This book was rather outside my usual reading habits, not to mention my outside my usual historical time frame. Generally speaking, if it happened between 1750 and 1980, I'm not terribly interested.

That said, I really enjoyed this. Kowal does a startlingly good job of presenting a mindset that is very alien to me, specifically, that of a woman mired in upper class British social mores of the early 1800's.

The language was delightfully in keeping with the time period, while not being needlessly cumbersome and opaque. The story and characterization were lovely, and I enjoyed the worldbuilding, too. I also liked seeing a strong female character that was still very much a part (and product) of the painfully misogynistic culture she was raised in. That's a fine line to walk in a story.

I'm hesitant to give it a star rating because I'm so utterly unfamiliar with this particular genre. I really enjoyed it, but I really have no basis for comparison as I've never read another book like it.

Then again, that newness itself is a mark of distinction. So I think I'll go with my gut and give this one five stars. Good language, fresh story, an interesting world, and a great main character with a great voice. Yeah. That's worth five stars....