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

54 reviews

a_bloom's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective 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? It's complicated

5.0

The writing is absolutely PHENOMENAL and so freaky funny. It's also heart reaching, but you can always kinda see it coming. It's technically a long book but something you could get through in a couple of days.

<Spoiler>It also talks about a lot of interesting topics that were seen as taboo (although some of them aren't brought to a whole lot of detail considering the whole book is told from the perspective of a traumatized white teen boy who's an Earls son... But he slowly starts to learn, grow, and mature as he keeps ALMOST DYING.

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vthecreature's review against another edition

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adventurous funny hopeful tense fast-paced

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

4.25

This was great and not at all what I was expecting! I read this at the recommendation of a friend and went in knowing nothing. I’m glad for that, as it made certain plot twists so much more surprising and engaging

such as the coach robbery and the “pirate” abduction

.
I also really liked the character development in this. With Monty being so unlikable and problematic in the beginning, I had little hope for him and was only consoled by the reactions of the people around him, which assured me that he’d learn his lesson someday.
I found the writing very gorgeous, especially whenever Monty described the scenery (very immersive) and his feelings for Percy (heartwarming!). The character voice for Monty was well done and had me laughing.
I’m also very glad that

all the “good” characters in this got a happy ending. Sure, it’s probably not very historically accurate (as the author said in the epilogue) but I appreciated that.

.
This book was very action-packed, which did feel a bit much but then again it probably wasn’t meant to be read in a single day…
Some of the dialogue and characters’ behavior were unrealistic

like Bourbon’s cartoon villain moment at the end, Percy’s uncharacteristic denial of the Robles’ suspiciousness, and the “pirates” turning out to be extremely wholesome

but that’s probably appropriate for a young adult novel. Though I wouldn’t categorize it as YA myself, since there was a fair amount of sexual and violent content. This book also addressed several important issues such as racism, ableism, sexism, classism, etc.
This book was clearly well planned, as certain tidbits from early in the story came into play later, which was great for the mystery aspect! I don’t know how to feel about the magical aspect though, since I had not been expecting it at all going into this. Also, the whole “misunderstanding between two people causes more drama than it should” trope knocked my rating down a bit.
Still, this was overall a delightful read!

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crufts's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny medium-paced

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

4.75

Entertaining, heartwarming, all-round a delightful and exciting story.

Our charismatic-scoundrel-with-a-heart-of-gold protagonist (Henry "Monty" Montague), an 18-year-old English lord, embarks on his Grand Tour of Europe with sister Felicity and best friend Percy. Naturally, it all goes completely off the rails. In the process Monty matures considerably, and forever changes his standing regarding his father and his travelling companions.

There's so much to enjoy about the book:

Interesting setting. Assuming that the depiction of the 1700s is accurate, I thought it was fascinating how there was a strong England/France alliance with tourists visiting frequently from both sides, even though everyone was relying on communicating by letters. There were already English banks, embassies, etc in France, which did not intend to become French but rather to remain there as international institutions.
Good bisexual representation! Monty's crush on Percy is a main plot thread, but his attraction to women isn't dismissed or trivialized. He is not "really" gay, he is really bisexual.
Fabulous audiobook narration, especially of the French villain's voice.
A somewhat magical plot device is foreshadowed well in advance and didn't feel like a huge surprise or genre-breaker when it appears.

I notice that some of the reviewers here can't stand Monty's personality, finding him to be too much of a "rake" (scoundrel) and too inconsiderate to his travelling companions. I agree that Monty is an ass, but I also thought this was balanced out pretty well by the fact that he's constantly getting payback for his misbehaviour from not only the world at large, but also from Felicity and Percy themselves.

I did find it a tad contrived that

despite their long-held mutual crush on eachother, Monty and Percy didn't get the truth out between them until the end.

The main obstruction is established at the beginning, when Percy asks Monty if them kissing was all just a lark, and a flustered Monty replies "No... yes!". Disappointed and not wanting to just be yet another of Monty's flings, Percy ends the situation.

This was hard to believe because (a) Monty is good at reading people, as seen when he chats up a bank clerk later in the book, and should have been able to piece together Percy's reaction; and (b) Monty wanted to tell Percy about his feelings for years and believed it to be Real Love™, not just a lark.

I think it would've been more believable if, for example:
- When asked if was just a lark, Monty replies something cautious like "I dunno, what do you want it to be?". Percy could then interpret this pessimistically ("He's just humouring me") and the plot could continue as before.
- It could be more obvious (perhaps just to the reader, if not to Monty himself) that Percy ended the situation because he's not a one-night-fling sort of guy and believed that Monty's nature would never change. For example, Percy might ask Monty about his fling with the girl at Versailles and express his opinion that he could never have a one-off relationship like that with someone, even if he loved them

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I also found the writing style to be overly flowery at times, with a bit too much detail about specific thoughts or particular actions.
However, I still found The Gentleman's Guide to be an excellent book and would certainly recommend it.

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yashe96's review against another edition

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adventurous 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? It's complicated

3.75

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onefineelephant's review against another edition

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adventurous funny reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.0

8/10. I wasn't exactly swooning over this book but I did really enjoy it. I like the ending message that we would all be happier if we accepted our own and others' flaws. Monty had to learn to love himself. Felicity was a firecracker. Percy was a gracious love interest. I enjoyed the realistic sibling relationship. I also enjoyed the more tender moments. I'm not a fan of ambiguous endings but I understand why this book needed to have one.

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elleandon's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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thewordsdevourer's review against another edition

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adventurous funny 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? It's complicated

4.0

a hilarious and adventurous historical romp. the gentleman's guide to vice and virtue is also compulsively readable; the writing just flows so smoothly and i couldnt stop turning the pgs. peppered w/ a subtle social msg and critique, the book explores abuse, racism, sexism, and homophobia, w/ major queer, black, and disability rep.

and though i like the characters (esp percy and felicity), my major caveat of this book is prolly our leading guy monty, who i find insufferable way too often, and his character growth happens too late for me. nevertheless, his yearning-filled friends-to-lovers relationship w/ percy is a delicately romantic one. might be reading the sequel just to (hopefully) see more of them!

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