Armed In Her Fashion

by Kate Heartfield

In 1328, Bruges is under siege by the Chatelaine of Hell and her army of chimeras -- humans mixed with animals or armour, forged in the deep fires of the Hellbeast. At night, revenants crawl over the walls and bring plague and grief to this city of widows.

Margriet de Vos learns she's a widow herself when her good-for-nothing husband comes home dead from the war. He didn't come back for her. The revenant who was her husband pulls a secret treasure of coins and weapons from under his floorboards and goes back through the mouth of the beast called Hell.

Margriet killed her first soldier when she was 11. She's buried six of her seven children. She'll do anything for her daughter, even if it means raiding Hell itself to get her inheritance back.

Margriet's daughter is haunted by a dead husband of her own, and blessed, or cursed, with an enchanted distaff that allows her to control the revenants and see the future. Together with a transgender man-at-arms who has unfinished business with the Chatelaine, a traumatized widow with a giant waterpowered forgehammer at her disposal, and a wealthy alderman's wife who escapes Bruges with her children, Margriet and Beatrix forge a raiding party like Hell has never seen.

Genres: Fantasy, Horror, Historical Fiction, Historical, Fiction, Queer, Historical Fantasy

300 pages, Paperback

First published April 24, 2018

About the author

Kate Heartfield is the author of The Embroidered Book, a Sunday Times bestselling historical fantasy novel published in 2022, which was shortlisted for the Ottawa Book Award. The Valkyrie, published in 2023, is a retelling of Norse and Germanic legends. The Tapestry of Time, published in 2024, is about four clairvoyant sisters fighting the Nazis for control of the Bayeux Tapestry in 1944. Her Alice Payne time travel novellas were published in 2018 and 2019. Her debut novel Armed in Her Fashion (2018) was re-published in a revised edition in 2023 as The Chatelaine. She also writes interactive fiction, including The Road to Canterbury, and The Magician's Workshop, published by Choice of Games. She has published two Assassin's Creed tie-in novels: The Magus Conspiracy and The Resurrection Plot. She has won the Aurora Award for Best Novel three times, and her short fiction has been shortlisted for the World Fantasy, Nebula, Locus, Aurora, Sunburst and Crawford awards, and her journalism for a National Newspaper Award. Her short stories have appeared in Strange Horizons, Lackington's, Podcastle and elsewhere. A former newspaper journalist, Kate lives near Ottawa, Canada.

Reviews

[Robin Hobb · Rating 5 out of 5]

First, the caveats. This book was a gift from a long time friend. I do not believe that affects my review.

I write books. And I read a lot of books and stories. So it is always a special pleasure to read a book when I absolutely cannot predict what is going to happen next.

The tale begins in Bruges, in 1302. I have little knowledge of the history of that place and time, and it mattered not at all to my engagement with the tale. The author centered me in the book's version of that place and time, and the people and creatures that inhabited it.

War. There is the war that is waged by powerful people and soldiers. And there is the war that ebbs and flows over ordinary people who are caught in its path. And in this tale, there is the war that erupts when the powers of hell emerges to enhance that war with its own special terrors.

In the midst of that, there is a mother, a wife, a widow whose greatest drive is to ensure her offspring's survival. A soldier whose weapon has been torn from him. A young woman whose love endures past death and defies the powers of Hell. Creatures who once were human and the humans who knew and cared for them.

Now, that is as much as I can say without major spoilers.

I am struggling to describe the pacing of this book. The narrative construction. Some books are so swept up in style that they become (for me) difficult to read. That is not what I'm talking about here. I will say that as this tale shifts between narrators, it takes the reader down the strange paths of each character's version of what is most important in the conflict. The reader witnesses how one conflict can send individuals sliding past one another when their goals and desires do not mesh with one another.

There is magic in this tale, and supernatural events. There are manifestations of power. There are twists and turns and even petty legalities that must be dealt with. Old loves and new hates. Hierarchies that prevail even in ridiculous circumstances.

