Jane Austin has a number of imitators but rarely do any of those imitators come close to capturing what truly makes her works stand the test of time. I’m sorry to say that Shades of Milk and Honey doesn’t capture that magic either. This isn’t to say that it’s a bad book, it’s an enjoyable read, but I don’t think it’s a great book either. Rather it’s an imitation of a masterpiece, fine to look at but nothing memorable.
Kowal does attempt to imbue something new to Austin’s work with the addition of the art of Glamour, a kind of illusion magic. Glamour is treated exactly as all the other arts a lady would know in Austin’s era such as dancing, painting, music, etc. It’s an interesting concept and the magic slides neatly into this Austin style romance.
My biggest issue is that there’s none of Austin’s sharp wit or her ability to really skewer society in this book. The characters are pulled straight from Austin’s novels to the point where I would think to myself, well that’s Maryanne, and that’s Mr. Churchill, and that’s Darcy’s sister. But the characters are without the sharp skewering of Austin’s pen. And if you’ve read any of Austin’s novels, then you know exactly what is going to happen and who these characters are, which eliminates any kind of suspense. Kowal does stray a bit at the end, adding a piece of melodrama more in line with a modern idea of the era then something that would honestly fit into one of Austin’s novels. Unfortunately because Kowal stayed so true to Austin’s work throughout the novel, this piece of straying actually detracted rather then added to my enjoyment. It’s like looking at a student’s attempt to copy Van Gogh’s Stary Night except they added a bit of Warhol’s Campbell’s Soup in one corner to stir things up. Not quite so jarring as that, but it does give you an idea.
The thing is, for all that I think the novel is far too true to Austin’s work to really stand on it’s own as a novel, I don’t really regret reading it. It’s a sweet book, and it was a fairly quick read as it’s a fairly light and simple book. I think if you enjoy Austin style romances you’d probably enjoy this one.
I’ve read Robinette Kowal’s entire series, and I think this first book is easily the weakest. You’re definitely on to the imitations of Austen, which are fairly apparent in this book. Thankfully, the fantasy and romance take over in books 2-5. And while Jane Austen shimmers in the background, she does not get slavish attention, and I think that’s for the best. I do very much adore Jane and Vincent as characters, and we get to see their development throughout the books as much more than Austen holograms. The fourth and fifth books are my favorites.
That actually makes me interested in reading the other books. My only question, does Jane ever grow a spine?
Yes, absolutely. She stands up to Melody, her parents, and even Vincent, which is wonderfully realized. Jane develops marvellously throughout the series, and so does Vincent.
I read this before joining CBR, but I remember *h a t i n g* this book with a passion. It was Jane Austen with no soul. Zero wit and the way the characters acted… Lizzy & Jane, Elinor & Marianne, Emma & Mrs. Weston would never have been so awful to each other.
I do think it’s the poor imitation of Austin that bothered me so much. Why bother taking characters directly from her books if you aren’t also going to transport the humor. Austin’s characters could be wretched to each other but that awfulness was balanced out by something else. Even her most self-absorbed characters generally had some redeeming quality to them. They’re very hard to see.
However, I’ve been persuaded to give at least the second book a chance. Like I said, I think it’s a poor imitation of Austin, but it’s not the worst way to while away an afternoon. However, it’s going pretty low on my TBR pile as I have several books I actually want to read in there.
I read this a fair few years ago now, and remember struggling with it because it just took so long to get anywhere. I have heard from so many different people that the sequels just get better and better and that the last two books, in particular, are great. I just need to r-read this to remember what actually happened, so I can get to the rest of the series. Maybe I’ll just wiki the plot instead?
The first book is an introduction to the magic and a plot device to get the main protagonists together. Wiki the plot and read the rest is my recommendation.
The lack of plot didn’t bother me, because it’s clearly meant to be an ape of a comedy of manners. So plot wise, it’s pretty sparse. In fact, I was more annoyed at the sudden injection of DRAMA at the end as it seemed out of character with the rest of the book.