Title: The Quick and the Dead

Author: Emma Hinds

Genre: Historical Fiction

Publisher: Bedford Square Publishers

Publication Date: 16th January 2025

Rating: 4.5/5

Cover:

Summary:

It is 1597 and Kit Skevy and Mariner Elgin have just robbed the wrong grave.

They are young criminals in the pocket of a gang Lord named Will Twentyman, the Grave Eorl of Southwark. Mariner is the best cutpurse around, a strange Calvinist girl who dresses like a boy and is partner in crime to Kit Skevy, Southwark’s best brawler who carries a secret: he cannot feel pain.

When caught out in their unfortunate larceny, Kit is kidnapped by the menacing alchemist Lord Isherwood (a man who will stop at nothing to achieve his hopes for the Red Lion elixir) and his studious son, Lazarus Isherwood, with whom Kit develops a complicated intrigue. When Mariner enlists the help of a competing French alchemist, Lady Elody Blackwater, Mariner and Kit are thrust into the shadowed, political world of Tudor alchemy, testing both their friendship and their lives.

It matters not who you are born to… but where you are made!

Review:

The Quick and the Dead is one of those pieces of historical fiction which completely and utterly sucks its reader in by virtue of evocative description and characters that feel layered and authentic. The pitch dark mix of Elizabethan intrigue, dangerous alchemy and the shadowy criminal underworld creates a brilliantly vivid and immersive reading experience which I think historical fiction fans will love. The story follows Kit and Mariner, two orphans who are each other’s found family and work for a pretty despicable gang lord in Southwark. Their friendship is one of the strongest aspects of the book and provides a read emotional depth as they are drawn into the very dangerous and murky world of alchemy after a grave-robbery gone wrong. 

The Quick and the Dead is a pretty harrowing read at times, and was actually darker than I expected but that simply upped the stakes even more and made me genuinely care about Kit and  Mariner, and their struggle to keep themselves safe from terrible harm and also achieve some degree of freedom for themselves, in a world where that seems impossible. I also found the challenging of the gender norms of the era and the complex take on both sexuality and pain deeply compelling, without wanting say more and give away any major plot points. If you like your historical fiction shadowy, intense and incredibly atmospheric then I would highly recommend this layered and violently visceral read. 

★★★★.5

Thank you so much to Anne Cater of Random Things Blog Tours for inviting me on this tour and organising it. I kindly received a copy of the book from the publisher. My review is entirely my own honest opinion.

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