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3.78 AVERAGE
3.78 AVERAGE
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+371 Gypsies, dogs, Jews, Africans- what a society lady thought
?412 francis dashwood hellfire club, in another author's book- same author or true?
+371 Gypsies, dogs, Jews, Africans- what a society lady thought
?412 francis dashwood hellfire club, in another author's book- same author or true?
The mystery is okay, the heroine fairly entertaining though anachronistic, and the hero a jerkface whose demise would have pleased me immensely.
This book is so good. The first book of the Lady Julia series introduces Lady Julia's wonderful narrative voice, her zany family, her love of mystery, and her flirtation with Brisbane. I think this is the best in the series and I recommend it to fans of mystery, romance, and sassy ladies.
Victorian mystery series with a very modern/liberal heroine.
Karena terkena reading-slump yg cukup parah (yeah, i'm 10 books behind in my grc), akhirnya aku terjun bebas nyari bacaan yang gak jauh2 amat dari zona nyamanku (i.e. novel detektif), tapi juga gak lazim kubaca (i.e. hisrom terjemahan dari Harlequin). Inilah dia hasilnya, buku pertama dari seri Lady Julia.
Lady Julia Grey ini bangsawan aseli, anak bangsawan yang menikah dengan bangsawan juga. Tajir, terhormat, dan beruntung dibesarkan oleh Bapak yang gak konservatif2 amat lah, jadi sifatnya lebih terbuka dan cerdik. Nah, saat suaminya meninggal mendadak, seorang kenalan suaminya menyiratkan bahwa si suami ini kemungkinan dibunuh seseorang. Lady Julia tentu saja gak serta merta percaya, bahkan mengusir orang ini. Setahun berlalu, saat hampir habis masa berkabung jandanya, barulah Lady Julia ini mulai menemukan tanda2 surat ancaman dan teror di kamar kerja alm suaminya.
Yaelah udah setahun trus gimana ngurusnya. Terpaksa d Lady Julia ini menghubungi si kenalan lama yg dulu diusir, dan kemudian mereka berdua mulai menyusuri kembali kehidupan si suami di tahun-tahun akhir kehidupannya.
Misterinya sih lumayan oke, premis, alur, twist, penyelesaian semuanya gak jelek dan gak ada logic hole. Ini aku benar2 suka. Karakter Lady Julia, Brisbane, Duke March, Portia, Fleur, bahkan di ekor cerita, si Valerius March (yg kirain rada songong padahal ternyata cukup-keren-sekaliii-kusuka) juga menyenangkan. Yang aku kurang suka adalah pengaturan tempo ceritanya. Awalnya lambat, cerewet, kebanyakan narasi ke sana-sini, lalu kira2 100-an halaman akhir semuanya berputar cepat. Lebih asyik jika novel ini digunting sepertiganya, menyisakan alur cepat dan ketegangan sepanjang cerita.
Lalu, yg kurang sreg juga, ini si Brisbane ni lead male character yg serasa hanya pemeran pembantu sekaligus eye candy. Perasaan yg action Lady Julia mulu d (yaiyalah wong dia karakter utamanya ;)) Layatapi mbok sampe ending, ato pas di twist akhir, dia muncul dan nunjuk "eh bukan itu lo culpritnya, tapi yg itu" opo gimana gitu. Lha ini kok dia malah ngumpet nungguin Julia nyelesaiin semua, baru sok jadi tokoh heroik kesiangan.
Untuk edisi bahasa indonesianya ini, aku kurang suka terjemahannya. Di beberapa tempat penggunaan kosa katanya aneh, di tempat lain kalimatnya bukan ditranslasikan tapi terjemahan bebas dan sok menerangkan,kayak pembacanya gak bisa berimajinasi ajah #eh
Selain itu, preferensi pribadi aja, sdh lama gak baca mass-market ed, jd berasa fontnya kecil2 amir, padat pulak. Type settingnya jg gak rapih, bercampur antara quote2 di tiap awal bab dengan isi bab sendiri.
