A review by voidature
The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue by Mackenzi Lee

slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.5

i don’t know how to start this review tbh. there’s a lot to say and none of it is very good. i only gave it two stars because the writing itself is good, but she as a white woman had no business writing this kind of story with the amount of racial slurs used and the general theme, and i spent the entire time while reading it beside myself with mixed feelings.

it’s disgusting to ship percy with monty and it’s gross that they still get together at the end given how monty treats him throughout the novel but especially in the beginning—because this is the monty percy would have been exposed to since they were boys. a monty who will say racist things to him when he gets upset, percy who is supposedly his best friend, and even despite that percy is so patient with him and has to *teach* him about racism even when monty barely makes an effort to understand or accept that he has a white savior complex.

monty went through a huge character growth arc, but percy didn’t have the same kind of growth, and monty went through that growth at the expense of percy’s dignity, being written with an illness, who was used as a prop for him. not to mention scipio’s crew, who were also used as props to help monty grow.

i have no idea how or why this book is so highly rated given the contents of it and how the author chooses to write her characters. and after reading the reviews and finding out she’s transphobic as well, i’m unsurprised to find that my gut feeling about this book reading the way it does is correct.
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