Name: Ashley Stock's review of The Corpse Queen by Heather M. Herrman
Item: The Corpse Queen
Rating: 4
Author: Ashley Stock

Heather M. Herrman

In this dark and twisty feminist historical thriller, a teenage girl starts a new life as a grave robber but quickly becomes entangled in a murderer's plans. Soon after her best friend Kitty mysteriously dies, orphaned seventeen-year-old Molly Green is sent away to live with her "aunt." With no relations that she knows of, Molly assumes she has been sold as free domestic labor for the price of an extra donation in the church orphanage's coffers. Such a thing is not unheard of. There are only so many options for an unmarried girl in 1850s Philadelphia. Only, when Molly arrives, she discovers her aunt is very much real, exceedingly wealthy, and with secrets of her own. Secrets and wealth she intends to share--for a price. Molly's estranged aunt Ava, has built her empire by robbing graves and selling the corpses to medical students who need bodies to practice surgical procedures. And she wants Molly to help her procure the corpses. As Molly learns her aunt's trade in the dead of night and explores the mansion by day, she is both horrified and deeply intrigued by the anatomy lessons held at the old church on her aunt's property. Enigmatic Doctor LaSalle's lessons are a heady mixture of knowledge and power and Molly has never wanted anything more than to join his male-only group of students. But the cost of inclusion is steep and with a murderer loose in the city, the pursuit of power and opportunity becomes a deadly dance.

The Corpse Queen

Melody Ivashkow

“Deliciously macabre and utterly decadent.” —Kerri Maniscalco, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Stalking Jack the Ripper In this dark and twisty feminist historical mystery, a teenage girl starts a new life as a grave robber but quickly becomes entangled in a murderer's plans. Soon after her best friend Kitty mysteriously dies, orphaned seventeen-year-old Molly Green is sent away to live with her "aunt." With no relations that she knows of, Molly assumes she has been sold as a maid for the price of an extra donation in the church orphanage's coffers. Such a thing is not unheard of. There are only so many options for an unmarried girl in 1850s Philadelphia. Only, when Molly arrives, she discovers her aunt is very much real, exceedingly wealthy, and with secrets of her own. Secrets and wealth she intends to share—for a price. Molly's estranged aunt Ava, has built her empire by robbing graves and selling the corpses to medical students who need bodies to practice surgical procedures. And she wants Molly to help her procure the corpses. As Molly learns her aunt's trade in the dead of night and explores the mansion by day, she is both horrified and deeply intrigued by the anatomy lessons held at the old church on her aunt's property. Enigmatic Doctor LaValle's lessons are a heady mixture of knowledge and power and Molly has never wanted anything more than to join his male-only group of students. But the cost of inclusion is steep and with a murderer loose in the city, the pursuit of power and opportunity becomes a deadly dance.

Sophie

Courtney Passio

Samantha Milfort

Ashley Stock

Just a slight note - While this isn't necessarily an Adult novel, it's definitely, at least in my opinion, more than a Young Adult novel; While the protagonist is a teenager (late teen years, but teenager still), some of the themes, scenes, and dialogue often made me, a person in their mid-20s, have to stop reading for several minutes just to take a breather before continuing on.

THAT SAID:

This is a lovely, wonderful book with lovable characters and a twist (or two...) that I was not at all expecting at the end. There is beautiful if gruesome imagery all throughout the book, and I thoroughly enjoyed every gory second of it.

Nicole Dykeman

3.75

I really liked the premise/setting of the story, but the end quickly fell flat with lengthy villain monologues and cliche plot twists. The parts of the story that I wanted more of - like Ginny and Tom and the body-snatching fun - sometimes took a backseat to things like Molly’s less interesting newfound desire to become a surgeon. 

Also: content warning for pregnancy and birth. I know that’s not a thing I particularly enjoy reading about, and it was even more off-putting because caught me off guard. So heads up if that kind of thing bothers you too.

Katheryn Sowers 

You know what to would have made this better? A sapphic main character

This was the feminist horror every woman must read! 

Maybe not the best example, but if a woman wants to be a grave robber than a woman will be a grave robber no metter what. Because, girls, we can do whatever we want! 

It was dark and informative about corpses and death in particular, somwhere disgusting, but what did I expect from a horror? Flowers? 
I liked that the love interest wasn't a pretty boy, instead a guy who has carisma, and humor. 

For me it was predictable, although there was some little detail that shocked me. Also this book made me believe that studying to be a doctor is easy peasy, because Molly- the main character - just read a few books and suddenly knew better the parts of the brain than the students themselves. 

It was good, not so thrilling, but a good read for spooky season

Heather Harrington

Seventeen-year-old Molly Green has spent the last few years of her life in an orphanage after losing her parents. When her best friend is found mysteriously murdered, Molly is sent away to live with an "aunt." Believing she has no family left, Molly is convinced she's been sold into labor and is shocked to discover that not only is her aunt Ava real, but she's extremely wealthy and has her fair share of dark secrets. Ava is the notorious Corpse Queen, making her money by robbing graves and selling the bodies to medical students, and she wants Molly to work for her. Soon, Molly finds her nights spent in graveyards and her days strolling her aunt's mansion, desperately looking for a way into the anatomy lessons held in the old church on the property by the mysterious Dr. LaSalle. Molly wants nothing more than to join in on the all-male lectures and will do whatever it takes to become a surgeon, especially if it means getting her one step closer to whoever killed her friend. But Molly quickly learns the murderer she seeks may be a lot closer than she thinks, and it'll take all her brains and bravery to outsmart them, or else she may just become their next victim.

