SF/F Review: Creatures of Will and Temper by Molly Tanzer https://t.co/iGBq1Gu6ee Short Review: 8 out of 10 (1/3)— garik16 (@garik16) February 2, 2018
Short Review (cont): When sisters Evadne & Dorina Gray come to Victorian London so that Dorina can learn about art, they get more than they bargained for: an introduction into the world of demons that may put the two at odds. Excellent characters make this very enjoyable. (2/3)— garik16 (@garik16) February 2, 2018
Creatures of Will and Temper is a pretty good example of what you can do with a book when you have interesting likable characters. For example, you can not reveal the basic driving plot conflict till 60% of the way through the book, and still make the book enjoyable. You can have a third act plot twist that is predictable to the reader without it being annoying. Creatures of Will and Temper demonstrates both of those feats (and others) through the use of a pair of really excellent yet different protagonists who I grew to care about quite quickly - and well before it became clear where the plot was going with them.
The book is an adaptation of sorts of Oscar Wilde's "The Painting of Dorian Gray." I've never read Wilde's book, but the book does not require knowledge of the source material at all - and from the wikipedia entry on it, the book obviously goes very very far from the source material: not only does this book involve well, Demons, but one of our two main characters (and arguably our primary protagonist) doesn't even exist in Wilde's work.
In summary, it's a stand alone work with two very different sisters as the excellent main characters, in an Alternate Victorian (well, end of the 19th century) London, where Demons are very real beings trafficked in secret. If that sounds of interest to you, you'll almost certainly like this book.
This was a book I read as an audiobook. The Audiobook reader is again excellent, so I'd definitely recommend the book in that format.
More after the Jump:
-----------------------------------------------------Plot Summary----------------------------------------------------
In the turn of the 19th/20th century, Sisters Evadne and Dorina Gray couldn't be any more different. Evadne isn't traditionally attractive, loves to fence, and likes to wear comfortable clothes instead of dresses, but at the same time believes in the importance of being a respectable lady and finding a husband. Dorina on the other hand, in addition to being significantly younger, doesn't care about being respectable, but wants to appreciate the beauty of the world, to become an art critic, and of course to have fun - especially with other ladies. The two love each other in different ways, but their contrasts make it difficult for them to get along.
But when Dorina goes on a trip to London to write a piece as an Art Critic of the works of their Uncle Basil, and Evadne is sent to supervise her, they find themselves in a world neither of them could have expected. For Uncle Basil introduces the two of them to Lady Henrietta "Henry" Wotten, a cultured lady with whom Dorina quickly becomes infatuated. Henry is anathema to Evadne - she doesn't seem to care about acting like a Lady or in Dorina's propriety - but even worse, unknown to the two sisters, Henry has a secret: She and her friends commune with a Demon who is ever present in her mind.
For her part, Henry never intended to introduce the sisters into the world of Demons and Diabolists. But Dorina's pursuit of Henry may force her hand - and may force Evadne into making a terrible choice in the name of saving her sister.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
As I said above the jump the full plot conflict doesn't come about in this book till about 60% of the way through, so the above plot summary actually doesn't spoil that (the amazon summary of this book on the other hand, totally does). But again, Dorina, Evadne, and even Lady Henry to a lesser extent are such amazing characters that it doesn't matter. Every chapter is told from one of the three's perspectives (it's probably about 45% Evadne chapters, 35% Dorina Chapters, and 20% Henry Chapters), and while each is very different, they're all really interesting in their own ways.
Evadne is closest to your traditional heroine, but her inability to be social despite really wanting to be a proper lady is a very different combination than is typical, and it was easy for me at least to relate to her (she also suffers the most heartbreak in this book, which hurt). Dorina could very easily have been written as an annoying character, as she's kind of spoiled and doesn't quite understand why her actions hurt Evadne, but at the same time after her first chapter her innocence (in some ways, though not sexually) and desires make her someone I just wanted to be happy, albeit in a way that would not frustrate her sister. And Henry's struggle to be a good host for Dorina but not get her too involved also mostly works.
I especially appreciated how quickly some of the characters - notably Evadne - would pick up on things as soon as they obtained the knowledge needed to draw the correct conclusions - the reader will very likely make certain connections fairly early on, but the characters don't frustrate the reader in missing those connections when they finally get the info the reader has in order to make them. And Evadne's fencing (which I've barely mentioned above in this review) and fighting are excellently described in those scenes.
As I noted above however, the pacing is kind of weird - About 60% of the book is setup, and then the remaining 40% of the book speeds up at a breakneck pace toward its conclusion. For me this worked because I loved the characters, but if you don't love the characters....it's probably gonna be a deal breaker. The book is helpfully divided into three parts, so basically if you're not interested in where it's going after Part 1, that's probably a good place to bail.
Other than pacing, I only have two complaints about this book and they're both minor. Henry seems in the prologue like she wants to toy with Dorina and Evadne....and then a later chapter reveals that she....kind of didn't want that at all? It's not really clear what Henry was intending to do as their chaperone given her later reactions, as if her character shifted from the writing of the prologue to her later chapters.
The other complaint isn't really one - the book makes a predictable plot twist in the final act, which changes the final conflict from one which was set up to be particularly hard to predict and very interesting to a more straight forward conflict. This is a "was hoping for a different story" complaint, so it's not a problem necessarily with the book, just with my expectations, and the ending DOES work, so even there it didn't ruin my enjoyment too much.
Overall, definitely enjoyed Creatures of Will and Temper, and look forward to the stand alone sequel later this year.
No comments:
Post a Comment