What do readers think of The Quick by Lauren Owen? Write your own review.

This is not a 'quick novel'. In the beginning, the book did grab me, but I quickly lost interest in the middle, and it never recaptured my interest. This is a Victorian gothic novel, and it has many twists and turns. Although the number of characters were distracting, Ms. Owen does surprise readers. These unexpected events kept me engaged, and I felt a sense of accomplishment when I finished. Overall, this book is well written, and for those who love historic London will enjoy this book.

I found Lauren Owen's book, "The Quick" to be, from technical standpoint, well done. I enjoyed her writing style and admired her ambitious story line. I have a reading preference to be engaged with the characters - where I like them or despise them, they must engender emotion in me. Sadly, I found no connection with any of the characters.. I do need to add, I do not enjoy vampire genre. please note, I only read half of the book as it just didn't hold me.

I really wanted to like it. It started out really grabbing my attention. Half way through I became bored and I never recovered. It really could have been 10 chapters less. It has a few good twists but not enough to keep me interested.

This story of late Victorian London had little new or thrilling to offer- no romance, no suspense, no clever twists and turns. The ending was totally predictable. It was not badly written, but not well-written, either. All in all, very average.

I really enjoyed the beginning of the book - the Gothic mysterious quality to the story, and the relationship between James and Charlotte. As the story went on, however, it became unwieldy with too many characters, and the length of the book slowed the pace way down. The suspense and horror I wanted to find, to feel, were missing, lost in the sheer number of pages.

I got 200 pages into the 500 page book and found it to be uninteresting throughout my read. For the first hundred pages or so it kept jumping genres so I couldn't tell where it was going. Mystical British children's world like "Peter Pan" or "Harry Potter"? Victorian mystery? A fantastical world like "Night Circus"?

Then by about page 100 It became apparent that this was yet another vampire book perhaps with a few werewolves thrown in. I've read lots of them, so I often like the genre. But if an author is going to tackle this exceptionally well-worn genre she needs to have some new and interesting take on the legends, e.g., the first few Sookie Stackhouse books, Salem's Lot, etc.

I'm afraid that this standard vampire story in Victorian England just didn't cut it for me. Maybe I missed something really different that happens in the last 300 pages but I feel that 40 of the way through it I didn't anticipate any drastic revelations.

The Quick is cumbersome, in more ways than one. It's a large book at 500 pages and the extensive cast of characters and winding plot is honestly a bit exhausting. I did not find it an enjoyable read, especially as I am not particularly fond of the "vampire" genre. It was dark macabre on every level, with characters who showed little or no redeeming qualities. Just not the book for me.