Hester Fox

It’s not a story filled with witches...witchcraft...spell casting...or broomstick riding hags... and not a black cat in sight. Almost from the very first it is filled with quiet, unsettling terror. I actually found myself holding my breath at times....and very few things in books or movies scare me anymore. If your horror includes authors like Simone St. James and Kate Morton, and early Stephen King...when child eating clowns lived in the sewers...you might be adding Hester Fox to that show more list when you finish this one. It’s a gothic mystery mixed with a bit of romance and horror. A tragedy with lies...loss... and love... but most importantly...it’s one woman’s tale of discovering that there’s more to herself than she could ever have known. I just wished that Lynda had learned sooner that you can’t save them all. show less

A MAGIC DEEP AND DROWNING by Hester Fox is a middling gender-bent reimagining of The Little Mermaid myth. It even has a secret grotto filled with the most mundane of human objects that the prince reveres as treasures. Despite offering a fascinating glimpse into the Dutch Golden Age at a micro level, the historical aspects of the story are insufficient to overcome mediocre characters and a rather dull plot.

Clara is one of the weakest female main characters I've read in a long time. While she show more inevitably grows a spine and becomes able to stand up for herself, that portion of her development is such a tiny part of the plot. Instead, she spends the majority of the novel extremely naive, impetuous, and, frankly, a little dumb. She complains that everyone treats her as an object, but when she cannot make a single decision without it resulting in someone else having to rescue her, you can't help but believe the reasoning behind her treatment is sound. Also, her shift to making more informed decisions happens abruptly. Extreme danger and adversity can change a person for better or worse, so some of that change is understandable given what she experiences. However, she still has people rescuing her at every turn. At no point in A MAGIC DEEP AND DROWNING does she rescue herself or anyone else until the very, very end. I need my female main characters to be more formidable than Clara ever becomes.

One of the main people to repeatedly rescue Clara is Maurits, our merperson Prince. He fell in love with Clara at first glance. He doesn't get to know Clara but rather makes a lot of assumptions about her personality, her wishes, and her needs. It's great that he is there to help Clara when she needs it, but I struggle with the one-way love at first sight trope here. He treats her as an object as much as everyone else in her family, and he doesn't really stop doing so. There are so many lies, misdirections, or omissions that the girl should have tossed Maurits out by his fin many times over. Sadly, she doesn't even learn the truths directly from him. Instead, his brother and his mother do most of the clarifying regarding Maurits. This is not a relationship I would ever hold out as an example of being healthy.

Ms. Fox makes A MAGIC DEEP AND DROWNING a very heavy-handed allegory regarding climate change. Characters devote entire pages to complaining about the damage humans are doing to the oceans and how their greed is destroying ecosystems. While the message is a valid one, I've always believed allegories are best when they aren't so obvious and when characters aren't preaching the message on every page. Again, I don't disagree with a thing any character says about the damage human activities have on other biospheres, but I do struggle with Ms. Fox's need to repeat the message numerous times.

The aspect of A MAGIC DEEP AND DROWNING I enjoyed the most was the everyday bits and pieces of Clara's life. I don't think I've read a novel that goes into detail about life during the height of the Dutch spice trading and whaling boom. I appreciate the mundane details Ms. Fox includes in her story as they added a level of understanding I might not have appreciated without them. Dutch life at this time is not the same as English or French life, so those details allowed me to compare and contrast Clara's experiences with those of other, more familiar lifestyles.

Unfortunately, no amount of historical accuracy can rescue the heavy-handedness of the climate change warnings through A MAGIC DEEP AND DROWNING. The historical details also do not improve Clara as a heroine or make Maurits more likable as the love interest. I've read a few of Ms. Fox's other novels and enjoyed them so much more than A MAGIC DEEP AND DROWNING. I can only hope this was a one-off, and her future novels will be more up to her previous standard. show less

The Last Heir to Blackwood Library by Hester Fox is one of the best modern-day examples of Gothic fiction. The heroine’s name, Ivy Radcliffe, reeks of a Gothic story as it exudes innocence and privilege. Then it takes place on the Yorkshire moors because of course it does. All that aside, Ms. Fox’s story is fantastic. She cleverly uses certain aspects of her story to keep you guessing. Eventually, you find yourself racing through the pages to discover Ivy’s fate.

