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Dec. 4th, 2022 10:41 amAs little objectivity as I had about Freya Marske's A Marvellous Light, I have even less about the sequel, A Restless Truth, which is an adventure targeted More or Less towards Me in Particular featuring as it does:
- relatively powerless sidekicks getting their own adventures! Maud Blyth is baby sister of the protagonist of A Marvellous Light and spent a fair bit of that book acting as an accidental but significant source of stress for him; as such her main motivation throughout this book is "well I am NOT technically a magician and these magician problems are NOT technically my problems but my brother asked me a favor and it will be SO depressing if I fuck this up" -- charming! relatable!
- Hijinks On A Boat! this is the sort of book where one is introduced to a lot of potentially chaotic elements in the first few pages -- a menagerie! a medium! a suitcase full of porn! a full Scottish Fife and Drum company! -- and can rest assured in the knowledge that before the end of the story our protagonists will end up colliding into all of them in pleasing and satisfying ways; I wouldn't necessarily say it's all the way screwball but it is bringing a lot of screwball energy and I love that for me
- a heroine with a backstory that's rooted in the turn-of-the-century New York theater scene! this one is just a present to me specifically, and also I just love Violet -- she's charming and pleasant and very good at using a lot of sparkling enthusiasm to distract from the fact that she's revealing as little of herself and her own personal weak points as possible, which makes for some extremely fun contrast and conflict with Maud who really wants this to be the sort of book where everyone trusts each other with their deepest secrets after three days and who is not going to get it
- relatedly, the main romantic pairing spend eight significant days together on a boat with romantic stakes that are not "are we going to spend the rest of our lives together now" but "will we ever decide to see each other again after the liminal space of this boat"! and obviously one is rooting for them to do so, they're a delight, but also such a refreshing change!
I am realizing that I have described many elements now but not in fact the plot. So, the plot: Maud Blyth is escorting elderly magician Mrs. Navenby across the Atlantic for Magical Conspiracy reasons when Mrs. Navenby turns up dead, probably murdered; Maud immediately bulldozes through the boat looking for allies and ends up press-ganging scandalous ex-actress Violet Debenham (as well as extremely rude Lord Hawthorne, and resentful radical newspaper reporter Alan Ross) into assistance with Maud's various projects of a.) solving the murder b.) finding Mrs. Navenby's Important Magical Artifact and c.) learning about lesbians, c.1.) preferably with practical instruction.
An extremely good time with quite a different energy from the (also delightful) country-house pining of the first book; I am also extremely looking forward to the third one for reasons that will be elucidated in time!
- relatively powerless sidekicks getting their own adventures! Maud Blyth is baby sister of the protagonist of A Marvellous Light and spent a fair bit of that book acting as an accidental but significant source of stress for him; as such her main motivation throughout this book is "well I am NOT technically a magician and these magician problems are NOT technically my problems but my brother asked me a favor and it will be SO depressing if I fuck this up" -- charming! relatable!
- Hijinks On A Boat! this is the sort of book where one is introduced to a lot of potentially chaotic elements in the first few pages -- a menagerie! a medium! a suitcase full of porn! a full Scottish Fife and Drum company! -- and can rest assured in the knowledge that before the end of the story our protagonists will end up colliding into all of them in pleasing and satisfying ways; I wouldn't necessarily say it's all the way screwball but it is bringing a lot of screwball energy and I love that for me
- a heroine with a backstory that's rooted in the turn-of-the-century New York theater scene! this one is just a present to me specifically, and also I just love Violet -- she's charming and pleasant and very good at using a lot of sparkling enthusiasm to distract from the fact that she's revealing as little of herself and her own personal weak points as possible, which makes for some extremely fun contrast and conflict with Maud who really wants this to be the sort of book where everyone trusts each other with their deepest secrets after three days and who is not going to get it
- relatedly, the main romantic pairing spend eight significant days together on a boat with romantic stakes that are not "are we going to spend the rest of our lives together now" but "will we ever decide to see each other again after the liminal space of this boat"! and obviously one is rooting for them to do so, they're a delight, but also such a refreshing change!
I am realizing that I have described many elements now but not in fact the plot. So, the plot: Maud Blyth is escorting elderly magician Mrs. Navenby across the Atlantic for Magical Conspiracy reasons when Mrs. Navenby turns up dead, probably murdered; Maud immediately bulldozes through the boat looking for allies and ends up press-ganging scandalous ex-actress Violet Debenham (as well as extremely rude Lord Hawthorne, and resentful radical newspaper reporter Alan Ross) into assistance with Maud's various projects of a.) solving the murder b.) finding Mrs. Navenby's Important Magical Artifact and c.) learning about lesbians, c.1.) preferably with practical instruction.
An extremely good time with quite a different energy from the (also delightful) country-house pining of the first book; I am also extremely looking forward to the third one for reasons that will be elucidated in time!
