I'm afraid I didn't enjoy this book as much as I enjoyed the Drake Chronicles. It's a period...moreThis review was first posted on http://www.rubysreads.com.
I'm afraid I didn't enjoy this book as much as I enjoyed the Drake Chronicles. It's a period piece, which tends to bring out the nitpicker in me. I'm one of those people who is irritated when an author gets titles wrong. It's not that I consider myself a history buff--quite the opposite, in fact--but that's my point, really. If an ignoramus like me knows that the Earl of Bladiblah generally has several lesser titles in addition to the one he's known by, so should others. Here's your mini-lesson for the day: In addition to being the Earl of Bladiblah, Lord Bladiblah is also Viscount Hmmuna and Baron Xyz. If the earl is lucky enough to have a son (it's a joke, you guys), that son gets to use his father's next highest title as a courtesy. So, the Earl of Bladiblah's son would be known as the Viscount Hmmuna. And the earl's brother would be known as The Honorable Mr. Adam Smith, not Sir Smith. There have practically been treatises written about correct forms of address for the peerage. Online treatises. My point is: the knowledge is easy to come by. If an author doesn't know about it, then by gad, the editor should. I'm just saying. Though this irritates me, it's not the only basis on which I judge a book. It's true that historical inaccuracies can make it or break it--that's the danger of writing a historical novel. I've read far too many books that are simply modern stories in Regency clothing. I like it when the characters of historical novels act in accordance to the mores of their time. Spunky heroines who gad about town without chaperons or who stride about spouting post-feminist theories don't generally work for me. I don't say it can't be done, but for my coin historical heroines should liberal minded for their own time, not ours. Alyx avoids this trap by creating a heroine who is an outsider. Though she moves among the elite members of society (the oft mentioned peerage), she isn't one of them. She's illegitimate and she knows it. She also knows that her mother--far from being a respectable widow--was once a maid in a wealthy household. Violet is only masquerading as a lady, and therefore her unconventional behavior makes sense. Also, I wish I knew more about Victorian times, because I kept wondering about how easily Violet and her mother were able to become part of high class society. Certainly it was an age of great upheaval. The members of the peerage grew increasingly poor as the merchant and industrial classes grew wealthy. But it was also the age named for Queen Victoria--a monarch who was famous for rigidity. I expected Violet's illegitimacy to have a greater impact than her mother's fraud as a spiritualist. I liked Violet, but I didn't love her. Her mother, sadly, doesn't have any depth. She's bad through and through. I think this novel suffers from too many characters. There's Lord Jasper, Elizabeth, Marjorie, Xavier, Tabitha, Peter, Caroline, Frederick...I was never really clear on who, exactly, was at the house party. It became a mass of faceless people, which doesn't work for what is, essentially, a mystery novel. Also, because there are no characters that we really get to know very well, character development takes a backseat to the love story and the plot. I've admitted (repeatedly), that I like my fiction sprinkled with romance. What I haven't said (and probably should) is that character development is a major necessary for me, too. If a book doesn't have that, it won't work for me. And this story doesn't have it. Violet doesn't have to make any choices; she never takes control of her life. All the changes that lead to her happy ending are the result of other people's actions and/or decisions. Especially the change that has the greatest effect on her life. As I closed the back cover of Haunting Violet, I was left with a sense of dissatisfaction. Not because there isn't a happy ending--there is--but because I wanted more from Violet's story. I'm sorry to have not enjoyed this book, as I've enjoyed Alyx's other work. I'll still be looking out for the rest of the Drake Chronicles. (less)
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