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visorforavisor's review
adventurous
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
To be clear: despite the criticisms I have, Melissa Grey writes very well and I would read more of hers.
However, there was a clear lack of any level of research about the general context in which the story is set. There does seem to have been research done on the real Ana de Lezama and Eustaquia de Sonza, to a good enough extent to be able to riff on it and do her own thing with it (kudos to Ms Grey for that), but the historical research seems to have been very little beyond what is required to make the plot work.
This book falls into the classic “corsets are evil and therefore women have it really tough” trope. Corsets didn’t exist at this point in time (centuries out, sorry), and the precursors to their precursors had only really just begun to permeate class boundaries and be worn by those other than the ultra-rich. They certainly weren’t any sort of a cultural norm at this point and nobody would be having a conniption if a girl in her late teens wasn’t wearing one. (Not even taking into account the time it would take for fashions to travel from Europe to colonial Peru.) Additionally, those boned garments that did exist were not worn beneath a dress but rather were the bodice itself of the outfit.
I understand absolutely that the book is not trying to be historically accurate, but to show (real) female oppression by utilising a heavily unresearched trope that was not the case at any point in history seems like little effort was put in, especially given the use of terms such as “breeches” for the male clothing worn.
Basic research on horses was also not done. (If a horse is bolting, don’t flatten yourself to its neck. That is telling the horse to speed up.)
However. I can recognise that accuracy is not in any way the point of this book, and so long as you’re not pulled out of a story by innacuracies like I (historical clothing nerd) am, then you should be fine!
The story-telling and prose of the book is really good. I cared about the characters, thought Sebastian was extremely well-written. I appreciated the discussion of wealthy women’s pressure to marry in order to properly support the many people who would be dependent on them. The inclusion of sex workers in a historical story is something not done often enough and it was really beautifully written in this case.
Fictional exploration of real-life queer historical figures is something I love too and would really like to see more of!
However, there was a clear lack of any level of research about the general context in which the story is set. There does seem to have been research done on the real Ana de Lezama and Eustaquia de Sonza, to a good enough extent to be able to riff on it and do her own thing with it (kudos to Ms Grey for that), but the historical research seems to have been very little beyond what is required to make the plot work.
This book falls into the classic “corsets are evil and therefore women have it really tough” trope. Corsets didn’t exist at this point in time (centuries out, sorry), and the precursors to their precursors had only really just begun to permeate class boundaries and be worn by those other than the ultra-rich. They certainly weren’t any sort of a cultural norm at this point and nobody would be having a conniption if a girl in her late teens wasn’t wearing one. (Not even taking into account the time it would take for fashions to travel from Europe to colonial Peru.) Additionally, those boned garments that did exist were not worn beneath a dress but rather were the bodice itself of the outfit.
I understand absolutely that the book is not trying to be historically accurate, but to show (real) female oppression by utilising a heavily unresearched trope that was not the case at any point in history seems like little effort was put in, especially given the use of terms such as “breeches” for the male clothing worn.
Basic research on horses was also not done. (If a horse is bolting, don’t flatten yourself to its neck. That is telling the horse to speed up.)
However. I can recognise that accuracy is not in any way the point of this book, and so long as you’re not pulled out of a story by innacuracies like I (historical clothing nerd) am, then you should be fine!
The story-telling and prose of the book is really good. I cared about the characters, thought Sebastian was extremely well-written. I appreciated the discussion of wealthy women’s pressure to marry in order to properly support the many people who would be dependent on them. The inclusion of sex workers in a historical story is something not done often enough and it was really beautifully written in this case.
Fictional exploration of real-life queer historical figures is something I love too and would really like to see more of!
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexual assault, Misogyny, Murder, and Classism
Minor: Suicide and Racism
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