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3.89 AVERAGE
3.89 AVERAGE
I liked the representation of chronic illness an trauma in this story. That she was good enough with the illness, and not that it had to be cured to get there. I also liked the themes of sisterhood, learning to trust the people who are there for you again and again, and to learn that leaning on them from time to time isnt a weakness.
The structure was odd at times, there seemed to be some inconsistancies and jumps that made me a bit disoriented and unsure about wether or not I had missed something, but going back realizing that it wasnt me. Using french without always translating it was an odd choise to me as well. It reminds you of where you are, but surely they are always actually speaking french, so to change between that and english didnt entirely work for me.
An allright read with some nice representation and themes.
The structure was odd at times, there seemed to be some inconsistancies and jumps that made me a bit disoriented and unsure about wether or not I had missed something, but going back realizing that it wasnt me. Using french without always translating it was an odd choise to me as well. It reminds you of where you are, but surely they are always actually speaking french, so to change between that and english didnt entirely work for me.
An allright read with some nice representation and themes.
adventurous
hopeful
lighthearted
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I enjoyed the premise of this story more than the actual story, I'm sad to say. I loved the idea of the 3 Musketeers book and disliked the actual story there as well, so I think I had higher hopes in this one, as it's a genderbent inspiration (not direct retelling). 2.5 stars rounded up to 3. (And I feel that is being quite generous).
But there are a just a few things that really made this book hard for me to read.
Firstly, the writing style is odd: you're in a scene, and then somehow you're not. Or a character is in a certain state, and then they're suddenly not. One distinct moment is the protagonist, Tania, sitting in the hall, the nephew Henri comes in and they have a bit of a discussion, almost knock over a vase of flowers, and then the Headmistress comes in and starts monologue. After her monologue paragraph, all of a sudden we're in the sitting room, Henri forgotten, the other pupils are present and just pick up the discussion. Another moment the girls are leaving a spying mission, discussing what spy secrets they discovered in a carriage, and then a random sentence later "Thea heaved. Her sleeping head flopped onto Portia's shoulder." What? They were all just talking and now she's flopping around like she got hit by a bullet or the carriage broke an axle. Yet nothing the sort happened.
Secondly, this book reminds me a lot of Robin Hobb and how she likes to send her characters through all manner of horrible psychological torture for funsies. Tania loses her father fairly early into the story, her mother can barely stand her presence, she's been bullied most of her life in her village due to her chronic illness (POTS), the headmistress seems on the verge of kicking her out at every moment, etc. Even the moments of camaraderie with her fellow pupils feels like it's going to go wrong at any moment. There's this whole sense of dread around anyone Tania meets, like they're about to pile on the torments. It made it tough to want to read this book.
As a quick note, I also did not like how this book leaned into certain YA tropes. Such as: one of the girls was there less than 2 months yet somehow had an entire backstory of espionage at the academy filling far more time. How black and white the teenagers thinking is and how impulsively they react. How they are literally kids, yet somehow are both better at handling social situations than most teens and at the same time completely incompetent, worse than the worst toddler, at holding their tongue when literal lives are on the line. Or jumping to conclusions. Or withholding important information.
A lot of the teenage behavior makes a lot of sense. It's true. I dislike reading about "idiot ball" style protagonist who only seem to be pushed forward by the plot and because they have no tact.
That said I did very much appreciate Tania's chronic illness and how she learns to live with it, to thrive despite it. This is not a story of some heroine overcoming her illness and finding a cure. It's finding a way to push through the pain to achieve what you want to do with your life so you also feel your life has meaning. I found Tania herself to be a rather bland, yet a bit too much like myself at the same time. I find those characters are often the hardest for me to read. It doesn't help that she is a literal teen expected to do an adults job without the prefrontal cortex to back it up (except when plot convenient), plus there is her trauma hitsory, and thus often feels out of her depth.
