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A review by helwyse
The First Sir Percy by Baroness Orczy
3.0
It was nice to get to see the characters from The Laughing Cavalier again, especially since the ending of that novel was quite abrupt and didn't give the reader the satisfaction of seeing Diogenes and Gilda happily married. To me, that truly was the highlight of this book: to see them interact a bit more after the events of the kidnapping and plot in The Laughing Cavalier.
Unfortunately there wasn't very much downtime for the couple in this book, as they were essentially painfully separated for most of it. The pacing and focus of the book intensified my frustration: the middle section really drags, with Gilda stuck in her occupied town, agonising in the clutches of the still ever-so-evil Stoutenburg for chapter after chapter, re-hashing the same thoughts and stuck with the same dilemma. I feel like that section could have been shortened and edited and the plot would have flowed just as well if not better. I liked that Gilda continued to show her stoic, strong side in this adventure, but I did feel like there was more hand-wringing and swooning than in the previous one.
There were fewer plot twists than in The Laughing Cavalier; in this book Orczy relies heavily on hiding certain events from the reader until the very end to create suspense. It works to a certain extent, but I had mostly guessed what those events would be, so it was less successful than it could have been.
My issues with characterisation were confirmed and amplified in this book: Stoutenburg is even more grotesque, we are veering in farcical territory here. And Nicolaes made some very disappointing decisions which I feel should have been explained and justified a bit better: such treason would have taken some degree of decision-making and moral struggle which Orczy simplifies a great deal. This weakens both the character and plot, and comes across as very convenient.
In brief: I enjoyed this sequel, but preferred the first novel in the series!
Unfortunately there wasn't very much downtime for the couple in this book, as they were essentially painfully separated for most of it. The pacing and focus of the book intensified my frustration: the middle section really drags, with Gilda stuck in her occupied town, agonising in the clutches of the still ever-so-evil Stoutenburg for chapter after chapter, re-hashing the same thoughts and stuck with the same dilemma. I feel like that section could have been shortened and edited and the plot would have flowed just as well if not better. I liked that Gilda continued to show her stoic, strong side in this adventure, but I did feel like there was more hand-wringing and swooning than in the previous one.
There were fewer plot twists than in The Laughing Cavalier; in this book Orczy relies heavily on hiding certain events from the reader until the very end to create suspense. It works to a certain extent, but I had mostly guessed what those events would be, so it was less successful than it could have been.
My issues with characterisation were confirmed and amplified in this book: Stoutenburg is even more grotesque, we are veering in farcical territory here. And Nicolaes made some very disappointing decisions which I feel should have been explained and justified a bit better: such treason would have taken some degree of decision-making and moral struggle which Orczy simplifies a great deal. This weakens both the character and plot, and comes across as very convenient.
In brief: I enjoyed this sequel, but preferred the first novel in the series!