Review
3.6
Like all of the other historical novels I've read with an Evie, this one is a bit fiery but also a stammerer. Although, hers isn't bad as Evie in the Wallflower series, this Evie has a tendency to stammer in front of those she doesn't know or those that make her nervous. You don't really see her doing it too often so it almost seems like a glamour infliction; meaning, it seems like the author decided to just add one more flaw to the already scarred character just to make her endearing. It wasn't necessary but as it only crops up here and there, it really isn't a problem.
McAlistair is almost your typical damaged hero except he had a far more interesting reason for isolating himself. It's not so often that you meet a former assassin as the main character in one of these types of stories.
The banter is the best part of this story and like a typical Johnson story, dialogue drives the story along. At turns funny and witty it always believable. McAlistair doesn't start waxing poetic, he's been an assassin and a hermit and he speaks accordingly. Evie, who is rather outspoken when she is comfortable carries most of the conversation and while she is not as acerbic in her wit or hilarious in her cuts like Mirabelle, there is a quiet steel and a gentle amusement to her.
I wish we had more of a backstory with these characters: a little more time to understand the full consequences of the carriage accident that robbed Evie of a reliable leg and her work with troubled woman or the things that McAlistair did as a child and why he became a hermit. That is the one flaw of the series; there is not enough of a foundation for me to explain the actions of everyone else and the characters themselves, and if Johnson wasn't an excellent executioner of dialogue, this would be a massive failing. However, it holds up but leaves you a little wistful for just a bit more backstory.
Evie, so far, is the most realistic of the girls in my opinion. She is funny, flawed, stubborn and at times can be a bit of a prima donna (although if I had to wear a rodent-poop infested cloak you bet your ass I would be complaining).
The plot itself is not as interesting as it could've been and not as interesting as the first two but then this book is really about Evie and McAlistair and so I didn't mind the rushed ending or the convenient bad guy (again no backstory). I smiled and scrunched my face in happiness when I was done with this book, so I can't imagine why you wouldn't feel just a bit lighter and happier after having read this.
Like all of the other historical novels I've read with an Evie, this one is a bit fiery but also a stammerer. Although, hers isn't bad as Evie in the Wallflower series, this Evie has a tendency to stammer in front of those she doesn't know or those that make her nervous. You don't really see her doing it too often so it almost seems like a glamour infliction; meaning, it seems like the author decided to just add one more flaw to the already scarred character just to make her endearing. It wasn't necessary but as it only crops up here and there, it really isn't a problem.
McAlistair is almost your typical damaged hero except he had a far more interesting reason for isolating himself. It's not so often that you meet a former assassin as the main character in one of these types of stories.
The banter is the best part of this story and like a typical Johnson story, dialogue drives the story along. At turns funny and witty it always believable. McAlistair doesn't start waxing poetic, he's been an assassin and a hermit and he speaks accordingly. Evie, who is rather outspoken when she is comfortable carries most of the conversation and while she is not as acerbic in her wit or hilarious in her cuts like Mirabelle, there is a quiet steel and a gentle amusement to her.
I wish we had more of a backstory with these characters: a little more time to understand the full consequences of the carriage accident that robbed Evie of a reliable leg and her work with troubled woman or the things that McAlistair did as a child and why he became a hermit. That is the one flaw of the series; there is not enough of a foundation for me to explain the actions of everyone else and the characters themselves, and if Johnson wasn't an excellent executioner of dialogue, this would be a massive failing. However, it holds up but leaves you a little wistful for just a bit more backstory.
Evie, so far, is the most realistic of the girls in my opinion. She is funny, flawed, stubborn and at times can be a bit of a prima donna (although if I had to wear a rodent-poop infested cloak you bet your ass I would be complaining).
The plot itself is not as interesting as it could've been and not as interesting as the first two but then this book is really about Evie and McAlistair and so I didn't mind the rushed ending or the convenient bad guy (again no backstory). I smiled and scrunched my face in happiness when I was done with this book, so I can't imagine why you wouldn't feel just a bit lighter and happier after having read this.
0