Meski begitu... aku cukup penasaran untuk baca buku berikutnya di seri ini. Lanjooott...
#GD
Lady Julia Grey ini bangsawan aseli, anak bangsawan yang menikah dengan bangsawan juga. Tajir, terhormat, dan beruntung dibesarkan oleh Bapak yang gak konservatif2 amat lah, jadi sifatnya lebih terbuka dan cerdik. Nah, saat suaminya meninggal mendadak, seorang kenalan suaminya menyiratkan bahwa si suami ini kemungkinan dibunuh seseorang. Lady Julia tentu saja gak serta merta percaya, bahkan mengusir orang ini. Setahun berlalu, saat hampir habis masa berkabung jandanya, barulah Lady Julia ini mulai menemukan tanda2 surat ancaman dan teror di kamar kerja alm suaminya.
Yaelah udah setahun trus gimana ngurusnya. Terpaksa d Lady Julia ini menghubungi si kenalan lama yg dulu diusir, dan kemudian mereka berdua mulai menyusuri kembali kehidupan si suami di tahun-tahun akhir kehidupannya.
Misterinya sih lumayan oke, premis, alur, twist, penyelesaian semuanya gak jelek dan gak ada logic hole. Ini aku benar2 suka. Karakter Lady Julia, Brisbane, Duke March, Portia, Fleur, bahkan di ekor cerita, si Valerius March (yg kirain rada songong padahal ternyata cukup-keren-sekaliii-kusuka) juga menyenangkan. Yang aku kurang suka adalah pengaturan tempo ceritanya. Awalnya lambat, cerewet, kebanyakan narasi ke sana-sini, lalu kira2 100-an halaman akhir semuanya berputar cepat. Lebih asyik jika novel ini digunting sepertiganya, menyisakan alur cepat dan ketegangan sepanjang cerita.
Lalu, yg kurang sreg juga, ini si Brisbane ni lead male character yg serasa hanya pemeran pembantu sekaligus eye candy. Perasaan yg action Lady Julia mulu d (yaiyalah wong dia karakter utamanya ;)) Layatapi mbok sampe ending, ato pas di twist akhir, dia muncul dan nunjuk "eh bukan itu lo culpritnya, tapi yg itu" opo gimana gitu. Lha ini kok dia malah ngumpet nungguin Julia nyelesaiin semua, baru sok jadi tokoh heroik kesiangan.
Untuk edisi bahasa indonesianya ini, aku kurang suka terjemahannya. Di beberapa tempat penggunaan kosa katanya aneh, di tempat lain kalimatnya bukan ditranslasikan tapi terjemahan bebas dan sok menerangkan,
Selain itu, preferensi pribadi aja, sdh lama gak baca mass-market ed, jd berasa fontnya kecil2 amir, padat pulak. Type settingnya jg gak rapih, bercampur antara quote2 di tiap awal bab dengan isi bab sendiri.
Meski begitu... aku cukup penasaran untuk baca buku berikutnya di seri ini. Lanjooott...
#GD
This series was recommended ever so thoroughly to me, as it seems to be absolutely my thing (England, lady mystery-solver, historical setting), and I think it simultaneously a) was oversold to me and 2) has elements I just don't like. It's terribly competent in doing its thing; I just don't like the thing.
I was expecting, I don't know, something more serious. I was not expecting to be introduced to a forcibly whimsical cast of characters. I was not expecting a romance-novel-style asshole hero. I was not expecting the heroine to make quite so many boneheaded moves.
I think it's that this is written like a certain kind of romance novel that does not work for me (some do, and I enjoy them thoroughly, but my tastes are very specific), except there's not a romantic resolution at the end of the first book, plus there's some dead people and some mystery solvin'. This again should be right up my alley, but the execution fell down for me.