This is a book that ignores the usual boundaries and rules of fantasy.

This story will stay with me for a long time.

[Kate Heartfield]

Hello all! This is my own book, so I won't rate it, but I thought I'd use this space to include some news and updates.
EDIT: New update as of 2022! This is being republished in a revised edition in 2023 under the title The Chatelaine. It includes a new prologue (previously published as the short story "Lilies and Claws" in the anthology Trouble the Waters: Tales from the Deep Blue.) I've also lightly revised the whole book. This novel is a bit darker than my others. I've written a content note here. Thank you!

[Bradley · Rating 5 out of 5]

I want to say this is a well-thought-out historical novel, and it definitely dovetails nicely with history, but let's face it: It's Hell on Earth.

In a lot of great stylistic ways, I'm reminded favorably of Peter Newman's The Vagrant, only it's right here and the minions of hell all speak French.

The novel is very female-centric, making this all kinds of awesome. Not all men are jerks, but all the revenant men definitely are. Add that to the laws which disenfranchise the lot of women, a cool attempt at bringing Justice to Hell, and a big smackdown when that doesn't pan out.

These mothers, widows, and even a non-identified transgender warrior all do everything they can to survive and secure their place in the world filled with dead-but-still-being-assholes husbands.

Don't assume this is just a fast-paced and bloody-minded fantasy with the minions of hell pouring out of the Earth. I mean, it is absolutely that, but it's also about doing the right thing... or not. :) :)

I very much enjoyed this. I'm gonna keep my eyes on this author. :)

[verbava · Rating 5 out of 5]

а ви знали, що пекло — це величезний звір, у нутрощі якого душі потрапляють через пащу? от середньовічні європейці знали. і коли каштелянка пекла виїхала з ним на поверхню землі, щоби знайомитися з людьми і здобувати друзів, персонажі кейт гартфілд доволі скоро зрозуміли, що трапилося. а кому не вистачило візуальних підказок, тим допомогли осмислити ситуацію покійники, які потяглися додому, щоб забрати там найцінніше, і армії босхіанських химер, виплавлених у пекельному горні й мастерних у справі облоги міст.

героїні роману вирушають відстоювати свої права — на спадок, на коханих, на самих себе — якщо не в єпископському суді, то на полі бою, і спостерігати за канонічним процесом виявляється не менш цікаво, ніж за аристократичними інтригами чи батальними сценами. уболівати хочеться за всіх — тобто за майже всіх, окрім короля франції, але ж має в сюжеті бути хоч хтось, через кого не розривається серце. і якщо з цієї книжки колись зроблять гру (а з неї вийшла б неймовірна гра), я дуже хочу можливості грати не тільки за маргріт, беатрікс і клода, а й за каштелянку пекла — мабуть, насамперед за неї.

[Elle Maruska · Rating 4 out of 5]

First, a content warning: this book has a trans character who is misgendered by friends and enemies and, as a trans man, is forced to wear women's clothing. But I will say that the trans character's identity is not a plot twist; he is who he is from his first introduction. He asserts himself against both enemies and friends. He is also given a happy ending and he does not experience any sort of sexualized violence. In fact there is little sexual violence in this book as a whole, which is more than a lot of medieval fantasies can say.

Wow this book was A WILD RIDE.

In the best way possible! You have ferocious chimeras, a massive beast that may literally be Hell, duplicitous kings and legal drama, plague-spreading zombies, and best of all, a small bedraggled group of widows standing firm against all the powers of hell and earth.

Medieval fantasy gets a bad rap that, for the most part, it deserves. It tends to tell the same stories over and over again, with the same sort of characters fighting the same sort of battles against the same sort of enemies. This goes against everything the Middle Ages in Europe actually WAS. It was a deeply weird era where peasants rebelled, clergy debated the natures of humanity and the divine, and there was far more diversity than most gritty beard-filled epics ever touch.

