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    Shades of Milk and Honey
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    Shades of Milk and Honey
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    Shades of Milk and Honey
    Ebook286 pages4 hours

    Shades of Milk and Honey

    By Mary Robinette Kowal

    3.5/5

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    About this ebook

    The fantasy novel you've always wished Jane Austen had written

    Shades of Milk and Honey is exactly what we could expect from Jane Austen if she had been a fantasy writer: Pride and Prejudice meets Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell. It is an intimate portrait of a woman, Jane, and her quest for love in a world where the manipulation of glamour is considered an essential skill for a lady of quality.

    Jane and her sister Melody vie for the attentions of eligible men, and while Jane's skill with glamour is remarkable, it is her sister who is fair of face. When Jane realizes that one of Melody's suitors is set on taking advantage of her sister for the sake of her dowry, she pushes her skills to the limit of what her body can withstand in order to set things right-and, in the process, accidentally wanders into a love story of her own.

    At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherMacmillan Publishers
    Release dateAug 3, 2010
    ISBN9781429963367
    Author

    Mary Robinette Kowal

    Mary Robinette Kowal is the author of the Hugo, Nebula, and Locus Award-winning alternate history novel, The Calculating Stars, the first book in the Lady Astronaut series. She is also the author of The Glamourist Histories series and Ghost Talkers and has received the Astounding Award for Best New Writer, four Hugo Awards, the Nebula, and Locus Awards. Her stories appear in Asimov’s, Uncanny, and several Year’s Best anthologies. Mary Robinette has also worked as a professional puppeteer, is a member of the Award-winning podcast Writing Excuses, and performs as a voice actor (SAG/AFTRA), recording fiction for authors including Seanan McGuire, Cory Doctorow, and Neal Stephenson. She lives in Tennessee with her husband Rob and over a dozen manual typewriters.

    Read more from Mary Robinette Kowal

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    Reviews for Shades of Milk and Honey

    3.5/5

    120 ratings78 reviews

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    • 1/5
      This felt like a a complete remake of Austen's Pride and Prejudice...with a few details switched and added a small dose of "magic" to make it appear different. I love PnP but this felt stale and unoriginal. The characters were so close to those in PnP that I found it difficult not to refer to them in my mind as Elizabeth and Lydia.

      As for the "fantasy" glamour idea, it was underwhelming and flat. Painting or any other art could have filled it's place.

