Review: Equal parts fantasy, romance and alternate history
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 11 25, 2012
I want a sequel! like, now.This was a grandly entertaining altern-universe story that reads like a cross between a regency romance and a Horatio Hornblower novel. It was equal parts fantasy, romance and alternate history.Megere Cliff, a young daughter of a high-tiered gentry family, has just come back home from a two year stint as a ship's doctor in the empire's navy. She has a big, sprawling happy family who are rich and quite ambitious. They live in a version of England known as the Ang Empire where they have an Emperor instead of a king and the capital is a city called Loudon.When Megere returns her only concern is to become a certified surgeon. However her family has other plans. Once in awhile the nobles of the empire will have something called an Open Season where all members of the empire, not just the nobility, can participate in balls and parties to seek spouses or mates of across class boundaries. The young men and women who participate are called Seekers and undergo a series of social rituals. Megere's family has decided to participate in the Open Season and Megere and her cousins are all to be seekers.But the social whirl isn't the only thing going on in this story. War with Framin (a country that sounds suspiciously like France) is still simmering around them, pirates plague the shores and there is a lot of religious unrest at home. And Megere seems to be at the center of it all.This was such a good and fun read. I especially enjoyed the alternate universe world the author built. It was similar enough the 19th century Europe and the events around the Napoleonic wars that it felt familiar and yet she created enough difference in cultural and societal mores that it felt completely different. Pre-marital sex was not frowned upon for gently bred women. It was very matter of fact and Megere as a doctor often dispensed birth control. Long term non-marriage relationships where the couple nonetheless recognized the union as a committed, monogamous one was just as legitimate as actual marriage as were the children who resulted from it. While this could seem like it was just a modern sensibility superimposed over a historical setting it did not feel that way at all. It felt like the author created a different kind of society that felt like it could have truly existed in that time. The world build felt really authentic and wholly realized.Megere was an awesome main character. She was strong minded, grounded and funny. Part of her story is that She has to figure out which of her suitors she really, really wants. But the other part of her story is also navigating some fairly treacherous political waters. On the romance front, I am very happy with the one she ends up with. On the plot front, she leaves behind a bit of a political mess at the end. Hence my need for a sequel. Like, now.Excellent story