This book however is diverse. You have characters who are mostly women. The only main male character is trans. You have characters of color, showcasing that medieval Europe was far from all white. You have queer characters--the aforementioned trans gay man-at-arms. You have disabled characters and older women and all of them are given the same sort of heroic presence a noble knight might have gotten in a different story.

Heartfield writes about war and about the weapons left to those who are marginalized by a patriarchal society. Children fighting with bricks and stones. Women fighting with their words, with enchanted distaffs and giant hammers. Women fighting hell and earth to get what is rightfully theirs. Women fighting for each other, alongside one another, sacrificing for their children, their friends. Widows who are terrified but stand up to the Chatelaine of Hell and the King of France to secure their rights as best they can.

This book is as weird as the Middle Ages were. Giant water snakes, exploding chimeras....that's only part of the wonderful weirdness. If you're tired of the same old knights and swords stories, I highly recommend this book.

[Lindsay · Rating 4 out of 5]

We understand medieval Europe as a war-torn place with a populous threatened by a capricious ruling class and harshly proscribed society with a powerful Church. The threat of damnation and devils was as real to these people as the grotesques favored in architecture of the time. In Kate Heartfield's debut we get a look at early 14th century Belgium from the angle that all the threats that the Church warns of are real and players in the politics of the time.

This is all told from the viewpoint of women in and around the siege of Bruges, one of the last actions of the Flanders peasant revolt. We have the bad-tempered Margriet de Vos, her grown daughter Beatrix, both widowed in the revolt, along with Claude. a woman living as a male soldier (clearly transgender, but lacking the language to describe that) and their enemy, the Chatelaine of Hell. Her forces are besieging Bruges with attacks from chimera of her making and revenants, fallen soldiers returning as wraiths to attack their former loved ones. It's fair to describe the situation as hellish; Hell has literally opened its jaws not far from the action.

This is deeply strange and wonderfully inventive. There's little about the supernatural in this that the characters would find unbelievable; the forces attacking them are almost literally what the Church threatens people with. Additionally, by having all the major characters be women (ok, sort of for Claude), we're seeing a world where the demons of Hell are literally only just one more of the problems that these people have to face.

I can't wait to see what this author does next.

[Lata · Rating 4 out of 5]

With a literal bang at the beginning, a slow middle ambling into a moderately fast-moving finish, and a main character a little difficult to connect with, this book shouldn't work. But work it does. The difficult main character had me rooting for her almost right away, despite her quick, harsh words and demeanor. Margriet de Vos' merchant husband, who, after going off to fight, has returned as a revenant to Bruges. He and other men have been returning to the town to draw out their relatives to a dire fate. The men had been fighting the Chatelaine, a woman with hell's power at her command and Prince Philip as her human backer. The Chatelaine has been creating beasts with hell's power, and the revenants are part of the consequence of fighting her beasts.
Margriet discovers her husband has done wrong by her and their daughter, so when the revenant departs to return to the Chatelaine, Margriet convinces her daughter to come with her to retrieve his wealth to ensure Beatrix's future is not compromised. The women are accompanied by Claude, a transgender man who is a mercenary and has his own issues with the Chatelaine.
These three are the core of the group that end up taking on the Chatelaine and their quest seems doomed to failure, but Margriet cajoles, urges, snaps at and just keeps pushing everyone along with her. And it's Margriet, and the other people on the quest, with their different personalities and skills and desires, who make this story really come alive, and kept me reading till the last page.

[Beth Cato · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kate Heartfield's Armed in Her Fashion is a dark, gritty fantasy set in well-researched 1328 Bruges and environs. Not only does she realistically portray a transgender character within the period, but her entire cast feels real, from her near-sighted wet nurse protagonist to the very chatelaine of Hell. This is a fantastic read.

[River · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5/5

There was a kind of violence that went with such vanity, an unwillingness to let anything else in the world be beautiful.

