, is curious about the secrets of her father’s mysterious past. One clue in particular hints that Edward Hyde, her father’s former friend and a murderer, may be nearby, and there is a reward for information leading to his capture…a reward that would solve all of her immediate financial woes. But her hunt leads her to Hyde’s daughter, Diana, a feral child left to be raised by nuns. With the assistance of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson, Mary continues her search for the elusive Hyde, and soon befriends more women, all of whom have been created through terrifying experimentation: Beatrice Rappaccini, Catherin Moreau, and Justine Frankenstein. When their investigations lead them to the discovery of a secret society of immoral and power-crazed scientists, the horrors of their past return. Now it is up to the monsters to finally triumph over the monstrous.

The Strange Case of the Alchemist's Daughter

Valene Ayar

Based on some of literature's horror and science fiction classics, this is the story of a remarkable group of women who come together to solve the mystery of a series of gruesome murders and the bigger mystery of their own origins. Mary Jekyll, alone and penniless following her parents' death, is curious about the secrets of her father's mysterious past. One clue in particular hints that Edward Hyde, her father's former friend and a murderer, may be nearby and there is a reward for information leading to his capture...a reward that would solve all of her immediate financial woes. But her hunt leads her to Hyde's daughter, Diana, a feral child left to be raised by nuns. With the assistance of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson, Mary continues her search for the elusive Hyde and soon befriends more women, all of whom have been created through terrifying experimentation: Beatrice Rappaccini, Catherin Moreau, and Justine Frankenstein. When their investigations lead them to the discovery of a secret society of immoral and power-crazed scientists, the horrors of their past return. Now it is up to the monsters to finally triumph over the monstrous.

Rachel Kanyid

I thought this was a very fun book to listen to. Very wild and unrealistic, but in a fun way.

Love how the author brought together sci-fi classics (AND with Sherlock, joy.) and made a thrilling suspense mystery. It was pretty funny in some parts and it was a tiny bit preachy BUT it was self-aware, so it didn't become annoying. Overall, it was original and I quite liked it!

mahek 

Haley Murray

Nicole Dykeman

4.5. This is lighthearted, fun, and very clever. I highly recommend it, especially if you’re a fan of all the classics that get tied together here—Frankenstein, Jekyll & Hyde, Sherlock Holmes, the Island of Dr. Moreau, and more. The premise got me to pick up the book, and now I’m hooked and I want to read the rest immediately.

Sonja H

Als ihre Mutter stirbt und Mary Jekyll, plötzlich mittellos, sich auf die Spuren der Vergangenheit ihres Vaters begibt, stößt sie nicht nur auf eine Halbschwester, sondern auch auf eine mysteriöse Gesellschaft von Wissenschaftlern und ihre ungewöhnlichen Experimente.

Die Idee der Autorin, bekannte Horrorgeschichten wie Frankenstein und die Insel des Dr. Moreau mit bekannten Kriminalfiguren wie Sherlock und Holmes zu einer einzigartigen Erzählung zu verweben, gefällt mir prinzipiell sehr gut.

Auch interessant ist, dass eine ihrer Protagonistinnen das Buch schreibt und die anderen ihren Teil der Story selbst übernehmen und andere Teile immer wieder kommentieren.

Aber leider sind es sehr viele Figuren mit sehr vielen Erlebnissen, die aufeinandertreffen – ich habe regelmäßig den Faden verloren und konnte die Charaktere und ihre Hintergründe irgendwann nicht mehr auseinanderhalten.

Aber leider sind es sehr viele Figuren mit sehr vielen Erlebnissen, die aufeinandertreffen – ich habe regelmäßig den Faden verloren und konnte die Charaktere und ihre Hintergründe irgendwann nicht mehr auseinanderhalten.

Sherlock und Holmes wären meiner Meinung nach eigentlich verzichtbar gewesen, zumal sie neben all den anderen Akteuren verblassten.

Es ist eine nette Lektüre, wenn man die Muse hat, sie mit nur wenigen Unterbrechungen zu lesen. Ansonsten verirrt man sich leider zu sehr darin.

this is p formulaic but i did enjoy it, thanks.

elif sinem

2.5 / I like some things about it, like Justine's story, the group dynamic, Catherine, or the way all the references play together so nicely. But the frequent interruptions and POV changes added nothing to the story, the prose of which just invited to glossing things over. I'm also uncertain if it really accomplished what the author wanted. I can see it, but it's buried 5 feet deep in utter boredom. I didn't even hate it. I just felt more bored than anything else.

Amy 

This is such an easy going read. With lots of memorable characters in the story who have links to other memorable classic characters.

Set in victorian time they set off on an adventure investing what is going on and along the way these characters meet and soon become close along the way.

Love how each character has there own unique personality and work well by interupting each other through out the book to share thoughts and correct whats being said.

Would absolutely recommend to anyone its a gothic ya adventure with a big cast of characters 5*.

