Roisin
This was a lovely book. I expected slightly more, though maybe I shouldn't have, because the book was not quite as dense as the books it was marketed to be like. Both Pride and Prejudice and Howl's Moving Castle are more elaborate in plot, character, vocabulary, and events! But I'm not here just to praise the books I love.
Though Half A Soul is not as elaborate or compelling as those, the book does something that I haven't seen any other Regency era romance do; which is to go beyond the balls and the season and the dances, and focus on the working class. That was such a fresh take that I enjoyed this book all the more for it. There could have been more... shenanigans, though! I would have believed the romance and the affections more if we saw more interactions but this is a fairly short novel so it isn't that surprising.
Overall, I feel like lately novels have been getting so much more spare in substance. This isn't the first novel from 2020s I'm reading that feels vaguely devoid of build up. I'm beginning to think this is the publisher's fault. I guess everyone just wants a tiktok summary these days, rather than a wordy book.
This was a lovely book. I expected slightly more, though maybe I shouldn't have, because the book was not quite as dense as the books it was marketed to be like. Both Pride and Prejudice and Howl's Moving Castle are more elaborate in plot, character, vocabulary, and events! But I'm not here just to praise the books I love.
Though Half A Soul is not as elaborate or compelling as those, the book does something that I haven't seen any other Regency era romance do; which is to go beyond the balls and the season and the dances, and focus on the working class. That was such a fresh take that I enjoyed this book all the more for it. There could have been more... shenanigans, though! I would have believed the romance and the affections more if we saw more interactions but this is a fairly short novel so it isn't that surprising.
Overall, I feel like lately novels have been getting so much more spare in substance. This isn't the first novel from 2020s I'm reading that feels vaguely devoid of build up. I'm beginning to think this is the publisher's fault. I guess everyone just wants a tiktok summary these days, rather than a wordy book.