[Ellis · Rating 3 out of 5]

14th century buddy comedy with some big Between Two Fires vibes and an incongruous lack of tension; for all that this cast of characters is under threat of war, chimeras, revenants, etc., I wish their journey had felt a little more frightening or intense. I feel like there must be a way to tell this story without misgendering Claude nearly as often, not in that I think that 1300s Bruges should have been more savvy about transmascs, but that maybe each character needn't have commented so often about silly girls in every chapter that wasn't from his perspective.

[Lulu · Rating 4 out of 5]

There were a lot of things that could have let this book down. The density of the specialised language - i.e. all the different items of clothing, weapons and armour which made me stop each time to look them up - the occasional latin, the characters not always being likeable, the story meandering in the middle, the late climax. But, miraculously, none of it did - this book was, instead, fantastic.

One thing that kept striking me as I read, was the fact that Heartfield managed to have such consistent, complex and different characters. It was easy to tell who was doing what without needing their names, because they all had such distinct personalities and perspectives. Maigret was my favourite, with her pigheadedness, but also her bravery. It's rare to see older women main characters, especially ones as unlikeable as Maigret, but her strength was what kept the characters and plot together. Her refusal to let go of what she wanted kept it moving forward, and I was rooting for her always.

The nice thing about this book is that all of the characters had their moments, all of the characters grew and had enough weakness that you couldn't help but like them. I was surprised by how much I sympathised with the Chatelaine, even.

I talk character rather than plot because this is a hugely character-driven plot. It felt realistic that the book consists of a lot of walking and resting and trading -- and yet somehow it remains so engaging. But as for the plot? It was interesting and took unexpected turns at just the right moments. It had just the right amount of characters and differing motivations to keep things tense and conflicted. I also knew nothing of 14th Century, particularly European, history, and it still managed to be accessible.

This is a great and ambitious debut novel, and I'm going to keep an eye out for whatever Heartfield writes next.

[Brownbetty · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a book that is maybe a three star book that I gave four stars because I liked it so much? It's my review, you can't stop me.

First: I should note that there's what reads to a modern reader as a closeted trans man who is misgendered by most of the people around him, due kinda to him being in the closet? It's not malicious, but if you don't want to read that, heads up.

Second: weird typesetting errors, two quite dramatic, but I got this from the library, so eh?

Finally: READ THIS BOOK YOU GUYS WHAT IS IT I DON'T KNOW BUT YOU PROBABLY HAVEN'T READ ANYTHING LIKE IT BEFORE? It's a book that's interested in the subaltern identities in twelfth century belgium? And also Hell is invading with an army of monsters? And the monster/subaltern/disabled collision is not accidental? And a major plot point is the rights of widows to property?

Margriet is one of the viewpoint characters and she's a great study case for "likeable" characters, because she's mean, rude, selfish, selfless, and fascinating. She's going to get her due if she has to go up against Hell to do it, because nothing has ever come to her easily, and why should this be different?

Beatrix is Margriet's daughter who is kind of Jane Bennet from P&P. She loves her mother and also would pay any money to just get a month away from her which makes the siege kinda unfortunate.

Claude is a mercenary in Hell's army who got hit on the head and woke up to find that his rescuers were like: "Hey, we've put you in women's clothing because clearly you made a mistake with being a crossbowman?" and now he just wants to get out of here and steal some pants and also a weapon.

Hijinx (????) ensue.

[Sue Burke · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a fun book — and it just won the 2019 Canadian Science Fiction & Fantasy Association’s Aurora Award for Best Novel. Congratulations, Kate!

A grumpy, greedy, dying widow, her head-in-the-clouds daughter, and a mercenary soldier who is secretly a woman join up with another rag-tag group of refugees fleeing medieval Bruges at war. The weapons against them include plague, revenants, and horrible animal-human-weapon chimeras sent by the Chatelaine of Hell, who has betrayed and imprisoned her husband, the Hellbeast.

As life goes from bad to worse for these refugees, they find they have no choice but to defeat the hellish Chatelaine and her ghastly army. It looks impossible – a mad plan, suicidal in fact, and complicated, but the widow’s money is in hell and she’s going to get it back.

