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A review by lorintheninth
The Wages of Sin by Kaite Welsh
3.0
As a feminist who lives in Edinburgh, studied history at Edinburgh Uni and has a fascination for Victorian medicine, this book sounded perfect.
The plot of this book was enjoyable, if somewhat tropey. I had an idea of who Lucy’s killer was and desperately hoped I was wrong, however you are kept hanging until the last moment when all revealed. The plot pacing was somewhat skewed, with the first portion of the book being rather fast paced followed by a slow middle and then a fast paced ending.
My favourite character in the book was Elisabeth and I hope we get to see more from her in the next book in the series. I felt the characters were believable, however I do wish some were fleshed out a bit more (such as Sarah’s uncle). There is a small mention of LGBTQ+ relationships but not enough to categorise the book as LGBTQ+.
The research that has gone into this is commendable. It is a pet peeve when authors fail to capture Edinburgh in all it’s drizzly glory, but Welsh managed it. The layout of the University and it’s history were described in fantastic, accurate detail - her settings and descriptions are brilliant and it truly feels like you’re walking along with Sarah on the cobblestones of my city.
One issue I had with Wages of Sin however was the characterisation of sex work. I understand that in historical fiction it may feel that some paths are already set out for authors but fiction offers the chance to change and twist them into something new. I felt uncomfortable with some scenes where demonising sex workers seemed to come so easy to the characters and I very much wish it hadn’t.
Other than my issues with the treatment of sex workers and the sex industry, I did enjoy this novel. For a debut and the start of the series, Wages of Sin felt like a good introduction to the eerie, atmospheric world of Sarah Gilchrist. I will be interested in the next book and will keep up to date on it’s publication.
The plot of this book was enjoyable, if somewhat tropey. I had an idea of who Lucy’s killer was and desperately hoped I was wrong, however you are kept hanging until the last moment when all revealed. The plot pacing was somewhat skewed, with the first portion of the book being rather fast paced followed by a slow middle and then a fast paced ending.
My favourite character in the book was Elisabeth and I hope we get to see more from her in the next book in the series. I felt the characters were believable, however I do wish some were fleshed out a bit more (such as Sarah’s uncle). There is a small mention of LGBTQ+ relationships but not enough to categorise the book as LGBTQ+.
The research that has gone into this is commendable. It is a pet peeve when authors fail to capture Edinburgh in all it’s drizzly glory, but Welsh managed it. The layout of the University and it’s history were described in fantastic, accurate detail - her settings and descriptions are brilliant and it truly feels like you’re walking along with Sarah on the cobblestones of my city.
One issue I had with Wages of Sin however was the characterisation of sex work. I understand that in historical fiction it may feel that some paths are already set out for authors but fiction offers the chance to change and twist them into something new. I felt uncomfortable with some scenes where demonising sex workers seemed to come so easy to the characters and I very much wish it hadn’t.
Other than my issues with the treatment of sex workers and the sex industry, I did enjoy this novel. For a debut and the start of the series, Wages of Sin felt like a good introduction to the eerie, atmospheric world of Sarah Gilchrist. I will be interested in the next book and will keep up to date on it’s publication.