Mostly I just cannot make myself be allured by a hero who says, "If you do X, I will not be responsible for my actions." No, jackass. You're always responsible. To place the blame for your actions - presumably harmful ones - on the heroine, in order to control her? Yeah. I'm checked out and could care less whether your emotionally stunted wooing over corpses is successful. This is a certain brand of romance hero who has little more personality than "hot" and "brooding" by which I remain utterly unentranced. Also, I will admit my bias for a clever heroine, and so far Lady Julia isn't cutting it.
All that, and I still give it three stars. It was competent, yes, and I will read at least a couple of sequels. It almost scratches the itch, and it remains to be seen if the other books magnify the problems or resolve them.
I was expecting, I don't know, something more serious. I was not expecting to be introduced to a forcibly whimsical cast of characters. I was not expecting a romance-novel-style asshole hero. I was not expecting the heroine to make quite so many boneheaded moves.
I think it's that this is written like a certain kind of romance novel that does not work for me (some do, and I enjoy them thoroughly, but my tastes are very specific), except there's not a romantic resolution at the end of the first book, plus there's some dead people and some mystery solvin'. This again should be right up my alley, but the execution fell down for me.
Mostly I just cannot make myself be allured by a hero who says, "If you do X, I will not be responsible for my actions." No, jackass. You're always responsible. To place the blame for your actions - presumably harmful ones - on the heroine, in order to control her? Yeah. I'm checked out and could care less whether your emotionally stunted wooing over corpses is successful. This is a certain brand of romance hero who has little more personality than "hot" and "brooding" by which I remain utterly unentranced. Also, I will admit my bias for a clever heroine, and so far Lady Julia isn't cutting it.
All that, and I still give it three stars. It was competent, yes, and I will read at least a couple of sequels. It almost scratches the itch, and it remains to be seen if the other books magnify the problems or resolve them.
I really loved the combination of social mores and gothic mystery - Georgette Heyer meets ACD with a liberal dose of The Brontes. Lady Julia is wonderful and the supporting characters are really interesting: the lesbian older sister, the Italian butler who used to be an acrobat, the Tower Raven!
I'm not as enamoured with Brisbane. Teenaged!me would have fallen in love with him, but I think I'm a bit tired of brooding men with mysterious pasts and a dark side. But I loved all the UST.
I guessed the culprit about half way through, but it didn't spoil my enjoyment because the 'why' was a big surprise.
I'm not as enamoured with Brisbane. Teenaged!me would have fallen in love with him, but I think I'm a bit tired of brooding men with mysterious pasts and a dark side. But I loved all the UST.
I guessed the culprit about half way through, but it didn't spoil my enjoyment because the 'why' was a big surprise.
Well written, engaging, and hard to put down. Not something I typically read, but it came highly recommended by my boss. The plot twist was one of the most, well, twisted I've come across in quite a while. My only issue with it was that it wasn't until the last page, when I found myself left hanging, that I realized it was the first in a series. You're killing me, Ms. Raybourn.
Eh. I love a good mystery, but there's barely any mystery here, and I knew who the bad guy had to be. The hero was too rude to be charming, and not in a Mr. Darcy way, and the heroine's big modern family felt forced. (They are cool with EVERYTHING, including encouraging her to have affairs, her sister having a female lover, venereal disease, prostitutes... awesome, but jarring every time it's just shrugged off. The heroine will never speak to her family doctor again after learning that he's anti-semitic. Oh boy, I wish people reacted like that.) The heroine was fine, but didn't do much, and I didn't like the hero enough to root for them to get together. Also, the book keeps dropping really heavy foreshadowing -- "Would I have gone that night HAD I REALIZED HOW TERRIBLE THE SITUATION WOULD GET????" when nothing terrible ever really happens.
Oh, and then on the last page someone mentions that the hero turned into a cat, and the heroine says, "Of course; I should have realized it was him."
Oh, and then on the last page someone mentions that the hero turned into a cat, and the heroine says, "Of course; I should have realized it was him."
I enjoyed this even more than the Lady Emily series by [a:Tasha Alexander|167047|Tasha Alexander|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1232144767p2/167047.jpg]. It had less historical detail but the pacing and action was more lively and the dialog more snappy. Very enjoyable.