Can't wait to read the next in the series

lauren carla

3.5 actual rating. I didn’t know holmes & watson were going to make an appearance, so when I got to their entrance I have very happy lol. however, I wasn’t entirely on board with the author’s interpretation of holmes so sad times… there were also a lot of references to classics, and while i noticed some of them i feel like i missed some too and wish I had got them all. I loved all of the girls, they had very distinct personalities and were enjoyable to read.

vins

The author is clearly a fan of the genre, but this book feels more like a frankenstein of lovely ideas being stitched together with flimsy plot threads and none of the personality.

Claire Albrighton

Such a fun story.
It so cleverly weaves great characters from gothic classics in an imaginative and re-imagined way with a great addition of female empowerment. 

Rose Stanley

Eighth book of Tis the Damn Readathon

Album: Speak Now
Prompt: Speak Now (Read a book that's in a trilogy or the third in the series)

Sad not to be able to give this a higher rating.

Had heard so many raving about it and had seen so many giving it four or five stars and honestly? The concept is great - take elements of Frankenstein, The Island of Doctor Moreau, Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde, Rappaccini's Daughter, and Dracula, throw in Sherlock Holmes and Watson for good measure, and then actually make the story about a group of...young ladies?...solving mysteries and fighting the patriarchy er I mean evil scientist dudes - oh yes, I was here for it.

But the execution. 

The execution is...NOT great.

Scenes that are supposed to be tense just come across as ridiculous, the fourth wall-breaking needs to be snappier and less heavy-handed, and the characters all end up being disappointingly one-note. I also don't think the constant zapping about within chapters attempting to tell the story from multiple perspectives works - EITHER:
let Catherine do her job as the supposed narrator of the piece (maybe having some fourth wall-breaking conversations happening at the END of each chapter, or having her interactions with the others be in the form of sassy footnotes)
OR 
(and I think this might have been a better structure given that she can't possibly know everything the other characters do, say and feel because she is not in fact an omniscient goddess) tell each chapter from a different character's perspective a la A Song of Ice and Fire, Six of Crows, etc. and subtly tie the stories together as you go

I am torn about reading the rest of this trilogy now.

Sheila Goicea

View this entire review along with others on my blog at: She's Going Book Crazy

Release date June 20, 2017!

I received this copy from the publisher via NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.

  
    We are no longer in the age of Charles Dickens or George Eliot, after all. We are modern. And, of course, monstrous...
  

It turns out that Dr. Jekyll had a daughter.

The story follows the accounts of Dr. Jekyll's daughter, Mary Jekyll, who is mourning the loss of her late mother. Losing both of her parents has placed her in a precarious position; all of her father's wealth was lost, and a once high-borne lady realizes that before long, she will be destitute. 

Stumbling across some old documents and letters, Mary becomes enthralled by the odd history of her father, a scientist named Dr. Jekyll, whom had committed suicide years earlier. His previous entanglement with the unpleasant and even more mysterious Mr. Hyde, leads Mary on a path to try and find him, as evidence appears that he may still be around. 

Her searching ends up being fruitful, but in ways neither she, nor the reader could foresee. 

Written in a fun and interactive style with both characters and reader, Goss captures the audiance and immerses them into a new mystery told from old tales. 

-------------------------------

This retelling is inspired from the classic horror stories of: Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Sherlock Holmes, Van Helsing, Dracula (Mr. Renfield,) Frankenstein, Rappaccini's daughter, and Dr. Moreau. 

What are these characters (not all) without daughters? Exactly. Nothing! 

I'm joking. However, it made for a creative and enjoyable concept. If you are a fan of ultimate shows of "girl power," this might be for you. These women (and girl) create a uniquely proportioned "team" in order to stand up against the mad scientists of old, who brought some of the Gothic horrors into being. Each of them has someone they are looking for---or answers they are seeking to reveal, causing their paths to weave together in ways that fate couldn't have done better at.

The main point of view is written from Mary's standpoint. However, each character quite literally has their own voice in writing parts of the story. I loved the style in which this book was written. I found the characters' interjections refreshing and quite funny---there were a few times I laughed out loud. 

While I do not consider this to be a hard core mystery, it definitely draws from the genre as Mary and the "monster" gang (as Diana often refers to them being) assemble and uncover secrets on the hidden organization they are hunting. The combination of femininity, comic relief, mystery, and horror brought a new perspective and light to these well-known stories. 

The climax of this story happens at around 80%, so the last portion of the book went on and on. It sets itself up for a sequel, so I believe this will be a series. With well developed characters, and a mission to fulfill, I will be anticipating for more from the women of the Athena Club.

Vulgarity: I believe there is some here and there. Oh wait, yes of course. Diana is in this book.
Violence: Quite a bit, but without much detail.
Sexual content: There are references as prostitutes and prostitution are common, but there is nothing explicit or overly-inappropriate. 

3.5 stars.

A big thanks to the publisher for providing me with a copy of this book!

t just wasn't my thing, really. I didn't connect with the story or the characters (besides Catherine) and I didn't feel like the characters were super well-developed or interesting. They all had their creation story and one or two major characteristics that were repeated ad nauseum throughout, so as a result they all came across as one-dimensional. None of their voices seemed very distinct either.