      Perhaps I'm just done with all the PnP remakes out there (zombies! murder mysteries!). I had hoped this one would be one with an unique twist with the inclusion of fantasy (a genre I love) but sadly, I found it lacking inspiration and boring.
    • 4/5
      As the author herself attests, this book draws on the best of the Jane Austen tradition, but places it in a unique imagining of a fantasical world. I raced from cover to cover, and can't wait for the sequel. Despite this being a fantasy novel, it reminds me quite strongly of Laurie R. King's Mary Russell series. I am falling in love with tales of brilliant, strong women in Victorian England.
    • 5/5
      The blend of Austen and fantasy is delicious. Definitely a voice apart from the many other magical fantasies set in the era: more melancholic and elegaic.
    • 5/5
      Such an absolutely beautiful story! I was afraid it may be a bit long and dry because I'll admit that as an adult I've had a hard time reading Jane Austen. It may be the books I've chosen, but it's also because I'm far too impatient. But this book sucked me in immediately. Now I've not read a Jane Austen book since high school though I have tried to, so I'm no expert, but I have an idea of her style of writing. And this book does seem like a book she could have written. The style is definitely very similar. But this book moves along at a quicker pace {though I wouldn't say it's fast paced, as it's more relaxed then most books I've been reading these days} and it has a fantasy element thrown in. As there is magic. Now this magic is unlike anything I've read about before. It's a glamour that is wove to create scenes or things that aren't there. To cloak things to make them prettier, or appear newer. A dining room can be transformed into a beautiful forest complete with a babbling brook. I thought it was genius because it fit into the story so well. Jane is a plain girl, not beautiful like her sister Melody. But she's talented in her glamour abilities and in art of all types. She's quite sensible and never goes on flights of fancy like her sister Melody. She's very likable and a character I completely connected with. Her sister Melody was beautiful and always for want of attention. She would get jealous when Jane would get attention and would do ridiculous things to get the spotlight on herself. But even while she was naive and sometimes cruel by accident you could tell that she did love her sister and was somewhat blind to her own poor behavior. Their mother, Mrs. Ellsworth was quite the drama queen, as was most of the women of that time. The slightest upset and they faint dead away. It was quite hilarious as Jane saw right through their ridiculous overreactions. Their father, Mr. Ellsworth was a kindly and gentle soul. He truly cares for his girls but really seems to be the only one who truly understands Jane. There are several men in this book that each play an important role. But it's so fun to unravel what their part is that I'm not going to spoil you with any details. I'll tell you that the romance plays out in a very Jane Austen'esque way, which is somewhat predictable once it's figured out, but it takes awhile to piece everything together. You have to figure out who Melody really fancy's and as she's so flighty it's not immediately obvious. As for Jane, well, she'll get her bit as well- but your not getting any spoilers from me!While this book isn't exactly fast paced, it isn't slow either. I found myself cruising through it with no issues whatsoever. It felt like it was a steady pace with enough twists that kept me on my toes. And the last quarter of the book- now that was fast paced as it was constant epiphany and action as everything suddenly starts to come together. I really can't recommend this book highly enough. I was totally entranced and fell in love with the magic, the characters and the time period itself. I'm very excited for the second book, Glamour in Glass which comes out April 2012. Now this is an adult book, but I would definitely say it has crossover appeal for YA.
    • 3/5
      3.5 stars, actually.

      When the Jane Austen Centre has a positive blurb on the front cover of a book, you know you've got something special.

      This is the story of Jane Ellsworth, a talented near-spinster in Regency England; her beautiful but otherwise prosaic sister, Melody; and their assorted family, neighbors, friends, servants, and visitors. If you've read or seen any of Jane Austen's work, you know the drill: Everything is implied, never spoken. And in this book, this extends to the use of glamours--illusions typically used to create a mood, a scene, a feeling. Jane is quite adept in this art, which every young lady is trained in along with embroidery, music, drawing, etc.

      As the book opens, a new family has come to live in the neighborhood, and Jane becomes friends with the master's sister, Beth Dunkirk, who in turn introduces Jane to her glamour teacher, Mr. Vincent. Vincent opens Jane's eyes to new ways of performing glamour, despite his scowling, taciturn manner.

      At the same time, intriques, ethical questions, and class tensions are all around them. Who will Mr. Dunkirk select for a bride? How about Captain Livingston, the nephew of Lady FitzCameron? Who might be using glamour to mask shameful poverty or physical imperfections? Who is meeting whom in the dead of night?

