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jencolumb0's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
inspiring
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75
This is a bit darker of a tale than I am used to from Hall, and without the more intense periods of emotional struggle/growth endured by the main characters (so more on par with Something Fabulous). Nonetheless, Hall carries it off in their typical hallmarks of deliciously layered tales, classical references, delightful subversion, and deft honesty. It’s also not the typical kissing book with magic, by any stretch of the imagination, but well worth exploring.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Chronic illness, Death, Terminal illness, and Blood
Moderate: Stalking and Death of parent
Minor: Slavery, Transphobia, Excrement, Colonisation, and Classism
Given that this book is about confronting a lack of agency and aggressively claiming space and happiness that the patriarchy denies, a number of these difficult topics are challenged. There’s also a bit about food turning to maggots in someone’s mouth that is not for the squeamish.onthesamepage's review against another edition
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
ARC provided by the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Steam level: 🌶
This book set out to do too much, and I think it suffered for it.
Rather than being told in first person POV from the main characters, the first person narrator is Puck (although he is referred to by different names) from Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream. The way he tells the story is amusing—at first. After a while, I found that the things he inserted felt like repetitions, and it added nothing new to the story. In fact, it made me feel even more removed from the main characters, which is an interesting choice in a romance, because it led to me not being emotionally invested.
I also think the romance was more of a subplot than the actual focus, and the least interesting part of the book. Instead, the plot surrounding Maelys's curse is much more compelling. I was expecting the focus to be on the romance once that part of the story was resolved, but what happened instead is that the second half dealt with Georgiana's backstory. An interesting plot in its own right, but the book ended up doing too much by including it. I also think it led to a feeling of "same old" in the way it was executed.
Steam level: 🌶
This book set out to do too much, and I think it suffered for it.
Rather than being told in first person POV from the main characters, the first person narrator is Puck (although he is referred to by different names) from Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream. The way he tells the story is amusing—at first. After a while, I found that the things he inserted felt like repetitions, and it added nothing new to the story. In fact, it made me feel even more removed from the main characters, which is an interesting choice in a romance, because it led to me not being emotionally invested.
I also think the romance was more of a subplot than the actual focus, and the least interesting part of the book. Instead, the plot surrounding Maelys's curse is much more compelling. I was expecting the focus to be on the romance once that part of the story was resolved, but what happened instead is that the second half dealt with Georgiana's backstory. An interesting plot in its own right, but the book ended up doing too much by including it. I also think it led to a feeling of "same old" in the way it was executed.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Violence, and Murder
Moderate: Sexual harassment
Minor: Homophobia, Slavery, and Transphobia
aileron's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Death, Blood, Kidnapping, and Murder
Moderate: Gore, Medical content, Grief, and Death of parent
Minor: Racism, Slavery, Terminal illness, and Classism
theoddduckling's review against another edition
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.25
Full of quipy lines, plenty of Shakespearean flourishes, and Regency drama, Mortal Follies tells the story of one young woman’s quest to know herself, find love, and survive the marriage mart.
None of these things go the way Miss Mitchelmore plans and when she finds herself the target of a curse, survival becomes a much more literal problem than she anticipated. But the cynical and mysterious (and mockingly named) Duke of Anadale, Lady Georgiana, steps in the save the day more than once. And this the two women find themselves thrown together on an adventure that will test them both to their limits.
The story, told through the framing device of a mischievous sprite recently exiled from Oberon’s court, starts as a fun period romance romp, but takes a turn for the serious that the narrator’s tone does not reflect. The narrator’s tone remains flippant and wry even as the events get darker and far more serious. This made it difficult to feel as though there were any real stakes for the characters and no real weight to the plot. Event at the end of the book rush to a conclusion that could have benefited from a few more pages to build tension and make the main characters struggle.
All in all, I found the tone of the book mismatched to the events, making for a discordant read.
However, this book begs to be performed. I truly think it would be better served as an audiobook book at least, if not a stage show. The narrator’s voice was funny, cutting and a bit Shakespearean. Performing this as a play would lend a separation between the narrator and the main characters in a way that would serve this story well and make it something spectacular.
None of these things go the way Miss Mitchelmore plans and when she finds herself the target of a curse, survival becomes a much more literal problem than she anticipated. But the cynical and mysterious (and mockingly named) Duke of Anadale, Lady Georgiana, steps in the save the day more than once. And this the two women find themselves thrown together on an adventure that will test them both to their limits.
