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3.89 AVERAGE
3.89 AVERAGE
adventurous
emotional
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
The audiobook narration speed was oddly slow and the book didn't quite grab me. Wasn't bad, just didn't hold my interest enough.
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
inspiring
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
This is the fun, feminist, fencing fantasy novel we all need in our lives. Tania is the daughter of a retired Musketeer. She also has POTS, or as she calls it, not knowing what it is at the time, her "dizziness." She can't walk up a flight of stairs without getting faint, and she's always careful to be near something to hold onto in case she feels lightheaded. But she can fence. Her father taught her.
Her mother thinks Tania is only good for marriage, however who wants to marry an "invalid?" Then Tania's father is murdered and she is sent to what she thinks is a finishing school, but is actually a secret training academy for female Musketeers. They are using their femininity and their skills as swordswomen to weed out a plot to kill the king of France, which will also lead Tania to her father's murderer.
It's here that Tania gains strength and friendship and support for her disability without being made to feel...well, disabled. I always love seeing books with positive female friendships and of course, girls with swords. Five exuberant stars!
Her mother thinks Tania is only good for marriage, however who wants to marry an "invalid?" Then Tania's father is murdered and she is sent to what she thinks is a finishing school, but is actually a secret training academy for female Musketeers. They are using their femininity and their skills as swordswomen to weed out a plot to kill the king of France, which will also lead Tania to her father's murderer.
It's here that Tania gains strength and friendship and support for her disability without being made to feel...well, disabled. I always love seeing books with positive female friendships and of course, girls with swords. Five exuberant stars!
adventurous
hopeful
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This is an important book and I'm glad it exists. It just doesn't exist for me. I found the writing style grating (maybe if I knew French all the random interjections wouldn't bother me as much) and the central mystery contrived. I wish we got more scenes with the other women in arms making real memories and filling out more of the cast than Tania sitting around thinking about her father. Her inner monologue slowed the plot to a crawl while not showing the diversity of the rest of the cast (I need more lesbian moments!!!) I hope that we get more chronic illness and queer rep in this genre, because those were the only parts of this book that really worked for me. I hope this book reaches its target audience (not me, who somehow keeps picking up YA books when at this point it's pretty clear I'm not into the genre)
4/5 Stars
Thank you so much to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an unbiased review.
Female musketeers who must work under the guise of going to a finishing school while being trained how to seduce and spy on men (and also some really cool fencing scenes).
For someone who isn't a huge fan of historical fiction, I had so much fun reading this. We love badass women who don't let anything hold them back, even their own disabilities. I also love the Own Voices representation because chronic illness often isn't something you get major representation of in books, especially adventure books.
The ending was a bit predictable but the unraveling of events was still really fun to read about. I've already talked to multiple people about this new book and they are so interested. Can't wait to see how it does when it officially releases!
Thank you so much to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an unbiased review.
Female musketeers who must work under the guise of going to a finishing school while being trained how to seduce and spy on men (and also some really cool fencing scenes).
For someone who isn't a huge fan of historical fiction, I had so much fun reading this. We love badass women who don't let anything hold them back, even their own disabilities. I also love the Own Voices representation because chronic illness often isn't something you get major representation of in books, especially adventure books.
The ending was a bit predictable but the unraveling of events was still really fun to read about. I've already talked to multiple people about this new book and they are so interested. Can't wait to see how it does when it officially releases!
adventurous
emotional
funny
inspiring
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
medium-paced