Review: Young Gothic by M.A. Bennett

Young Gothic by M.A. Bennett
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Filled with deadly secrets and the monsters you thought only existed in your mind ...

You've heard of Frankenstein's monster, you've heard of Dracula, but have you heard of the Villa Diodati? Eve, Griffin, Hal and Ren embark on a summer they'll never forget at the birthplace of all things Gothic.

The summer is beset by mysterious happenings, as the monsters they create begin to clamber out of their minds. Events rise to a horrible climax when, on a dark and stormy night, one of the villa's guests is found dead and each of our foursome becomes a suspect in a gruesome murder.

It was supposed to be the trip of a lifetime. But when the stuff of nightmares becomes their reality, will they make it out alive?

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Okay, so it's been a while since I've written a book review because I've been so busy with PhD work, but I just had to write about this one! This book has everything I like: creepy castles, creepy owners of castles, creepy doppelgangers, and twists I just did not see coming!

I'm always a bit wary about books with multiple first-person narrators, and this one has four, but it was done so well. Each of the narrators--Eve, Griffin, Hal, and Ren--was so distinguishable, and I really, really enjoyed seeing their personalities shine through their writing styles.

The intertextuality of this book was amazing. Seriously good. Spoilers ahead! Bennett cleverly and subtly (and not so subtly in places!) wove in references to so many 19th century gothic novels. Frankenstein, The Invisible Man, Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde, and The Vampyre. Eve, one of the narrators, is a gothic novel enthusiast, and so she made so many links within her narratives and references that I (as a fellow gothic novel enthusiast) got. Hal is a film enthusiast, and there was so much intertextuality for films too, but I wasn't familiar with most of those and so it didn't have quite the same 'aha moment' effect on me... but it's definitely signposted me to a lot of films to watch.

The pacing in this novel was excellent, but the only bit that threw me was the ending where Griffin's ex/stalker came into the story. Suddenly, it almost seemed like a different novel--though it was now leaning toward An Inspector Calls. But I really did like the pregnancy/baby storyline. In fact, there were two pregnancies (though Eve's was historic and she had an abortion). My PhD research is primarily about pregnancy horror and so this book definitely fits that for me--though this one is more centred around a pregnant character (or two) in a horror story, rather than the pregnancy being the source of the horror.

The characters in this novel were (I think) 18 to 20. It read a little older than most YA, but it still felt YA overall to me. And I loved this.

Other things I also loved:

- the creepy reveal about the servants' tongues having been cut off

- the architecture of the castle and there was a lake

- how the four main characters were re-creating the iconic visit of the Dead Poets 200 years ago.

I will definitely be reading the sequel!

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