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A review by mrchance
Lord John and the Private Matter by Diana Gabaldon
4.0
I really enjoyed getting to know Major John Grey better after his introduction in Voyager. His unrequited love for Jamie is simultaneously sad and a little pathetic, and not just a product of the times: mid 18th-century London, where being gay is a crime punishable by jail, torture, or worse.
Traveling through London's seediest areas is both repellant and very fun at the same time. The mystery at the crux of the plot is a slow simmer, and overly complicated in the end (Taking almost two chapters of explication to explain), but I thought it was interesting and not as straight-forward as it seemed, even if it did resolve in a mostly predictable manner.
Lord John's mother is a hoot, and the prostitute Nelly was an interesting character, too. All the characters were great, actually. Diana Gabaldon says in her note that she set out to write a short story and ended up with a novel. Well, it does feel like a short story in many ways. The P.O.V. is limited in scope, it focuses on one basic plot, and pretty much stays in one setting for 95% of the book, even if the setting is a place as large as the whole of London. What the great length adds to the mix is character development. I really got to know Lord John better through his family and friends, and even minor characters, like Harry Quarry, who had a whole paragraph or two in Voyager, became fully fleshed out. I'm looking forward to visiting this world again. Just glad I don't have to live there.
Traveling through London's seediest areas is both repellant and very fun at the same time. The mystery at the crux of the plot is a slow simmer, and overly complicated in the end (Taking almost two chapters of explication to explain), but I thought it was interesting and not as straight-forward as it seemed, even if it did resolve in a mostly predictable manner.
Lord John's mother is a hoot, and the prostitute Nelly was an interesting character, too. All the characters were great, actually. Diana Gabaldon says in her note that she set out to write a short story and ended up with a novel. Well, it does feel like a short story in many ways. The P.O.V. is limited in scope, it focuses on one basic plot, and pretty much stays in one setting for 95% of the book, even if the setting is a place as large as the whole of London. What the great length adds to the mix is character development. I really got to know Lord John better through his family and friends, and even minor characters, like Harry Quarry, who had a whole paragraph or two in Voyager, became fully fleshed out. I'm looking forward to visiting this world again. Just glad I don't have to live there.