Robins, Madeleine E. - Point of Honour

[oyceter]

Everyone was right. I loved this book.

It's 1810, and Queen Charlotte, the appointed Regent to King George III, has fallen ill. Miss Sarah Tolerance, Fallen Woman, continues to support herself by being an agent of inquiry instead of a prostitute, and somehow she gets tangled into the politics of the realm while trying to hunt down an Italian fan.

The voice is a distant third person, and Sarah is nearly always referred to in the narrative as "Miss Tolerance." It's nicely restrained and polite, though not above sarcastic comments, which made me very happy.

And Sarah Tolerance herself is just plain awesome. She isn't overtly kickass, but she means business and knows how to wield a sword quite well, thank you very much. I just love how methodical and smart she is; she's not a flashy heroine, and she doesn't want to be. She's practical!

By the time the ending rolled around, she had earned my respect as well as my love, because she made hard choices, because she could have done the easy thing but didn't, because she respected herself too much.

Alas, I cannot comment on the history, since I don't know much about it. The mystery wasn't too brilliant, as even I could tell roughly what would happen. But still, some of the turns at the end were still effective, more because of the emotional cost than because of the surprise factor.

Really looking forward to reading the second one, and I'm now trying to hunt down Robins' backlist, including her Regencies.

Links:
- kate_nepveu's review

Comments

[rachelmanija.livejournal.com]

Bringing the second one (which I've been saving.)

I actually was very surprised by the ending, I guess because of genre expectations.

[oyceter]

I nearly was until I started thinking of the book more as a mystery than as a fantasy or a romance. Then I started suspecting something was up.

But I still loved how Robins didn't pull any punches with the ending, and Sarah Tolerance rocks.

Bringing the second one (which I've been saving.)

Yay!

[kate_nepveu]

I can't believe I still haven't booklogged these.

SPOILERS:

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[kate_nepveu]

Also, to nitpick slightly, I think the narration is omniscient; I point this out because IIRC there's an interesting tension between Sarah Tolerance's opinion of herself and the narration's.

But if I'm going to expound any more on these I should really suck it up, re-read them, and then booklog the damn things already.

[oyceter]

Oops, obviously my spoiler-proofing code went wonky.

Anyway:

I ended up figuring out that the ending would have something to do with genetics and parentage, thanks to the note and thanks to a similar plot element appearing in another fantasy series, and I ended up figuring out that the earl would end up being a villain or at fault, just because as a mystery, he's the last person Sarah would suspect. But I didn't figure the second part out until very little before the ending, because I had been thinking of it as a romance instead of a fantasy. It was a great twist though. And I totally didn't foresee the bit with her aunt.

I loved all the twists so much, and especially Sarah's consistent assurance on her own self. I'm also really glad she ended up with the Bow Street runner friend; he seems like a good guy.

[oyceter]

Ha! Omniscient!

Sorry, I had actually typed out "third-person omniscient" and then backspaced because I couldn't remember if it was omniscient or limited.

But yes, I loved the narrative voice and the tension between the voice and Sarah's thoughts, as you point out.

Ooo, I would love to read your booklog...

[ckd]

You know she's madrobins, right?

[kate_nepveu]

Congratulations, you've broken my booklog-block on these books. Though I started running out of steam some time ago, and devoutly hope I didn't leave any stupid editing errors in:

http://www.steelypips.org/weblog/2007/02/robins_point.php

[oyceter]

I did not, thank you!

[pinkdormouse.livejournal.com]

Sounds interesting. I may have to read it at some point. Thanks.

[oyceter]

Yay! Thanks, I linked to it.

[oyceter]

It is great! And the second book is pretty good as well.