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shercockholmes 's review for:
The Golden Age of Magic
by Luanne G. Smith
Overall Vibes: 1920s Fairytale
Hot Sauce Scale: 0 (no romance / dropped romance plotline)
The Golden Age of Magic is a short, quick, inoffensive read. I picked it up off Amazon First Reads this month and breezed through it. The story follows Celine, a Fées Gardiennes (Fairy Godmother), who leaves 1920s Europe and travels to the Fée-less country of America because she has upset another Gardienne. This is meant to be a fresh start for Celine and a chance for her to usher her first protégé into a Happily Ever After. With no other Gardiennes currently in America, she has her pick of fresh talent and wishes. She decides to find a dreamer in Hollywood after getting a postcard in the mail mistakenly. She finds a young seamstress with tons of potential working at a movie studio that is experiencing terrible, unnaturally bad luck and decides that she will be her first protégé.
There are some twists and turns and some unexpected developments. I have one major end-of-story nitpick and will begin light spoilers here.
I personally thought that Anaïs's views on society were a bit too modernly described for the time period. I do not believe that the term "patriarchy" was used in that specific context until at least second-wave feminism. Based on other historical mentions (the first talkie coming soon, the Great War, liquor being illegal), this book has to take place after 1920 but before 1927. Women would have just recently gotten the right to vote in America. I could easily see Anaïs having strong views on women's suffrage and her feminism reflected through that lens. But instead, her depiction is modern and lacking any historical context. I thought this was a miss, especially in the development of Anaïs’s character.
Finally, the biggest nitpick of all nitpicks. I think the author used the word "infamous" when she just meant "famous":
Everyone knew about Dorée’s first protégé. He was infamous. Several of the artist’s paintings hung in the Musée d’Orsay for all to admire. He was gone now, outlived by his benefactor, but esteem for the man had been engraved in time.
I sat there seriously trying to figure out who an infamous painter could even be. I had a moment where I thought to myself, "Did Dorée train Hitler?!?" No, it can't be. This is too early in the timeline for that. I tried my best to use other context clues, and I think the painter being referred to is Renoir. I can't even comprehend how Renoir would be considered infamous, especially in the context of someone commenting on him in the 1920s. I know this is a really stupid tangent, but I spent way too much time trying to figure out if Dorée had mentored some sort of pre-Hitler Hitler because of the word "infamous" being used here. My brain could not stop focusing on this. I am so sorry.
Overall, this is a quick read with an interesting concept and likable characters. I think some more time could have been spent wrapping up some loose ends, especially because the book is so short. It would not have hurt to have an extra chapter to bring some more resolution or to complete introduced storylines.
Hot Sauce Scale: 0 (no romance / dropped romance plotline)
The Golden Age of Magic is a short, quick, inoffensive read. I picked it up off Amazon First Reads this month and breezed through it. The story follows Celine, a Fées Gardiennes (Fairy Godmother), who leaves 1920s Europe and travels to the Fée-less country of America because she has upset another Gardienne. This is meant to be a fresh start for Celine and a chance for her to usher her first protégé into a Happily Ever After. With no other Gardiennes currently in America, she has her pick of fresh talent and wishes. She decides to find a dreamer in Hollywood after getting a postcard in the mail mistakenly. She finds a young seamstress with tons of potential working at a movie studio that is experiencing terrible, unnaturally bad luck and decides that she will be her first protégé.
There are some twists and turns and some unexpected developments. I have one major end-of-story nitpick and will begin light spoilers here.
Spoiler
We do not get resolution for the movie studio or owner Nick West. The meddling of the skulk caused major accidents and misfortune at the studio. With the skulk removed by the Gardiennes, does the studio recover financially? It really seems like a romance plot was dropped between Nick and Celine. I understand not wanting to have a romance plotline in your novel, as it can be cliché when shoehorned in, but if it's introduced, at least resolve it.I personally thought that Anaïs's views on society were a bit too modernly described for the time period. I do not believe that the term "patriarchy" was used in that specific context until at least second-wave feminism. Based on other historical mentions (the first talkie coming soon, the Great War, liquor being illegal), this book has to take place after 1920 but before 1927. Women would have just recently gotten the right to vote in America. I could easily see Anaïs having strong views on women's suffrage and her feminism reflected through that lens. But instead, her depiction is modern and lacking any historical context. I thought this was a miss, especially in the development of Anaïs’s character.
Finally, the biggest nitpick of all nitpicks. I think the author used the word "infamous" when she just meant "famous":
Everyone knew about Dorée’s first protégé. He was infamous. Several of the artist’s paintings hung in the Musée d’Orsay for all to admire. He was gone now, outlived by his benefactor, but esteem for the man had been engraved in time.
I sat there seriously trying to figure out who an infamous painter could even be. I had a moment where I thought to myself, "Did Dorée train Hitler?!?" No, it can't be. This is too early in the timeline for that. I tried my best to use other context clues, and I think the painter being referred to is Renoir. I can't even comprehend how Renoir would be considered infamous, especially in the context of someone commenting on him in the 1920s. I know this is a really stupid tangent, but I spent way too much time trying to figure out if Dorée had mentored some sort of pre-Hitler Hitler because of the word "infamous" being used here. My brain could not stop focusing on this. I am so sorry.
Overall, this is a quick read with an interesting concept and likable characters. I think some more time could have been spent wrapping up some loose ends, especially because the book is so short. It would not have hurt to have an extra chapter to bring some more resolution or to complete introduced storylines.