A review by ergative
Mélusine by Katherine Addison

5.0

Like, jeez--whump up the wazoo, some very gnarly noncon, and a primary viewpoint character so incredibly passive that in any other book I would have thrown it across the room in irritation. (I recognize some people are whump-fiends, in which case this is for you, yowzers*.) And yet. I loved this. I stayed up late reading; I read while brushing my teeth, while waiting for the toast to toast. I got up early to finish it. Part of it is because Mildmay's activity does in part make up for Felix's passivity. Part of it was the incredibly rich political and social worldbuilding. Part of it was the unending series of events and developments (even if Felix doesn't instigate much of it). A lot of it was the writing, which just sucks you in and doesn't let go. I don't know. Not my job to explain why I liked it articulately. But I loved it, and I immediately went and bought the remaining three books in the series.

*I don't actually object to whump in moderation. This, my friends, was not moderate.