Will Starling: A Novel

by Ian Weir

After years as a battlefield surgeon during the Napoleonic War, Will Starling returns to London in 1816 to build a civilian surgical practice. But when one of the grave-robbers who supplies him with cadavers for dissection is complicit in a murder, Will resolves to find out the truth.

• ISBN10: 1586422308
• ISBN13: 9781586422301
• Publish Date: 3 February 2015 (first published 23 September 2014)
• Publish Status: Remaindered
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Steerforth Press
• Format: Paperback
• Pages: 480
• Language: English

Reviews

[lindsey]

I received an ARC of this book from Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review.

I have mixed feelings about this book. While I was reading, I was really interested to know what would happen next. But as soon as I would put it down, it was a struggle for me to pick it up again and keep reading. It was really slow at the beginning, and I was afraid I would have to mark it as "did not finish", which I always hate to do. Fortunately, it picked up a bit once I got into the story.

I did enjoy the author's writing style, however. It was very descriptive without being too flowery, and it flowed really well. He did an excellent job of describing London in the 1800's, and it was really easy to "see" the city and characters.

Will Starling is an orphan who, quite by accident, becomes an assistant to a surgeon. He suspects a rival surgeon of going a bit too far with his experimentation and is determined to prove it. Along the way he meets an assorted cast of characters, some of whom try to help him, while others do everything they can to thwart his attempts to learn the truth Will Starling explores the dark underworld of medical study in the 1800's, and doesn't shy away from the dark and macabre details.

I think readers interested in resurrectionists, body snatchers, Doomsday Men, and anatomists will enjoy this novel.