"In the tumultuous months after Napoleon abdicates his throne, Jane and Vincent go to Belgium for their honeymoon. While there, the deposed emperor escapes his exile in Elba, throwing the continent into turmoil. With no easy way back to England, Jane and Vincent's concerns turn from enjoying their honeymoon...to escaping it. Left with no outward salvation, Jane must persevere over her trying personal circumstances and use her glamour to rescue her husband from prison... and hopefully prevent her newly built marriage from getting stranded on the shoals of another country's war."
I read this back in May of 2023, a year and a half ago, and boy do I remember being upset by it.
Plot and Theme: I got half way through it and skimmed the rest to see if it got better. It got worse. Jane's "trying circumstances" were that she was pregnant and while pregnant she isn't supposed to use glamour otherwise she could lose the baby. So her fight over her own independence and freedoms vs the... scariness of soon becoming a mom and not being able to do something she loved doing for nine months. I get it. Putting things down for a time because of children can be hard, but that amount of selfishness and practically intentionally aborting her baby did not set well with me. To have this be the major plot point of the book made me put this down. It wasn't a "she will persevere or think of another way around the problem of her husband being in prison and needing to help him escape." You aren't all Glamour girl! Use your brain and come up with another plan. Don't have the major plot be, kill the baby to save the husband. And the fact that she felt so relieved to be rid of this burden made me sick.
Setting and Writing Style: It has been a minute since I read the book, but from what I recall it's setting and the way it was written was pretty good. I enjoyed the set up of Napoleon breaking out and the French country side being up in arms one way or another. I don't remember being upset by the way Mary Robinette Kowal wrote it, just the themes and plot.
Spice: The fact that Jane gets pregnant means that there was something going on behind the curtains, but that is where it stayed. Which is perfectly fine with me. When it comes to Jane and Vincent's relationship, I remember there being problems with the fact that he was away all the time. That's not how you spend a honeymoon, dearies. Yes, they've both got to work, but besides one scene where "the curtains fall" that is all the romantic encounters I remember. The rest of the time they seemed extremely mad at each other. Such a happy marriage.
Characters: From what I recall the characters were actually decently developed. They had differing opinions and backgrounds. Even the side characters had thoughts about Napoleon and how the previous war went with England which was kind of refreshing. I don't recall any Mary-Sue's which is great. Jane was having some major growing pains and she chose extremely poorly in my opinion. She ended up being a character that I couldn't get along with and wasn't someone I cared to read about anymore.
Overall: Never again. I'm done with Mary Robinette Kowal. Miscarriage is something I've dealt with more often than I would like to and abortion is not something I support. It was her relief at the end that killed it all for me. Apparently she gets pregnant in another book and is all happy hunky dory, but that seemed like it was even more of a reason why I wouldn't want to pick up anything else Kowal wrote.
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