King Nyx

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Modern Age
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King Nyx: A Novel
Author: Bakis, Kirsten
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Time Period: Modern Age
Time Frame: 1918
Geographic Area: North America
Country: United States
Topics: gothic, Feminism
Genre: Fiction
Reading Age:Adult
Format: Novel
Published: 2024


American History > Modern Age

A haunting mystery about lost girls and the woman driven to find them, from the author of the contemporary classic Lives of the Monster Dogs.

Anna Fort wants to be a supportive wife, even if that means accompanying her husband for the winter of 1918 to a remote, frozen island estate so he can finish his book as the guest of an eccentric millionaire. When she learns three girls are missing from a school run by their host, Anna realizes finding them is up to her―even if that means risking her husband’s career, and possibly her life.

Her husband’s masterpiece-in-progress features strange meteorological anomalies along with wild speculations about “facts” he believes scientists hide from the public. Most people think Charles Fort is a crackpot. That’s about to change now that wealthy Claude Arkel is his patron.

Yet Anna is sure something’s not right on Prosper Island, though the alarming return of her “troubles” makes her question her own sanity. Is the figure in the woods really the ghost of her long-lost friend Mary, or a product of her disturbed imagination? Accompanied reluctantly by a fellow guest, the elegant and troubled Stella Bixby, Anna embarks on a dangerous quest to find the missing girls before Arkel finds her―or her own mind unravels.

A contemporary feminist tale with a dreamlike, gothic setting, King Nyx reintroduces readers, twenty-five years after her acclaimed debut, to one of our most astonishingly imaginative storytellers.

Emily's Review

This book had such delicious gothic vibes. I feel like the less you know going into this book, the better, so I won't go into detail here, but I found this book very compelling. I found the first quarter of the book to be a little slow, but if you stick it out the story gets really interesting from there. Once I hit 30% I was committed to knowing what was going on on this strange island. I don't read a lot of thrillers, but I thought this one was very unique, not just in setting, but the entire premise. I'm not sure I've read anything quite like this before.

This book has a lot to say about the way powerful men treat those around them, particularly women. This story focuses on the lives of the women who are bound to powerful men, either because they are married to them, or because they work for them. There is also quite a bit about mental illness - a lot of the paranormal element can be described as "Is it really happening or am I losing my grip on reality," and I love when a story can do that well.

The story had great tension and character development, and aside from the slowness at the beginning, I thought the pacing was pretty solid too. If you like stories like Jane Eyre and The Haunting of Hill House, I think you would enjoy this!

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