Review - "Jane Steele"

Jane Steele
by Lyndsay Faye
rating:☆☆☆
published: 22nd March 2016
spoilers? yes

Goodreads

When we tell the truth, often we are callous; when we tell lies, often we are kind. Through it all, we tell stories, and we own an uncanny knack for the task.

Galley provided by publisher.

When I read Jane Eyre last year I hated it. I'm still not entirely sure why - some combination of the characters and lack of patience for Bronte's writing, probably. I also read and loved Lyndsay Faye's Timothy Wilde Mysteries, so when I saw the premise for Jane Steele I figured that if anyone could work some magic on Jane Eyre, it'd be her.

That being said, I think that my disliking the original book so intensely perhaps affected to my enjoyment of the book. In volume one, the story kept relatively close to the plot of the Bronte novel, and so I found it slow and not that easy to get into. Once it started to deviate from what I knew, for one when Edwin is killed, and later when Jane and Clarke run away to London, I found it a lot easier to read.

There was a point, though, between Jane becoming employed by Mr Thornfield and when Jack Ghosh shows up at the house, where I felt the storyline dragged. Not much was happening, or at least that's how it seemed, and I got a little bored.

The last 30% or so, after Jane had once again run away to London, was amazing. I would rate that by itself 5 stars, but I'd found the first 70% hard going, so overall it's more of a 3 star book in my opinion.

I think I only really had trouble with this book because of my dislike of Jane Eyre, because objectively it is a great book. Lyndsay Faye's writing is gorgeous as usual - she has this wonderful knack of crafting such intricate stories that have twists and turns that you would never expect. This was the case with all of the Timothy Wilde books and it is also the case here. In this one, the mystery, because it isn't central to the plot as much as it is in Timothy Wilde, is perhaps a little rushed. I still didn't see the actual culprit coming at all, and for a bit I believed it to be someone else (exactly as planned, I suspect, because there's this bit that nudges you towards a certain conclusion).

Also as usual, the relationships between characters are great. They are my favourite aspect of the Timothy Wilde books, and are perhaps what kept me from quitting this book around the halfway mark, when it was a little slow and I didn't know if I could get through. Some of the interactions had me laughing out loud.

In general, I think this book is probably suited more to people who either liked Jane Eyre or haven't yet read it. It's good, even if you didn't, and I would definitely recommend it either way, but it helps.