Where Rosalind Solves Another One

A Purely Private Matter by Darcie Wilde
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Second in the series. I really liked it.

This series has a great main character in Rosalind Thorne--round, complex, interesting, capable but not unbelievable--and the author has a very clear, confident voice. The Regency setting is nicely realized and the mystery plot is well managed.

Jane Austen's name is evoked here and there when people talk about this series, and I can absolutely see that and appreciate it, but this is a more worldly world than you find on most of the pages of her novels. That's not a criticism of either--there's a lot to admire and enjoy in both. But Rosalind is herself a lot more worldly than any Austen heroines, which she'd need to be to investigate murder and blackmail and adultery. It might be fun to see Emma or Elinor or Lizzie investigate in that way (though Fanny would be hopeless, I fear), and I'd read that book, but Rosalind has had a lot more practice facing the seamier side of life without freaking out or losing her composure. The series still has a dignified and proper tone, but it's much more aware and accepting of the broader society.

The point is that I'd label this series more Austen-adjacent than Austen-like.

Anyway, it's a fun mystery with excellent characters that I'm eager to see again in book 3. Recommended for readers of historical mystery. And Austen folks, for sure.

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Where We See the World Through Jane's Eyes

Jane Fairfax by Joan Aiken
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is a well-crafted story about Jane Fairfax, a secondary (1-1/2?) character from Austen's Emma, and I enjoyed it quite a bit. Enough, that is, to recommend it.

Joan Aiken does particularly well (IMO) in blending "known" details with new plot points and characters. I am far from having made a serious study of the original, but I didn't find any details that contradicted it. The outings from the book, like the party at the Eltons or the picnic at Box Hill , (made familiar in the various movie adaptations) are accurate, as far as I can see, and it was interesting to view those moments from another perspective.

Her language works well, though I wouldn't say it's particularly Austenesque. Close enough to be consonant with the original, for sure.

The characters are well portrayed. Jane is more sympathetic here, not unsurprisingly, but I liked how Emma's behavior is less justifiable when viewed from a distance--and yet, she is still sympathetic, especially by the end. Emma comes off rounder and more real after seeing the story from Jane's perspective, which I approve of. I feel sorta the same about Mr. Knightley; he doesn't come off worse than in the original, necessarily, but definitely feels more complex. Frank Churchill is dealt with fairly, too, and seems both better and worse than how I saw him before. He really cares about Jane Fairfax, but the strange secrecy of their arrangement and his inability to confront his aunt or do anything to displease her looks more stark here, where Jane is the center of the story. (Jane admits to herself that Mr. Knightley is a better man than Frank, but she still loves him, which I thought was wise and poignant.) The one character who always seems to come out on top is Miss Bates, who is still silly and chatty and cheerful and desperately dull, but so kind and considerate and unselfish that she always reminds me of some thoughtful older woman at church or at the grocery store or across the street who talks too loud about nothing but always thinks about everyone else first...

It's a pretty fun book, too, but if it falls down at all it's in keeping things rolling in the final third, where the story bogs down a bit. (Heyer would have introduced a highwayman or a duel or something.) I enjoyed it enough to keep rolling, but I wish we could have had a few changes of scenery or bigger drama. Still, I liked it and thought it worked well.

I feel confident in recommending this to Austen readers (the ones who didn't read it long ago).

I already bought the author's other Austen books. Looking forward to those.

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More Silliness, Less Austen

Powder and Patch by Georgette Heyer
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This novel is somewhat less Jane-Austeny than many other novels by Heyer, which is for me probably the main draw, but I still enjoyed it. It's a good example of what it is--and I stand behind that sentence 100%. It is a silly love story in a pre-Regency setting and reasonably fun to read.

Cleone is a flawed and silly heroine, but she is well-matched with Philip Jettan, a flawed and foolish hero. He's kinda direct and nerdy, and Cleone isn't wrong to want him to up his game, but in cahoots with his father she pushes him to learn how to act fancy (back in the time of powdered wigs and men's makeup) and he goes for it. He ends up in Paris, practicing his French, improving his fencing, learning how to make endless, ridiculous compliments to the ladies, acquiring what must be a very expensive clothing habit, and writing bad poetry. In a movie, we'd get a lot of that in a lovely montage.

Of course, even when he returns, he and Cleone have all the misunderstandings that threaten to separate them, and she wishes he hadn't become so popular with the ladies, what with his fancy compliments and all.

This is more romance (and more comedy, come to that) than it is Jane Austen, which is fine, because it's pretty amusing, but most of Philip's improvements seem unearned. Sure, he takes fencing lessons, but just for 6 months, and then can beat everyone that used to be better than him. He hated fashion courtly behavior but sure picks it up quick. It feels like he's pulled a "Can't Buy me Love" or "Princess Diaries" extreme makeover trick. I guess he's rich, so it's on the edge of plausible...

