Review: The Strange Case of the Alchemist’s Daughter by Theodora Goss

The Strange Case of the Alchemist’s Daughter
by Theodora Goss
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Synopsis
Mary Jekyll, alone and penniless following her parents’ death, is curious about the secrets of her father’s mysterious past. One clue in particular hints that Edward Hyde, her father’s former friend and a murderer, may be nearby, and there is a reward for information leading to his capture…a reward that would solve all of her immediate financial woes.

But her hunt leads her to Hyde’s daughter, Diana, a feral child left to be raised by nuns. With the assistance of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson, Mary continues her search for the elusive Hyde, and soon befriends more women, all of whom have been created through terrifying experimentation: Beatrice Rappaccini, Catherin Moreau, and Justine Frankenstein.

When their investigations lead them to the discovery of a secret society of immoral and power-crazed scientists, the horrors of their past return. Now it is up to the monsters to finally triumph over the monstrous.

What I thought
“League of Extraordinary Gentlemen with ladies.”

How do I get my copy!!

This is how I heard this series described by Sam from Thoughts on Tomes. You can see her booktube video here where she received the second book in this series from the publisher. I discover when I went to look up the video that I never finished that haul video.  Why you might ask well that is because I literally took my lunch break and drove to my local bookstore and picked up my copy.

So after I had my copy I realized that I now had really high expectations for this book and rarely do books live up to really high expectations. But I am happy to be able to say that this book not only lived up to those really high expectations but surpassed them.

When I began reading this story I noticed that the characters in the story have a going commentary regarding the manuscript.  To be honest I wasn’t sure how I felt about it in the beginning and I remember stopping and really thinking about how I felt about it. but in the end, I really loved it.  This approach really added another layer to the characters and made me love them more.

This book takes characters from multiple gothic stories and molds them all together. These women are true friendship goals. I love not just the mystery of the story but the friendships in this book are amazing.  I am not going to go into the plot very much because I think that not knowing more than that one tagline is what made it so very enjoyable for me.

I can not wait to pick up the next installment! Thanks to my local library they are getting it in for me. (Update: They called and they have it in for me!!!!)

About the Author

Theodora Goss is the World Fantasy and Locus Award-winning author of the short story collection In the Forest of Forgetting (2006); Interfictions (2007), a short story anthology coedited with Delia Sherman; Voices from Fairyland (2008), a poetry anthology with critical essays and a selection of her own poems; The Thorn and the Blossom (2012), a novella in a two-sided accordion format; the poetry collection Songs for Ophelia (2014); debut novel The Strange Case of the Alchemist’s Daughter (2017), and sequel European Travel for the Monstrous Gentlewoman(2018). She has been a finalist for the Nebula, Crawford, Seiun, and Mythopoeic Awards, as well as on the Tiptree Award Honor List. Her work has been translated into twelve languages. She teaches literature and writing at Boston University and in the Stonecoast MFA Program. Visit her at theodoragoss.com.

My Rating: /5

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