I've heard this is "Jane Austen with magic," and by god, that's exactly what it is, no more, no less. It's most similar in some ways to Sense and Sensibility. Basically it's the same kind of world, but people have the ability to use/shape/create things out of glamour, which is...folds in the ether of some kind, I think? I'm not the sort who'd be clear on the details, but it sounds lovely. People create tableaux vivant, fancy up their houses, maybe disguise their features a bit (though our heroine would point out that eventually someone would be surprised when she had to let the glamour go), create glamurals...sounds lovely.
Jane Ellsworth is a 28-year-old spinster who's decidedly unattractive by the standards of her day--brown hair, too long nose, sallow complexion--but in personality she's super smart, kind, polite, protective, and loves all kinds of puzzles. She's a pretty good glamourist despite not having had massive amounts of formal training, but she's not like, the world's best ever. (Yay, realism.) Jane is perpetually comparing herself to her younger and hotter sister Melody, who's actually attractive. However, Melody is apparently perpetually comparing herself to Jane because Jane has talents and Melody basically hasn't been that interested in applying herself. As the story goes on, the sisters become more quietly resentful of each other and annoyed by each other, and Jane has to stifle like heck when she finds out things like her sister likes to fake injuries to get men's attentions.
Anyway...both girls are originally interested in their nice but circumspect neighbor Mr. Dunkirk, but Mr. Dunkirk seems to be more interested in Jane and Melody quickly moves on to the charming Captain Livingston, who apparently gets around. Jane befriends Mr. Dunkirk's little sister Beth, who seems to have had some drama and scandal in her past that makes her brother choke on it. Eventually Jane finds out the whole story, and has to eventually take steps to fend off disasters. (And I have to say, how she did it was pretty cool. Excellent use of skills.)
There's also the mysterious grumpy glamourist Mr. Vincent, who's been employed to create a glamural at a highborn house. Mr. Vincent seems put off by Jane at first--she's very interested in his work and it bugs him when she can figure out what he did--but he starts to relent a bit as time goes on, and they get asked to create tableaux for others' entertainment. After Mr. Vincent falls ill and Jane manages to get the right kind of help for him, he gifts her with his notebook on glamour--which is potent stuff in all kinds of ways.
The end action is surprisingly dramatic for the previous slow pace of the story, and I deeply enjoyed it when the drama erupted. Jane Austen never went that far, whee! In the end, we get a "happily ever after" summation, which I think assumed this would be a one and done story, except now there are sequels.
What do I think of this story? If you're super into Jane Austen, you'll love it. If you're not that into Jane Austen, I probably wouldn't recommend it because it won't be your thing. It ended up being a quick read for me. I'll admit with the addition of magic I was expecting a bit more than slow courtship plotting and was a little disappointed in that, until the end where things picked up. (More use of glamour as a plot point, yes!) I really like Jane as a character, she's certainly a worthy lass. Overall I think I'm going to give it three and a half stars.
Comments