The Corpse Queen by Heather M. Herrman Book Review

What a chilling and thrilling novel The Corpse Queen turned out to be. This was an incredible read from start to finish, and it pulled me right of my reading slump. Heather M. Herrman weaved a very well-paced and well researched novel together. 

I really enjoyed the main character of Molly. Molly gets adopted by her “aunt” and is tossed into the work of grave robbing. Herrman did an exceptional job of including so many historical facts and details about grave robbing that was a very prominent, lucrative, and black market business during this time period. Molly quickly learns to have a strong stomach, how to lie and deceive, and how to stand confident and poised. Molly developed an incredible way of thinking on her feet. Along with all of this she was kind, thoughtful, and compassionate. All these traits, mixed with her intelligent brains, lead her to start training in the medical field. Again, I thought the history brought in about females in medicine was interesting. 

I cannot go into too much detail about the other characters, as I do not want to give any spoilers. What I can tell you is each of the characters was well thought out and executed. Most characters had a lot of gray area surrounding them which helped aid in the mystery of this book. 

I often have a hard time picturing books clearly. The descriptions were incredibly well done. I really felt I had a good sense of what the people and places looked like and what was happening in every scene. I liked the length of the chapters. I felt this book was well thought out and executed.

I had the ending figured out or so I thought. I had it partially figured out, but what came after what I had already figured out had me on the edge of my seat and reading like a mad woman. A very, very well done ending. It is not a typical ending at all, and I very much appreciated that.

I had a very hard time putting this book down, and I have already recommended it to several people. This book reminded me of bits of Jane Eyre, Devil in the White City, and Stalking Jack the Ripper. All three books I highly recommend to people, and this book took many of the wonderful bits of those books and kind of rolled them all into one very intriguing story. My only “warning” would be that some things can be quite descriptive and there is some imagery of birth, corpses, and “surgeries.” I know some parents do not mind that and feel it is a very natural part of life. I know others who would be angry if their children read about some of that depending on the age. If you are an adult with a weak stomach, you might struggle with parts of this novel as well. 

The Corpse Queen took its own unique path, and I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of this work that combined the thriller, mystery, and historical fiction genres. An easy 5 stars for me. Even though I know how it ends, I do plan on rereading it in the future because it was so well executed.

Thank you to Penguin Teen and NetGalley for the review copy. All opinions are 100% my own.