It is 1793 and the French Revolution is in full swing. Vampires, who are as usual, portrayed as rich and aristocratic (they’re blood-sucking leeches who also happen to be corpses; how is this not the White Trash Central group? Though yes, even without being vampiric they’d still be leeches; they are rich after all.) are the largest group to slake the guillotine’s thirst. Luckily for the 1%, The mysterious Scarlet Pimpernel, a disguised British noble, and his League are heroically rescuing dozens of aristocrats from execution, human and vampire alike. And soon they will have an ace up their sleeve: Eleanor Dalton, once they get her to stop being housemaid to a vampire Baroness.
Her highest aspiration in life is to one day become a modiste, owning her own shop. But when her employer hosts a mysterious noble and his wife (gee, I wonder who they might be), they tell Eleanor she is the spitting image of a French aristocrat (gee….I wonder which one?) , they convince her to journey to France to aid them in a daring scheme. Soon, Eleanor finds herself in France, Paris, swept up in magic and intrigue—and chaos, and bloodshed—beyond her wildest dreams. But there’s more to fear than ardent Revolutionaries. For Eleanor stumbles across a centuries-old war between vampires and their fiercest enemy. And they’re out for blood. . . (Don’t worry; this plot point will be barely touched upon except when it’s convenient/important to the plot.)
I suppose this was an enjoyable book; I wasn’t bored while reading it, but I didn’t exactly race ahead to see what happened next: my entire opinion was that I’d get through it when I got through it. But what is with everyone who writes some kind of AU about the French Revolution and their love affair with plans to rescue Marie Antoinette? Surely by now we can all let her go;
she wasn’t that exciting in reality, she wasn’t that exciting in a Sophia Coppola film, nor a Cassandra Clare book, nor here. (But then again, this is an author who thinks Oliver Cromwell was a admirable individual, so her taste isn’t exactly pure from being suspect.) Never mind that her rationale for writing this trilogy was “I love the Scarlet Pimpernel, but everything about the story is now problematic in my eyes, so I need to add a Strong Female Character of the Working Class to Show Them How It’s Really Done.” There were just some things that grated about this book, especially when you throw in the apparent absence of Marguerite ‘s brother, the addition of Potential Love Interest With Tragic Backstory, and the attempted humanization of Chauvelin (did he really need a beautiful yet naive daughter?) Another fine example of the Problems with the Class System (that Eleanor is apparently the only one who notices, and has to point out to everyone else) is their apparent disregard for her modesty/reputation; I guess the working class don’t get the luxury of not being expected to get changed in a room full of men. Or is that an early bout of “she’s one of the boys in the League” feminism?
Speaking of the Potential Love Interest (aka Charles); I don’t quite know if he’s fickle about his feelings for Eleanor (if he has feelings for Eleanor), or if it’s just Cogman writing that the women are the ones with the brains (unless they’re Chauvelin’s daughter Fluerette) and the men are 50 Shades of Himbo. Though everyone seems to be 50 Shades of Plot-Related Dumb, as the spitting image likeness Eleanor shares with the “mysterious French aristocrat” comes and goes depending on when it’s needed for the plot. When she is being hired for the job: it’s there. When the plan needs to be put into action: it’s there. Every time in between? She just looks like some random young woman.
I should also touch on the whole centuries-old war, which I can only suppose will be fleshed out in the next two books. I don’t know why it was added as it doesn’t really bring anything to the plot other than a couple of cases of Deus ex Machina, another plot element (that I don’t know if it was needed), and an unexplainable comparison from me to A Discovery of Witches. I don’t know why they seem similar to me, but I just got those kind of vibes.
I will probably finish up the trilogy (mainly because it is only a trilogy), but I’ll most likely pace out when I buy the last two books. But for now, if I want to consume Pop Culture about the French Revolution, I’ll stick to the Scarlet Pimpernel Broadway Original Cast Album.
