Me on reddit: people really need to stop buying into the hype and do their own research about the books they buy
Me IRL: I heard so much about this! let’s buy this without looking into it at all, just cause my friends love it!
Luckily it works out most of the time, because I know my friend’s taste, but I am really bad about taking my own very sage advice.
I really enjoyed Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue and I’m glad I picked it up like it I did, because low-magic historical YA with a lot of focus on pining over someone is 100% something I would’ve skipped with more research.
I don’t read a lot of romance, though I’ve loved everything romance that I’ve tried this year, so maybe I should. My point was that I don’t know the tropes, and at one point I was pretty worried about the angsty teenage romance in this book, especially with the young selfish nobleman angle. But the nobleman turns out to be very caring and deeply hurt, even if he does a good show of hiding it, and he is rather self centered but he grows a lot more aware of others as the story progresses. And yes there’s a significant amount of pining and angst, but I was ok with it, maybe because of the way it was framed in the historical context of being a queer nobleman in the 18th century, or maybe simply because it was well done.
Another concern I had in the beginning, cause it starts a bit slow with MC just whining about his fun trip now being destroyed by a chaperon, was that it would all be a bit dull. But no. This book was really fun, packed with adventure, sweet romance, you people trying to decide what they wanna do with their lives, embarrassing shenanigans that leave characters running naked through palace gardens, pirates and highwaymen, mysterious orphaned children of alchemists, evading the authorities, bad family relations, etc. It was a hell of a ride with a lot of mystery and plots unraveling.
Gentleman’s Guide was very fun and easy to read. The characters are charming and 3d, they each have their own secrets & struggles and I’m very excited that Percy and Felicity get to shine in their own books. The language is clear, peppered with wit and humour and the pacing is pretty fast, with things going bad as soon as they were looking up, at least after we really get into it.
I also liked how the book took on and treated topics like being queer in the 18th century, being a person of color in the 18th century, being a queer poc with dealing with a disability in 18th century, being a woman who wants an education. Monty often gets called out on his self-centered oblivious views, and it’s always nice when a MC gets called out for their mistakes.
Bingo: Small scale (hard), Featuring a Character with a Disability (hard), Novel with a Title of Four or More Words hard mode,