      I really enjoyed this one--it's more accessible than Austen, and much lighter in tone. The fact that it's the first in a series is a bonus. The story is a bit thin in this debut novel, and somewhat predictable if you know Austen at all, but I notice that the next two books are thicker--a good sign, I think. I'm looking forward to diving back into this world that Robinette Kowal has spun out of the ether.
    • 4/5
      Well my goodness, what a strange and charming little volume! Shades of Milk and Honey by Mary Robinette Kowal is described as "Pride and Prejudice meets Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell" -- though I would have suggested Sense and Sensibility as the Austen novel in question (if only for the sisters relationship, though other elements clearly owe their foundations to P&P) and the magical element is not nearly as strong in this as in Jonathan Strange. Still, that vague quote will at least clue in a reader to the fact that this is not your ordinary Jane Austen wannabe romantic story. Kowal evidently is quite a Janeite, having thanked the online Jane Austen community in her acknowledgements, and this book could certainly be called an Austenuation, given its tone, character similarities, and occasional spellings. The magical/fantasy element consists of the insertion of "glamour," which I'm sure I will not describe properly, as I'm not sure I even understood it properly. Glamour appears to be a magic pulled from the air that one can manipulate into visual displays -- whether this be the addition of small amounts that would add something extra to an existing item (allow trees in a painting to sway in the wind or give the illusion of light playing against books) or something a bit larger (create an entire theatrical tableau vivant around people, a "glamural" large-scale work, or curtaining off people using folds of glamour so they disappear from view). The thing is, in this world, it doesn't appear as though manipulating glamour is exactly a highly prized skill... at least for men. It seems to be something in the feminine arena, used mostly for improvements in the home, as it doesn't appear to create anything substantial, simply an enhanced visual. There are a few well-regarded artists who work with the medium but, as artists, they are still working at a kind of trade and therefore are a notch above some, but not quite on the level with the usual gentlemen and ladies who do not require a pesky occupation to keep them financially solvent.Jane Ellsworth is twenty-eight and has almost resigned herself to the life of a spinster... almost. There is still a desperate hope in her heart that despite her age and lack of beauty, she might still make a match and not end her days serving as a tutor to her beautiful younger sister's sure-to-come children. Jane has two things in her favor -- her father has set aside a bit of a dowry for each of his daughters (as he's smart enough to know that they will need this, given that his estate is entailed away) and Jane herself is a somewhat accomplished glamourist. Not that she would own the description as an official title, but even she knows that she can manipulate glamour relatively well and as this talent is appreciated in women to make a home comfortable, to entertain, etc., there is a hope that it enhances her marriageable value. Her younger sister Melody is quite a beauty and beloved by Jane (though the reader rather has to take Jane at her word on Melody's good points, as Melody comes off as a selfish, flighty, and rather vapid creature). Their parents are quite the image of Mr. and Mrs. Bennet, though at least Mr. Ellsworth has a bit more sense when it comes to providing for his daughters and keeping them out of trouble as far as that dreaded city of Bath is concerned. The neighborhood is small, but still has a number of interesting personages within. First, there is Mr. Dunkirk, of whom Jane thinks rather highly, though she also knows her sister feels the same and is immediately inclined to allow her sister the conquest. When his sister Beth comes to visit, Jane develops a fondness for the much younger girl and assists Beth in her basic study of glamour; this