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A review by jesshale
The Mystic Marriage by Heather Rose Jones
2.0
A less engaging read than book one. I kept going because I did want to find out what happened, but it left me wanting.
I think the major problem in this book is a lack of focus. I enjoyed seeing Margerit and Barbara again, and if the story had focussed on them and resolving the political intrigue, that might have worked.
I was also charmed by Jeanne - the social butterfly who is, perhaps, starting to age a tad (I think she's just over forty), and Antuniet, the proud young alchemist who opens herself to friendship, family and love. But, I felt some of this story was told not shown, their conflict not as well resolved as the one in Book 1, and it was overall done a disservice by not being the focus of its own book.
There were a lot of threads picked up but not put down, and I honestly couldn't tell if they were plot holes or being left for book three:
- the Arpik title that Barbara purchases
- Iuli's stories - there was one bit with a big deal made of her running out to give a forgotten one to Margerit who tucket it under a carriage seat, and I really thought it would be discovered and proven to reveal...something
- Efrederik's marriage - potential brides are mentioned a few times
- how Jeanne is going to regain her social capital
- why the Emperor of Austria thinks the de Boot book was his, and how Antuniet came to be pursued
- Tio's fate
- what is going to become of Anna
- Barbara's family, including her cousin and new armin
- Antuniet's place in the alchemist/scholar community, especially since she has developed a new method
Plus more that I can't remember because this was a VERY LONG book. A lot of these may be done in Book 3, but it didn't feel finished, if that makes sense - not like little seeds of plot I'm eager to see develop, but more like things that might be resolved if the author remembers.
Things were mentioned, felt important, then were resolved off the page. Overall just quite uneven, and a disappointment after how enthralling book one was.
I think the major problem in this book is a lack of focus. I enjoyed seeing Margerit and Barbara again, and if the story had focussed on them and resolving the political intrigue, that might have worked.
I was also charmed by Jeanne - the social butterfly who is, perhaps, starting to age a tad (I think she's just over forty), and Antuniet, the proud young alchemist who opens herself to friendship, family and love. But, I felt some of this story was told not shown, their conflict not as well resolved as the one in Book 1, and it was overall done a disservice by not being the focus of its own book.
There were a lot of threads picked up but not put down, and I honestly couldn't tell if they were plot holes or being left for book three:
- the Arpik title that Barbara purchases
- Iuli's stories - there was one bit with a big deal made of her running out to give a forgotten one to Margerit who tucket it under a carriage seat, and I really thought it would be discovered and proven to reveal...something
- Efrederik's marriage - potential brides are mentioned a few times
- how Jeanne is going to regain her social capital
- why the Emperor of Austria thinks the de Boot book was his, and how Antuniet came to be pursued
- Tio's fate
- what is going to become of Anna
- Barbara's family, including her cousin and new armin
- Antuniet's place in the alchemist/scholar community, especially since she has developed a new method
Plus more that I can't remember because this was a VERY LONG book. A lot of these may be done in Book 3, but it didn't feel finished, if that makes sense - not like little seeds of plot I'm eager to see develop, but more like things that might be resolved if the author remembers.
Things were mentioned, felt important, then were resolved off the page. Overall just quite uneven, and a disappointment after how enthralling book one was.