The plot itself was moved fairly fast and with nary a twist in sight. I didn't find myself ever that interested though. I don't care about this elusive king of France whom I've never met. I don't like most of the introduced characters. I connected most with Madam de Treville because she is trying to form these young teens into possible better futures, however the author kept writing her as a spiteful, mean, angry woman and it didn't make sense the way I read it. I wish there had been more dueling and fencing in this story. Most of it revolves around Tania's problems (with herself, with her mother, with society, with her father) and her inner thoughts. Any fight scenes focus on how dizzy she feels and how she's going to collapse at any moment or her feelings in general. It adds realism. It also detracts from the fun elements a lot. I just wanted to shake her and tell her to stop saying she's not a child anymore when she clearly is acting like one all the time.
Though I feel I do have to give points to the author to write CPTSD accurately. It's rare to find in a fantasy book, and even though it did drag down most scenes, I appreciated the honesty of trying to live with so much trauma and baggage at a young age.
There is a lot of French in this book. Sometimes it's translated, often it is not.
I think a lot of my issues stem from the writing style in this book. It didn't click for me at all. And it dragged down all the other elements. I wanted to like this book far more than I did. Maybe if I had read this as a young teen I could have found more to enjoy. But I think I still would have been quite lost in the world due to the odd transitions.
But there are a just a few things that really made this book hard for me to read.
Firstly, the writing style is odd: you're in a scene, and then somehow you're not. Or a character is in a certain state, and then they're suddenly not. One distinct moment is the protagonist, Tania, sitting in the hall, the nephew Henri comes in and they have a bit of a discussion, almost knock over a vase of flowers, and then the Headmistress comes in and starts monologue. After her monologue paragraph, all of a sudden we're in the sitting room, Henri forgotten, the other pupils are present and just pick up the discussion. Another moment the girls are leaving a spying mission, discussing what spy secrets they discovered in a carriage, and then a random sentence later "Thea heaved. Her sleeping head flopped onto Portia's shoulder." What? They were all just talking and now she's flopping around like she got hit by a bullet or the carriage broke an axle. Yet nothing the sort happened.
Secondly, this book reminds me a lot of Robin Hobb and how she likes to send her characters through all manner of horrible psychological torture for funsies. Tania loses her father fairly early into the story, her mother can barely stand her presence, she's been bullied most of her life in her village due to her chronic illness (POTS), the headmistress seems on the verge of kicking her out at every moment, etc. Even the moments of camaraderie with her fellow pupils feels like it's going to go wrong at any moment. There's this whole sense of dread around anyone Tania meets, like they're about to pile on the torments. It made it tough to want to read this book.
As a quick note, I also did not like how this book leaned into certain YA tropes. Such as: one of the girls was there less than 2 months yet somehow had an entire backstory of espionage at the academy filling far more time. How black and white the teenagers thinking is and how impulsively they react. How they are literally kids, yet somehow are both better at handling social situations than most teens and at the same time completely incompetent, worse than the worst toddler, at holding their tongue when literal lives are on the line. Or jumping to conclusions. Or withholding important information.
A lot of the teenage behavior makes a lot of sense. It's true. I dislike reading about "idiot ball" style protagonist who only seem to be pushed forward by the plot and because they have no tact.
That said I did very much appreciate Tania's chronic illness and how she learns to live with it, to thrive despite it. This is not a story of some heroine overcoming her illness and finding a cure. It's finding a way to push through the pain to achieve what you want to do with your life so you also feel your life has meaning. I found Tania herself to be a rather bland, yet a bit too much like myself at the same time. I find those characters are often the hardest for me to read. It doesn't help that she is a literal teen expected to do an adults job without the prefrontal cortex to back it up (except when plot convenient), plus there is her trauma hitsory, and thus often feels out of her depth.