Besides the action, plot twists, and historical accuracy, a bright thread of humor runs through the story and ties it up in a bow like a gift: a thinking woman’s tale of medieval sword-and-sorcery.

[Heather (๑˃̵ᴗ˂̵) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Took me a minute to warm up to the whole chimera / revenant plot but they reminded me of medieval bestiaries so I let them slide. Bonus points for hell mouths tho - those manuscript depictions of them rock. I was happy to learn at the end that the book is based off the 16th century painting called Dulle Griet, or Mad Meg, which depicts Meg leading a group of women to hell. Once researching the painting a bit more, I can see the author’s inspiration for the book more clearly and enjoyed her take on it.

I enjoyed that the story focused on women fighting for their inheritance rights, especially the love and bond between mother and daughter. In my medieval degree I was shocked to find out that many modern people have a negative attitude towards medieval mothers, viewing them as cold and unloving, which simply isn’t true. That debate and the plot of this book reminded me of the Liber Manualis, or Dhuoda’s Manual, a 9th century guidebook / advice book a mother wrote for her son, showing that medieval mothers had a lot of love for their children and would do anything they could to protect and guide them.

The book also included a trans character named Claude, but I was kinda sad that the main characters constantly misgendered him throughout. I hoped that through their quest the other characters would come to understand and respect Claude’s identity, especially Margriet and was really hoping for a heartfelt moment between the two.

Overall it was an enjoyable read and another book added to my medieval stories collection.

[Sandy Parsons · Rating 5 out of 5]

Heartfield pulls off a neat trick in this engaging story. She manages to write empowered female characters with agency while remaining true to the historical setting of the time period. These aren’t your typical damsels in distress waiting in towers for their heroes to rescue them. But neither are they feminine analogs of the classic hero trope (save for one). Further, this isn’t done at the price of emasculating or cuckolding the male characters, who are simply unfortunate pawns of the forces of competing political machines. The fantastical element is woven through the narrative naturally, and the reader has the sense that this terrifying state of affairs is both fantastic yet commonplace to the people inhabiting it. I’m no expert on 14th Century Bruges, and have no idea how much research the author did, but the details feel accurate, at least to the point that they aren’t blatantly anachronistic or out of place. This is a quick and interesting read and I highly recommend it.

I received an advanced kindle reading copy from Edelweiss, but my opinions are my own.

[ThatBookish_deviant · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5/5

“He did not like the king’s smell, perfumed and oily. Claude had known men like him before. Vain-glorious. There was a kind of violence that went with such vanity, an unwillingness to let anything else in the world be beautiful.”

What a weird, wonderful medieval fantasy story! We accompany a crew of recently widowed women with their trans man-at-arms guard. They’re on a quest to safeguard their future and prevent a catastrophic armageddon that Satan’s wife is conjuring.

The Chatelaine has usurped her husband, The Devil, and is determined to reign supreme over Hell and Earth. The Chatelaine weaponizes reanimated human corpses by melding their bodies with inanimate objects like maces or unicorn horns. These hybridized revenants are vectors of disease, spreading a lethal corpse-plague to grieving loved-ones who come within their proximity.

That’s just a small taste of all this uniquely dark and fantastical novel has to offer. I had a great time reading it and look forward to exploring more from Kate Heartfield.

[Gala · Rating 5 out of 5]

Я читала цю книгу, спочатку, сподіваючися, що всі жінки тут об'єднаються, нажаль, не всі. Я читала, вболіваючи за жінок Брюгге (і не тільки) та та за Кастелянку Пекла водночас, і мені страшенно прикро, що він-він тут не сталося (але сталося хороше таке сестринство).
Крім класної фентезі історії про справдя цікавих середньовічних жінок (що не є, при цьому, відьмами чи королевами) - це ще страшенно сумна історія про вмирання і переживання втрат, і про жінок, у життя яких чоловіки приносять саме лише лихо. Окрім хіба того, що його схрестили з єдинорогом, але це не точно.

