Lauren Owen

This is a strange and engaging novel, well-written and unexpected in a number of ways. Owen's prose is full of surprises and surprising turns of phrase, and although the plot is slow to unfold the language never drags. One finds the ending a bit unsatisfying, I think; there are loose ends, some significant, more not, that could have done with tying up a bit more tidily, but the world is so well-conceived, and the characters so interesting (they have outsizedly complicated stories, but they show more are also complicated people underneath what could otherwise be rather overdone layers) that the ambiguity in the end doesn't detract from the overall fun of the book. show less

If Anne Rice had gone back in time to collaborate on a novel with William Thackeray, author of Vanity Fair, I think the result might have turned out something like this. The lush writing and creepy turns of the novel fascinated me from the beginning, and Owen's nuance with characterization, setting, and hints that offered just enough foreshadowing without going too far...all of it came together for me beautifully. It wasn't quite the book I expected (somehow), but it was kind of a wonderful show more journey. I will say that the pacing occasionally threw me off, but all told, I rather adored this strange historical horror novel, and I look forward to more of Owen's work. show less

I loathe vampire novels. I love well-written literary fiction that doesn't scream and shout and say look at how smart and clever my author is being. And so by all rights, I should have detested this novel, which is a very cleverly-crafted literary novel -- an homage of sorts to high Gothic yarns of yore -- featuring vampires. That's hardly a spoiler, given the reviews that have been written, and the fact that the big reveal comes in the first 100 pages.

So, what's happening here?

What I show more dislike is the new breed of fiction feature Abraham Lincoln and Jane Eyre as either vampires or vampire-hunters or other mythical critters; equally, the romanticized "Twilight" love at first bite stuff. I'm not a big reader of horror fiction, generally, and tend to recoil from the macabre. Happily, that's not what is happening here.

Rather, what won me over and won this novel one of a tiny handful of five star labels I'll dole out this year is the fact that Lauren Owen demonstrated the ability to keep my attention with superb plotting and excellent writing -- along with an ability to keep me teetering on the edge of my chair, suspense-wise. All of that kept me reading a novel that is 80% devoted to vampires in Victorian London. And that will tell you just how good I thought this novel was.

Is it for everyone? Probably not. Those who adore conventional gothic tales may not like Owen's approach, which includes a cross-dressing one-time tightrope-walking star turned vampire hunter, and the journals of "Dr. Knife", former tutor to one of the members of the Aegolius Club, composed of men with unusual tastes in claret and who keep their window shades firmly drawn. And those in quest of a rollicking modern tale, or a "Twilight" style romance, will be dismayed to find a serious work of fiction, bearing a blurb by no less a figure than Hilary Mantel. (Mantel isn't an indiscriminate blurber, and this one, I think was deserved.) (And it's worth heeding the blurbers on this: if you've not read their work and aren't familiar with it or don't like it, you may want to think twice.)

Owen excels at atmosphere, from that of the manor house -- damp and crumbling around the edges -- in Yorkshire where Charlotte and James Norbury grow up -- to the foggy streets of London where James briefly finds happiness before misfortune strikes -- and where Charlotte struggles to win some part of him back with the help of some unconventional allies. Perhaps she throws in too many different voices -- the reader lurches from reading about James's London adventures to the journal of "Dr. Knife" and on to the various experiences of Adeline Swift (vampire hunter extraordinaire), Liza (kid vampire) and then, more extensively, Charlotte. But each felt distinctive to me, and significant in providing a well-rounded view of Owen's carefully conceived and delicately presented alternative universe.

I'm frankly amazed that an author this young has such a strong voice and a commanding sense of narrative structure and pacing. Macabre? Absolutely. And Owen hasn't won me over when it comes to reading vampire novels. But she has made it a sure thing that I'll be reading whatever she chooses to write next. An impressive debut, falling right in the sweet spot: popular fiction that offers writing, character development and plot development that is way, WAY above average for its genre. show less

When I first read the description of this book I expected a mystery novel rather than a vampire novel, however, I still thoroughly enjoyed reading it. I found the characters engaging and sympathetic, and thought that Owen did a great job of portraying very different characters in a way that made the reader feel invested in them, and in their respective stories. She also did an excellent job conveying the vampire lore and reality in the world she created. The one difficulty I had with the show more book is that it sometimes felt disjointed. When the book transitioned from James to Mould, it was clear how he related to the overall story, but not immediately clear how he related to the characters from part one. Other transitions were similarly jarring, particularly when they spanned a number of years, making it hard to keep track of the timeline. By the latter third of the book the interweaving of the different viewpoints was much smoother. I also thought the end of the book, while not entirely surprising, was perfectly creepy and a fitting end to the story. show less