A review by dusang
Mad Miss Mimic, by Sarah Henstra
3.0
I'm rather conflicted on this. On one hand, it seems a pleasant YA novel with a bit of intrigue and a bit of romance. On the other I had a lot of difficulty with character motivation and plot contrivance.
First, I found Leo at bit blank -- although she definitely grew as a character, took actions, learned new things, I still didn't quite understand her appeal. Particularly as related to OTP, where it seemed her entire appeal rested on how pretty she was. I really hate both insta-love and insta-love predicated exclusively on appearance -- that's lust, kids.
Second, the Lady Hastings was a bit confusing to me. She was Leo's father's sister -- so essentially from a good family but not an obscenely wealthy one. She married young to a Lord. Now, she might be set up for life as the widow of a peer but she wouldn't inherit his property or have the ability to pass on such wealth or consequence to her nieces. In the absence of a direct heir, a distant male relative would be located to inherit the title -- I've seen Downton Abby for goodness sake!! Also, I'm pretty sure that becoming an actress would have been tantamount to becoming a prostitute in terms of societal acceptance. There's no way.
Third, the whole Black Glove / opium ban plot doesn't hold up to much scrutiny. First, the Black Glove as a terrorist organization makes no sense -- if they don't want opium banned, terrorizing people for just thinking of it is pretty counterproductive. Second, if opium were banned, although you could obviously make a fortune selling it on the black market, a patented drug that relied on opium would be dead in the water. Implying that money would be made from the legally enforced intellectual property rights of a banned substance is nonsensical.
It's still a cute book but I didn't like it quite as much as I wanted to.
First, I found Leo at bit blank -- although she definitely grew as a character, took actions, learned new things, I still didn't quite understand her appeal. Particularly as related to OTP, where it seemed her entire appeal rested on how pretty she was. I really hate both insta-love and insta-love predicated exclusively on appearance -- that's lust, kids.
Second, the Lady Hastings was a bit confusing to me. She was Leo's father's sister -- so essentially from a good family but not an obscenely wealthy one. She married young to a Lord. Now, she might be set up for life as the widow of a peer but she wouldn't inherit his property or have the ability to pass on such wealth or consequence to her nieces. In the absence of a direct heir, a distant male relative would be located to inherit the title -- I've seen Downton Abby for goodness sake!! Also, I'm pretty sure that becoming an actress would have been tantamount to becoming a prostitute in terms of societal acceptance. There's no way.
Third, the whole Black Glove / opium ban plot doesn't hold up to much scrutiny. First, the Black Glove as a terrorist organization makes no sense -- if they don't want opium banned, terrorizing people for just thinking of it is pretty counterproductive. Second, if opium were banned, although you could obviously make a fortune selling it on the black market, a patented drug that relied on opium would be dead in the water. Implying that money would be made from the legally enforced intellectual property rights of a banned substance is nonsensical.
It's still a cute book but I didn't like it quite as much as I wanted to.