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A review by netflix_and_lil
The Nobleman's Guide to Scandal and Shipwrecks by Mackenzi Lee
2.0
Did she... plagiarise the last sentences of this book from Rainer Maria Rilke? I'm genuinely asking.
'Let everything happen to you: beauty and terror. Just keep going. No feeling is final.' - Rilke
'I will let it all happen to me, beauty and terror... I know that no feeling is final.' - Lee
It was the end card for JoJo Rabbit for Christ's sake. It's also one of my favourite quotes. I have a mug with it printed on it I'm drinking from right now. What is happening??
Other than that, The Nobleman's Guide was. I thought it was a bit long and a bit rambly, and what could have been a fun reunion for favourite characters quickly turned into me being sad because my favourite characters had backslid into the teenage versions of themselves and a book with 'shipwreck' in the title failed to produce ANY actual shipwrecks. And also very little scandal. Unbelievable. It teases many things - a ghost ship, a pirate queen villain with a grudge, a marooning island... and complete brushes aside each of these morsels for more A to B historically accurate long-ass travel time. And in a series that never shied away from the fantastical, suddenly everyone is a sceptic!
This book is very much a character study. I'd recommend anyone interested in the story read a hundred or so pages and if you don't click with Adrian Montague as a protagonist, you don't need to bother with the rest. Things don't really get better as you go. If you do click with him, you may very well get something out of this trilogy closer - but I just feel a little robbed.
'Let everything happen to you: beauty and terror. Just keep going. No feeling is final.' - Rilke
'I will let it all happen to me, beauty and terror... I know that no feeling is final.' - Lee
It was the end card for JoJo Rabbit for Christ's sake. It's also one of my favourite quotes. I have a mug with it printed on it I'm drinking from right now. What is happening??
Other than that, The Nobleman's Guide was. I thought it was a bit long and a bit rambly, and what could have been a fun reunion for favourite characters quickly turned into me being sad because my favourite characters had backslid into the teenage versions of themselves and a book with 'shipwreck' in the title failed to produce ANY actual shipwrecks. And also very little scandal. Unbelievable. It teases many things - a ghost ship, a pirate queen villain with a grudge, a marooning island... and complete brushes aside each of these morsels for more A to B historically accurate long-ass travel time. And in a series that never shied away from the fantastical, suddenly everyone is a sceptic!
This book is very much a character study. I'd recommend anyone interested in the story read a hundred or so pages and if you don't click with Adrian Montague as a protagonist, you don't need to bother with the rest. Things don't really get better as you go. If you do click with him, you may very well get something out of this trilogy closer - but I just feel a little robbed.