by David Liss
Publisher: Random House
Release Date: Aug 9, 2011
Source: sent by publisher and TLC Book Tours
My Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Summary from goodreads.com:
Lucy Derrick is a young
Regency woman of good breeding and poor finances: after the death of
her father, she is forced to maintain a shabby dignity as an unwanted
boarder with her unpleasant uncle, fending off marriage to the local
mill owner, Mr. Olson. But her prospects of even that unwanted match are
complicated by the appearance of a beautiful stricken man who appears
on the family doorstep begging her not to marry Mr. Olson just as he
collapses. This appearance seems to open the door to a series of
increasingly strange occurrences surrounding Lucy. Soon it becomes clear
that there is more at stake than her own happiness — and that she is
caught between two forces, one ancient and one modern — and that the
soul of her very country is at stake.
My Review:
So, I admit, the reason I wanted to read this book is because I love all things Lord Byron. I assumed he wouldn't really be in the book much, but I was wrong. Byron was actually a pretty central character in the story. The author took a lot of liberties with a real historical figure, some of it worked for me, some of it didn't. It didn't bother me at the beginning, but things got very, very strange at the end and I started to wonder why he didn't just invent a purely fictional character. Nonetheless, I enjoyed reading about Byron's escapades in the beginning and middle portions of the book.
The writing was very quick and clever, and it will really appeal to a lot of Austen fans. Lucy had some opinions that may have come across as snarky if written in a different way, but with Lucy's manner of speaking, it was all in good fun.
Sometimes, I find that books written by men don't really fully understand the female point of view. However, I was very impressed by how well the author wrote his female lead character. She was very strong in her opinions and values without being a cliched 'kick-ass' female character.
I've seen this book billed as YA crossover, but I'm not sure I completely agree. I don't think there's anything inappropriate, and Lucy is around age 20 or so, but I think it might be a little slow-moving by YA standards.
Main Characters: 4/5
Supporting Characters: 4/5
Setting: 4/5
Romance: 3/5
Uniqueness: 4/5
Cover: 3/5 (I feel like I've seen it before)
Writing: 4/5
Bottom Line: An enjoyable fantasy read with snappy writing and a great heroine.
GIVEAWAY RULES:
Putnam Publishing and TLC Book Tours have generously provided a copy of "Reign of Madness" for a lucky reader of my blog!
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