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Lauren Owen's The Quick is a well written and carefully plotted novel that pushes the edge of a couple of genres-historical fiction and supernatural. It starts out as almost a coming of age story of a poet/playwright and takes a sudden about face and leads you on an exploration of London and various groups at odds with one another, with some memorable characters. It jumped around a bit more than I like but in all I became very vested in Miss Norbury and her quest and those who try to help. It was a fun read and would be appreciated by Anglophiles, YA readers, and gothic fiction fans alike.

The Quick transports you directly to London England, in the late 1800s. This book will appeal to anybody who enjoys historical fiction with a supernatural twist. Readers who aren't strong fans of the vampire genre of books will even enjoy this book. If vampires did exist – this would be their story. I was, however, disappointed in the ending of The Quick. It rambled on long after the main story line was complete.

I've recently come back to Gothic novels. I used to love them when I was younger but lost interest but now I'm back. The Quick is a good starter to come back. It's a nice low and slow burn, building on interesting characters, who I rooted for and couldn't wait to find out what happened.

The Quick is well worth the read and a good example of a Gothic novel.

The debut novel, The Quick, is Gothic storytelling at its best. Owen creates an atmospheric historical epic with paranormal twists. The cast of characters range from the London slums to the peerage. Most mysterious is the Aegolius Club. This is a dark mix of plot twists and horror elements. I thoroughly enjoyed it. The momentum builds to a fascinating and satisfying ending. I hope Ms. Owen offers us more novels in this fantastical world.

Lauren Owen has shown great talent in her writing and her degrees in Victorian Literature and Creative Writing are showcased on each page of her novel "The Quick".
I found it difficult at first to engage myself in her story, however after the first 100 pages I jumped on board for the race to the finish line with all of the plots' twists and turns. Once I finished the book, the story stayed on my mind for days. I loved her novel and would recommend it for all age groups, especially readers who love historical fiction. I will look forward to future novels by this author.

I was surprised by several plot lines and twists which are not topics I would normally be interested in, and when it comes to the supernatural, it's a topic I would actively avoid. But the author has a way with words, where the experience of reading them allows the reader to have a relationship with the words themselves. The Quick was a an exciting and unexpected book and I appreciate the author's gift with words that allowed me to read outside of my usual interests.

Lauren Owen's The Quick is something of a "slow burn" read, first leading you down one path of Victorian England by the hand, then pushing you quite suddenly into something else that it leaves you shocked. The book keeps on doing this, time and time again as it changes from third person narration to another character's diary, and back and forth until you aren't sure you'll be able to differentiate one character from another or that Owen knows quite where her own story is going. But then Part 4 comes along and something amazing happens - characters that seemed superfluous at first show how essential they are, and you find yourself grateful for the jumps back and forth in time that in the beginning felt haphazard. By the time you've finished reading, you don't want to let go of the world and characters and Owen has created and are simply left mystified and wishing for more. What promised to be the story of a would-be-poet in a dark Victorian London became nothing short of a wonderful story of grief, hope, survival, and love.

In "The Quick" by Lauren Owen, I was immediately drawn in by the characters. I sympathized with James and quickly was rooting for things to go his way. Although as the story moves along, more and more characters are introduced and the true plot is revealed, which may be surprising to readers that were expecting just a Victorian novel. The book is fairly quick paced and easy to read. There is a lot of background information but I felt that added to the story. I enjoyed reading "The Quick" and would recommend it to readers who enjoy a more dark and gothic novel.