Reviews tagging 'Forced institutionalization'

Scales and Sensibility by Stephanie Burgis

1 review

allisonwonderlandreads's review

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lighthearted medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.0

Let me preface this by laying my own biases out for all to see. While I don't tend to mind loose literary adaptations because I love to see new iterations of favorite stories, this one bothered me because it seemed that the only relevant aspect of Sense and Sensibility in the story is Elinor herself, but her characterization left much to be desired. In this version, Elinor's dragon grants her a magic wish that causes her to find self-confidence in the act of imitating it under a glamoured guise. Her journey towards self-expression was greatly accelerated and lost its power by skipping through the growing pains. Elinor became a flattened version of herself who frequently comments on her own famed sensibility even as she does wildly outrageous things. The story also suffered from the loss of a Marianne character as a meaningful foil. Instead, we are left with Penelope: a witless, screeching, spoiled cousin in the role of Obvious and Inept Villain. Our love interest is also a two-dimensional Kind and Devoted Dreamboat with simplistic motivations.

Without strong characters, I don't connect well to works of fiction. To dampen matters further, the plot was predictable and didn't elicit any emotion or even amusement from me. Despite being a regency, there were some weird anachronisms (beyond the obvious dragons) that negated attempts to establish sense of place. That doesn't leave much else to recommend it.
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