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A review by justinkhchen
The Viscount Who Loved Me by Julia Quinn
3.0
3.5 stars
Extremely charming and undeniably likable, The Viscount Who Loved Me is another solid entry in the Bridgertons series, with 2 well-defined romantic leads, and countless witty setups that will for sure be a solid source of inspiration for its Netflix adaptation.
After having read multiple books by Julia Quinn, there's just something about her storytelling that is missing the spark elevating the work from 'liking' to 'loving' for me; it could be the lack of range (all characters are kind of on the same wavelength, even the antagonistic ones), or the lack of variety (she rarely breaks away from the house/ball/garden settings) — there's an ever-present 'comforting boredom' while consuming her books — the pleasantry was welcoming, but at the same time feeling overly familiar and repetitive. I was never fully engaged, and finishing the book ended up being the result of a daily routine rather than a desire wanting to know what happens next.
Having watched the Netflix adaptation, for me this is a case where an adaptation has out-shined its originator — the production is modern and fresh, the casting brings in additional diversity and personality (not existing in books), and the hindsight of knowing the ending to various plot lines means even more depth and conflict can be planted ahead; now the original novel comes across like a collection of great concepts (the pall mall scene, the bee sting scene, the tea drinking scene, etc.), but lacks a holistic perspective and a narrative backbone threading them together.
Being a very casual fan of the Bridgertons series, I'm not as protective of its faithfulness when it comes to its translation to screen; in fact, I believe it would be a very shallow, vanilla show if they simply regurgitated everything verbatim. I would probably continue reading the series if the show continues (I love seeing what's changed/kept), but otherwise I'm indifferent in whether stop/continue the series.
Extremely charming and undeniably likable, The Viscount Who Loved Me is another solid entry in the Bridgertons series, with 2 well-defined romantic leads, and countless witty setups that will for sure be a solid source of inspiration for its Netflix adaptation.
After having read multiple books by Julia Quinn, there's just something about her storytelling that is missing the spark elevating the work from 'liking' to 'loving' for me; it could be the lack of range (all characters are kind of on the same wavelength, even the antagonistic ones), or the lack of variety (she rarely breaks away from the house/ball/garden settings) — there's an ever-present 'comforting boredom' while consuming her books — the pleasantry was welcoming, but at the same time feeling overly familiar and repetitive. I was never fully engaged, and finishing the book ended up being the result of a daily routine rather than a desire wanting to know what happens next.
Having watched the Netflix adaptation, for me this is a case where an adaptation has out-shined its originator — the production is modern and fresh, the casting brings in additional diversity and personality (not existing in books), and the hindsight of knowing the ending to various plot lines means even more depth and conflict can be planted ahead; now the original novel comes across like a collection of great concepts (the pall mall scene, the bee sting scene, the tea drinking scene, etc.), but lacks a holistic perspective and a narrative backbone threading them together.
Being a very casual fan of the Bridgertons series, I'm not as protective of its faithfulness when it comes to its translation to screen; in fact, I believe it would be a very shallow, vanilla show if they simply regurgitated everything verbatim. I would probably continue reading the series if the show continues (I love seeing what's changed/kept), but otherwise I'm indifferent in whether stop/continue the series.