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A review by kblincoln
The Traitor in the Tunnel by Y.S. Lee
4.0
Actually, 4.5 stars. I do love me the half-Lascar (chinese) secret, undercover private detective girl in Victorian England.
And now, with More! Victoria!
Yes, Mary Quinn, ex-house thief and homeless wastrel, taken in by the Agency and trained in undercover work for private investigations in roles only overlooked women can play, is in the household of Queen Victoria as a maid.
So right there is where the half star got taken away. I mean, okay, yeah, I understand she was hired by the Queen for a very, very private investigation and is there on special assignment, but really? The Queen? And Bertie's attention? So easily she fits in such an ordered place?
It was a bit hard to swallow at first. Once I got over that, though, the book had all the hallmarks of the reason this is one of the best YA Historical series out there. (And none of it has gone stale yet.) We still have quite believable and detailed depictions of Victorian life, the wonderful struggle Mary has with revealing her own race and how she thinks of herself because of her father (with the problem now that he is involved in an opium-muddled murder in this book), her own quite bold and inquisitive personality, along with a smattering of romantic arguing and friction with dashing engineer James Easton.
The book even pokes fun at itself by having both James and Mary mention how their continued, serendipitous meetings would hardly be believable even in a novel. And all the scenes where Mary tortures Octavius Jones with his inability to shake the paramour he courted only for gossip had me smiling.
Lovely.
The twin mysteries of the missing knick-knacks and Lady Honoria's strange behavior are both satisfactorily resolved with heroics by both James and Mary. While there was a bit of a too-convenient save at the end by a surprising character, I forgave that because the novel resolves, quite nicely, the problem of things getting repetitive by setting up James and Mary in a new direction. I quite look forward to their continued partnership.
This Book's Snack Rating: Garlic fries for the addictive, salty flavor of Mary's character coupled with the garlicky oily goodness of a fun plot, believable details, and satisfactory ending.
And now, with More! Victoria!
Yes, Mary Quinn, ex-house thief and homeless wastrel, taken in by the Agency and trained in undercover work for private investigations in roles only overlooked women can play, is in the household of Queen Victoria as a maid.
So right there is where the half star got taken away. I mean, okay, yeah, I understand she was hired by the Queen for a very, very private investigation and is there on special assignment, but really? The Queen? And Bertie's attention? So easily she fits in such an ordered place?
It was a bit hard to swallow at first. Once I got over that, though, the book had all the hallmarks of the reason this is one of the best YA Historical series out there. (And none of it has gone stale yet.) We still have quite believable and detailed depictions of Victorian life, the wonderful struggle Mary has with revealing her own race and how she thinks of herself because of her father (with the problem now that he is involved in an opium-muddled murder in this book), her own quite bold and inquisitive personality, along with a smattering of romantic arguing and friction with dashing engineer James Easton.
The book even pokes fun at itself by having both James and Mary mention how their continued, serendipitous meetings would hardly be believable even in a novel. And all the scenes where Mary tortures Octavius Jones with his inability to shake the paramour he courted only for gossip had me smiling.
Lovely.
The twin mysteries of the missing knick-knacks and Lady Honoria's strange behavior are both satisfactorily resolved with heroics by both James and Mary. While there was a bit of a too-convenient save at the end by a surprising character, I forgave that because the novel resolves, quite nicely, the problem of things getting repetitive by setting up James and Mary in a new direction. I quite look forward to their continued partnership.
This Book's Snack Rating: Garlic fries for the addictive, salty flavor of Mary's character coupled with the garlicky oily goodness of a fun plot, believable details, and satisfactory ending.