A review by lissajean7
Without a Summer by Mary Robinette Kowal

5.0

All I have to say is that Mary Robinette Kowal is BRILLIANT. This story combines history and fantasy so effortlessly that I have to remind myself that glamour isn't real! The language she used transported me to a time of genteel manners and propriety. Her turns of phrase were so perfect and her description of details so exact that I truly felt immersed in the time and the city. But most of all, I love Jane and Vincent. Immensely. I love that the story portrays such a true marriage - the ups and downs and struggles and forgiveness and commitment... It is a beautiful thing. And Ms. Kowal shares it with such delicacy and tact that I just sit and marvel. Yes, the story is about Jane and Vincent's relationship, finding a suitable husband for her sister, tense relations with Vincent's family, the unseasonable cold being blamed on the coldmongers, and riots in the streets; but the story is about so much more: love, forgiveness, racism, judgement, persecution, abuse, and compassion to name a few. It is just brilliant, and everyone should read it.