quietly delights Mr. Dunkirk, who has a real appreciation for Jane's talents and more than hints that such talents are what truly make a comfortable home. The local elite family is the FitzCameron family, presided over by Lady FitzCameron, a widow with an unmarried daughter... which is why her nephew, Captain Livingston, is in town... a rather dashing and rakish young man in the service of His Majesty's royal navy. Also a guest in the FitzCameron household, we have the standoffish and gruff Mr. Vincent, a noted glamourist who is being employed by Lady FitzCameron to create a large-scale and grand glamural in her home.While the novel lacked a real Austen-like focus on social commentary and deeper and yet witty observations, Kowal was able to create a heroine who felt quite like a woman who could have existed in an Austen novel, and one who would have merited the high opinion of those sensible souls around her. Jane is quiet and demure, keeping her shrewder thoughts to herself and able to keep confidences (while yet struggling with the question of whether or not to share them with others if only in the best interest of those concerned who might come to harm). She values her sister so highly that she is constantly trying to repair any breaches that occur, though none of them are Jane's fault. Melody is an incredibly annoying chit of a girl, whereas Beth is only a trifle better, if only because she manages to act decently well on a day-to-day basis. Perhaps the more surprising thing (when it concerns comparing Shades of Milk and Honey to any Austen or other Regency novel) is the fact that for all of Jane's concerns about ending a spinster, she actually plays the field a whole lot more than she realizes. The reader will understand pretty quickly who her ideal match would be, but Jane seems to hold two men in high regard for quite some time -- and indeed, even when the real love-match becomes clear, the relationship with the other fellow is not quite closed off (which is, perhaps, a bit more realistic). There's also a rather ridiculous scene filled with galloping horses and duels that feels a bit over-the-top in this particular novel, but perhaps one can forgive it for the sake of fun. It is a pity, though, that there was not more depth to this story beyond the romantic storylines, as I believed Kowal to be quite capable of greater societal observation than was evinced in this volume. The limited mention of how glamour can be used to mask falling fortunes was not quite enough (or at least it didn't ever come to much) and should have merited a greater exploration.All in all, I would say that Kowal's novel is rather charming, though Regency purists will not be particularly pleased with all this glamour stuff. As I have noted, I do wish that the magical element actually played a bit more of a role in society as something necessary, as opposed to the surface delight that glamour epitomizes. It just doesn't seem to be necessary in the way I would think such an addition would have to be -- but perhaps in future novels of this world (as one always assumes there must be more, nowadays), we'll get more on that subject. Modern readers who can pick up both Georgette Heyer and light fantasy will be able to enjoy Shades of Milk and Honey as a pleasant diversion and I'll be happy to read the next item that comes from Kowal's pen.
    • 4/5
      Rather enjoyable--just wish they would explain a bit more about "glamour" and how it came to be and such. That makes it a bit confusing for younger people although it didn't offend it any way. Possible purchase.
    • 3/5
      This was an entertaining light read. I would have read it in a day but I had a date with my husband so it took a day & a half. It is highly derivative of Austen (you'll see shades of Sense & Sensibility, Persuasion & Pride & Prejudice) but it's still a fun amble & I found I rooted for the main character, Jane, in particular. Her sister, Melody, is of course, a vapid pain & I had less sympathy & more overwhelming want of someone to tell her to be quiet or maybe slap her around for a sustained amount of time. She is redeemed much later but in the end, I still didn't like or care much about her.

