Tag: satire

Mini-Reviews: Gilded, Enchanting, Scoop

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Elizabeth Bailey, The Gilded Shroud

In this Georgian-era historical mystery, Emily Fanshawe, the marchioness of Polbrook, is strangled in her bedchamber, and the most likely suspect is her husband. Their marriage has always been contentious, they argued the night before the murder, and now Lord Polbrook is nowhere to be found. His family is horrified yet determined to prove him innocent—a task that falls on his younger brother, Lord Francis Fanshawe, and on his mother’s new companion, Ottilia Draycott, whose clever mind soon uncovers some pertinent secrets. I read this book a long time ago and remember liking it, so I’m pleased to say I really enjoyed it this time as well! The historical setting feels grounded, and both Francis and Ottilia are interesting, sympathetic characters. The mystery is well plotted but a bit slow, and I found it less compelling than the romantic subplot. But I’m excited to read the next book, which I also own, and it looks like Bailey has also written some romances that I’d like to check out!

Stephanie Burgis, Enchanting the Fae Queen

Imperial general Gerard Moireul is a brilliant military strategist with an unassailable reputation for honor and integrity. Queen Lorelei of Balravia is notorious for her flighty, scandalous behavior. They’ve been nemeses for years, both politically and personally. But when a magical bargain forces them to compete in a fae tournament, they must work together, and slowly they come to realize they’re much more alike than they thought. I’m generally a Burgis fan, and I enjoy the enemies-to-lovers trope, so overall I found this quite fun. Both Gerard and Lorelei are likable characters underneath their exaggerated public personas, and I’m especially fond of an uptight, duty-bound hero. I do think the broader political situation in this fantasy world is boring and basic; the book is more enjoyable when it focuses on the romance. Overall, it’s a fun read, and you don’t necessarily have to read the previous book, Wooing the Witch Queen, to follow this one.

Evelyn Waugh, Scoop

British novelist John Courteney Boot has gotten himself entangled with the wrong woman and needs to skip town. He asks a friend to get him a job as a foreign correspondent covering the imminent war in the East African republic of Ishmaelia. But through a series of misunderstandings, the newspaper sends the wrong man, William Boot, who writes a nature column and has absolutely no desire to travel beyond his country village. As William embarks on his bewildering adventure, he learns more than he bargained for about journalism and international relations. This novel is both a biting satire on journalism and an extremely well-plotted farce. I loved how William’s oblivious blundering essentially caused the revolution (and counterrevolution) in Ishmaelia. On the minus side, there aren’t really any characters to root for, and the worldview expressed by the novel is cynical and bleak. Overall, I enjoyed the book’s humor but don’t think I’d ever want to reread it.

Mini-Reviews: Troubled, Corpse, Billionaires

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Sharon Shinn, Troubled Waters

In this traditional fantasy novel, protagonist Zoe Ardelay is plucked from obscurity to become the king’s fifth wife, but she escapes that fate, only to discover unsuspected magical powers that grant her a place at court in her own right. She navigates palace intrigues, contemplates her future role in the court, and tries hard not to fall in love with royal advisor Darien Serlast. This book is not particularly groundbreaking, but I really enjoyed it! The magical system, based on keeping the balance between five elements, is creative and informs the world of the novel in interesting ways. Zoe is likable, though sometimes a bit too impulsive, and Darien is a hero after my own heart. Overall, I liked this one a lot and have already checked out the next book in the series, Royal Airs, from my library!

Robert Barnard, Corpse in a Gilded Cage

In this 1980s take on the English country house mystery, working-class Percy Spender has unexpectedly inherited an earldom and a grand estate. He and his wife just want to sell the place and go back to their regular lives, but their children — not to mention the family lawyer — have other ideas. Then Percy is murdered, and with multiple wills cropping up, it seems the investigation will hinge on who actually inherits the fortune. I wasn’t in the mood for this book when I picked it up, but I thought it would at least be a quick read that I could get off my TBR shelves. However, it actually won me over with its humor and satire of the British class system, not to mention this delightful allusion: “Dixie’s voice warbled from bass to soprano, replete with all the outraged disbelief of Lady Bracknell at her most handbageous.” So I think I need to keep the book now! I’d definitely recommend it to fans of this type of mystery.

Annika Martin, Just Not That into Billionaires

Nine years ago, outgoing ballet dancer Francine had a crush on her co-worker, socially awkward but technologically brilliant Benny. She thought he didn’t feel the same way, but after one drunken night, they got married in Vegas. Feeling ashamed the morning after (she’d tried to sleep with him and he’d refused), Francine left town, and she hasn’t talked to Benny since. Now she needs a divorce, but Benny unexpectedly refuses; instead, he insists that she pose as his loving wife, since he’s now a wildly successful billionaire whose personal life is being scrutinized by the press. Despite this ridiculous plot, this book completely sucked me in. Something about the chemistry between Francine and Benny, and their complementary weirdness, and Benny’s endearing awkwardness, really worked for me! However, I also think some people will find Benny an irredeemable jerk, which I completely understand! So this book won’t be for everyone, but I liked it and may try more by this author.

Review: Portuguese Irregular Verbs

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Portuguese Irregular VerbsAlexander McCall Smith, Portuguese Irregular Verbs

This short novel is more like a series of vignettes centering around Professor Dr. Moritz-Maria von Igelfeld, a German academic whose crowning achievement is a massive book entitled Portuguese Irregular Verbs. Von Igelfeld is pompous and self-absorbed and desperately craves approval from others, while at the same time he utterly lacks any self-awareness about his shortcomings. His adventures take him from his school days — when he accidentally forces his best friend into a duel — to various academic conferences around the globe. He consults with a holy man in India, learns a great deal of profanity in Ireland, and tries unsuccessfully to play tennis in Switzerland. He suffers unrequited love for his dentist. And through it all, he is continually surprised that other people don’t recognize Portuguese Irregular Verbs for the work of genius that, at least in his mind, it is.

The subtitle of this book is “A Professor Dr. von Igelfeld Entertainment,” and I think that pretty much sums it up: it’s entertaining enough, but it doesn’t require or inspire any investment from readers. Von Igelfeld is a well-drawn stereotype of a pompous academic, and he never quite feels like a real person. I don’t think he’s supposed to; his character is just a vehicle for the book’s gentle satire. But I did want to see some character development, some growth in self-awareness, some progress toward being a less petty and self-involved person. For me, the various little incidents von Igelfeld encounters, though humorous, weren’t enough to distract me from the lack of a character arc. All that said, I feel like I could make the same criticisms about Jerome K. Jerome’s Three Men in a Boat, but I found that book delightful! So I’m not sure why this one didn’t work for me. Nevertheless, I won’t be continuing with the series.