The Wicked Cometh by Laura Carlin Review

Hi ForeverBookers, 

We’ve had a lot of snow in the past week, where I live, so I’ve had extra reading time :). 

I’ve just finished “The Wicked Cometh” by Laura Carlin and it was good. 

This is my first read for the Read-O-Rama. I read this for the LGBTQ+ rep because there’s a lesbian romance featured in The Wicked Cometh. 

3.5 Stars (4 on Goodreads)!

The story is centred around an eighteen year old girl called Hester, in 1831. She’s poor at the start of the novel. She gets injured and a young man, Calder Brock saves her. He takes her to his family estate where Hester meets his sister Rebekah, a sedentary young lady. The story really starts from there...

As I’ve already said, there’s a lesbian relationship in “The Wicked Cometh”, also there’s recreational drug use, as well so if you’re put off reading by either of those things, “The Wicked Cometh” might not be for you. 

Spoilers below...

NOTE: I’m not going to directly quote this book because some bits were hard to understand, and I don’t want to get any of it wrong so I’ll just summarise the spoiler section, instead. 

Hester has lost both her parents and is brought up by Aunt Meg and Uncle Jacob. These characters aren’t heavily involved in the story. 

When Hester in injured, she is taken to Waterford, the Brock family’s estate. There she is looked after by two maids as well as Calder. Calder initiates Hester and Rebekah meeting. At first, they’re hesitant around each other. It’s only when a mystery that surrounds murdered bodies comes to the fore that Hester and Rebekah start to work together to try and figure out what is going on. 

I enjoyed reading about Hester and Rebekah’s early relationship, as well as their relationship further in the novel. These characters do fall in love. There’s sort of the hate to love trope going on. We read from Hester’s perspective, and to begin with she believes that Rebekah dislikes her and that she certainly doesn’t feel as strongly as Hester does. It’s, however revealed later that she does feel as strongly. 

The mystery elements were what put me off this book, though. I didn’t like what the mystery was surrounding so much. I will admit that I was shocked when it was revealed what was happening, though - so if you want a book with a good shock factor, I recommend this one. 

What did I like about “The Wicked Cometh”?

I liked our heroine, Hester. I thought she was a good character that had strong morals as well as a good sense of justice. 

I liked how the class divide between Hester and Rebekah was written. Hester is poor, as I said above, while Rebekah is from a well-to-do family. I like reading about romances where there’s a sub divide of class or race as it makes the story more interesting. 

I thought that the lesbian factor was handled delicately. I’m not one for reading gay/lesbian romances really but this wasn’t totally in your face. It was a main plot point but it was told carefully. 

I thought the settings were written well. The author definitely knows how to write a historical, run down setting!

What didn’t I like about “The Wicked Cometh”? 

I didn’t so much like the main plot point, other than the romance so much. It kind of bored me a little. So much so that without the romance I think I probably would have stopped reading half way through. 

Some parts were hard to understand. I understood what was happening but not why sometimes. 

Overall, I liked The Wicked Cometh. Some points were confusing in the middle but by the end, I really ended up enjoying it! That’s why I’m giving it 3.5 Stars (4 on Goodreads)!