      Some of what takes place is predictable but if you've already accepted the Austen-esque nature of the book, you probably won't find that a deal breaker. I did want Jane to have figured out the duplicity of Capt. Livingston much more quickly. We know what she knows yet she dismisses the obvious conclusion. Actually, she doesn't dismiss it, she overlooks it entirely. She is shown to be so sharp the rest of the time that I found that a little less credible an instance. But the conclusion to that storyline was exciting enough to forgive the lead in. Most of the remaining characters fulfilled their roles well, believably & sometimes hilariously. I very much enjoyed the "glamour" idea & the descriptions of it were very well done. It took a little to sort of get into that part but once I did, it added a nice fantasy layer to the story.

      I was rooting for Mr. Dunkirk from the start because I'm a sappy chica & I thought he & Jane would be a great couple. For all of the "glamour" I didn't really get into Mr. Vincent as a character. He seemed useful enough (his treatise on art & his theories on glamour were compelling), but I felt nothing for him, even when he nearly died. He never seemed as surely drawn as mostly everyone else. I accept the pairing at the ending but it quite killed any desire in me to read the next in the series. Especially since there's that little bit of epilogue in the last few chapters that gives an account of the sisters Ellsworth's future. Still, I did quite enjoy this as a weekend read.
    • 3/5
      "Shades of Milk and Honey" had enough Bronte and modern fantasy feeling for me to like it, but too much Austen for me to help feeling that it was a little thin. Still, Kowal is a good stylist with a light touch and a subtle imagination.
    • 4/5
      The mention of Jane Austen or Regency England together with fantasy can be either a good thing or a bad thing. I was not that enamored with Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, for example. Although there were things about it I liked, I never really identified with the characters enough to truly care about them or was caught up into the story. The Magicians and Mrs. Quent captured more of the quality of Jane Eyre, especially in one-third of the book, and I'm waiting for the sequel to pass judgment. My knowledge of the time period comes primarily from Jane herself, Bronte's Jane Eyre, and Georgette Heyer's well-researched romances of the era. I have not been one to do much reading of Austen wannabes and have sworn off most Heyer imitators as well, preferring to stick with the best. Settling into Shades of Milk and Honey felt like settling into an Austen book. It catches the ambiance, the pacing, the phrasing. The characters and story continually catch one in looking for Marianne and Elinor in the two sisters, for Mrs. Bentley in Mrs. Ellsworth, for Mr. Darcy in Vincent, and for Mr. Knightley in Mr. Dunkirk. And yet this is not just a pastiche or imitation. Just as these same characteristics are what one looks for when moving from one Austen novel to another, yet each is unique in its own way, Kowal is also able to build her own story and characters while still evoking the atmosphere. She acknowledges that she moves further away from the principles of her preceptress in the denouement of the story, but perhaps more in the direction of a Bronte rather than modern times. I enjoyed the story very much, reading it in a single afternoon. I was engaged by the characters, as well as by the addition of the fantasy element of glamour in a way that was not intrusive or jarring but that was central to the story. I recommend it for an entertaining read.
    • 1/5
      'The fantasy novel you wish Jane Austen had written' - er, no. Not even so bad it was good. Boring read, dragged all over the place, banal characters, all underlaid with the constant - I'm writing like Jane Austen, I'm writing a new Pride and Prejudice, can't you tell? Why yes, I could, and it was baaaaaaad.
    • 4/5
      Set in Regency England, Jane and Melody Ellsworth are sisters that don't get along very well. Melody is young and pretty but untalented, while Jane is an expert glamourist who is moving swiftly toward spinsterhood. However, several eligible men have just come to town, so who knows what might happen.This book is, essentially, Elinor and Marianne from Sense & Sensibility, with Mr. and Mrs. Bennett as their parents, plus magic. The magic is very subtle (it is considered "a lady's art") and for most of the book it could easily be substituted with music or painting. The ending is a little dramatic for an Austen novel, but who cares? The whole book was just delightful to read. The writing was excellent and the characters were intriguing. Highly recommended.
    • 4/5
      An excellent book. Written in the style of Jane Austen (and very well done), yet including magic. I liked that the magic was subtle, just one of the many accomplishments young women of breeding were supposed to have at that time.
    • 5/5
      This book hit a very good sweet spot for me and sucked me in, hook, line and sinker. I want to purchase my own copy to reread and the series is going to be high on my wishlist.This is a romance, a story that feels like a Jane Austen Novel but with added magic. A magic of illusion, glamour. This magic is something pretty trivial, it creates an illusion of movement in pictures, a picturescape to accompany music, allows a dress designer to show a customer what the dress would look like when complete in miniature, serves as an alarm for a hunter. Small things. It's considered a skill all accomplished women should have, and uses fabric-like language to describe it.Jane is an accomplished weaver of glamour, she has resigned herself to spinsterhood as she's twenty-eight and plain. Her sister has more prospect of marriage than she does and she is content with that. However she finds herself caught up in a situation that requires her to push herself to her limits and along the way finds that maybe, just maybe, she might be able to find love.This drew me in and kept me reading. I sincerely didn't want to leave it until I finished it and look forward to some day re-reading it. The characters came across as if they had stepped out of a period fiction of the regency and had comfortably settled into this one. It just didn't misstep for me at any stage and this one will go on my favourites shelf on book sites.
    • 5/5
      Glorious! A delightful foray into Victorian Regency melodrama and magical realism with just enough glamour to make it magical without falling into whimsy. The characters were engaging in a way that was proper without showing the least amount of impropriety. Loads of Austen-esque relationship banter but relying on simple language to convey it which makes it a quick weekend read. As often remarked and I reiterate this novel has the societal satire of Pride and Prejudice with the affectations of Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell.

