Within These Wicked Walls - Lauren Blackwood

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⭐ 8.0/10

(Originally written by Magdalene)

This is a gothic supernatural Ethiopian reimagining of Jane Eyre, and it was so fun! Andromeda is a trained spirit-banisher who is so desperate for a job she agrees to take on the most difficult house in the area, owned by a strange cursed man. Of course it's more difficult than she bargained for, plus she has to figure out what's really going on.

It's a debut novel, and I felt like it showed. But I still really enjoyed it. Rochester was still flawed and made mistakes, but not outright terrible like in the original. He was also aged down to make it appropriate for a YA novel, which I didn't mind. It was definitely more inspired by Jane Eyre than a retelling, and I enjoyed the changes because it made the story unpredictable and fresh, although purists might hate it.

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