eidal's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Medical content, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Alcohol, and Blood
Moderate: Violence, Suicidal thoughts, Physical abuse, Homophobia, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Classism, Racial slurs, Gore, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Sexism, and Racism
Minor: Ableism, Colonisation, Fire/Fire injury, Infidelity, Murder, Cursing, Drug use, and Slavery
komiification's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Child abuse and Racism
Moderate: Cursing, Emotional abuse, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Slavery, Injury/Injury detail, Alcohol, Chronic illness, Death, Death of parent, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, and Kidnapping
Minor: Drug use and Homophobia
redroseses's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.75
Graphic: Child abuse, Misogyny, Kidnapping, Vomit, Injury/Injury detail, Alcohol, Violence, Religious bigotry, Racism, Physical abuse, Homophobia, Gun violence, and Blood
Moderate: Death of parent, Blood, Classism, Child abuse, and Death
Minor: Cursing, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Slavery, and Infidelity
nonnavlis's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
It was also lovely to see some unexpected disability representation later in the story! (I am not considering this is a spoiler as it's something I would've wanted to know as a disabled person, but sorry if anyone feels a bit cheated in my saying so).
The only problem I had with it was the handling of racial tension within the story. I respect the author's desire for some diversity and their certainly earnest and well-meant attempt at handling it, but it did feel pretty simplistic and glossed over in a way I expect a reader of colour would find even more awkward/uncomfortable than I did as a white reader. It's unfortunately one of those stories that probably would've benefited heavily from some sensitivity readers that it seems it did not have. The fact that the author even has an author's note chapter at the end of the book dedicated to summarizing her historical research and influences (where she refers to slave-owners as masters rather than enslavers which felt to me like a pretty glaring sign of lack of knowledge in this area), but still fumbled this as much as she did is why I've removed half a star from my rating. I did see after finishing that this is part of a series so I'm hoping it will be handled better in future stories, since we all have room to learn.
Graphic: Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Alcoholism, Physical abuse, and Child abuse
Moderate: Slavery, Vomit, Kidnapping, Homophobia, Self harm, Sexism, Colonisation, Ableism, Classism, Blood, Cursing, Sexual content, and Racism
Minor: Fire/Fire injury, Gun violence, Forced institutionalization, and Infidelity
breadwitchery's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Homophobia, Alcoholism, Violence, and Child abuse
Moderate: Racism and Sexual content
Minor: Cursing, Vomit, Ableism, Suicidal thoughts, and Slavery
water_violin's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Alcoholism and Suicidal thoughts
Moderate: Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, Police brutality, Racism, Violence, Vomit, Grief, Biphobia, Blood, Body horror, Homophobia, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Child abuse, Medical content, Medical trauma, Ableism, Misogyny, Self harm, Gun violence, Classism, Racial slurs, Xenophobia, Islamophobia, Kidnapping, and Emotional abuse
Minor: Domestic abuse, Infidelity, Colonisation, Death, Cursing, Confinement, Death of parent, Drug use, Forced institutionalization, and Slavery
clemrain's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.25
Graphic: Death of parent and Physical abuse
Moderate: Chronic illness, Classism, Medical content, Racism, Alcoholism, Blood, Racial slurs, Gun violence, Vomit, Injury/Injury detail, Sexism, and Violence
Minor: Grief, Misogyny, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Body horror, Sexual harassment, Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Medical trauma, Deportation, and Sexual content
20sidedbi's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Blood, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Alcoholism, Physical abuse, Racism, Classism, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Injury/Injury detail, Alcohol, and Homophobia
Moderate: Ableism, Slavery, Misogyny, Death, Grief, Violence, Gun violence, Hate crime, and Medical content
Minor: Confinement, Fire/Fire injury, Religious bigotry, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Colonisation, Islamophobia, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Infidelity, Xenophobia, and Cursing
thefightinside's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Graphic: Gaslighting, Child abuse, Outing, Emotional abuse, and Homophobia
Moderate: Ableism, Alcoholism, Classism, Forced institutionalization, and Racism
Minor: Alcohol, Sexism, Sexual content, Cursing, and Blood
crufts's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Our charismatic-scoundrel-with-a-heart-of-gold protagonist (Henry "Monty" Montague), an 18-year-old English lord, embarks on his Grand Tour of Europe with sister Felicity and best friend Percy. Naturally, it all goes completely off the rails. In the process Monty matures considerably, and forever changes his standing regarding his father and his travelling companions.
There's so much to enjoy about the book:
- Interesting setting. Assuming that the depiction of the 1700s is accurate, I thought it was fascinating how there was a strong England/France alliance with tourists visiting frequently from both sides, even though everyone was relying on communicating by letters. There were already English banks, embassies, etc in France, which did not intend to become French but rather to remain there as international institutions.
- Good bisexual representation! Monty's crush on Percy is a main plot thread, but his attraction to women isn't dismissed or trivialized. He is not "really" gay, he is really bisexual.
- Fabulous audiobook narration, especially of the French villain's voice.
- A somewhat magical plot device is foreshadowed well in advance and didn't feel like a huge surprise or genre-breaker when it appears.
I did find it a tad contrived that
Spoiler
despite their long-held mutual crush on eachother, Monty and Percy didn't get the truth out between them until the end.The main obstruction is established at the beginning, when Percy asks Monty if them kissing was all just a lark, and a flustered Monty replies "No... yes!". Disappointed and not wanting to just be yet another of Monty's flings, Percy ends the situation.
This was hard to believe because (a) Monty is good at reading people, as seen when he chats up a bank clerk later in the book, and should have been able to piece together Percy's reaction; and (b) Monty wanted to tell Percy about his feelings for years and believed it to be Real Love™, not just a lark.
I think it would've been more believable if, for example:
- When asked if was just a lark, Monty replies something cautious like "I dunno, what do you want it to be?". Percy could then interpret this pessimistically ("He's just humouring me") and the plot could continue as before.
- It could be more obvious (perhaps just to the reader, if not to Monty himself) that Percy ended the situation because he's not a one-night-fling sort of guy and believed that Monty's nature would never change. For example, Percy might ask Monty about his fling with the girl at Versailles and express his opinion that he could never have a one-off relationship like that with someone, even if he loved them
I also found the writing style to be overly flowery at times, with a bit too much detail about specific thoughts or particular actions.
However, I still found The Gentleman's Guide to be an excellent book and would certainly recommend it.
Graphic: Biphobia, Homophobia, Medical content, Mental illness, Blood, Bullying, Domestic abuse, Sexism, and Violence
Moderate: Cursing and Racism
Minor: Death of parent
Period-typical sexism, homophobia, biphobia, etc due to the 1700s setting.Violence, blood, medical content: Appears during and after action scenes during the book. Also, a main character has epileptic fits.
Domestic abuse, bullying: Against the protagonist from his father, resulting in what is likely PTSD.
Racism: Against one of the later allies in the book.
Death of parent: Suffered by a pair of minor characters.