3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
ever so slow, March 21, 2009
This review is from: Heaven's Bones: A Novel of the Mists (Ravenloft: the Covenant) (Mass Market Paperback)
There is a very elegant and complex story in Heaven's Bones. The setting spans two continents and three distinct settings and is populated by complex and interesting characters. The story is a blend of Horror, Noir, Fantasy all combined with a slightly steampunk vibe. It has a certain Ravenloft feel to it, but not to the extend that is easily recognizable. There is no real tie to the 'classic' Ravenloft lands or characters.
If you are willing to invest the time there is a good story to be found. That said I found the book terrible slow to start and easy to put down. So it took me longer than normal to make my way through it. Once I did finish it it is a very captivating story, but one I initially had to 'force' myself into. I wish it was a bit easier to jump in to. But what you get if you do is a rather complicated but thought provoking horror story.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Elegant and Chilling, Boxed Up in Many Layers of Weird, November 12, 2008
This review is from: Heaven's Bones: A Novel of the Mists (Ravenloft: the Covenant) (Mass Market Paperback)
With tender devotion and love, Dr. Robards makes angels from the bodies of murdered women -- a gift to his dead wife and son. Heaven's Bones is a horror novel set mostly in Victorian Era London about a doctor who goes insane when his wife dies during childbirth. He begins to abduct women, whom he realizes are really fallen angels, and attempts to give them back their wings and hopefully return them to heaven. It gets very twisted and twisty from there, complete with Jack the Ripper allusions, recording angels, intelligent (and tentacled) mists, and a psychic detective.
The characters, which there are a lot of, are interesting. A few of them I smiled whenever I realized we were coming back to them. Others, I winced when I read, because I knew horrible things were going to happen to people. And there are some sick puppies in this book, the greatest of which is not the afforementioned Dr. Robards.
Maybe more than anything else, though, I was struck for the first time how terrifying and hard it must've been to have been a woman in this time period, how scary it must have been back then to have a child, much less the practice of delivering children. Not to mention how trying it must have been to have been a woman in a professional career (other than prostitut
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A real page-turner..., September 8, 2008
This review is from: Heaven's Bones: A Novel of the Mists (Ravenloft: the Covenant) (Mass Market Paperback)
Ms. Henderson sends the reader quickly and anxiously into the realms of yesteryear in two different countries ~ equally harsh, yet captivating periods in time. With twists and turns, the evil darkness weaves its tale through the light of hope. Her flavorful descriptions put the reader there! The "femine" is examined much like the women ~ turned angels ~ who with horror find themselves abruptly under the sharp, sculpting knife of Dr. Sebastian Robarts!
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