The Shape of Darkness: 'A future gothic classic' Martyn Waites

Product Information

Agnes Darken, a silhouette artist, is dismayed to discover that a serial murderer is picking off her clients one by one. When Elsie married handsome young heir Rupert Bainbridge, she believed she was destined for a life of luxury.

The Shape of Darkness (review) – Horrified The Shape of Darkness (review) – Horrified

Now, however, her role is to be consumed or subsumed: she’s there to give herself over to the spirits so they can speak and act through her.The only down side was that we didn’t meet her until she died but we do get Pearl’s sister as a bonus villain and who absolutely awful.

Laura Purcell - Fantastic Fiction Laura Purcell - Fantastic Fiction

Every element which the reader would want is present and correct: there’s a character with a body-snatching past, Penny Dreadfuls (and their tropes) are identified by name, there’s a gothic funeral cortege with black-plumed horses, and someone dying – horribly, gruesomely, in pure Victorian body horror – of “phossy jaw”. It feels a bit like Fog Cloud (stick it on ranged opponents to make them waste time moving), but it has a smaller radius and that rather situational dispel-low-level-light-spells trick. Desperate, she turns to child medium Pearl, hoping the ghosts of the dead men will reveal who killed them and why. Purcell's debut is an atmospheric, eerie Victorian gothic novel centered around a decaying English country estate. Taking place in the atmospheric setting of Victorian Bath we are introduced to the impoverished world of Agnes Darken, silhouette artist, and watch as she is drawn in to the world of mesmerism and spiritualism whilst attempting to uncover a mystery.

By that I mean it’s a Gothic delight with all Laura’s signature elements: a clever story that slowly unravels itself, a lead character you root for and a satisfying hit of the supernatural. The residents of the estate are terrified of the figure, but Elsie tries to shrug this off as simple superstition—that is, until she notices the figure’s eyes following her. For as long as it is removed, the vampire is immune to staking attempts, unless a stake is driven through the removed heart. She wants to make contact with an infamous child medium to try to reach out to her dearly departed clients, hoping they will reveal who killed them. Often the situations the characters find themselves would not occur if women were treated equally to men.

Member Reviews | NetGalley

I really felt for both Agnes and Pearl but never saw the reveal when it came, the book was that well written it gave nothing away.Agnes lives with her mother and nephew, and is looked after by her brother-in-law, Dr Carfax, who seems to be a hovering, overprotective presence as much concerned with keeping Agnes convinced she is ill as treating her. I’ve already made reference to this memoir written by “celebrity” medium Elizabeth d’Esperance, which is a fascinating, uncomfortable read. Role-playing Games Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for gamemasters and players of tabletop, paper-and-pencil role-playing games.