…but only books one and two, because three isn’t out until next year, :sobs: :)
These are by Invisible Library author Genevieve Cogman, who thought “What if Scarlet Pimpernel, but with vampires?”
What results is a rampage through revolutionary-era France with our lead character, Eleanor, a maid in a vampire’s estate, being swept into the Pimpernel’s cadre due to Reasons, and her gradual emotional and intellectual journey from the unquestioning “of course the world is ordered as it should be” to “waaaaiiiiiit a minute,” and it’s a goddamn delight.
Genevieve, whom I’ve known so long that I can no longer remember the first online handle I knew her as, told me about this series at Worldcon in Dublin 2019, when it was still a twinkle in her eye, and my response was basically “omg yes please.” Actually READING it was really interesting, because Eleanor does go on this journey of discovery, and here I am, a 21st century reader, going “oh no honey the situation as it stands around you is terrible, surely you can see that.” It was sort of mildly…somewhere between stressful and annoying at first, but as Eleanor becomes more worldly, I appreciated going on the whole journey with her.
And it’s a great journey, tbh, because I know my French Revolution well enough to go “ooh I see the through-line there” and I know my French Revolution poorly enough to go “oh god this is a warning of something really fricking dire that is absolutely 100% a real thing that happened (minus vampires) but I don’t know exactly what it is,” which has also made reading it fun. And both the characters and the language are all wonderfully wrought in ways that call back accurately to the stylisms and voice and characterizations of the original book and its era. It’s very nicely done.
I’m really looking forward to the the third book, and hope she writes more in the world, because there’s clearly going to be a lot of room for further development if that’s what she wants to do. I’m also very sure this is going to wrap up as a really satisfying trilogy, so if she doesn’t expand the world…well, that’s what fic is for, isn’t it. :D
The Scarlet Revolution on Kobo || (can’t make B&N give me a series link) || Amazon (affiliate)