I got this eBook for the LovelyBooks Reading Round. This review is my opinion alone. Book Information Title: Die Spiegel von Kettlewood Hall (The Mirrors of Kettlewood Hall) Author: Maya Ilisch Type: eBook Pages: ca. 471 (read on an iPad) Genre: Gaslight-Fantasy Price: € 4,99 Publisher: Knaur Published on: February 1st, 2018 Plot 14-year-old Iris Barling sets off for Kettlewood Hall, with a chess piece in her luggage, to find out if her lost father can be found there. Her mother, who died recently, never spoke about Iris’ father, which is why the girl believes that she can find her answers in Kettlewood Hall. But when she arrives, she only meets a dismissive family, which does not want to take in an illegitimate daughter of a servant girl. Iris realizes that things do not seem to be right in this house, because there are mirrors everywhere that look as if something is moving in them. My Opinion First, I have to say that I always liked to open the eBook and read on. This was not the case with my last book, which is why I was all the more pleased about this one! The writing style was too much fun for me. Die Spiegel von Kettlewood Hall first looked like a scary novel with haunting ghosts or demons in a deserted mansion, like The Woman in Black. So I thought, as I read through the cover and the blurb. With the assumption, I was very wrong, but was nevertheless rewarded with a happy reading journey. It’s not all scare-free though. The background story of the protagonist Iris is a stable built up, without the feeling that I got overwhelmed with it. Further information is incorporated into the plot fluently and did not appear as if the story had to be “paused” to first describe or explain the character. Since the action takes place in Victorian England, it looks very well researched and detailed for me, in no way superficial. We meet Iris as a child laborer in a cotton factory. The girl is not perfect for the very reason that two fingers got stuck in a machine at work and were torn down, she is not the most eager student and is an orphan because her mother died recently and the girl never got to know her father. She has her naive and thoughtless moments, which makes her more realistic as a 14-year-old. Iris has, from the beginning to the end of the book, a character development that makes her, among other things, from a rather lazy to a very eager student with a goal in life. Iris is implicated in a demonic family affair because of the fact that her mother left her a knight chess piece. This can only be solved by a game of chess. The family does not think much of the girl because she is the illegitimate child of a maid and holds all the strings in her hand to end the curse for another generation. To introduce chess as a point of action, but as a narrative form as well, is a fancy idea in which one could not foresee how the story goes on. I was not surprised by the the dissolution of the book. In the end, it seems so logical to me that it was almost a bit boring. Boring is the wrong word for it, probably more predictable. Iris never encountered an obstacle where I had to think: “Ui, that’s it for her now, she can not get out of it.” I just never had the feeling that Iris could be in danger. Everyone can decide for themselves, whether it’s a good or bad thing. I’m not a fan of it. Then there was the love story of Iris and Victor, the son of the Earl of Kettlewood, which takes up a role in the book. It was a bit too cheesy and too much love at first sight. Many like that, I’m not necessarily a fan of it. On the one hand, however, I find that it fit in this period very well, which is why I’m not really angry that this part was given so much attention. Victor also seemed to me to be a smoothed-out character, like a mirror. In retrospect, Iris and Victor were also the only characters for me that really got the attention and in the end I think that I know better. Writing Style I really liked the writing style, it made me reading the book steadily and very happily. Maja Ilisch does not use unnecessary, illogical descriptions to sound a little better, which in my opinion is very common in the English Young Adult genre nowadays. The story has captivated me enough that I wanted to read on and I was never annoyed by the characters. Conclusion I give Die Spiegel von Kettlewood Hall by Maja Ilisch 4 out of 5 stars. On the one hand because I had expected more highlights, on the other hand, at first the book seemed to me as if it was pretty scary, but in the end it really wasn’t. Maybe I expected too much spookiness OR I’m numbed out by Stephen King. The book definitely made me read more about Maja Ilisch and I’m happy to have stumbled across the LovelyBook’s Reading Round.

Die 14-jährige Iris Barling lebt in einfachen Verhältnissen. Nach dem Tod ihrer Mutter arbeitet sie als Fabrikarbeiterin, um sich und ihre Großmutter zu ernähren. Keine einfache Aufgabe für das Mädchen. Dann eines Tages erinnert sich Iris an eine Schachfigur, sie sich im Besitz ihrer Mutter befand. Sie will diese ihrem rechtmäßigen Besitzer zurück bringen und erhofft sie eine Belohnung dadurch. Gemeinsam mit ihrem Lehrer Mr. Whitham macht sie sich auf Spurensuchen und stößt dabei auf Kettlewood Hall. Kurzentschlossen reist sie dort hin und ist ganz überrascht als man sie regelrecht freundlich in den Haushalt aufnimmt. Aber irgend etwas stimmt hier nicht in Kettlewood Hall und sie will natürlich hinter das Geheimnis des Hauses kommen. Noch ahnt sie nicht, dass ihr Leben dabei in große Gefahr gerät. Bei diesem Buch handelt es sich um eine wirklich schaurig schöne Gruselgeschichte. Die Autorin baut eine sehr düstere und leicht melancholische Stimmung auf, die mich von Anfang an in den Bann gezogen hat. Die Geschichte wird aus der Sicht der 14-jährigen Iris erzählt und auch wenn die Hauptfigur so jung ist, handelt es sich hier nicht um den typischen Jugendroman. Zuerst lernt der Leser Iris und ihr Leben kenne. Kein schönes Leben, denn Iris hat es nicht einfach. Ihre Reise nach Kettlewood Hall verändert ihr bisheriges Leben völlig. Im Laufe der Handlung macht Iris eine erstaunliche Wandlung durch, die mir sehr gut gefallen hat. Die Stimmung des Buches hat mir unheimlich gut gefallen. Immer wieder passieren seltsame Dinge. Die Schatten in den Spiegel und das seltsame Verhalten der Bewohner von Kettlewood Hall sind nur zwei dieser Dinge. Iris kommt nach und nach hinter das Geheimnis des Hauses und dessen Bewohner und ihr Schicksal hat eine besondere Aufgabe für sie vorgesehen. Es gibt übrigens auch eine Liebesgeschichte zwischen Iris und dem Sohn des Earls, die sehr gut in die Handlung passt und mir sehr gut gefallen hat. Alles in allem kann ich jeden das Buch empfehlen, der sich gerne gruselt und auch gerne historische Romane liest. Von mir gibt es eine klare Leseempfehlung mit voller Punktzahl.