Book Review: Melmoth by Sarah Perry

I am a big fan of horror, and I prefer my horror with a side of the paranormal, as opposed to creepy serial killers. So when Edelweiss was like "hey, check out this creepy new horror featuring the Melmoth the wanderer legend (of which I was entirely unfamiliar) I was like heck yes! Sign me up!!

I was not disappointed!

I went into this one pretty blind, except for the fact that Harper Collins and their fabulous book review squad said this one was creepy and excellent. (They were right.)

Summary: For centuries, the mysterious dark-robed figure has roamed the globe, searching for those whose complicity and cowardice have fed into the rapids of history’s darkest waters—and now, in Sarah Perry’s breathtaking follow-up to The Essex Serpent, it is heading in our direction.

It has been years since Helen Franklin left England. In Prague, working as a translator, she has found a home of sorts—or, at least, refuge. That changes when her friend Karel discovers a mysterious letter in the library, a strange confession and a curious warning that speaks of Melmoth the Witness, a dark legend found in obscure fairy tales and antique village lore. As such superstition has it, Melmoth travels through the ages, dooming those she persuades to join her to a damnation of timeless, itinerant solitude. To Helen it all seems the stuff of unenlightened fantasy.

But, unaware, as she wanders the cobblestone streets Helen is being watched. And then Karel disappears. . .

My Review: My initial thought was "this book is h*ckin' weird." and that thought stuck throughout the whole thing. The writing style was entirely different from anything I've read before. Strange, incredibly poetic, kind of all blurred together into one. The characters were rich and equally as strange, with backstories that wove in and out of the narrative, and a few loose ends that weren't annoying so much as intriguing.  

There were points at which the writing style confused me, and I couldn't do my usual almost skim-read because I'd miss important bits and it was almost boring, but when I slowed down and savored the words, it became a much better, much more complex and interesting read. 

Would definitely recommend to people who a) like a good ghost story (this has a much more ghosty feel than a monster-y one), b) is into literary fiction, or c) is looking for a book to transport you and make you go "...wow."