      I am blissfully waiting for Glamour in Glass to come out in a few days.
    • 4/5
      A beautiful balance of classic literature and magic. I love the world that Kowal built, and the writing, but I was less enchanted by the characters. I bored of the the repetition of their doubts and complaints, and wasn't won over by the love interest.
    • 3/5
      Jane Austin-style alt-history romance in world where visual illusions are practiced instead of needlework by ladies of quality.
    • 4/5
      Ah Regency! How fun you are to visit via novels. Mary Robinette Kowal, has written a fine novel, a tribute to both the Regency period and the writers of the time, with a wonderful twist of fantasy thrown in. (I suppose that the magic, in "Jane Austen with Magic!" is less threatening to some readers than "Jane Austen with Fantasy!" Either way, it was delightful.)I came to this novel after reading the second in the series (Glamour in Glass and after meeting, and being thoroughly enchanted by the author at JordanCon IV. For those who love Austen and Heyer, the circumstances of this novel are thoroughly familiar. How nice to read of a world where the most pressing issue is how to receive a gentleman caller. The deliciousness of conversation, something that is so beautifully portrayed in Regency novels, has been captured by the author completely, which will delight fans of the esteemed writers from the past. Adding the element of the art of Glamour into that world is a nice revision, much more to my taste than adding vampires, or zombies, or detectives, though those novels have their own brand of appeal as well.I continue to be in awe of the author's exactness in her writing -- from the use of words and spellings, to assuring that details, such as fabric and phrase are correct. And I love that she used the name of a mutual friend as a character. I always suspected he had a bit of the devil in him.
    • 5/5
      I do not what recommended this novel to me, but I am very glad that it was. It is a piece to be treasured and savored.Many novelists purport to 'write like Jane Austen' yet I have not met any in my extensive reading until now that actually capture Austen's voice and shows their skill with words. All others have fallen short. Except for one mistake that the author makes in regards to the titles of nobility in her pseudo England, this fabulous tale is one worth the time to investigate.We add a layer onto the Regency of Magic. So deftly done by Galen Beckett in his series, with his own unique and glorious prose, here we have the themes and tropes of Austen's novels brought back to life. Kowal has some of her own prose, but you might not see it as she evokes the next tale Jane Austen surely could have penned should she be living in a world of Glamour. The world not only which surrounds he characters of this tale, but also provide the plot points to propel it forward.Do you see poking through the hedge, the imagery of Pride and Prejudice one instant, and Sense and Sensibility the next? There is Persuasion and and also several other tropes we have seen in other Regency tales. Kowal give a tale worthy of a reread, but wait, this has become a series and now it is time to quickly find the next book to see if she continues on as fine as she started.
    • 4/5
      With a writing style that echos Jane Austen, and storylines that seem familiar but with a twist of magic, Ms. Kowal creates a lovely story with that most famous of conflicts: the getting and keeping of an eligible man! Lots of fun to read.
    • 3/5
      A Jane Austen plot, with the addition of small, domestic magics, told in slightly more modern language.I wasn't really quite in the mood for this. Add at least half a star if you're fond of Austen.
    • 5/5
      Jane is the eldest of two sisters but unlike her sister, Melody, Jane does not have the looks to attract the attentions of the men of the neighbourhood. All Jane possesses is a sharp mind and a significant skill for the arts of glamour - the refined form of magic that many elegant young ladies pursue. When several new gentleman arrive in the neighbourhood, Jane finds herself the recipient of several confidences from other young ladies of the neighbourhood and newly entranced by the highly-reputed Mr. Vincent who is a glamourist of the first order.It's a Jane Austen-esque novel with magic and it's awesome! I don't know why it took me so long to pick up this series but I was utterly entranced from the first page. I devoured the entire novel in an afternoon and I'll definitely be picking up the second novel sooner rather than later.
    • 3/5
      I have to admit, I was a bit put off by the cover of this book. The female picture isn't really .. ugly as much as, I don't know how to describe it but I was somewhat put off by both the pictured girl and the cover itself. I don't think, had it not been for the Nebula Nominee list, I would have ever picked this one up.That said, I did and it was not what I expected. The summary says it's like a mix of Pride and Prejudice meets Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell but I really didn't get that vibe from it. Yes, there were similarities to Pride and Prejudice but it was more like a young adult look at the time period mixed up with a bit of magic. The magic system in this book seemed very simple - just another accomplishment to add to the list of accomplishments. By folding and tying off "magic" illusions and artwork could be created. While it was fanciful and provided for some interesting moments, I felt less like I was reading a fantasy book and more like I was reading "fantasy-light" for teenagers with some historical backdrops.While I can see the allure of the book for a cozy afternoon at home spent reading, I don't quite see how this book can measure up to the more hard-hitting titles nominated for the Nebula Awards. It will be interesting to see how it does.
    • 3/5
      This was an interesting premise, and I was excited to read it, but it ended up falling a bit flat for me. I had some problems with the development of the relationships between the heroine and certain people, particularly the one she ended up with. She spent the entire book pining for Mr. Dunkirk, only to eventually throw aside her feelings when he didn't listen to her during the climatic showdown. And then a few days later she accepts a marriage proposal from Mr. Vincent, who she has yet to show or tell us that she has any strong feelings for whatsoever. It lacked the emotion I like to see in a romance book.