This sounded like it was going to be the perfect atmospheric read for the spooky season, but I was left wanting just a little bit more. There were a few disgusting moments that made my stomach turn, but for the most part, this all felt very one-note. I guess I was just hoping for more action or something to get my heart racing? I mean, we're dealing with dead bodies and a murderer on the loose. I wanted to feel on edge and unsettled, but I was almost bored at times. Everything felt flat until the very end where the drama really amped up. I was also able to guess one of the twists, but I still liked watching it all unfold. This wasn't a bad book by any means. I liked watching Molly become this strong, independent woman who forges her own path. I also thought her relationship with Tom was sweet and her friendship with Ginny was probably the highlight of everything, though I do wish we got to see more of her because she was so funny and sharp. It's not the quickest paced book or the most exhilarating, but I'd still recommend checking it out if you're in the mood for something a bit darker.

This was the feminist horror every woman must read!

Maybe not the best example, but if a woman wants to be a grave robber than a woman will be a grave robber no metter what. Because, girls, we can do whatever we want!

It was dark and informative about corpses and death in particular, somwhere disgusting, but what did I expect from a horror? Flowers?
I liked that the love interest wasn't a pretty boy, instead a guy who has carisma, and humor.

For me it was predictable, although there was some little detail that shocked me. Also this book made me believe that studying to be a doctor is easy peasy, because Molly- the main character - just read a few books and suddenly knew better the parts of the brain than the students themselves.

It was good, not so thrilling, but a good read for spooky season

Becca Futrell

Thank you to Penguin Teen for providing me with an e-ARC of The Corpse Queen in exchange for an honest review! 

Let's list the goods, yeah? & some solid aspects that really won me over. 
- graverobbing
- dark historical fiction
- a strong-as-hell female protagonist 
- serial killer
- more fantastic female characters
- v much love the atmosphere & characters of the nightclub 

The Corpse Queen is perfect for spooky season; it's not necessarily a horror book, but has dark vibes & is so perfectly atmospheric. And, as usual, I love women & Molly is definitely an amazing & strong protagonist!

Haleigh Buchanan

I'm going to try to keep this review as spoiler free as possible. 

This book was EVERYTHING. Heather got me, she got me good. When I finished the book. I just sobbed. A mix of emotions ran through me that I was NOT EXPECTING. Potential slight spoiler, but this book is told in two views. 1 is our MC Molly. Love you Molly. Then the second is told from a completely different time. I had to go back and reread those sections after I finished the book, because it literally ties the whole story together. PAY ATTENTION TO THOSE PARTS. I just read through them as fast as I could to get back to the main story and my thought process for what they were... was completely wrong. 

When I finished, I closed the book, and just stared straight ahead, until my husband goes 'good book?' then cue the waterworks. This book hit me on a deeply personal level. The villain in story, (I won't tell who) honestly, didn't see that one coming, and their reasoning. While deeply troubled, was honestly something I would have loved to have in my real world life. Someone who loved me so much in their own warped way, they would destroy the world for me. 

This book does give strong Stalking Jack the Ripper vibes, Based solely on the aesthetic, but its a drastically different story, with a very different theme. There is murder, and mystery, and total chaos, and its magical. The cast of characters are amazing, and you will want the best for all of them. The characters are all well thought out and you see them grow and morph into the people they will become over the course of the story. And since I didn't see it coming, I imagine a lot will be surprised by the ending. I will recommend this book to anyone into historical fiction, mystery, murder stories. There is romance, but it is not the focus of the story. 

5/5 will read again and again. Will recommend to all my friends. Heather A++ ma'am. You did fantastic and Penguin thank you for providing me with the eARC before I got my hands on the physical copy. 

And when I tell you the physical book is just as beautiful as I expected... well just go to your nearest book store or library and check it out for yourself. You won't regret it.

I was sent an early copy to review. 

I’d be lying if I didn’t mostly want to read this because it was set in Philadelphia, my home town, and was curious how the author would view the city I’ve called home my whole life! Unfortunately, there wasn’t much description of the actual area of Philadelphia besides a couple of street names mentioned but that’s okay, it didn’t affect my reading experience at all! What did though was the fact that there wasn’t much actual grave robbing (insert sweating emoji here). I went into this expecting Molly, the main character, to be literally in holes, looking over her shoulder when she dug a body out.. what we actually got was her more or less buying bodies off of other seedy characters. I also didn’t connect with anyone in the story and felt like I didn’t have a great grasp on what anyone looked like lol. 

Even though The Corpse Queen had some downsides for me, I still read this book pretty much in two days and had no problems picking it up and diving in! This does get darker in some spots and feels like an EXCELLENT fall time read with some pretty awesome plot twists! 

Samantha Milfort &
The Corpse Queen by Heather M. Herrman

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