Anatomy: A Love Story and Immortality: A Love Story
by Dana Schwartz
Overall: I hadn’t ever read a duology, so I was excited to dive into this pair of books. In Anatomy we meet Hazel Sinnett, a young woman of good background who wants to become a surgeon. Unfortunately, in early 19th century Edinburgh, she couldn’t possibly become anything so disreputable. While Hazel tries to figure out how to worm her way into medical lectures, Jack Currer is just trying to survive. This sometimes means working as a “resurrection man,” digging up newly buried bodies and selling them to medical men for study. Strange events bring Hazel and Jack together in Anatomy, and their story concludes in Immortality.
Likes: Between the setting and the Frankenstein references, Anatomy turned the gothic level up to eleven! Spooky cemeteries, dank operating theaters, a huge estate with a dungeon – what’s not to love? Immortality, which takes place mostly in London, was a bit less gothic, but had a sweet sapphic love story that I really enjoyed. It also featured several real-life people (Lord Byron!) and a fresh and interesting take on the secret society. Hazel’s a great main character, spunky and brave without being irritating. I enjoyed her budding romance with Jack in book one and the love triangle situation in book two, even though those aren’t generally my cup of tea. And the baddies are quite epic: the kind of villains you just love to hate!
Dislikes: I have one “real” dislike and a couple of minor, nitpicky ones. The major one is that it stretched credibility that Hazel would be left for months on her own in a house with just a few servants, and that none of her mother’s friends or relatives would get wind of what she was up to and spill the beans. Now for the nitpicky bits. I read historical fiction (including historical fantasy) with an eye for the details, and when they’re not correct, it annoys me. In Anatomy, Hazel’s mother wears gloves during a family meal at home; this is inaccurate on two counts, as women generally did not wear gloves in their own homes during private family time, and gloves were never worn while eating or drinking. Yes, a million other shows, movies, and books also get this wrong. But still. My other sticking point was the heavy use of the word “okay” in dialogue. I know it’s a YA book, but “okay” or “OK” dates to the mid-19th century in the United States, a couple of decades after the events of these books. Once or twice and I might not have noticed, but “okay” is used so many times that I couldn’t help but get annoyed.
FYI: These books are billed as YA, but they contain very graphic descriptions of medical procedures, the outcome of a failed abortion, and death.
Liz Helfrich 