February 13, 2023
Cogman (the Invisible Libraries series) launches a historical fantasy series with this complex tale of aristocratic vampires, an updated take on the Baroness Orczy’s The Scarlet Pimpernel that has Dickensian levels of historical inaccuracy when it comes to the French Revolution. After vampire Lady Sophie, Baroness of Basting, loans housemaid Eleanor Dalton to Sir Percy Blakeney (the alter ego of the aristocrat-rescuing Scarlet Pimpernel) Eleanor becomes a pawn in an ambitious plot to save Marie Antoinette from the guillotine by posing at the former Queen’s body double. Cogman’s attempts at creating a nuanced Revolutionary France are appreciated, but lacking: Eleanor’s dawning class consciousness gets abruptly halted so that Percy’s rescue plot can continue, and the portrayal of every French man (and most French women) as bloodthirsty, dirty, weasely turncoats and torturers rings hollow. These problems undermine both the narrative and the book’s attempts to interrogate its source material; Cogman ends up seeming to agree with Baroness Orczy’s most extreme moments of reactionary conservatism. This supernatural swashbuckler will certainly appeal to royalists, but those with sympathy for the revolution should look elsewhere. Agent: Lucienne Diver, Knight Agency.
Starred review from March 1, 2023
Cogman (The Untold Story) reinvents the classic tale of the French Revolution but adds vampires to the mix of supposedly innocent French aristos whom the League of the Scarlet Pimpernel plots to spirit away from the shadow of the guillotine. Sir Percy Blakeney aims higher this time around, intending to use a servant girl's resemblance to Marie Antoinette to sow confusion among the French so that he can whisk Marie and her children out of prison to safety in England, in order to form a government in exile. But that housemaid, Eleanor Dalton, wants more out of life than mere service, and in plotting to save a queen, she sees her chance to rise above her station. While every bit as wildly compelling and imaginative as the author's previous series, this has a more serious side as it questions both the grievances of the French Revolution and the innocence of aristocrats and royalty, while still telling a cracking good story of swashbuckling and derring-do. VERDICT Will keep audiences enthralled to the end. Highly recommended for readers of alternate history, those who enjoy re-examinations of classics, and fans of Cogman's "Invisible Library" series.--Marlene Harris
Copyright 2023 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
April 15, 2023
Taking a break from her Invisible Library series (The Untold Story, 2021), Cogman kicks off a new historical fantasy trilogy, reimagining Baroness Orczy's The Scarlet Pimpernel with a feminist and supernatural twist. The Terror of the French Revolution has begun and aristocrats, both living and vampire, are being arrested and guillotined. In England, an ambitious serving maid named Eleanor finds herself loaned out by her patrician vampire mistress to a pair of living aristocrats, Sir Percy Blakeney and his wife, Marguerite. Eleanor bears a striking resemblance to Marie Antoinette and is asked by the infamous Scarlet Pimpernel to aid in rescuing the French Queen and her young son from their prison in Paris. Eleanor's downstairs viewpoint and the inclusion of vampire nobility offer insights into societal differences not addressed in the classic novel. While not as light-hearted or romantic as the original, due to Eleanor's coming-of-age and social justice awakening, it will be fun to see the League of the Scarlet Pimpernel back in action again with the next book in the Scarlet Revolution series.
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