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soph22's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
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? No
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Cursing, Fatphobia, Blood, Classism, Death of parent, Drug use, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual content, Misogyny, Drug abuse, and Gun violence
theheartisawaffle's review
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
The good:
- witty banter.
- cleverness.
- literary references.
The bad:
- using character's appearances as a shorthand for their character and morals (aren't we done with this by now??).
- fat characters are always disgusting, constantly eating, and have no redeeming qualities.
- "unattractive" men are described as feminine and weak.
- not a single character in this book appears to be queer, or anything but white, which just strikes me as so unlikely if I'm to believe the worldbuilding.
- witty banter.
- cleverness.
- literary references.
The bad:
- using character's appearances as a shorthand for their character and morals (aren't we done with this by now??).
- fat characters are always disgusting, constantly eating, and have no redeeming qualities.
- "unattractive" men are described as feminine and weak.
- not a single character in this book appears to be queer, or anything but white, which just strikes me as so unlikely if I'm to believe the worldbuilding.
Content Warnings
Minor: Fatphobia
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).summerisreading's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
5.0
Terry Pratchett fans, were you ever just dying to have a Discworld book set entirely among the assassins, packed with wordplay, double entendres, literary references, and extensive shade toward gothic novels?
The book is reminiscent of Terry Pratchett (in that it's self-referential and a weird combination of an absolutely absurd world combined with historical fun facts from the real world) mixed with any historical romance that skews toward parody (Tessa Dare maybe?)
This book was slow to grow on me, as I'm really not generally a fan of reading about violence, even when it's charmingly committed by old ladies, but by the end I loved it. I think this is a good debut from an author who could grow into someone truly great.
The book is reminiscent of Terry Pratchett (in that it's self-referential and a weird combination of an absolutely absurd world combined with historical fun facts from the real world) mixed with any historical romance that skews toward parody (Tessa Dare maybe?)
This book was slow to grow on me, as I'm really not generally a fan of reading about violence, even when it's charmingly committed by old ladies, but by the end I loved it. I think this is a good debut from an author who could grow into someone truly great.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence
Moderate: Drug use
Minor: Fatphobia
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