| Review: Shades of Milk and Honey |
[Jul. 30th, 2011|11:49 pm]
jacedraccus
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Shades of Milk and Honey
Mary Robinette Kowal
I'll start by saying that I'm not sure I would have found this book if not for Writing Excuses. I don't generally read 'romance' books, I don't have a particular passion for Regency era (though I do generally enjoy it), and I've never read the works of Jane Austen (the most common comparison). All up, it's not necessarily a book I would have hunted for on my own. Then again, these days I have been on the lookout for anything that sounds 'different', so if I'd seen it in the store I might have picked it up anyway.
As it is, I became aware of this book when Mary Robinette Kowal guest-starred on Writing Excuses. She talked about her book, among other things, and it sounded interesting. So I checked out 'For Want of a Nail', her Hugo-nominated story. And, when the book was released here in New Zealand, I ordered it online from a local supplier.
I devoured it in about a day. When I read a particularly good book, I literally do not put it down unless I have to. Which usually means 'when I go to work'.
The story focuses on Jane Ellsworth. There is only one point, right at the beginning, where the story is not told from her perspective. It starts with her father musing over his daughters and their prospects for the future. Melody is beautiful, with 'a face made for fortune'. Jane, the older daughter, is very talented, but not as pretty as Melody, and so does not have any suitors. Thus we are given the first promise of the novel: it is about Jane finding love. A potential candidate is even mentioned in the first scene, though Jane is shown as being well aware of her father's match-making plans, and doesn't seem too interested in this particular young man.
Another promise is given almost casually. Jane is mentioned as having 'skill with glamour, music and painting... surpassed by none in their neighbourhood'. The promise, of course, is in the mention of 'glamour', which is the magic of this world. We are not told what it is. Yet. But, because it is a promise, we expect to know more soon. The mere mention of it is enough to tell us that this story has a little something more to it, something fantastical.
The next scene is the start of Jane's perspective. It moves almost immediately to a demonstration of glamour, and that Jane is far more skilled with it than her sister, Melody. Another promise, this one of potential tension. How does Melody feel about things, see things?
Because this is a good book, these promises are kept all the way through. All questions are answered. In fact, looking now at the beginning of the book, knowing where it goes and how it ends, I see other, subtle things pointed out that come back later. I won't say what they are. Read and find out.
'Shades of Milk and Honey'. An interesting title. A reference to 'the land of milk and honey', the proverbial paradise? There is a brief discourse on the nature of perfection and Paradise in the story. Also, glamour is the art of illusion, the creation of 'shades'. And I've seen a suggestion that 'milk and honey' refers to the difference between the two sisters, one sweet and fair, the other plain but pleasant.
It's also interesting to note that Jane has great talent with creating illusion through glamour, whereas Melody, it later becomes apparent, has her own ways of creating artifice.
Glamour itself is never really explained during the story, where it comes from or how it was discovered, what effect it has had on history. Which I feel to be a good thing, as there's no way to get that sort of information in without an infodump or a long discussion between two people who should know all about it already. Doing so would take a lot of immediacy away from the story. There's also no explanation as to how glamour is manipulated, exactly, but the basic description of it (pulling 'folds' from the 'ether', 'tying off knots', etc) suggests that it is simply manipulated by hand and will. That seems more than sufficient to me.
The dialogue and language seem fitting for the period and setting, though I'm hardly the best judge of such things. Suffice to say I found no anachronisms, and I have a tendency to notice odd little things because they throw me out of the story. I nitpick books and movies all the time, which annoys my girlfriend no end. Ahem. I found nothing to nitpick here, although the use of older spellings such as 'shewn' and 'chuse' did throw me a little, but no more than they would if seen in an historical document. If anything, it helped add a bit more verisimilitude.
The pace was excellent, there was never a scene that did not contribute in some way. Most scenes involved a party or social gathering, or someone making a social call. Whatever happened, however, there was always something that added to the story in some way. A little more information about something hinted at earlier, perhaps, or a hint of things to come. All leading up to a climax that lays bare the nature and character of those around. Denouement is then swift and clear, wrapping things up neatly.
Characterisation was constant, consistent, and when someone did something odd, it was noticed. There are definite archetypes, but nothing that felt stereotypical. Was I especially surprised by the way the story went? Well, not really, the revelations were fairly well sign-posted. But the handling of them was just fine, and the story did not suffer at all.
I should note that even such a good book can have a misleading blurb. The back copy on mine says 'But when her family's honor is threatened, she finds that she must push her skills to the limit in order to set things right - and, in the process, she accidentally wanders into a love story of her own'. True enough, but I find it a bit turned around. She was already wandering into her love story long before she had to leap into action to save her family's honor. In fact, that sort of trouble doesn't become completely apparent until well into the second half. This is not a book in which the overlooked sister rallies her talents in new and surprising ways to save her family's business or to unravel a mystery, or anything like that.
This is a book about Jane, about love, about the faces that we show and the things glamour of any kind can hide. It's about finding love in an unlikely place, and that appearances can be deceiving, if only because they do not tell the full story.
I can't think of anything more to say, except that I thoroughly enjoyed it. |
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