Pretty much everyone in the book is shallow, but even shallow people deserve their HEA. Heyer was nice to save one for this pair.

I bet it could be adapted into an interesting teen movie. Hmm.

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A Desi Jane Austen

Pride, Prejudice, and Other Flavors by Sonali Dev
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Yeah, I liked it okay. I wouldn't have finished it if I really didn't. But it wasn't near as punchy as I hoped and not as fun.

I like the premise--a retelling of the Jane Austen novel, transplanted to modern America, with South Asian characters. And some of that really worked. Honestly, I liked the last 100 pages. And I liked the characters themselves.

But it took almost 300 pages to get going. We kept getting exposition, and I kept thinking the story would soon take off, but it was heavy with exposition all the way through. Every character had their story told by the narrator. Their story, their mother's story, everyone connected to them... Too much, for me.

It's also more of a straightforward romance than I expected, which is fine--my problem, not the author's. And romance readers might find the pacing more to their taste than I did. I dunno.

I've enjoyed other Austen-adjacent novels more, tbh. I might try another novel by this author, but not immediately. I would recommend it more for romance readers (at a guess) than traditional Austen fans. YMMV.

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Where I Esteem the Author and Admire the Series

Without a Summer by Mary Robinette Kowal
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I am enjoying this series by Mary Robinette Kowal, and I like each book more than the last. (It doesn't always work that way, you know.) So, obviously, this is my current favorite. And I really hate Vincent's dad.

This is not a gritty series, but for a Jane Austen-type novel it presents us with a surprising amount of the real world--more romance and sex, more awareness of poverty and injustice, more action and danger. (Plus fantasy elements!) It is a mix that works well, even with the gentle tone that pervades the whole, like sitting down to a charming tea with finger sandwiches that bite back.

Of course, it is an interest in characters that makes it work. That's also what makes each book a little more engaging, IMO; I care about them more as I know them better. I enjoyed seeing the younger sister get involved in this story, and I was very indignant on her behalf when family and other forces tried to hold her back and disregard her feelings. That's how the author gets ya--she makes you care. :)

I am fond of the author's style. (I admire it; I highly esteem it. Austen joke.) Her prose has a bright clarity that makes reading effortless while still evoking a Regency flavor. As with so much art, the hard work is making it appear so simple and elegant.

Recommended for those who think Regency fantasy sounds like a good idea.

I mean, who doesn't? Come on.

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If Robert Louis Stevenson Wrote Sense and Sensibility

The Sisters Mederos by Patrice Sarath
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

[Since I wrote this review, I looked at other reviews, and found that many clever people think like I do, but not everyone. I was shocked to learn that some elements of the novel that I considered highlights were things that other reviewers didn't like. Clearly, they are bastards. Or it may be that different people like different things. I guess it is what it is, caveat emptor, YMMV, IMO, etc., world without end.]

[Back to the raving. TL;DR: I liked this book a lot!]

I love finding a book like this. In addition to this series starter, I see the author already has a completed series and a stand-alone novel. All of it sounds great. I'm sold.

I knew I liked this book and the author in the first 40 pages. In an alternate world that is well-developed but not over-explained, with a pair of main characters that read like determined and adventurous Jane Austen characters (which made sense when I saw that the author's stand-alone novel was a sequel of sorts to Pride and Prejudice), with a mystery adventure plot on the knife's edge between Austen and Robert Louis Stevenson, I couldn't have been more engaged. The author's clear language, matching a proper tone to lively narration, is a nice compromise between regency language and modern sensibilities. It is a strength of the novel, being well suited to the story, and is what sold me the most.

Tesara and Yvienne Mederos are both engaging and enterprising characters, sympathetic and round, who use every tool they have to fight back against the Merchant Guild and the system which destroyed their family and took them from the heights of society to the depths of near poverty and humiliation. In a city that reads like a sort of early modern Bruges-meets-London, where merchant families are like nobility, with a rigid class system, there is little either can do to improve their lot through normal means. So they both become rogues of a sort (nicely foreshadowed by the beautiful cover), acting outside of approved gender or class roles--but they do so believably. The "believable" part includes Tesara's uncertain power which might or might not control winds and waves, the only overtly fantasy-type element of the story. (The alternate-world setting is the other significant fantastic element.) I liked both characters, and though Yvienne was probably a bit more daring, I found myself more partial to Tesara. I'd like to see what happens with both, of course, as both have promise.

The conclusion is satisfying and works well, IMO, but also leaves a lot of room for (planned, it seems) sequels. That's good, because I feel like the author has barely scratched the surface with this setting and these characters. I'd like very much to see what happens after this.

Meanwhile, I'm investigating the author's back catalog. :)

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