I don't know, the actual concept was pretty interesting, but the writing didn't do it for me. It wasn't a chore to get through though, and I wasn't actively hating it as I read (though once I passed the halfway point, I was definitely ready to be done), so I feel okay giving it 3 stars. Though, the constant interrupting of the story for dialogue as it was being written was VERY unnecessary, and between that and some random tangents, the book was probably a good 100 pages longer than it needed to be.

Whitney Leno

What a fun and unique book. I love how this book feels fresh while still paying homage to classic gothic and horror novels. The way the book is formatted does take a little getting used to but it is so worth it. I can't wait to read the rest of the trilogy.

Catarina Silva

The audiobook was great. Really enjoyed it

Viry

DNF @ 80% 
I’m so sad.. i wanted to love this book so bad. Badass monster woman solving mysteries in Victorian London sounds like my kind of book, but it feels like there was just too much it was trying to do. 

I loved how the girls and most characters all come from classic novels and had me motivated to remember a lot of the original plots but when it came down to it there were just so many spoilers in the book itself that it made the reading tedious and not rewarding. The classics giving you spoilers because there wasn’t much new introduced into the characters stories besides them meeting one another and becoming a found family. And the story was written with the characters narrating their experiences so they would interrupt the story and add commentary that really didn’t add much besides spoiling you as to what the outcome is before we get to read it ourselves. I can see the appeal of this book, it just wasn’t for me..

Aimee Kitching 

3.5 stars really for me. 
Definitely a book where you need to follow up with the other two books in order to know what the plot is.
This books is basically character building I'm assuming the actually story begins in book two

Brianne Kendall

I love the idea of these fictional characters having daughters who are searching for who they are in the context of a world that doesn't realize their parents exist.

Emily S

~heading into spooky season, yo~

Brief synopsis: The daughters of famous sci-fi/horror characters (e.g. Jekyll/Hyde, Frankenstein, etc) band together to solve mysteries regarding the Alchemical Society their fathers were associated with…

Overall, this book was fun. I thought the author did a very good job introducing and giving back story on each of the girls, and by the end I really feel like I cared about them. 

That being said, the middle was pretty slow for me, and I think I’m just all YA-ed out. If anything, this really made me want to go back and read the classics it’s based on 😂

I could easily see this being a 4 or 5 ⭐️ for others, but a 3.5 ⭐️ for me.

Cheryl Hedlund

Mystery, adventure, and found family in gothic Victorian London. Yes, please. Thank you. This book is very meta with characters from classic gothic literature and reference to authors and literature. It is also meta with its commentary on writing and storytelling. The young women of the Athena Club comment and even argue about the way the story should be told and preferred prose styles. At times I felt it interrupted a bit too much, and different readers will enjoy or be annoyed by it. Overall, I thought it fit the tone (irreverently humorous) and displayed the personalities of the characters.

This is the story of the formation of the Athena Club in the process of Mary Jekyll trying to track down Mr. Hyde for the bounty because she needs the money. At the same time there is a grisly series of murders of young women in White Chapel. Is there a connection? The case brings her to find other daughters of villains or monsters from Gothic Literature. They band together and learn to work together. Their fathers were all members of the mysterious Societe Des Alchemistes who were obsessed with dark experiments on young women, believing they would be the most malleable. Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson assist in the investigation, obviously. But thankfully they do not take over the narrative or steal the show. This is very much all about the ladies.

The character development is strong and while they need to work together against a common and immediate threat, they do not naturally come into accord. They eventually form a tenuous found family and learn to trust each other. Not belonging anywhere else, they find understanding and empathy with each other. Together they forge a place for themselves.

Amanda J 

Slow beginning. Easy to skim. Enjoyed it as a good story. Kinda a YA feel. Not that heavy on the fantasy. Makes me try to remember those classic stories

Lisa W.

Diana... Catherine... Mrs. Poole... everyone else. In that specific order.
Please do not try and sell me on Mary, woo me with Beatrice or appeal to my softer side with Justine. I am solely hear for the girls/women who kick ass and don't take no lip. 

I must admit I had no clue who Rapaccini or Monroe were but Jekyll/Hyde and Frankenstein are household names. I appreciated Theodora Goss for not assuming every reader knew the origin of the characters; it helped to keep readers like myself invested in the story. At times, the story dragged on. I believe it could have been condensed but I understood her attempt at laying the groundwork. 

My recommendation would be to listen to the book in audio format. The voice actress, Kate Reading, did a phenomenal job of engaging readers and providing distinctive voices for each characters. Kudos to her for really selling this book to me.

Samantha King

I really enjoyed this story and all the characters within. I was nervous going into this because I wasn't sure I would enjoy it but I loved it. 
It is a little slow at first but its still so good. The writing style kept me reading. 
I loved that these woman are all so strong. Woman power 💪
It's a great start to a series and I cant wait to read the next one, this book was excellent

Valene Ayar &
The Strange Case of the Alchemist's Daughter by Theodora Goss

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