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A review by gmvader
Without a Summer by Mary Robinette Kowal
3.0
This is the third book in Kowal’s Glamorist Histories series and it increases the tension somewhat by taking place in the famous Year Without a Summer. Only in this world there are people who can use glamor to make things cold and they are being blamed for the cold weather.
Jane and Vincent spend much of the book moving from drama to drama that has little bearing on the plot and then finally focus in on the cold-mongers and their plight at the end. This seems to be the pattern for these books. There is a plot, in order for there to be a climax, however it seems of secondary import to the author who really just wants to explore the married relationship of her two main characters.
If you are reading these books for that relationship then that’s probably a good thing. If you’re reading it because you want to see what kinds of interesting things are happening in this world and how their new magical discoveries will affect history then it feels like a tax that must be paid to get the story.
You can probably guess which kind of reader I am.
I enjoyed the book. Kowal writes in a friendly manner that makes her work readable almost by nature. Even when the subject is not of interest the prose passes quickly and is enjoyable to read. The book is also quite short which helps a great deal because uninteresting subjects only last for a so long.
Over all I expect that if you have read either of the previous books you will find this one at least as good as those two.
Jane and Vincent spend much of the book moving from drama to drama that has little bearing on the plot and then finally focus in on the cold-mongers and their plight at the end. This seems to be the pattern for these books. There is a plot, in order for there to be a climax, however it seems of secondary import to the author who really just wants to explore the married relationship of her two main characters.
If you are reading these books for that relationship then that’s probably a good thing. If you’re reading it because you want to see what kinds of interesting things are happening in this world and how their new magical discoveries will affect history then it feels like a tax that must be paid to get the story.
You can probably guess which kind of reader I am.
I enjoyed the book. Kowal writes in a friendly manner that makes her work readable almost by nature. Even when the subject is not of interest the prose passes quickly and is enjoyable to read. The book is also quite short which helps a great deal because uninteresting subjects only last for a so long.
Over all I expect that if you have read either of the previous books you will find this one at least as good as those two.