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A review by mudder17
One for All by Lillie Lainoff
3.0
3.5 stars
This was not so much a retelling of the Three Musketeers as it was a spin-off of the stories. It focuses on a small group of women who have been trained to protect the king, but in a way that men can not. There was much I liked about this book, but there were also some things I wasn't thrilled about.
I really liked the representation in this story. Tania de Batz is the daughter of a retired Musketeer and unlike most young ladies of her time, she would prefer to run around, climb trees, and fight with swords. She also, unfortunately, suffers from POTS, although it is never named as such since I believe it was officially diagnosed in the 1990s! Her mother is ashamed of her "weakness" and constantly tells her to keep it hidden from others, including potential suitors. This is the first time I've seen this disability in literature (and I've had at least 3 students who suffer from it), so I appreciated reading about it.
I found the overall plot to be quite interesting and I liked that she was searching for her father's killer while trying to make sure she was doing everything she could to protect the king. I also loved how the book builds towards the eventual sisterhood of the female musketeers and that it was not an automatic thing. Trust needs to be built and I thought the author did a good job of building that trust among the ladies, through both positive interactions and mistakes made. With regards to the sisterhood, I liked that they highlighted holding each other up when they were weak and not letting them fall. This allowed Tania to shine where she could (with sword fighting) but know that her sisters would have her back if her body failed her.
I really enjoyed reading the sword-fighting scenes, but I wasn't as thrilled when she (or the other girls) was expected to manipulate a man using her "feminine wiles". I mean, I get that, especially during that time, women could do things like that that most men couldn't but I'm not always thrilled by this kind of deception where women can be "strong" by deceiving men.
The other thing is that as much as I enjoyed the search for her father's killer, I was able to figure it out about halfway through the book. I mean, I was happy to know I was right, but it made the story a bit more predictable.
I did like Henri and his artistic talent and I liked that even as Tania worked to find her place in the home, so did Henri. As an aside, I also liked the romance that showed up near the end (no spoilers). It actually made me laugh because of the reaction of the others. But it was fun.
Overall, this was a fun take on the Musketeer story, and I found it to be an enjoyable read.
This was not so much a retelling of the Three Musketeers as it was a spin-off of the stories. It focuses on a small group of women who have been trained to protect the king, but in a way that men can not. There was much I liked about this book, but there were also some things I wasn't thrilled about.
I really liked the representation in this story. Tania de Batz is the daughter of a retired Musketeer and unlike most young ladies of her time, she would prefer to run around, climb trees, and fight with swords. She also, unfortunately, suffers from POTS, although it is never named as such since I believe it was officially diagnosed in the 1990s! Her mother is ashamed of her "weakness" and constantly tells her to keep it hidden from others, including potential suitors. This is the first time I've seen this disability in literature (and I've had at least 3 students who suffer from it), so I appreciated reading about it.
I found the overall plot to be quite interesting and I liked that she was searching for her father's killer while trying to make sure she was doing everything she could to protect the king. I also loved how the book builds towards the eventual sisterhood of the female musketeers and that it was not an automatic thing. Trust needs to be built and I thought the author did a good job of building that trust among the ladies, through both positive interactions and mistakes made. With regards to the sisterhood, I liked that they highlighted holding each other up when they were weak and not letting them fall. This allowed Tania to shine where she could (with sword fighting) but know that her sisters would have her back if her body failed her.
I really enjoyed reading the sword-fighting scenes, but I wasn't as thrilled when she (or the other girls) was expected to manipulate a man using her "feminine wiles". I mean, I get that, especially during that time, women could do things like that that most men couldn't but I'm not always thrilled by this kind of deception where women can be "strong" by deceiving men.
The other thing is that as much as I enjoyed the search for her father's killer, I was able to figure it out about halfway through the book. I mean, I was happy to know I was right, but it made the story a bit more predictable.
I did like Henri and his artistic talent and I liked that even as Tania worked to find her place in the home, so did Henri. As an aside, I also liked the romance that showed up near the end (no spoilers). It actually made me laugh because of the reaction of the others. But it was fun.
Overall, this was a fun take on the Musketeer story, and I found it to be an enjoyable read.