The Last Heir to show more Blackwood Library meets all the requirements for Gothic fiction. Set on the moors of York, most of the action occurs in Blackwood Abbey, an honest-to-goodness abbey from the 1300s that became the property of one family during Henry VIII’s conversion mandates. From almost the first moment Ivy enters the property, she senses that a malevolent entity is haunting her. Her servants are less than forthcoming when answering her many questions, and the village citizens look at her with curiosity and concern. There is the hint of a romance and more than a hint of the past coming back to impact the present in the form of one hell of a legacy. It makes for an emotional and terrifying story you can’t stop reading.

I mentioned above that Ivy Radcliffe is a name that feels Gothic because it evokes innocence. Yes, Ivy is innocent in many ways. While her life until her inheritance revolved around the streets of London, loving parents and a loving brother protected her from the rougher elements. She is streetwise but not necessarily wise about people, something that does cause issues. However, being named for a vine does not make her weak-minded or weak-willed. Ivy is just as strong and stubborn as her namesake, and it serves her well in the long run.

One of the cleverest aspects of The Last Heir to Blackwood Library is that the family legacy means that the story we get may or may not be what is happening. To say more would spoil the story, but Ms. Fox uses this family legacy to her advantage by creating doubt in the reader’s mind. It adds one more layer of mystery to a story filled with many unanswered questions.

I adore Gothic fiction, but finding a good one written recently has not been easy. Thankfully, Hester Fox comes through with a book I would include with the Bronte sisters in a list. The Last Heir to Blackwood Library has everything you could ever want in a Gothic novel. More importantly, Ms. Fox blends the elements so well that the story becomes all-encompassing. If you want an eerie book to tide you over until Halloween, The Last Heir to Blackwood Library is perfect. show less

A Magic Deep & Drowning by Hester Fox is a reimagining of The Little Mermaid set in the Dutch Republic in 1650. Sounds amazing and I certainly enjoyed the first section set in what is now the Netherlands. Clara and her maid take a ride in a carriage to see a whale that has washed up on a nearby beach. The daughter of wealthy parents, Clara wonders if the whale is a bad omen but is excited at the news of a betrothal as it means she can finally leave home and establish a household of her show more own.

On first sight, Clara believes the soon-to-be love interest Maurits could have easily stepped out of the pages of her nursemaid's fairy stories so we know that he's fae. Both characters quickly become besotted with each other and I was rolling my eyes early on with the descriptions of his tidal-pool eyes and the waves of heat that pass between them.

I reviewed The Widow of Pale Harbour by Hester Fox in 2023 and I'm assuming this is the reason the publisher sent me a copy of the author's latest release, A Magic Deep & Drowning. I commented in my 3 star review of The Widow of Pale Harbour that there was too much romance for my liking but here there's even more. In fact, I'd go so far as to call A Magic Deep and Drowning a romantasy or young adult coming of age paranormal romance. It sounds like a mouthful, but this historical romance will appeal to readers familiar with the genre.

This reimagining of The Little Mermaid involves a gender switch and Maurits hails from the Water Kingdom where his people are in turmoil, disgusted by the way humans have overfished the sea to the point of scarcity.

Clara was an adventurous and courageous protagonist keen to accept accountability for the destruction:

"For the first time in her life, she had made a decision herself, one that did not sit precariously on the axis of her own comfort and duty." Page 249

Wanting to atone for the sins of human kind is obviously admirable, but I have no idea why she had to do it while being hungry all the time. Even when there was food to eat, Clara chose to hardly eat any of it which proved annoying.

I kept reading in hopes of returning and dwelling in the bustling streets and canals of 1600s Amsterdam when in hindsight I probably should have set this aside. The overarching message about being better custodians of the land and the sea will appeal to many readers, but A Magic Deep and Drowning by Hester Fox is confirmation that romantasy isn't for me.

* Copy courtesy of HQ Fiction * show less