      I also found the final climatic showdown a little hard to follow. I had to read it twice because I wasn't sure what was happening.

      Ultimately though it was an entertaining, easy read, but not something I will be keeping on my shelves.
    • 2/5
      It was mildly entertaining, but I think it's a mistake to tout this to Jane Austen lovers--we only snap back "But it's nothing like her!"The Ellsworth family is a thin copy of the Bennetts (Pride & Prejudice), and the language never moves beyond being a pale imitation of Austen. The characters remain flat and so do their relationships...which in the end irritated me because all I could think of was who that particular character may have been based on :pThe element of 'glamour' was interesting, though, and it did remind me of "Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell".If you want to read it, best to get it used or borrow it from the library :)
    • 3/5
      I decided to read this book because John Scalzi talks often on his blog about Mary Robinette Kowal. They are good friends and she seems like she has a great sense of humour. This is the first book published by her. I can imagine lots of people who would like this fantasy remake of the Jane Austen novel but it is not my thing.And, essentially, that is what this book is. Take any Jane Austen novel, add magic as an art form that all young well-brought-up girls should learn and that's about it. There are romances and dinner parties and long country walks and balls and scoundrels. Kowal has done a good job of evoking the Austen style but having read one I won't be looking for any more.
    • 2/5
      I'm vacillating between two and three stars on this one -- it's not halfway between, I'm just trying to decide whether I'll give it credit for keeping me reading, or dock it for how very high its debt to Jane Austen's work is. It's basically a cut and paste job on Austen's characters and situations, and while the writing is competent enough, it doesn't have the same subtlety and humour that Jane Austen brought to her work. It suffers very much in comparison, because of its debt.

      The fantasy woven into it lies awkwardly on top of Jane Austen's work, I found, and wasn't fully explored. For example, if the working of glamour is so essential to a lady, but so few men do it, why is there no sign of any assumptions of effeminacy that would likely go with that? There's a few hints that being a "glamuralist" -- a person who goes around making complicated artwork out of glamour for people who don't have the skill themselves -- is considered lower class work, perhaps, or is stigmatised in some way, but at the same time both male and female characters admire Mr. Vincent's work, and hardly seem to treat him with inferiority.

      Something about the language Kowal used doesn't ring true for me, either. When you read Jane Austen, it's plain that she's writing in her own style, in a natural sort of manner. The style of this, though, is so plainly a copy of someone else's style, and the gaps show through in the choice of language here and there.

      I think I'll settle for two stars, "it was ok", since I'm not turned off Kowal's work, and enjoyed it well enough to fill a few hours.
    • 5/5
      Fantastic, both in the sense of involving fantasy and in the sense of being well-written. The characters are entertaining and although the book definitely has a Regency/Austen feel, it still feels fresh. I was very happy to hear that there will be a sequel.
    • 4/5
      I think I might have enjoyed this more if I hadn't read Austenland so recently, and Pride and Prejudice earlier in the year. I thought the premise of Austen + magic was interesting and well done. The first half or so was a bit slow, and then the second half felt crowded and rushed a bit. I am excited to see what happens with these characters in the sequel. That was actually part of what drew me to this series--the prospect of an ongoing relationship between the hero and heroine, not stopping at happily ever after.
    • 5/5
      I loved this book! It was amazing and fun. I love Austen so this book was like one of her books but with magic and fantasy. So I loved it! It was also a fast and easy read that I could not put down!