A Cold Legacy By Megan Shepherd

I received this galley in consideration for an honest review.

A Cold Legacy By Megan ShepherdA Cold Legacy by Megan Shepherd
Series: The Madman's Daughter #3
Published by Harper Collins on January 27, 2015
Genres: Young Adult, Historical Fiction, Gothic, Retelling
Goodreads
four-stars

After killing the men who tried to steal her father’s research, Juliet—along with Montgomery, Lucy, Balthazar, and a deathly ill Edward—has escaped to a remote estate on the Scottish moors. Owned by the enigmatic Elizabeth von Stein, the mansion is full of mysteries and unexplained oddities: dead bodies in the basement, secret passages, and fortune-tellers who seem to know Juliet’s secrets. Though it appears to be a safe haven, Juliet fears new dangers may be present within the manor’s own walls. Then Juliet uncovers the truth about the manor’s long history of scientific experimentation—and her own intended role in it—forcing her to determine where the line falls between right and wrong, life and death, magic and science, and promises and secrets. And she must decide if she’ll follow her father’s dark footsteps or her mother’s tragic ones, or whether she’ll make her own. With inspiration from Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, this breathless conclusion to the Madman’s Daughter trilogy is about the things we’ll sacrifice to save those we love—even our own humanity.

Inspired by Frankenstein, A Cold Legacy brings Juliet, Montgomery, Edward, and the rest of the group to Scotland, where they seek refuge at the home of Elizabeth von Stein.  The setting is as Gothic as it gets, staying loyal to the mood of the original work.  I heartily enjoyed diving back into this bizarre world, full of crazy experiments, dire consequences, and the feeling that the next page could bring anything.  A Cold Legacy kept me on my toes and perhaps because I am not as familiar with Frankenstein, I really enjoyed not really knowing what was going to happen next.  The pacing was very good, which contributed to my reluctance to put down the book, even when  “real life” was calling my name.

The introduction of Edward as a romantic interest in book two really gave Juliet’s character a lot  of opportunity for development as someone who has full agency over her choice of romantic partners. The love triangle really did not develop, though, and I was happy about that.  I know many people did not care for book two, but I think it set up the events in A Cold Legacy quite nicely, and I feel somewhat vindicated for my black sheep opinion.  In this book, Edwards ‘madness’ essentially makes him a completely different person, and while his friends don’t want to give up on him, his fate in this book takes a lot of unexpected turns.  There were some deaths that surprised me, but as odd as it seems to say, they added to the story.  As an ending to a series, I think that A Cold Legacy hit the right balance between plot twists, romance, and creepiness.  The odd and terrible journey that began with A Madman’s Daughter has lasted quite enjoyably over three books, and I think that for anyone who likes historical fiction or Gothic tales, this series is definitely worth your consideration.

 

four-stars

About Megan Shepherd

Megan Shepherd was “born” into the book world, growing up in her parents’ independent bookstore in Western North Carolina. She is the author of THE MADMAN’S DAUGHTER trilogy (Balzer+Bray/2013), and THE CAGE trilogy (Balzer+Bray/2015). When Megan is not writing, she can usually be found horseback riding, day dreaming at coffee shops, or hiking in the beautiful Blue Ridge mountains.

Kate


12 responses to “A Cold Legacy By Megan Shepherd

  1. I was one of those people who didn’t like book 2 all that much but I’m rather interested in finishing the series to see how everything wraps up! I’m glad that you found the series ender to be satisfying.

    Lovely review, Kate <33

  2. I’m not sure I’ll read this one but so happy to hear it ended on a strong note. The first and second book were sort of love/hate for me. I liked some aspects but others were huge roadblocks (the animal violence). I enjoyed the writing throughout and will probably try her next book The Cage. Great review!

  3. I have had book one of this series on my TBR pile since it came out as an ARC. The premise sounds so good, but I get swayed by negative reviews and push it back. Maybe it is time to read, with the bonus of being able to read the trilogy straight through!

  4. I love to read a black sheep opinion!! I was one of those who found the romance to be a sticking point and I don’t think I can go back to Juliet but love this author’s writing and am super excited to try her next book.

  5. I am so glad to hear that its stays true to the orignal feel. I love this series. I have to say I enjoyed book a tad bit more than book two so I am hoping this one blows me away like the first.

  6. I read and highly enjoyed the first book, even if I wasn’t too much of a fan of the love triangle that was already hinted at… and I postponed reading the second book exactly because of that… But I’m glad to hear that this one continued having amazing gothic atmosphere!

  7. I have been sort of going back and forth on my decision whether to read this series or not. There have been some not so stellar reviews, but I think overall the reviews have been positive. I think I would be particularly interested in the crazy science experiments 🙂 Anyways, I’m very glad to hear you loved this last book and thought it made for a good finale, because that means that I am much more likely to pick up this series sometimes!

  8. I really did not like Her Dark Curiosity, I felt that it lost all the spark of The Madman’s Daughter, but I’m so glad I stuck with the series, because A Cold Legacy was SO good!
    I’m not all that familiar with Frankenstein either, but man was this creepy! And I was satisfied with the ending as well 🙂

  9. I love retelling and I confess that I haven’t read any about Frankenstein so I’m quite curious to see how it is. I saw another great review so I should give it a go. thanks for the review!

Leave a Reply

(Enter your URL then click here to include a link to one of your blog posts.)

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.