[Ark · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed the characters, they were all so messy but in a charming way? And the prose and just generell vibe came across strongly as well. I just... didn't really get invested in the plot? It felt very low stakes for the setting/World. So at the end I was mostly left wanting more.

[Lisanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved that I recognized so many of the folklore tales that the book combines with the main story. I also must say that the ending was a little silly. Overall a fun read!

[Erin · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a weird book.

A trans man-at-arms, a shrewish old wet nurse, and a spinster with a magic distaff march on the gates of Hell to reclaim a stolen inheritance. Also features a debate on whether zombies are legally dead.

It could be fantasy, it could be alternate history, it could be philosophy. It was definitely strongly feminist, in a somewhat similar way to Women Talking, where the worth of women is always defined in relation to the men.

But it did discuss that women are expected to give and give and give, and it is a blemish on their womanly character if they ever want to take. Margriet, Beatrix, and the Chatelaine all experience this in some form. Also, how a man and a woman can hear the same conversation and make radically different conclusions. I couldn’t help thinking of Margriet’s accidental invitation to her husband was very like those vampiric legends, but also a case of willful misinterpretation.


And there are so many allegories for Hell. In the afterword, the author says the book was based on Dull Gret by Pieter Brueghel- I thought it useful for envisioning some of the crazier scenes (but again, all of this book was batshit).



There are more discussions of Hell, about how horrible and inescapable marriage can be, how the injustices a man can bring on his wife are the worst thing in the world (The beast was Hell because it was home to her husband, the antagonist laments at some point). Other good phrases: It is right that a wife should die, when her husband has no further need of her (if indeed he ever had need of her, even if he never provided for her while he was alive). If Judas and Caesar cannot be found in Hell, is it really Hell? It brings suffering and monstrosities, but it doesn’t match a Christian definition.

There were some Book of the New Sun-type asides that seemed to make reference to how horrible the modern world would be to a thirteenth century peasant. I thought those were pretty funny. They discuss how glasses and prosthetics are kind of chimera-ish, if you think about it.

Margriet was an interesting protagonist. She wasn’t very sympathetic or relateable, but her strong sense of justice was pretty indisputable by modern standards. She wasn’t a very loving mother to her adult daughter, but you could see how she knew better than to share her bitterness with children (unlike certain characters in An Unkindness of Ghosts, cough cough). There was love in her, but certainly not for any man.

The setting in general was really excellently researched. It was incredibly and specifically tied to its setting. I had to look up a lot of terms (especially clothing and different types of nunneries), but it was a good thing. It tied me more closely to Bruges in 1328.

I didn't really love this book, but I thought it was interesting.

[Csenge · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is probably my favorite new find of the year. What's not to love about a bunch of disgruntled women raiding Hell in 14th century Flanders? All the characters were well rounded, flawed, and likable, the prose was excellent, the historical background well placed, and the humor sufficiently dark. I only realized at the end that the whole thing was inspired by a Bruegel painting, and then I was even more impressed, because the book managed to bring the exact same dark-grotesque-humorous feel that the image has. I would have loved to read more, but I also was happy to see a story that was complete and well paced (I was just sad to let the characters go so soon). It was a great read all around, unique, excellently done, and likable.
THIS is how you do historical fantasy.

[Maik Wessel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lets talk about this book with an incedibly epic world and power design, which mixes the history with some quite realistic fantasy... And how all of it went downhill because of the way it was written.

The Story of Margriet de vos is an spectacular one. In the midst of an actual historic war, the appearance of hell itself drags bruges and it's surrounding cities into chaos. In this world she fends off against humanoid beasts created by the chatelaine of hell, revenants and death itself.
Besides Margriet, this book explores some really interesting characters, such as my favorite, Claude.
Claude is transgender. Being a woman by brith, feeling like a man, and on top of it all, living as a genoese crossbowman. The intricacy to his character was so refreshing in a world written full of war-hungry mercenaries.
Now, why is this book 3 Stars?
The writing, especially the ending, is horrendous. So spoiler, it's open ended, but both the pro- and antagonist die and there are just plot holes and unexplained characters everywhere... ( notify me if I missed a sequel thanks).

