Tag Archives: historical fantasy

Book Review: Miss Sharp’s Monsters, by Suzannah Rowntree

I’ve had an e-copy of The Werewolf of Whitechapel for a while. Then, not so long ago, I won a physical copy (with a much cuter cover). After reading it, I purchased the rest of the trilogy (Anarchist on the Orient Express and A Vampire in Bavaria).

Murder, monsters…and a disreputable Victorian lady’s maid.

A killer stalks the grimy streets of Whitechapel—but Scotland Yard seems determined to turn a blind eye. With one look at her best friend’s corpse, Liz Sharp already knows the truth: the killer is a werewolf.

No one important will hold a werewolf accountable—after all, the monsters rule Europe. Certainly, no one will believe a werewolf victim like Liz: the very scars that make her determined to investigate Sal’s death also condemn her as the sort of female who’d sell her blood for easy money.

As it happens, Liz’s best hope for justice might well lie with her emotionally repressed employer, Princess May. Though the princess has connections with werewolf royalty, there’s no one else Liz can turn to. Certainly, she can’t risk trusting the irritatingly personable Inspector Short, who dogs her steps from the slums of Whitechapel to the palaces of St James.

But as corpses mount up, Liz discovers that no one is precisely who she thought: not Sal, not herself, and certainly not the werewolf.

Luckily, she has a few tricks hidden in the pockets of her trusty bloomers…

I read this trilogy straight through, as one. So, I’ll just go ahead and review it as such, though the books do break at natural points with their own particular challenges to overcome.

If you enjoyed The Parasol Protectorate, I firmly believe you will enjoy this series. There are definite similarities (and enough differences to avoid feeling like a dupe). Like Alexia Tarabotti, Elizabeth Sharp is an eminently practical heroine. I do so appreciate a practical heroine who just gets on with getting on, even in the most outrageous situations. Her Scooby Doo crew is endearing (even if some of them don’t get the screen time I wish they would have), the world is interestingly developed, and the villains villainous. I did feel a little detached from the action, never fully invested in it all. But for the most part, I thoroughly enjoyed this series.

Other Reviews:

REVIEW of Miss Sharp’s Monsters Series (#1-#3) by Suzannah Rowntree

Audiobook Review: Snowspelled, by Stephanie Burgis

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I borrowed an audiobook copy of Snowspelled by Stephanie Burgis from my local library to listen to while walking a 5k.

In nineteenth-century Angland, magic is reserved for gentlemen while ladies attend to the more practical business of politics. But Cassandra Harwood has never followed the rules…

Four months ago, Cassandra Harwood was the first woman magician in Angland, and she was betrothed to the brilliant, intense love of her life.

Now Cassandra is trapped in a snowbound house party deep in the elven dales, surrounded by bickering gentleman magicians, manipulative lady politicians, her own interfering family members, and, worst of all, her infuriatingly stubborn ex-fiancé, who refuses to understand that she’s given him up for his own good.

But the greatest danger of all lies outside the manor in the falling snow, where a powerful and malevolent elf-lord lurks…and Cassandra lost all of her own magic four months ago.

To save herself, Cassandra will have to discover exactly what inner powers she still possesses – and risk everything to win a new kind of happiness.

The audiobook includes the novella Spellswept. I thought it was a sweet little prequel to the series. I liked the writing style and voice of the main character and the challenge to societal dictates. I do find that when authors simply swap the gendered dynamics of social position, without also building out the implications of that, it is much less effective than it could be. That’s true here. A similar thing could be said (though I’ll try to be vague) about the decision to force the school to accept the girl, promising it is only about her, not about all women. But all in all, it was a cute read.

The main book, Snowspelled, I also enjoyed, but I have some complaints. The first is simply that, since the audiobook started with the Spellswept prequel, I expected the main character here to also be Amy, as it was in the prequel. I was disappointed to discover that this book is set years later and focuses on Cassandra. (Of the two, I was, at the time, much more interested in Amy.)

Second, though Amy isn’t the main character, she is in the book, and after building her up to be intelligent and capable, we discover that (as is SO OFTEN) the case, she had to give up her hard-earned future for love (and is happy with the decision). I hate this trope so much, and it’s beyond common. Burgis writes strong, female-forward books that frequently buck the gender norms. I was especially disappointed to see it here.

Beyond those initial complaints, I did like Cassandra. I adored her ex-fiance. He kind of remains a shadow, however, never fully fleshed out, which is a shame because he is so likable even as he is, that I wanted more of him and their relationship. The narrative tone is fun, and it is satisfying to see the group succeed against adversity in the end.

I was a tad bored throughout, however. The story feels deceptively low-stakes, which doesn’t really match the level of political world-building or authorial intent (I think). Despite that, I’d likely read the next book in the series. Or listen to it, as Emma Newman did a good job with the narration.