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A review by themelodyofspring
The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue by Mackenzi Lee
5.0
“I've always been of the mind that subtlety is a waste of time. Fortune favors the flirtatious.”
This book was pure gold. I loved every second of it. From the writing to the characters to the dialogues to all the issues this book highlighted. I usually know that a book is gonna be my favorite when I can’t control my laughter reading it while I’m in office (oops). But I did have enough control to not laugh out loud there and make it home before bursting into full blown laughs.
Some of my favourite lines were:
- “I survive the rest of the conversation by imagining taking my empty coupe and shoving it either down his throat or up his arse.”
- “I’m caught between wanting to smack the pox patches off this woman’s face and to smack Percy because I’m still angry about our kiss. Perhaps I could get them both with a wide swing.” ( Oh God, Monty! :’D)
- “The ambassador looks as though he’s about to scold me, but he’s distracted when his wig catches on a passing woman's and they’re both nearly uncoiffed.” (OMG)
- “We're not courting trouble," I say. "Flirting with it, at most.”
- “Just thinking about all that blood." I nearly shudder. "Doesn't it make you a bit squeamish?"
"Ladies haven't the luxury of being squeamish about blood," she replies, and Percy and I go fantastically red in unison.” (Damn right, we don't!)
- “It's beginning to feel like he's shuffling his way through the seven deadly sins, in ascending order of my favourites.”
- “If the Good Lord didn't want men to play with themselves, we'd have hooks for hands.”
- “We are not broken things, neither of us. We are cracked pottery mended with laquer and flakes of gold, whole as we are, complete unto each other. Complete and worthy and so very loved.”
And the award for the best line goes to,
“I am Sisyphus's damned boulder rolling down the damned mountain and I intend to flatten the rouge Dante beneath me.”
Yep, completely lost it at that!
The story was never dull for even a moment. Monty was a bit of a condescending arse in the beginning, but he goes through a lot of character development, and the way he was so hopelessly in love with Percy was very endearing.
The story ended up being a lot more serious than the first impression I had of it. It talked about diversity, social stigma, disability, backward thinking about mental illnesses, homophobia, patriarchy. All these issues were addressed without it seeming like they were being forced down your throat.
Pros:
• Lovesick Monty
• The amount of times Monty trips over the loose floorcloth in the study!! And Percy follows :P
• Pirates / Privateers
• Monty making obnoxious tea (which had something swimming in it)
• Percy hefting a sword :D (Riptide, baby!)
• Felicity being a badass.
• You’ve not broken your hand
• You’ve not been shot :))
• Percy and Monty being adorable!
Cons:
• Another father figure to exile to the depths of Tartarus
• Said father beating up and berating his son so much that he ends up believing he is useless
• Every time Monty flinched because of physical contact in the latter part of the book because of his godforsaken father!
Beware:
• Abusive families
• Alchemical potions
• Equivalent exchange (I had FMA flashbacks)
• Guns o_o
This book was pure gold. I loved every second of it. From the writing to the characters to the dialogues to all the issues this book highlighted. I usually know that a book is gonna be my favorite when I can’t control my laughter reading it while I’m in office (oops). But I did have enough control to not laugh out loud there and make it home before bursting into full blown laughs.
Some of my favourite lines were:
- “I survive the rest of the conversation by imagining taking my empty coupe and shoving it either down his throat or up his arse.”
- “I’m caught between wanting to smack the pox patches off this woman’s face and to smack Percy because I’m still angry about our kiss. Perhaps I could get them both with a wide swing.” ( Oh God, Monty! :’D)
- “The ambassador looks as though he’s about to scold me, but he’s distracted when his wig catches on a passing woman's and they’re both nearly uncoiffed.” (OMG)
- “We're not courting trouble," I say. "Flirting with it, at most.”
- “Just thinking about all that blood." I nearly shudder. "Doesn't it make you a bit squeamish?"
"Ladies haven't the luxury of being squeamish about blood," she replies, and Percy and I go fantastically red in unison.” (Damn right, we don't!)
- “It's beginning to feel like he's shuffling his way through the seven deadly sins, in ascending order of my favourites.”
- “If the Good Lord didn't want men to play with themselves, we'd have hooks for hands.”
- “We are not broken things, neither of us. We are cracked pottery mended with laquer and flakes of gold, whole as we are, complete unto each other. Complete and worthy and so very loved.”
And the award for the best line goes to,
“I am Sisyphus's damned boulder rolling down the damned mountain and I intend to flatten the rouge Dante beneath me.”
Yep, completely lost it at that!
The story was never dull for even a moment. Monty was a bit of a condescending arse in the beginning, but he goes through a lot of character development, and the way he was so hopelessly in love with Percy was very endearing.
The story ended up being a lot more serious than the first impression I had of it. It talked about diversity, social stigma, disability, backward thinking about mental illnesses, homophobia, patriarchy. All these issues were addressed without it seeming like they were being forced down your throat.
Pros:
• Lovesick Monty
• The amount of times Monty trips over the loose floorcloth in the study!! And Percy follows :P
• Pirates / Privateers
• Monty making obnoxious tea (which had something swimming in it)
• Percy hefting a sword :D (Riptide, baby!)
• Felicity being a badass.
• You’ve not broken your hand
• You’ve not been shot :))
• Percy and Monty being adorable!
Cons:
• Another father figure to exile to the depths of Tartarus
• Said father beating up and berating his son so much that he ends up believing he is useless
• Every time Monty flinched because of physical contact in the latter part of the book because of his godforsaken father!
Beware:
• Abusive families
• Alchemical potions
• Equivalent exchange (I had FMA flashbacks)
• Guns o_o