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3.61 AVERAGE
3.61 AVERAGE
adventurous
funny
mysterious
medium-paced
I finally finished reading The Grand Tour (the sequel to Sorcery and Cecilia) and I enjoyed it thoroughly. As the four main characters are together in their adventure this time the story is far more coherent. The characters are allowed to interact from the get go rather than waiting for the details to slowly filter through the back and forth letters. This time the story is told in diary form (again from Cecy and Kate's POV's) and all I can say is that Cecy and Kate are far better diary writers than letter writers! I also found the plot stronger. I'm glad I made it through the first book so I could appreciate the second book. Readers who haven't read Sorcery and Cecilia, will be able to enjoy The Grand Tour.
An enjoyable read, but not quite as good as Sorcery & Cecelia. I prefer the epistolary format over what the authors used here.
Cute book. Not as good as the first one but still enjoyable.
This book is a good 200 pages too long, at least. The epistolary format of Sorcery and Cecelia was relatively charming and added to the story, but the diary format in The Grand Tour served no purpose except to bore me for the vast majority of it. It slowed down what was actually a fairly interesting plot; too much time was spent on unimportant exposition and the interesting things didn't happen until about the last 175 pages.
Sorcery and Cecelia sets up Cecy and Kate to be spirited, bright young protagonists, but in The Grand Tour their marriages seem to render them both docile. Their personalities are very mush squashed at the expense of their husbands - who are both so similar in their overbearing manner and assumption of their wives' incompetence that I kept mixing them up.
The Grand Tour also did absolutely no world-building about magic and magicians in the Regency time period. Lady Sylvia is regarded as a great magician, yet Cecy's magic is controlled and looked down upon by her husband (and Kate's husband) to an alarming degree. There is a giant disconnect between the apparent power female magicians can wield both magically and socially, and the subservience of women to their husbands. It made for a discordant plot point and was never resolved.
The climax of the story, where it was revealed that the Contessa was the mastermind behind all of the scheming and murding, was pretty underwhelming. Wrapping up a good 300 pages of near-nothing with a villain plucked from thin air read as extremely lazy.
The Grand Tour had such potential and was let down by a bunch of filler, protagonists with personality transplants, and lazy plotting.
Sorcery and Cecelia sets up Cecy and Kate to be spirited, bright young protagonists, but in The Grand Tour their marriages seem to render them both docile. Their personalities are very mush squashed at the expense of their husbands - who are both so similar in their overbearing manner and assumption of their wives' incompetence that I kept mixing them up.
The Grand Tour also did absolutely no world-building about magic and magicians in the Regency time period. Lady Sylvia is regarded as a great magician, yet Cecy's magic is controlled and looked down upon by her husband (and Kate's husband) to an alarming degree. There is a giant disconnect between the apparent power female magicians can wield both magically and socially, and the subservience of women to their husbands. It made for a discordant plot point and was never resolved.
The climax of the story, where it was revealed that the Contessa was the mastermind behind all of the scheming and murding, was pretty underwhelming. Wrapping up a good 300 pages of near-nothing with a villain plucked from thin air read as extremely lazy.
The Grand Tour had such potential and was let down by a bunch of filler, protagonists with personality transplants, and lazy plotting.
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
relaxing
medium-paced
It wasn't great but I enjoyed it. A fun book about Harry Potter-type magicians set in the early 1800s. Lots of action, a bit of romance, and a mystery to figure out.
I'm not sure why I had trouble getting into this one the first time I tried to read it. It captured my attention much better this time. A fun light read.
I do not have any nice things to say about this book. Letter writing was at least vaguely more interesting. Nothing happened in this book! And literally the one thing that made the cousins different human beings, changed during the book. Also, the authors are horrible at setting the scene. If you're combining historical fiction and fantasy, I want to be able to tell
that you did your research. This was just sloppy.
that you did your research. This was just sloppy.