Her magic system, an intriguing power of illusion, is used in precisely the way a group of Austenites would use it: as an art form for accomplished young ladies (and the occasional traveling artist) to practice on long summer days, beautifying their homes and amusing wealthy patrons.
Kowal’s story works-and this is going to sound backward-by making the arcane mundane. Where most Regency fantasies fall down is in introducing a story too filled with swashbuckling adventure, which works great in most fantasy but clashes brassily with the subdued social conflicts of the Regency style. SHADES OF MILK AND HONEY is a Regency fantasy-a sort of subgenre mash-up of Austen and Tolkien, positing a world where affluent young ladies go to balls and takes walks in the country and try to get handsome, wealthy bachelors to woo them, while simultaneously weaving complex magic spells. With SHADES OF MILK AND HONEY, Mary Robinette Kowal has found that holy grail and made it shine. Good period fantasy, combining the best of both styles, is a holy grail very rarely achieved. To write a book I enjoyed this much, in a manner so talented I could never hope to recreate it, can only be considered a personal insult. I tolerated it before, when it was just award-winning short stories, but her new book SHADES OF MILK AND HONEY is too much: clever and simple at the same time, with an unerring sense of historical yes-that’s-exactly-right-ness, and a mastery of craft and form belying the fact that she, like her characters, pretty much created the form out of nothing. Not only is she famous, and gorgeous, and brilliant, she’s also a really good writer. Here’s the problem: Mary Robinette Kowal is too good. ‘Cause, you know, he owes his awesomeness to us. So, that said, enjoy the review that Dan (the jerk-face cylon) Wells originally wrote for our blog. We hate Jane Austen, but even we were entranced by this novel. Why? Because Dan’s review encompasses everything we could possibly say about Mary’s debut novel. We were given strict instructions that we could not post the review of Mary’s novel until it was released… and then Dan stole our copious amounts of thunder. The problem? It was supposed to be posted here first. He then promptly read, loved, and reviewed it on his website. We let him borrow the ARC to SHADES OF MILK AND HONEY ( Amazon) with the intention of guest-reviewing it for us. He is an amazing author, a terrific friend, and a cylon (what’s not to like?). Introduction: Before you read the review Dan Wells has crafted for you, there is something we at Elitist Book Reviews need to make clear: Dan Wells is a jerk-face.
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