ARC Review: Within These Wicked Walls by Lauren Blackwood (mostly spoiler-free review)

Welcome back to Musings of an Arthritic Artist! Today I'm going to be doing a book review. This review is for Within These Wicked Walls by Lauren Blackwood.

I won an ARC of this book through Goodreads earlier this year. I decided to upload this post on this book's release date. The release date was originally November 19, however it was moved up to October 19. 

I was surprised to find this book advertised everywhere on Goodreads a few weeks ago. Supposedly, it is the most anticipated gothic YA novel of 2021. 

With all the introductory stuff aside, let's get into the review!

Within These Wicked Walls is a gothic YA fantasy retelling of Jane Eyre. I've heard mixed reviews on that front. The only hint I could tell that this was a Jane Eyre retelling was that the love interest's surname is Rochester, naturally referencing the famous Mr. Rochester.

I've never read Jane Eyre, however upon researching Edward Rochester, I have found some parallels and differences between Jane Eyre and Within These Wicked Walls. Based on what the main plot of these two books is, I'd say it's more Jane Eyre inspired or more of a Jane Eyre homage, perhaps even a reimagining, but as I have not read Jane Eyre, I cannot fully say. I will discuss these parallels and differences in the spoiler section toward the end of this review.

The synopsis reads as follows:

Andromeda is a debtera--an exorcist hired to cleanse households of the Evil Eye. When a handsome young heir named Magnus Rochester reaches out to hire her, Andromeda quickly realizes this is a job like no other, with horrifying manifestations at every turn, and that Magnus is hiding far more than she has been trained for. Death is the most likely outcome if she stays, but leaving Magnus to live out his curse alone isn't an option. Evil may roam the castle's halls, but so does a burning desire.

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I found Magnus to be an interesting and refreshing love interest. He was very sensitive, which isn't usually a trait of a male love interest in most of the books I've read despite how true it can be in some cases. Most YA male love interests tend to be tough and sometimes even jerks. They tend to be rough around the edges. It was nice to read a love interest who didn't act like that. I like novelty and get bored with a lot of repetition. This was definitely unique and different. I've never read a story like this.

Andromeda was very intriguing as well. She was a strong, brave character that didn't get on my nerves.

The romance aspect felt a bit insta-lovey, but it wasn't so bad that it got on my nerves. The romance itself was cute and interesting. I appreciated that the love interest wasn't rude to the main character, which is a recurring (albeit annoying) theme in Young Adult literature.

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Personally, I think the cover could've been a bit better, but it's still very nice. I'm just not sure it fully fits the gothic horror vibe it's going for. I do, however, love the colors. I just think it could've appeared more gothic than it does. It just doesn't seem dark enough. 

It should’ve been a bit darker. Perhaps purple or something. It doesn’t look like most gothic fantasy covers I have seen. It’s too light of a color to fully make sense.

Just to be sure, I asked my mother and sister what they thought the genre of the book was based on the cover. Neither of them know the plot of the book, but they’ve read a lot. My sister guessed historical fiction. My mother guessed dystopian. Because this is a gothic fantasy romance novel, this cover didn’t convey the genre as well as it could’ve.

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The writing is surprisingly very good for a debut author. The characters are also very good and are very layered. It isn't a perfect book, however it's also not my typical read. I don't read a lot of gothic books, so this was a bit out of my usual comfort zone, but I was very intrigued. Every chapter left me wanting more. 

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💥🔥SPOILER ALERT🔥💥
Anything below this is a spoiler
You have been warned

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These are the parallels between Jane Eyre and Within These Wicked Walls.

1. Both main characters (Andromeda and Jane respectively) are orphaned as children 
2. Both main characters are religious young women
3. Both main characters are about 19 when they fall in love with their employers
4. Richard Mason (Jane Eyre) and Esjay (Within These Wicked Walls) seem similar in that both still care for their sisters (who were both romantically involved with Mr. Rochester and Magnus, respectively)
5. Both castles in Jane Eyre and Within These Wicked Walls are named Thornfield
6. Magnus, much like Mr. Rochester, is the main character's employer. While both are employed for different reasons, they consequently both end up the main character's boss
7. Magnus and Mr. Rochester are both interested in the main characters of each book almost immediately.
8. In both books, the main character saves the love interest (Magnus and Mr. Rochester, respectively) due to something involving their rooms (Mr. Rochester's bed was on fire and Magnus' bedroom was filling up with water and blood)
9. In both books, the main character believes their love interest is engaged and is devastated upon finding this out (however I'd say this was handled way better in Within These Wicked Walls than Jane Eyre upon my research as Mr. Rochester flirted with Blanche to make Jane jealous while Magnus had already been engaged to Kelela prior, though he didn't truly love her)
10. At the end of both books, the main house of the main character's employer is set on fire (in one [Jane Eyre] it seems to have been purposeful, while in the other [Within These Wicked Walls] it seemed to be nothing more than an accident)
11. After the fire mentioned above, both couples (Jane and Mr. Rochester and Magnus and Andromeda, respectively) move into an old house
12. Kelela (Within These Wicked Walls) and Blanche (Jane Eyre) are elitist/snobbish and are rude to the main characters (though I'd say Blanche was worse than Kelela due to the mercenary stuff with her mother)
13. Both Jane and Andi believe themselves to be plain
14. Both books have a character named Edward (Edward Rochester (Jane Eyre) and Edward, the horse keeper (Within These Wicked Walls), respectively)

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These are the differences between Jane Eyre and Within These Wicked Walls

1. Jane Eyre begins with Jane's childhood while Within These Wicked Walls skips Andi's childhood and starts upon her being employed at Thornfield
2. Jane Eyre has a boarding school while Within These Wicked Walls does not
3. Mr. Rochester has been married before while Magnus is only engaged and has never been married
4. Within These Wicked Walls takes place in Ethiopia (a country in East Africa) while Jane Eyre takes place in England.

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The only weird thing about this book was that Saba was Magnus's mom and had previously loved and seemed to be in a relationship with Jember, Andi's adopted father. That was the only aspect of the novel that felt a bit weird to me as Magnus and Andromeda were in a romantic relationship. Other than that, I don't really have any complaints.

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✔👍SPOILERS OVER👍✔

Overall, this was a really enjoyable book. I gave it 4 out of 5 stars. It was a different type of read for me, but it was very enjoyable. I'd recommend it to anyone who enjoys gothic fantasy mixed with a bit of romance. 

That's it for this review! I hope you enjoyed it! 

See you Thursday, 

Lexi K🖌