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Chaostheorie

Chaostheorie@bookwyrm.social

Joined 2 years, 7 months ago

Voracious reader of fiction, sci-fi, romance, historical fiction... I read in English, German and Dutch.

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Frances Hill: A delusion of Satan (2002)

Review of 'A delusion of Satan' on 'Goodreads'

2.5 * - I keep wavering between 2-3 *, but ultimately selected 2, because the book was honestly a bit of a slog.

I bought this on a visit to Salem because I wanted an educational souvenir that would allow me to learn more in detail about the historical events, and it served that purpose. However, it is a rather dry account of the accusations and proceedings.
Furthermore, the author frames the historical actors in terms of Freudian psychoanalysis throughout the book. Now, I am no psychologist, but haven't Freud's principles largely be debunked?
That being said, I still find much of of Hill's analysis persuasive and useful, it's just that it's a relatively small part of the book, compared to the lengthy lists of who accused whom, who was subsequently arrested, then questioned in the presence of the writhing accusers, then sent to jail, later tried, sent to jail …

reviewed The Last Graduate by Naomi Novik (The Scholomance, #2)

Naomi Novik: The Last Graduate (Hardcover, 2021, Del Rey)

A budding dark sorceress determined not to use her formidable powers uncovers yet more secrets …

Review of 'The Last Graduate' on 'Goodreads'

I'm too overwhelmed to say much at this stage, except that I expected exactly this cliffhanger ending all while hoping that it wasn't coming. Very Greek tragedy in that way. Can't wait for the final book.

Otherwise I'll just say again how refreshing it is to have a main character in a wizarding school story who recognises the injustices in wizard society, and then instead of just trying to restore the status quo and feeling vaguely sorry for themselves, she does something to fundamentally make things better. (Yes, that's a subtweet.)