Review: The Beast of London (Mina Murray #1)

Author: L.D. Goffigan

Started reading: August 20th 2021

Finished the book: September 8th 2021

Pages: 238

Genres: Fantasy, Vampires

Published: April 17th 2017

Source: Digital Copy from the author

Goodreads score: 3.77

My score:

Synopsis

Mina Murray once lived an adventurous life, but after a tragedy in the forests of Transylvania, she left it all behind. Now she has settled into a quiet routine as a schoolteacher in London, engaged to the respectable solicitor Jonathan Harker, attempting to fit into the stuffy upper class London society to which he belongs.

Her dark past comes careening into her present when Jonathan is abducted by a group of vampires from a society ball. Determined to rescue him, she teams up with her former paramour Abraham Van Helsing and his colleague, Scotland Yard Inspector John Seward.

As they pursue Jonathan’s abductors from England to the Low Countries and beyond, Mina realizes that Jonathan’s abduction is tied to a larger threat against humanity…

My thoughts

I have to start, right now, about the DUCHT in this book! I've read a lot of books over the years, and some of them have maybe 1 Dutch word, or talk a bit about The Netherlands, but now we have a story that, for a part, takes place in The Netherlands and contains the Dutch language as well. I was so surprised by that and, of course, felt an instant connection!

Pros

• Subtlety: What I LOVED in the first few chapters is how subtly this author lets you know that this story takes place a long time ago. Instead of just placing a date at the beginning of a chapter or book, and letting you know instantly. It's interwoven in so many things in the fist chapter and so clear but yet so subtle. Really well done.
• Dutch: Like I said at the beginning of my post: this book is a FIRST. This book takes place for a part in The Netherlands, has the Dutch people, the names, the language. It's so much fun to read an English book and I feel a bit proud too!
• Adventure: I felt like I was on a real adventure. I was so enthusiastic about this book that I've bought the second part in this series right away, and I can't wait to continue this story!

Cons

• Coincidental: Some things in this book are just too good to be true. It's a small cast of characters and somehow they're all connected to each other, or later find out that they're connected. I also felt like we maybe got a bit too many answers in this book and the final chapters. I don't know if that's possible, but I felt like everything had to be explained so thoroughly that it just was a bit too much in my opinion. 

Overall

This book felt like a huge adventure with a great cast of characters. I love that this book takes place at least a century ago. They are on this great quest around Europe and I was amazed how The Netherlands and the Dutch language was incorporated in this book.

I can't wait to read the second installment!

Memorable quotes from this book

"I had come to learn that grief was an emotion without end, marked by continual waves of loss and despair that ebbed and flowed for years, like the ocean tides."

Thanks for reading!

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