A. Rushby
Berkley
23 September 2025
384
eBook - PDF
Historical Horror
ARC via NetGalley
Seoul, present day. Antiques dealer Alys’s task is nearly complete. She has at last secured Elizabeth, the third and final Anatomical Venus. Crafted in eighteenth-century London and modeled after real-life sex workers to entice male medical students, these eerie wax figures, known as slashed beauties, carry unsavory lore. Legend has it that the figures are bewitched, and come to life at night to murder men who have wronged them. Now Alys embarks for England, where she knows what she must sever her cursed connection to the Venuses once and for all.
London, 1763. Abandoned and penniless in Covent Garden, wide-eyed Eleanor and another young woman, Emily, are taken under the wing of beautiful and beguiling Elizabeth, one of the city’s most highly desired courtesans among the rich and powerful. But as Eleanor is seduced deeper into a web of money, materialism, and men, it seems that Elizabeth may not be the savior she appears to be.
As the timelines begin to intersect, it becomes clear that the women’s stories are linked in deeper, darker ways than it initially seems. And that the only method for Alys to end the witchcraft that binds her legacy is to gather all three models in one place and destroy them.
However, these haunted, murderous dolls might not be ready to burn.
Slashed Beauties was a book with a really fresh and intriguing premise. The dual narrative between the modern day and the Georgian era worked really well, and the characters in both time periods were well drawn and engaging. The pacing of the story was good throughout, and the twist at the end did manage to catch me by surprise, which helped make it a memorable finale. In terms of its themes, there are horror elements, but not too much, and the story considers ideas of the male gaze and feminism, but never in the overly preachy way I have found off-putting in some other feminist works. It you enjoy historical fiction with a touch of feminism and horror, Slashed Beauties is well worth a read. I am giving it four stars. I liked it a lot, but wasn't so enraptured I would want to read it again.
I received this book as a free eBook ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
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