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A review by kivt
The Lady's Guide to Petticoats and Piracy by Mackenzi Lee
3.0
another fun read! i didn’t really fall in love with any of the characters the way i think i was meant to. i couldn’t relate to Felicity or Johanna, even tho Felicity was almost created in a lab to be a character i’d adore. as far as alt-history books about lady naturalists go, i’d recommend Marie Brennan’s Lady Trent series over this. even tho Lady Trent should have been way gayer.
Lee does a hell of a lot more grandstanding thru Felicity’s inner monologues than thru Monty’s. i’m guessing Lee feels a lot more connected to Felicity’s struggle, Felicity has a more external struggle than Monty (who def faced external oppression, but mostly struggled with himself), and Felicity as a character is more prone to indignant and sincere speeches than Monty. but by the end of the book, the prose did get pretty purple and the grandstanding tiresome.
the other weak points of this book are the same as the first in the series. there were a lot of dubious travel logistics that i frankly don’t actually need to know about. again, Lee is strongest when she lets three different characters interact and steps back from interpreting the interaction too heavy-handedly. i wish she’d done more of that, developed Sim more, and edited out about half if Felicity’s thoughts about women sharp as diamonds, or whatever. i liked the tension between Felicity and Johanna. if the resolution of their tension was rushed, it just matched the hectic pace of the book.
Sim & Felicity’s resolution fell especially flat. Part of this was that Sim never truly became a character—she was more of a plot bus, showing up when Felicity needed to get somewhere & disappearing shortly after. She even did this metaphorically, saying the right thing to Felicity about Felicity at the right time to propel Felicity’s sense of self to the next phase of actualization. I would like a whole book about Sim, who is obviously the more interesting concept for a woke adventure novel protagonist.
Lee does a hell of a lot more grandstanding thru Felicity’s inner monologues than thru Monty’s. i’m guessing Lee feels a lot more connected to Felicity’s struggle, Felicity has a more external struggle than Monty (who def faced external oppression, but mostly struggled with himself), and Felicity as a character is more prone to indignant and sincere speeches than Monty. but by the end of the book, the prose did get pretty purple and the grandstanding tiresome.
the other weak points of this book are the same as the first in the series. there were a lot of dubious travel logistics that i frankly don’t actually need to know about. again, Lee is strongest when she lets three different characters interact and steps back from interpreting the interaction too heavy-handedly. i wish she’d done more of that, developed Sim more, and edited out about half if Felicity’s thoughts about women sharp as diamonds, or whatever. i liked the tension between Felicity and Johanna. if the resolution of their tension was rushed, it just matched the hectic pace of the book.
Sim & Felicity’s resolution fell especially flat. Part of this was that Sim never truly became a character—she was more of a plot bus, showing up when Felicity needed to get somewhere & disappearing shortly after. She even did this metaphorically, saying the right thing to Felicity about Felicity at the right time to propel Felicity’s sense of self to the next phase of actualization. I would like a whole book about Sim, who is obviously the more interesting concept for a woke adventure novel protagonist.