Book Review: Worlds of Ink and Shadow by Lena Coakley

Read: December 28-29   Verdict: 4 Stars

I received a free digital copy from the author/publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest feedback.

Emily and Charlotte Bronte are some of the best known names in the world of classic literature, along with their younger sister Anne. But when they were teenagers with their brother Branwell, they created other characters in other worlds. Worlds of Ink and Shadow plays with the story of the younger Bronte siblings and slips in a thread of magic that makes their stories come to life. But soon things become dark, and the siblings have to work together to save themselves but may set their tragic fate in stone along the way.

Magic realism meets classic Bronte characters is the best way to describe this book. It's easy to see the basis of Heathcliff, Rochester and Jane Eyre in the early characters created by the siblings and I really loved being able to identify them.

I loved the idea in this book of story characters running away from their creators to make their own story. Anyone who is a writer knows the strange ability fictional characters have of suddenly writing their own lines and how a story can be intended to go one way and ends up the complete opposite. And what writer wouldn't like to physically step into the world they've created and converse with their own imaginings. I loved how Coakley played with this idea.

I didn't know much about the Bronte sibling's history so I think it's one of the big reasons the book worked so well for me. I'm sure, like all fictional books about real people, there are some flaws in it but I thought there was enough classic Bronte, magic and adventure for me.