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rinn4's review against another edition
3.0
I really liked this book by the end but it wasn't great. I liked the story of the french revolution and I liked the main character and the side characters. Something about this book though looking back just doesn't sit right. I am not sure what, maybe the plot? I don't really know but I feel that the ending could have used some work and at some parts I had to re-read sentences with bad grammar to understand. I know I wanted to see how it ended and was intrigued at some parts. I think the problem was that a lot of the books problems were not resolved properly. There were a lot of questions left unanswered, you don't know where some characters ended up and I think that this could all be righted with a better epilogue. The story it's self was conclusive but the epilogue should have been better since that is where all the other little details are dealt with.
shanyreader's review against another edition
1.0
Woot...what is there to say about this baby?
Not much to the positive side.
A-- The love interests. OMG! I didn't know who to ship with who! There was Toby and Sovay, but they ended up as friends. Greenwood would have been the most likely choice--but obviously he couldn't marry her because of status and his criminal status although he starts working HONESTLY by the end, there's Gabriel who's a perfect hottie devoted to her well-being except of course he has no space for a wife and kids in his life because he's so devoted to the revolution, and then there's the American who ALSO had a good chance and he seemed interested in her, but wow...he already has someone as they mentioned in ONE line at the end of the book. And so...who does that leave... >.> OH RIGHT! The French dude who shows up in the last fifty pages of the book!!! OBVIOUSLY! He's the least attractive but he and Sovay after sharing a romantic lunch start making out in the middle of somewhere and voila--*read in overly-dramatic voice* she is HIS, body and soul. Dude...like...NO. Like...NO! You don't do that to people! We barely got anything from him and already he claimed our heroine? -.-
B- Wow...nice way to end Dysart. Instead of our heroine defeating him, they go through a pointless scene with a forger who betrays them...and for what? For Dysart to get arrested and die anyway in something that had nothing to do with Sovay...she was SOME help. Spent most of that time being useless in prison.
C-- The way the story is told/writing style. Now, I don't mind descriptive language--but there comes a time...when you have to put story and not pointless detail to every.single.little.thing.that.exists. It slowed everything down.
D-- The characters. Talk...about...shallow, over-crowding, forgetful...
E-- Good-grief. I regret picking it up. I thought it would be full of action and adventure...but geez, it went so many places and did so many things and Sovay...I was just dissapointed.
I'm so sorry for not liking this book Ms. Rees :(
Not much to the positive side.
A-- The love interests. OMG! I didn't know who to ship with who! There was Toby and Sovay, but they ended up as friends. Greenwood would have been the most likely choice--but obviously he couldn't marry her because of status and his criminal status although he starts working HONESTLY by the end, there's Gabriel who's a perfect hottie devoted to her well-being except of course he has no space for a wife and kids in his life because he's so devoted to the revolution, and then there's the American who ALSO had a good chance and he seemed interested in her, but wow...he already has someone as they mentioned in ONE line at the end of the book. And so...who does that leave... >.> OH RIGHT! The French dude who shows up in the last fifty pages of the book!!! OBVIOUSLY! He's the least attractive but he and Sovay after sharing a romantic lunch start making out in the middle of somewhere and voila--*read in overly-dramatic voice* she is HIS, body and soul. Dude...like...NO. Like...NO! You don't do that to people! We barely got anything from him and already he claimed our heroine? -.-
B- Wow...nice way to end Dysart. Instead of our heroine defeating him, they go through a pointless scene with a forger who betrays them...and for what? For Dysart to get arrested and die anyway in something that had nothing to do with Sovay...she was SOME help. Spent most of that time being useless in prison.
C-- The way the story is told/writing style. Now, I don't mind descriptive language--but there comes a time...when you have to put story and not pointless detail to every.single.little.thing.that.exists. It slowed everything down.
D-- The characters. Talk...about...shallow, over-crowding, forgetful...
E-- Good-grief. I regret picking it up. I thought it would be full of action and adventure...but geez, it went so many places and did so many things and Sovay...I was just dissapointed.
