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cornucopiaofbooks's review
4.0
Best Bits: It's kind of difficult to do an anthology in the best bits/nit picks format, but I'm going to attempt it. For those that love historical fiction with a bit of scandal thrown in, this is the anthology for you. As a fan of The Parasol Protectorate series, I found many of the stories within this book to be fabulous reads. My favorites included The Colonel's Daughter by Barbara Roden (a story of a companion who helps her charge hide a forbidden romance), Mrs. Beeton's Book of Magickal Management by Karen Healey (a story about a lady's maid using magic to stop a spell gone wrong), and Resurrection by Tiffany Trent (a story about a woman disguising herself as a boy). The book has some diversity, too. There are characters from across the globe, and love between all genders. If only all books could be that way!
Nit Picks: I think that there were a couple stories where length was an issue. I wanted more from The Unladylike Education of Agatha Tremain by Stephanie Burgis (seriously, can these characters have a book?!). I thought that Nussbaum's Golden Fortune by M. K. Hobson was a bit too long, and that the story would have been more effective had it been a bit more concise.
Overall, it's a good anthology that fans of the genre will enjoy.
Nit Picks: I think that there were a couple stories where length was an issue. I wanted more from The Unladylike Education of Agatha Tremain by Stephanie Burgis (seriously, can these characters have a book?!). I thought that Nussbaum's Golden Fortune by M. K. Hobson was a bit too long, and that the story would have been more effective had it been a bit more concise.
Overall, it's a good anthology that fans of the genre will enjoy.
justabean_reads's review against another edition
4.0
Excellent collection of reasonably diverse stories. As with all themed collections, a couple of the stories didn't do much for me, but mostly I found the highly enjoyable and interesting. It had a nice mix of steampunk, regular historical stories, and urban fantasy.
I was pleased at how many queer characters, men and women, were in this collection. Probably an over-abundance of white characters but not entirely, and a mix of social classes though it did tend to upper class. It also tend to "getting married at 17 will solve everything," which was one way to go at the time, I guess, and the romances were often unconventional, but I found the book a little romance heavy.
Having said all that makes me sound like I did not like it, and I really did. There were cross-dressing adventures, and women solving things by being the smartest person in the room, and adorable gay girls falling in love, and friendship between women, sisters getting along, and strong feelings about loyalty, and The Secret Garden fan fiction (and I'm preeeetty sure Doctor Who fic with the serial numbers rubbed off).
I would recommend this collection if you like YA romance, steampunk or girl adventurers.
I was pleased at how many queer characters, men and women, were in this collection. Probably an over-abundance of white characters but not entirely, and a mix of social classes though it did tend to upper class. It also tend to "getting married at 17 will solve everything," which was one way to go at the time, I guess, and the romances were often unconventional, but I found the book a little romance heavy.
Having said all that makes me sound like I did not like it, and I really did. There were cross-dressing adventures, and women solving things by being the smartest person in the room, and adorable gay girls falling in love, and friendship between women, sisters getting along, and strong feelings about loyalty, and The Secret Garden fan fiction (and I'm preeeetty sure Doctor Who fic with the serial numbers rubbed off).
I would recommend this collection if you like YA romance, steampunk or girl adventurers.
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