The fantasy novel you've always wished Jane Austen had written "Shades of Milk and Honey "is exactly what we could expect from Jane Austen if she had been a fantasy writer: "Pride and Prejudice "meets "Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell." It is an intimate portrait of a woman, Jane, and her quest for love in a world where the manipulation of glamour is considered an essential skill for a lady of quality. Jane and her sister Melody vie for the attentions of eligible men, and while Jane's skill with glamour is remarkable, it is her sister who is fair of face. When Jane realizes that one of Melody's suitors is set on taking advantage of her sister for the sake of her dowry, she pushes her skills to the limit of what her body can withstand in order to set things right--and, in the process, accidentally wanders into a love story of her own.
I can't in good conscience give this less than 3 stars because it's well written and I liked her sense of magic a great deal. The characters were pleasant enough (mostly). Jane did annoy me with how naive she was in the middle. I know the counter is always that women were often more naive historically, but you can only go so far with that. Eventually you have to write a book that doesn't annoy your reader, because otherwise it looks like you're keeping her naive to allow the plot to go the direction you want. Which is also annoying.
More than anything, though the ending made me want to give it 2 stars. I hate it when the heroine ends up with some guy who is not the guy the author has spent the novel telling you she's interested in; who is not the guy who has shown that he liked her also; who barely has more than a social relationship with her then waltzes in and asks her to marry him and she enthusiastically accepts because of course she loved him too. what?! The reader is not invested in that relationship at all. We've been given nothing to engage with them in any way. He just appears and they walk off into the sunset together. I don't buy it and I don't like you trying to sell it to me.
Mostly it was a not entirely fascinating book that contained a very intriguing world.
