Gothic Horror

House of Salt & Sorrows (Sisters of the Salt #1)

Author: Erin A. Craig

Average Rating:   3 / 5

Trigger Warnings:  

 Twelve sisters. Four mysterious deaths. Who is next?

In an isolated manor, the only home on the island, Annaleigh lives with her sisters, their father, and their new stepmother. The sisters used to number a dozen, but desolation is slowly creeping up the halls with every tragedy: a wasting plague, a slip off a ladder, a drowning bath, and a slippery plunge into the ocean. Each death lends credence to the whispers that are spreading throughout the neighbouring towns – the Thaumas family is cursed by the gods. 

The curse is nonsense… isn’t it? Annaleigh isn’t so sure. She’s seeing things that can’t be real and the ghostly scenes are causing her to question if her sister’s deaths are truly unconnected accidents. What’s stalking unseen through the empty rooms? None of her sisters share her worries. They are too busy sneaking away each night to dance at glittering balls where their slippers are reduced to shreds. Should Annaleigh stop them or push aside her misgivings and join them on their midnight rendezvous? Because who – or what – is really asking them to dance?

Then Annaleigh meets a mysterious stranger who she is intensely drawn to. But he has secrets of his own. Will she be able to penetrate the darkness that has infiltrated her home before the next life is claimed – and will it be her own?

Corinna : 2.5/5

A House of Salt and Sorrow was darker than I expected! It was more gothic horror than I have ever read, and I am not sure that I enjoyed it. I am ok with some darkness, but I think the author took it too far and one scene was down-right disturbing. Maybe it just isn’t my genre. 

I enjoyed the premise of the story and was excited for an adult retelling and expansion of The Grimms Fairytale “The Twelve Dancing Princesses” or “The Shoes that were Danced to Pieces”.  I am usually a fan of retellings and re-imaginings.

I felt some of the characters were inconsistent, and their reactions to certain situations didn’t match how they were previously described or portrayed. The author’s world building was lacking as well. It felt incomplete, which was unfortunate because it had the bones of a great fantasy world. It also didn’t end as I would imagine a gothic horror would or should, instead it was wrapped up into too much of shiny happy bow.

It was a disappointing read for me.

Lydia : 3.5/5

My main issue with this book was the length, I felt like the story was being dragged out and it was just not enjoyable to read by the end. It erred on the side of cheesy and although I did appreciate the nod to gothic horror, I expected it to be a lot darker. 

I left this book not knowing what to think in all honesty because I didn’t hate it but I definitely wouldn’t pick it up and read it again. The reason I wouldn’t fully classify this as a gothic horror was because of the ending – it was happy and ended on a positive note… where in most gothic horrors the ending is gruesome and dark. 

I really enjoyed reading about the sisters going to the balls and reading about how the sisters’ deaths affected Annaleigh and her motivations. I would have loved to see this book made into a movie because of that. Unfortunately the world building was not extensive enough for it to be transcribed into a movie. 

Overall, the characters fell flat and the book failed to entice me. 

Megan : 3.5/5 

This book was pretty good. Once I started, I couldn’t stop. It also was nothing like I had expected, as it was a good mix of mystery, fantasy, and horror. For some books, the summary on the back can give too much away, but not this one. I actually found the summary a bit confusing (but obviously not enough because I still picked up the book and read it) until I got to the parts of the story that it was alluding to. What was completely unexpected was the horror aspect. Some scenes were downright creepy, as only a book about dead sisters could be. With so many sisters, some weren’t as fleshed out as others, but it worked for the story. Verity had an interesting arc, but I wonder why those things always seem to happen to the youngest! It makes it so much worse.

The author was really good at keeping the tension throughout the story. What was happening? Why that family? Where are the sisters actually going when they go out dancing? The tension was built beautifully to the final scene (love stand-alone novels – things are wrapped up in one book!). Mind-blowing craziness ensued and it was reminiscent of Rebecca (by Daphne Du Maurier). The epilogue wrapped up the story quite nicely – for the most part. It did a complete 180° for the vibe and it actually detracted from the overall story. If I ignore the last six pages, then the book would’ve been rated a four. However, I can’t ignore them, so my rating needs to reflect the unnecessary addition to the ending.

Sharaya : 2.5/5 

This book was not what I had anticipated. I expected a dark, adult-level fairy tale, but this book felt more like a gothic horror tale. The imagery was quite gruesome at times and there was one scene that was downright gross – and I’m not a squeamish person by any stretch. I felt like the author took it a step too far past effective. I also found some of the characters, particularly that of the father, to be beyond mercurial and downright inconsistent. Some of this could be explained away by the magical/mystical elements of the book, but I felt like poor writing was also in play. 

By now, you should all know that I’m a sucker for world building, however Craig’s world and mythos felt unfinished and poorly executed. The final nail in the coffin was the happy, neat bow of an ending which was completely infeasible and totally at odds with the unsettled feeling of the rest of the novel. The only reason I gave it as high a rating of 2.5 was that Craig very effectively gave me the wiggins and kept me guessing about what was going on behind-the-scenes. 

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