The plot itself was moved fairly fast and with nary a twist in sight. I didn't find myself ever that interested though. I don't care about this elusive king of France whom I've never met. I don't like most of the introduced characters. I connected most with Madam de Treville because she is trying to form these young teens into possible better futures, however the author kept writing her as a spiteful, mean, angry woman and it didn't make sense the way I read it. I wish there had been more dueling and fencing in this story. Most of it revolves around Tania's problems (with herself, with her mother, with society, with her father) and her inner thoughts. Any fight scenes focus on how dizzy she feels and how she's going to collapse at any moment or her feelings in general. It adds realism. It also detracts from the fun elements a lot. I just wanted to shake her and tell her to stop saying she's not a child anymore when she clearly is acting like one all the time.
Though I feel I do have to give points to the author to write CPTSD accurately. It's rare to find in a fantasy book, and even though it did drag down most scenes, I appreciated the honesty of trying to live with so much trauma and baggage at a young age.
There is a lot of French in this book. Sometimes it's translated, often it is not.
I think a lot of my issues stem from the writing style in this book. It didn't click for me at all. And it dragged down all the other elements. I wanted to like this book far more than I did. Maybe if I had read this as a young teen I could have found more to enjoy. But I think I still would have been quite lost in the world due to the odd transitions.
adventurous
dark
hopeful
mysterious
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
emotional
medium-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
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
def leans towards a younger/middle grade audience in parts, so there's not a ton of depth. which was honestly kind of nice bc I needed a break.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Death of parent
So I thought this genderbent 3 musketeers retelling was fun. I was hoping there would be more... action? There was a lot of build up and suspense, but to me it felt like the action kind of just teetered out. I enjoyed the friendship that the girls all had and I was so glad when there was no petty backstabbing going on. I love it when women support women. There was a hint of romance, but that definitely wasn't the main focus of the story, which actually worked out okay in my opinion.
The main character had POTS--and I don't know enough about it to talk about how well or not well it was portrayed--but I liked that Tania didn't let it ruin her life. She fought hard to become stronger and work through her struggles, and wasn't obsessed with trying to come up with a cure for herself (as someone with an autoimmune disease, I hate when I read books and that's all that the character seems to be wanting to do.. "cure" themselves. Let's have more books about people with chronic illnesses THRIVING. Because we can and do.)
And I loved how much Tania's sisters were there to support her and catch her when she was quite literally about to fall.
Thank you to Netgalley and Recorded Books Media for letting me listen to an Audio ARC!
The main character had POTS--and I don't know enough about it to talk about how well or not well it was portrayed--but I liked that Tania didn't let it ruin her life. She fought hard to become stronger and work through her struggles, and wasn't obsessed with trying to come up with a cure for herself (as someone with an autoimmune disease, I hate when I read books and that's all that the character seems to be wanting to do.. "cure" themselves. Let's have more books about people with chronic illnesses THRIVING. Because we can and do.)
And I loved how much Tania's sisters were there to support her and catch her when she was quite literally about to fall.
Thank you to Netgalley and Recorded Books Media for letting me listen to an Audio ARC!
adventurous
hopeful
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I feel like this book has been somewhat incorrectly marketed/marked on Goodreads. It's marked as LGBTQ+, despite the fact that the only queer relationship is introduced about 80 pages from the end (if that) and it's barely mentioned again after that. It's written as though it was foreshadowed but in my opinion it wasn't enough to make you notice it or care about it.
I found that the plot twist was blindingly obvious.Were we not meant to suspect Etienne of anything? Also, how did Tania not realise that it was the voice of Etienne and not the voice on Henri. Also, the differing ways that Henri and Etienne are presented in the book means that as a reader I didn't picture them as having similar stature in any way.
Despite all of this it was a good read. I really liked the POTS representation and the sisterhood between the Mousquetaires de la Lune.
C- 7.5
A- 8
W- 8
P- 7
I- 6.5
L- 7.5
E- 7.5
I found that the plot twist was blindingly obvious.
Despite all of this it was a good read. I really liked the POTS representation and the sisterhood between the Mousquetaires de la Lune.
C- 7.5
A- 8
W- 8
P- 7
I- 6.5
L- 7.5
E- 7.5