Scan barcode
buildingtaste's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.5
It is a truth universally acknowledged that a 2020s novel with an excellent conceit must be deeply in want of better execution. I feel bad giving this such a low rating, as it is probably one of the better conceived 2020s novels of the ones I've tried, but once again, after the elevator pitch is over, the book collapses like an under-baked teacake. And under-baked is the overarching theme: we are given rather thin sketches of the titular society, a teeming cast of characters, an intergenerational revenge plot nodding heavily to the Brontes, and a requisite romance. All of them are glossed over in favour of comic asides which, after a few repetitions of (and that was rather a funny bit there, er, wasn't it?) seems more like an author's lack of faith in their own prose than a stylistic choice.
Most egregious here, though, is something I can't blame Holton for, because it seems to be more a convention of the historical fantasy-romance genre than anything: Cecilia is just the least interesting person in the bunch. And we have to stick with her a good 80% of the time. When your heroine sums up her role in the story with a glib "I'm afraid I've done nothing to advance the plot," and it's true, a good editor should perk up and recommend doing something about that. Cecilia, despite her bog-standard spunk, finds herself constantly outpaced and outsmarted, by the titular society, by the love interest, and by her villainous father. Not once does she get to be heroic on her own terms, and she's so baldly horny for Ned that her internal refrain of "well-I-never" gets dull.
So. Janky start. But I think the world of Wisteria has some real promise--I'd be interested in reading a short fiction anthology delving more into the lore of historical Lady Scoundrels and the senior ladies.
Most egregious here, though, is something I can't blame Holton for, because it seems to be more a convention of the historical fantasy-romance genre than anything: Cecilia is just the least interesting person in the bunch. And we have to stick with her a good 80% of the time. When your heroine sums up her role in the story with a glib "I'm afraid I've done nothing to advance the plot," and it's true, a good editor should perk up and recommend doing something about that. Cecilia, despite her bog-standard spunk, finds herself constantly outpaced and outsmarted, by the titular society, by the love interest, and by her villainous father. Not once does she get to be heroic on her own terms, and she's so baldly horny for Ned that her internal refrain of "well-I-never" gets dull.
So. Janky start. But I think the world of Wisteria has some real promise--I'd be interested in reading a short fiction anthology delving more into the lore of historical Lady Scoundrels and the senior ladies.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abandonment, Confinement, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Murder, Sexual content, Violence, Vomit, Alcohol, Fatphobia, Kidnapping, Adult/minor relationship, Classism, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Incest, and Sexism
A teenaged character and young adult character have a sexual relationship. It is played for comedy, with the younger character repeatedly lying about her age and the adult acting distraught about the revelation. Characters drink on several occasions and a character gets drunk without real consent or awareness that alcohol will intoxicate her; this character vomits while drunk. The backstory of a character involves being abandoned by his parents. The lower class characters are usually fearful, superstitious, and deemed foolish. Most characters are kidnapped and imprisoned. The backstory of multiple characters involve their mothers being murdered in front of them. The main character's aunt is controlling and overbearing. Alcohol and cocaine pastilles are used by characters. A verbal spar of two characters involves multiple fatphobic remarks. Most characters have and use guns with murderous intent, though no one dies from a gunshot in the text. There is cousin marriage. The villain's primary motivation is named as misogyny. There is a chapter dedicated to a sex scene (Chapter 20).rorikae's review
adventurous
funny
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
'The Wisteria Society of Lady Scoundrels' by India Holton has a fun premise and some tongue in cheek moments but ultimately is too predictable and populated by characters that I found hard to care about.
The story centers on Cecilia Bassingwaite, a young lady who is working to become a member of the Wisteria Society of Lady Scoundrels. Brought up by her aunt and amidst the society's collection of eccentric women, Cecilia has plans to deal with the cruel father who murdered her mother and wants to take down the Society as a whole. But Cecilia's plans are disrupted by Ned Lightbourne, a dashing assassin who has been tasked to kill Cecilia but falls for her instead.
I wanted to love this book. The premise is the perfect brand of kooky that I love in a story with its flying houses, a society of women pirates, and just enough magic to pull it all together. The writing is fun in many places when Holton plays on assumptions about Victorian society and utilizes the absurdity of her premise. The problem is that the story isn't much more than that. There is a plot but it felt relatively basic and it was populated by characters that were interesting but only so far as their more absurdist traits. The love story at the heart of the book was a little bit too instalovey for my personal taste though I did appreciate that the characters were forced together so that they had to build a relationship even if Ned's feelings were too instant. There never feels as if there are real stakes to the story and I felt that everything worked itself out as one would guess from the setup. There is a 'twist' but it is only due to the main character not seeing things through in a way that was frustrating and made the twist quite obvious.
I think with a little bit more time, Holton could be an author that I would return to again. If you go into this story mostly just expecting some fun banter and ridiculousness, it is enjoyable but don't expect much more from it. I want to like it so much more than I did.
The story centers on Cecilia Bassingwaite, a young lady who is working to become a member of the Wisteria Society of Lady Scoundrels. Brought up by her aunt and amidst the society's collection of eccentric women, Cecilia has plans to deal with the cruel father who murdered her mother and wants to take down the Society as a whole. But Cecilia's plans are disrupted by Ned Lightbourne, a dashing assassin who has been tasked to kill Cecilia but falls for her instead.
I wanted to love this book. The premise is the perfect brand of kooky that I love in a story with its flying houses, a society of women pirates, and just enough magic to pull it all together. The writing is fun in many places when Holton plays on assumptions about Victorian society and utilizes the absurdity of her premise. The problem is that the story isn't much more than that. There is a plot but it felt relatively basic and it was populated by characters that were interesting but only so far as their more absurdist traits. The love story at the heart of the book was a little bit too instalovey for my personal taste though I did appreciate that the characters were forced together so that they had to build a relationship even if Ned's feelings were too instant. There never feels as if there are real stakes to the story and I felt that everything worked itself out as one would guess from the setup. There is a 'twist' but it is only due to the main character not seeing things through in a way that was frustrating and made the twist quite obvious.
I think with a little bit more time, Holton could be an author that I would return to again. If you go into this story mostly just expecting some fun banter and ridiculousness, it is enjoyable but don't expect much more from it. I want to like it so much more than I did.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Murder, Sexual content, and Violence
More...