Bingo 16: History
Scarlet is basically fan-fic of historical fiction; totally counts for history since the historical part is real (revolutionary-era France). The historical fiction base is The Scarlet Pimpernel, set in the aftermath of the execution of the rulers of France; if you don’t know the story basically the mysterious masked hero from England saves the lives of French nobility by sneaking them out of France while the French authorities try to put a stop to that. So, basically, Batman who is British and not brooding; the alter-ego is also kind of everyone knows it, including probably some of the bad guys.
Scarlet takes this premise, probably sets the action slightly after the events of the original novel, and adds vampires (basically, the nobility because what else would vampires be?) and a maid named Elaine who dreams of becoming a professional seamstress (or whatever the embroidery specialist version of that is). Elaine is recruited by the Scarlet Pimpernel’s alter-ego from her comfy job as a maid at the vampire Lady Sophie’s estate in England to go on a dangerous mission in France to rescue none other than the Dauphin (basically, crown prince).
The vampire as metaphor, and Elaine’s servant perspective (in contrast to most of the Pimpernel league, who are aristocrats) all suggest that there’s going to be some kind of socio-economic or historical commentary; this is actually kind of there in the original, although the side and depth of said critique is subject to debate. The super annoying thing with Scarlet is that there are all kinds of observations Elaine makes that always get cut off by the plot; she’s never allowed to get further, either in conversation or in her own thoughts, than “that doesn’t seem to fair/right, but I’m a servant so what do I know”. The other interesting change is that there’s an added element of “big secret mystery from the supernatural past” that Elaine gets drawn into, but who else knows and how far it goes is probably a matter for the sequels (this is supposed to be the first of a trilogy).
In spite of the frustration of potential social and historical critique being obviously there but never developed, this is an entertaining adventure story. Elaine ends up on her own and a few times in pretty precarious ways, and she has to use her wits a lot, both to keep up with her aristocratic colleagues as well as when she gets into real danger. The kind of saving grace, besides the snark and banter, is that Elaine has to save herself, and sometimes her companions, not the other way around. 3.5 stars, rounded up.
