I loved this! It's a wild ride that I wasn't sure at first what I was getting into, but the more I read, the more I fell headfirst into this amazing and awful world that Bennett created. It is obvious that this was a story born out of anger: of how womanhood is denigrated, how women are treated as objects and bearers of blame and shame, and how we are placed onto pedestals of meekness and obedience, or made monsters if we exhibit brains and a spine.

Victorian body horror is not my usual genre by a long-shot, but I'm glad I gave it a shot. The gore and brutality also appeared side-by-side with love and sensuality. It's a celebration of women, of feminine power in all its form, of taking our place in a man's world and asserting our power.

The fact that the central two characters, Mariah and Lady, subverted all sorts of Victorian sensibilities by existing was amazing. They were a same-sex interracial couple from very different classes and they didn't give a damn about society. That they turned into avenging bug creatures was just icing on the cake.

This book is gruesome and awful, sexy and sweet, and cathartic. So cathartic. I hope there's more to come. ( )