The story, told through the framing device of a mischievous sprite recently exiled from Oberon’s court, starts as a fun period romance romp, but takes a turn for the serious that the narrator’s tone does not reflect. The narrator’s tone remains flippant and wry even as the events get darker and far more serious. This made it difficult to feel as though there were any real stakes for the characters and no real weight to the plot. Event at the end of the book rush to a conclusion that could have benefited from a few more pages to build tension and make the main characters struggle.
All in all, I found the tone of the book mismatched to the events, making for a discordant read.
However, this book begs to be performed. I truly think it would be better served as an audiobook book at least, if not a stage show. The narrator’s voice was funny, cutting and a bit Shakespearean. Performing this as a play would lend a separation between the narrator and the main characters in a way that would serve this story well and make it something spectacular.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual assault and Gaslighting
Moderate: Death and Death of parent
Minor: Slavery
brontesauruses's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Thank you to the publisher and Edelweiss+ for letting me get at this one early in exchange for an honest review!
Ok, so before I start the actual review: please take a minute to look at the cover. It's so pink, I love it. 💕
Did you look at it? Ok good.
As for the book itself, it's so much fun. It's queer and silly and told in a way that I ended up really enjoying. Our omniscient narrator is a character in their own right: Puck (aka Robin Goodfellow aka Stanley Tucci* in A Midsummer Night's Dream (1999)), who has been kicked out by Oberon, and now has to find a way to, you know, pay for food. The tone is very chatty. At times it felt like the chattiness was at the expense of pushing the story along, and it took me a couple chapters to get into it (it might even have been worse towards the beginning), but in the end I don't think I would have enjoyed it as much if it had been told differently.
IfPuck Hall wants to write more books like this, I want to read them.
Idk that I have any readalikes per se, but I do think that if you like Emily Wilde you might like this one (and vice versa). Very different flavors of Faerie Nonsense, but yeah. Divine Rivals also maybe.
One quick bit of content warning: the Old Gods are still there causing problems, so there are three whole animal sacrifices in this one, each one more...well-described than the last. Lots of blood.
Also, there was a bit of virulent transphobia that was immediately challenged by the narrative and one of the main characters. OOF, though. Very jarring.
*I'm sure the audiobook narrator is very good, but as I was reading, I couldn't help wishing that they'd gotten my man Stanley in on this.
Ok, so before I start the actual review: please take a minute to look at the cover. It's so pink, I love it. 💕
Did you look at it? Ok good.
As for the book itself, it's so much fun. It's queer and silly and told in a way that I ended up really enjoying. Our omniscient narrator is a character in their own right: Puck (aka Robin Goodfellow aka Stanley Tucci* in A Midsummer Night's Dream (1999)), who has been kicked out by Oberon, and now has to find a way to, you know, pay for food. The tone is very chatty. At times it felt like the chattiness was at the expense of pushing the story along, and it took me a couple chapters to get into it (it might even have been worse towards the beginning), but in the end I don't think I would have enjoyed it as much if it had been told differently.
If
Idk that I have any readalikes per se, but I do think that if you like Emily Wilde you might like this one (and vice versa). Very different flavors of Faerie Nonsense, but yeah. Divine Rivals also maybe.
One quick bit of content warning: the Old Gods are still there causing problems, so there are three whole animal sacrifices in this one, each one more...well-described than the last. Lots of blood.
Also, there was a bit of virulent transphobia that was immediately challenged by the narrative and one of the main characters. OOF, though. Very jarring.
*I'm sure the audiobook narrator is very good, but as I was reading, I couldn't help wishing that they'd gotten my man Stanley in on this.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Animal death, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, and Medical content
Minor: Death, Racism, Sexual assault, Slavery, Kidnapping, Death of parent, and Abandonment
bibliomania_express's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Violence, Blood, and Murder
Moderate: Misogyny, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Transphobia, Stalking, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, and Classism
Minor: Slavery and Colonisation
sarahyjackson's review against another edition
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Good Omens meets Pride and Prejudice and I once I accepted this framing I enjoyed every lyrical, satirical, whimsical, queer moment.
Wanted the bedroom scenes to be more explicit. 😈
Wanted the bedroom scenes to be more explicit. 😈
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Sexual content, and Death of parent
Minor: Animal death, Homophobia, and Slavery