So um, love the fantasy, the women focused story, Claude coolest character, but fucking hell, in the end a cannon human blows up hell and walking eggs scramble (hehe) around then boom, the end.
3/5, would kiss the buff unicorn man as well.

[Aceber Anilom · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book came because my girl told me about a website that collects books written by a women that have won an award. This was my first book with a main character being trans. It was refreshing reading a trans character even though the rest of the book was not really my thing. It was historical fiction and women in power but I did not felt that they ere actually in power. Kind of like it but no. There’s no romance and I didn’t know I needed it but I did. But others may not and they may enjoy the action and almost everything. I like the magic aspect. The chimeras and the revenants but the end maybe was the thing that killed my love. It’s really abrupt. For a moment I thought that this will become a series of books that I’ll have to consider to read but no. Therefore, the las pages were full of kind of action and closing that I would prefer if they take more space.

[Fernanda · Rating 2 out of 5]

eu queria gostar desse livro, mas não gostei não, foi bem entediante

o conceito é tão bom! várias viúvas e um mercenário (trans!) vão até o inferno para pegar de volta o que é deles por direito, e tudo isso na bélgica e frança medieval COM ZUMBIS, mas o livro não entregou o que me prometeu, ao menos foi uma leitura rápida então não tive que ficar lendo por muito tempo

pode ter gente que goste desse livro, eu achei meio chato, mas trouxe umas discussões legais sobre casamento e direito de esposas, mas podia ter discutido mais sobre e foi legal aprender um pouco mais sobre bruges, então não foi uma total perca de tempo

"That was why the Beast was Hell – not because it shat brimstone or belched poison, not because of the revenants, not because it burrowed under the earth. The Beast was Hell because it was home to her husband."

[Lauren Scott-Smith · Rating 2 out of 5]

⭐️⭐️

This was well written in one sense - the dark historical setting, gritty world building, poignant prose. There were some great lines in here. The concept was great, very intriguing. Hell as a beast, an entity? Pretty cool!

Then there is the other side which for me fell so very flat. The characters and their story. I just never connected with any of them and therefore did not really care. That meant all the great world building and concepts put forward here just didn’t matter. It made what could have been a great read an exceptionally mediocre one for me. If you find yourself connecting with the characters you may have a great time. As I said, a pretty cool premise here.

I’d definitely recommend the audiobook for this at times. I found myself consuming the book more via that format and it certainly helped with all the names I could not pronounce!

[Cassandra Marie Darling · Rating 3 out of 5]

Will read Kates work again. She writes well and engaging. I liked the concept, time period piece love, the idea of this excited me... Beast from hell and the creatures brilliant idea.

However, it just wasn't executed well and it was really boring in a lot of parts of the story. Lots of waiting around, lots of just boring story with no real need or want. Shame as it ruined it. Then the ending ramped up but really rushed and quickly which spoilt it.

[Teo · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75 stars.

This is one of the most random stories I have ever read, but I’m glad I did! An interesting premise to do with Hell on earth, and a relatively diverse group of characters. Fair warning the trans character does get misgendered here and there.

I thought going into it that it would be more horrorish, but it truly isn’t in any way. I wish the story was more intense, it definitely had room to be more lively.

[Jenni]

This is a good book, but I had somehow not clocked before I started reading that it was going to have zombie adjacent stuff, which I just cannot handle, alas.

[Olivia Jaffe · Rating 4 out of 5]

neat characters, love an old surly peasant nursemaid who ultimately sacrifices herself to save her daughter by turning into a demonic cannon

[simbelmynë · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bruegel's "Dulle Griet" but way cuntier - widows, termagants, very fruity and very "fuck this cis bullshit" men-at-arms, and people in Hell talking in French (derogatory)