I'm so sorry for not liking this book Ms. Rees :(
catyalice's review against another edition
1.0
I'm really disappointed in this book. It was the worst one I've read. While the idea of the story sounds interesting, the execution itself is so dry and bland, it feels like I'm reading a history book on paint drying! I was really hoping for a more rich and action packed book based on what I started with but, you can't please anyone.
rosekk's review against another edition
3.0
I loved the swashbuckling highwayman stuff, and wished there was more of it. It took a long time for the main character to get interested in the political element, so for a while it felt as though that part of the story was there to be tolerated but not focused on. I also never felt worried about the conspiracy - the villains motivations never interested me enough. Lastly, the romance element played a strong role throughout the book, so the ending (suggesting that the character ends up with someone we only meet at the very end) seemed odd. It made sense for her to go out in the wide world and experiment rather than fall for the first guy she saw, but then all the tension from the rest of the book felt wasted. I wanted the first part of the book, when she's out on her horse running into rogues to be the whole story.
crownofnightcourt's review against another edition
2.0
As others have mentioned, this book seemed to have very separate stories smashed into one novel. I would have liked to see one storyline played out and perhaps others made into sequels. And I have to say, I was most disappointed with the character Sovay turned out to be.
andforgotten's review against another edition
3.0
OMG I didn't think I would ever finish this book... and I don't even know why! It certainly wasn't the story, cause it was certainly entertaining enough. I've just been so out of reading altogether, I don't even know lol
Still, Celia Rees has not disappointed. I love that she always uses strong female characters as leads, in times when the world was still basically dominated by men. And she describes the characters wonderfully. I could imagine them very well while reading the book.
The end... well, it was good, but I didn't quite get how the romance developed so suddenly in the last 20 pages. I would've liked to see her with someone else in the end.
Still, Celia Rees has not disappointed. I love that she always uses strong female characters as leads, in times when the world was still basically dominated by men. And she describes the characters wonderfully. I could imagine them very well while reading the book.
The end... well, it was good, but I didn't quite get how the romance developed so suddenly in the last 20 pages. I would've liked to see her with someone else in the end.
eli_loves_reading's review against another edition
adventurous
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
nightshade_novels's review against another edition
3.0
A fried recommended this book to me and I began reading it in the library back in July when I was visiting Newcastle but was unable to finish it until I returned to Newcastle this week.
It was quite different from the sort of books that I usually read, mainly because it has no fantasy element to it. It is firmly based in the England and France of the 18th Century. It was well written and felt like it was written around the time it was set, I was surprised to learn it was published in 2008.
Sovay is an interesting character and I admire her wilfulness to stand up for what she believes which is often that she should not be treated as inferior to the males around her. I was hoping that by the end of the book she would
This was an interesting read, but not quite to my taste.
It was quite different from the sort of books that I usually read, mainly because it has no fantasy element to it. It is firmly based in the England and France of the 18th Century. It was well written and felt like it was written around the time it was set, I was surprised to learn it was published in 2008.
Sovay is an interesting character and I admire her wilfulness to stand up for what she believes which is often that she should not be treated as inferior to the males around her. I was hoping that by the end of the book she would
Spoiler
have got together with the highwayman but she ended up with a French soldier and never returned to England.This was an interesting read, but not quite to my taste.
lazygal's review against another edition
3.0
Maybe I'm being too fussy about this sort of thing but... I don't like the "mere bystander plays major role in Historic Affairs" style of writing. The gold standard of historical fiction for me is Ring Out Bow Bells (Cynthia Hartnett): there are major events (Agincort, the Luddite rebellion) but I never got the sense that the hero was being forced into the action. Here, Sovay is forced into a story that ranges from England to France during the French Revolution. I almost expected Robespierre or Marat to make an appearance in the story!
Still, that's probably a more adult quibble than my students will have and I suspect that girls will enjoy this "plucky" heroine.
Still, that's probably a more adult quibble than my students will have and I suspect that girls will enjoy this "plucky" heroine.