The Essex Serpent felt like it could have been quite shorter. It starts off very slow, then gets more interesting, but inconsistently changes pace throughout the story, which I found frustrating. It was too slow and had no lyrical aspects or particular insights to the characters. The atmosphere of the novel felt a little bleak, slow-paced and thoughtful – which I normally enjoy, but for this one it annoyed me a little. So I was pretty excited about a historical fiction in Victorian England.

The Victorian setting was very interesting, and I can’t remember having read another book with this setting, except for a Sherlock Holmes story and a fantasy YA. I’ve spent an embarrassingly long time staring at it. The Essex Serpent has such a gorgeous cover, with so many elements that it could’ve been over the top, but ended up quite perfectly intricate. Instead, I found myself struggling to finish it. When I saw The Essex Serpent is about an intelligent woman in Victorian England falling in love with a vicar, plus the rumor of a serpent, I thought this book was going to end up on my favorites. “You told me once you forget you are a woman, and I understand it now – you think to be a woman is to be weak – you think ours is a sisterhood of suffering! Perhaps so, but doesn’t it take greater strength to walk a mile in pain than seven miles in none? You are a woman, and must begin to live like one.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Literary FictionĬonfession: I bought this book because the cover is one of the most gorgeous ones I’ve seen.

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