Reviews with content warning for Sexism - The Nobleman's Guide to Scandal and Shipwrecks

This wild ride of an seafaring adventure concludes the trilogy of the Montague Siblings.

If you read the prequel book The Gentleman's Guide (review linked here), you'll remember Monty's disdain for his baby brother, referred to as "the goblin". When Monty rides off into the sunset with sister Felicity and boyfriend Percy, he writes to his cruel father about his inheritance: "The goblin can have it all."
But what happened to the "goblin" after Monty and Felicity left him behind?

Adrian has grown up to be an intelligent young man, engaged to fiancee Louisa and writing popular political pamphlets. But he has two problems. Firstly, he's dogged with severe anxiety. Secondly, his political beliefs are virtually opposite his father's.
That alone was very satisfying to read - what better revenge could there be against the siblings' unpleasant father than to have all three children turn against him?

Adrian then comes into possession of a strange spyglass that was once his mother's, until her death several months ago. His investigation into the spyglass's secrets takes him across the continent, and ultimately around the world.

So, what was good about the book?

The seafaring backdrop and feeling of going on an adventure. It's fun!
The accurate and evocative depiction of anxiety, especially in the conflict of Adrian vs Adrian's Body. This is really well written. Adrian sweats, shakes, fumbles, falls. His mind blanks, his stomach rebels. It seems like any of his faculties could turn on him on a whim. No wonder he's so nervous...!
Felicity and Monty turn up. It's like a gigantic easter egg for anyone who's read the previous two books. Not only that, but the way they meet and interact with Adrian after not having seen him for 19 years was very believable, interesting, and often heartwarming to read. I felt that the other two siblings turned up just enough to satisfy us, without overshadowing Adrian.
The magical element was foreshadowed well in advance, and when it finally turned up I thought it was quite believable.
Towards the end of the book, Adrian
splits off from "good guy" Sim and her crew to join a "baddie", Sahd (sp?). This was absolutely necessary for the plot, so there was a risk that the plot point would come off as contrived. However, I thought Adrian's motivation to join Sahd was quite believable, since Sahd was the only person who didn't dismiss the spyglass mystery.

I didn't think the book was perfect, though.
For one, Adrian's anxiety runs constantly throughout the narrative. This is crucial because it depicts a core theme (mental illness), but because the book is written in first-person, it's also exhausting and made the story unpleasant to read at times. Usually when a book goes into a dark mood, it then alternates with mood relievers such as comedy and romance. However, Adrian's first-person stream of consciousness has no such breaks: it's all anxiety, all the time, steamrolling right over any mood relievers in the rest of the scene.

Secondly, the arc of the protagonist's character development was pretty flat for most of the book, until the massive spike at the end. (This was similar to Monty's arc in The Gentleman's Guide.) This was okay, but I would've liked a little "preview" of Adrian's ability to change, as otherwise I was getting tired of him sticking rigidly to ideas that weren't serving him. For example,

maybe Adrian could have kept taking the anti-anxiety "scale powder" once he saw it worked.
I can imagine he'd be ambivalent about it - he wouldn't want to admit he might have to take medicine regularly, like an invalid - but perhaps seeing the results would convince him to do it "just for now", until the rest of his character development arrives

.

Thirdly, Adrian was not quite as compelling a protagonist as Monty or Felicity, because he doesn't decide what he wants until well into the novel (when the spyglass's mystery is introduced). Actually, the opening scenes suggested that his arc would involve a political turnabout by way of his pamphlets! So that was a bit confusing.

Fourth, when Adrian discovers that

Monty and Percy are boyfriends by means of walking in on them kissing, implying that the two are gay or bi,

I found Adrian's lack of reaction odd. He was so neutral and nonchalant about it that it strained my suspension of disbelief. Even Felicity had a few choice words about this back in The Gentleman's Guide before she came around.
So why didn't Adrian have any opinion on it, positive or negative? Hell, I even would've found it believable even if Adrian had an actively positive stance on the issue - you could argue that his progressive politics and association with Edward Davies had given him the opportunity to hear about this kind of thing. But a flat, neutral non-reaction? No way.

Fifth, I found it hard to believe that

Monty was uncertain about his relationship with Percy after nineteen years. Nineteen years! If it had been after three years, sure. Five years, of course. Seven years - well, they call it the seven-year itch. Even ten years, maybe.
But after nineteen years, you'd think Monty would be sure about what he thinks of Percy.
Overall, this particular subplot didn't interest me at all. If the author was using it as a device to squeeze Monty and Percy's wedding into the novel by delaying it 19 years, some alternatives include:
- Percy believes in the institution of marriage but Monty doesn't, so they've never gotten married. However, after a talk with his soon-to-be-wed brother Adrian, Monty changes his mind.
- Percy and Monty had a tiny, shitty wedding 18 years ago, one that certainly wasn't recognized in any way. Adrian is appalled and arranges for a proper celebrant to officially marry the two at a beautiful party.
- Percy and Monty's concept of marriage is (like everyone else at the time) of a man and woman. As a result, they never really considered doing it themselves. Adrian convinces them that if they want to do it, they should.

Apart from the first issue, which was a bit of a struggle, the others were pretty minor and didn't interrupt my enjoyment of the novel.
Overall, Scandal and Shipwrecks is a solid book and a satisfying conclusion to the trilogy.
Related reviews: The Gentleman's Guide, The Lady's Guide.

Content Warnings