Reviews with content warning for Sexism - The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue

Reviews tagging 'Sexism'

The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue by Mackenzi Lee

79 reviews

friedowls's review against another edition

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This book was so good that I can't even review it properly. The characters, despite obvious flaws (cough, Monty, cough), are so unbelievably lovable. The adventure was fun and tense, and the romance had me squirming around in pain (believe it or not, that's a good thing). Monty's character development across it all was so satisfying. This is definitely one of my favorite books of all time.

Content Warnings: this book deals with child abuse and alcoholism (both of which is something the main character deals with). Those are the reasons I can't reread this book, because even though I've never experienced either of them, the moments where those would pop up made me almost physically sick. Also, the book is a historical adventure that deals with racism, ableism, and sexism. Some of this is perpetrated by the main character, but the people around him don't tolerate it, and he learns that he's being a terrible person and betters himself.

Continuing with the content warnings, [possible spoilers?] to add possibly necessary context, the main character's love interest (Percy) is disabled, and the main character (Monty) spends a lot of the time trying to find a magical-ish cure for Percy's disability, epilepsy, even though Percy doesn't want the cure. But Monty learns that he's being shitty.

If the content warnings would make you majorly uncomfortable or worse, I would suggest you don't read it for your own health. Otherwise, buy this book immediately what are you doing with your life.

Content Warnings

deetabz's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

Content Warnings

torispringismywifetyvm's review against another edition

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adventurous tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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mixmousereads's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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not_another_ana's review against another edition

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adventurous funny lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.0

I've always been of the mind that subtlety is a waste of time. Fortune favors the flirtatious.

Henry “Monty” Montague is a rake and a disappointment to his family. He drinks, he gambles, he shirks his responsabilities, and is promiscuos with partners of all sexes. His father gives him an ultimatum right before he goes on his Grand Tour of Europe: conform to the norms or be disinherited from the family fortune. Knowing this is the last time he'll be able to let loose, Monty heads off to Europe with his younger sister and Percy, his best friend and hopeless crush. But the Tour doesn't turn out quite the way he hoped after a reckless decision turns everything upside down.

This is the kind of book that either charms you and drags you into it's own quirky internal logic or completely loses you, sadly I happen to be in the second camp. The plot isn't heavy in the historical accuracy, it's more of a fantasy or a Bridgertonesque alternate universe and I could have looked past that if the characters had grabbed my attention or if the plot was good. Monty is the narrator of this book and I just never liked him. He never got over himself or showed any signs of positive growth nor was he, at least, interesting. Coupled with that is the mess that was the plot. I like to think about this as everything AND the kitchen sink. This book had everything (derogatory). It had aristocrats, robbery, multiple countries, a conspiracy, alchemy, PIRATES, you name it you have it. There was never any space to breathe, to connect with the characters and their actions.

The author should have focused more on the romance. I never cared for Monty and Percy together, in fact I don't think they're good for each other. Too much of their story happened before the book, and what I saw in the plot wasn't romantic. It also rested heavily on the miscommunication trope which is one of my most hated tropes.

For me the moment that made me go yeah no was when Monty basically told biracial Percy to go act like the slaves at Versailles and how that was never really adressed. Like YIKES, that's the love interest??? In general the way race and racism was handled, or not handled tbh, in this book was questionable.

Felicity was fine as a character, even if she came across as a 21st century feminist and not an actual girl in that time period, however I have zero interest in continuing with this series.

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voidature's review against another edition

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slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.5

i don’t know how to start this review tbh. there’s a lot to say and none of it is very good. i only gave it two stars because the writing itself is good, but she as a white woman had no business writing this kind of story with the amount of racial slurs used and the general theme, and i spent the entire time while reading it beside myself with mixed feelings.

it’s disgusting to ship percy with monty and it’s gross that they still get together at the end given how monty treats him throughout the novel but especially in the beginning—because this is the monty percy would have been exposed to since they were boys. a monty who will say racist things to him when he gets upset, percy who is supposedly his best friend, and even despite that percy is so patient with him and has to *teach* him about racism even when monty barely makes an effort to understand or accept that he has a white savior complex.

monty went through a huge character growth arc, but percy didn’t have the same kind of growth, and monty went through that growth at the expense of percy’s dignity, being written with an illness, who was used as a prop for him. not to mention scipio’s crew, who were also used as props to help monty grow.

i have no idea how or why this book is so highly rated given the contents of it and how the author chooses to write her characters. and after reading the reviews and finding out she’s transphobic as well, i’m unsurprised to find that my gut feeling about this book reading the way it does is correct.

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