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| Review by Coll 4 Stars |
Right off the bat I want to say that I am a sucker for Southern Gothic. Maybe this can be blamed on the Coven season of American Horror Story, or maybe the genre is just super intriguing to me, who knows? Ramblings on my affinity to the genre aside, that is what drew me to Much of Madness (Conexus Chronicles #1) by S.E. Summa (also holy crap what a great cover!). The story is set in New Orleans and Nashville and revolves mainly around a young girl named Seraphina Pierce. Not only does she have magic abilities but she also happens to be cursed to never be able to love someone, lest her curse kill them with one touch, and is best friends with a sin-eater (it is how it sounds, someone who can eat another person’s sins to unburden them). The only way to break the curse binding her is to acquire an ancient grimoire, a book also sought by a young man, Marceau, for his very dangerous and sinister boss. When Seraphina and Marceau meet at the auction for the grimoire, their lives collide in a drastic and dangerous way.
My favourite thing about Much of Madness was the storyline. It was out of the box and intriguing and I pretty much enjoyed every second of it. The characters are likable (the good ones at least) and they are also all flawed, which makes relating to them (as much as you can relate to someone with magical capabilities) that much easier. Not to mention the chemistry between all the characters was just brilliantly done. Those who were friends in the book seemed to have genuine friendships, and were just like any group of people who are close in real life and get together for movie nights and take-out nights. Something about the closeness and realism between the friends in the book just made me really fall for it that much more. As for the antagonist and all his cronies in the book, man do you hate them. I am not sure about you, but when there is a character in a book who is supposed to be bad, I really want to get an aura of evil that makes me completely despise them. In the case of Much of Madness, that is how I felt about the bad guy.
The setting descriptions were hit or miss for me. On one hand you would have an area, like the apartment or auction house, that were described so well I could picture everything in my head as if I were there. Then on the other hand you would have areas, like many of the outside spaces in Nashville, that I found the descriptions lacking and not vivid enough to give me a good visualization. The dialogue was quite good, and I adored a lot of the cute and witty banter between the characters. For the most part, the character interactions came off quite natural and the emotions they felt towards one another were easy to read. There is a romance aspect to the book but it is completely pivotal to the story and done in the right way, not overly dramatic or romancy but enough to make you care.
As for the Southern Gothic part of this story, yeah I did not get as much of that as I had hoped. The South (especially the New Orleans area) is so deeply rooted in myth and lore (hoodoo, paranormal, the grotesque, etc.) that, when done right, can add so much to a story. Not only does it contribute history and culture, but it has a whole level of creepiness that can send shivers up your spine. Unfortunately, there was not as much of that as I would have liked in Much of Madness. I would say it is more of a YA Paranormal Fantasy book with some loose influence from Southern Gothic, and to be honest, that did let me down a bit. The book had the basic themes of the genre but I feel it would have benefited from more detailed lore in the story. My only other issue was that about 90% into the book the story took a turn that kind of came out of left field for me and it all got a little convoluted. I felt like it was a little rushed and not explained as well as I would have liked.
Overall I really enjoyed the book. I was torn between 3 1/2 and 4 stars, but felt it just leaned more towards a 4 star rating for me. It was creepy, smart, funny, well-written, and exciting, and I had a hard time putting it down. I found myself charmed by the story, at moments disturbed, and wishing I could hang out with the main characters in the book. It was well-done and the ending was not a huge cliffhanger, yet still left me wanting more, so I will definitely be continuing on with the series. If you are a fan or paranormal and are looking for something a little different then I would definitely recommend Much of Madness.
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