My Five Word TL:DR Review : The French Revolution with Vampires

Elusive is the second instalment in Genevieve Cogman’s Scarlet Revolution series and is an instalment that I really enjoyed.  I would say before I start this review that being the second in series there may be potential spoilers below so bear that in mind before continuing on (although I do endeavour to avoid such things).

As we start this next instalment we’re back in England. on the estate of the Blakeneys, where Eleanor is once again acting as a maid.  The League of the Scarlet Pimpernel still continues to make dashing rescues across the water and Eleanor has been involved but her involvement mainly comes into play only if they need someone to act as a maid and for the most part you can feel her frustration that she seems, in many respects, to be exactly where she started.  A maid, at the whim of her employers and with very little voice in the matter.

Within fairly short order Cogman sets up the main theme for this episode.  Nefarious plots are afoot and Sir Percy (aka the Pimpernel) has travelled to France in search of information.  Unfortunately, all has gone quiet and eventually the League must formulate a plan to go in search of their missing chief.  Eleanor manages to wangle a place on this latest mission and pretty soon becomes much more deeply embroiled than originally anticipated.

I don’t intend to go any further into the plot.  I would say that once again I had good fun with this.  There’s enough adventure thrown in to keep the pace alive and kicking and I found the pages turning very easily with this second instalment.

What I really liked about this.

Firstly, Eleanor’s development is really coming along.  She is a willing student who likes to learn and her own political sensibilities are increasing surely and steadily.  I did still feel for her in this book.  She reminds me a little of Eliza from My Fair Lady who has learnt to speak perfectly and no longer fits on the streets but neither does she fit in the ballroom.  Eleanor is very similar in that she is still a maid, she has little voice in the plans of the League (which makes sense in a lot of ways given her lack of experience I suppose) and she’s a little like a duck out of water.  The other servants of the household are a little mistrustful of her which you can understand given the degree of attention she seems to receive but at the same time she isn’t of high birth and can’t really develop friendships or have any real voice amongst the other members.  I did feel frustrated on her behalf at times, especially given the risks that she’d already put herself through.  All that being said, I liked this element of the story.  It provides an intriguing social commentary about the period and Eleanor’s knowledge and sensitivities make for an easy discussion for the rights and wrongs of both scenarios.

In my last review I kept one particular element in reserve – Eleanor has found herself with a ‘passenger’ a ghost or spirit, if you will, has taken up residence inside her head – I didn’t want to spoil that element for readers of the first book as it’s nice to discover during the read.  I mention it at this point because the obvious enmity between mages and vampires becomes much more apparent in this instalment and in fact you can see that this is going to play a role as the series progresses.

I liked the developing relationship between Eleanor and one of the League members.  This isn’t a central part of the story but it’s a nice touch and keeps very much to a back seat – I felt like it give Eleanor a real friend, someone who was concerned about her and prepared to listen.

I thought the storyline was intriguing.  Eleanor becomes involved in a hasty plan to save some prisoners from almost certain execution, one of them a character from the first book.  The whole plan goes to hell in a handcart and quickly becomes a ‘seat of the pants’ type scenario.

We travel to Paris again where Eleanor becomes wrapped up in the underground world of the vampires and a new pretender – the Prince of Paris.  I felt like the vampires in this story really started to show their fangs.  I felt in Scarlet that they were cloaked in the respectability that their wealth has afforded them but here we start to get the impression that their true nature is simply waiting for the opportunity come to the fore  These are immortals, and they’ve been playing the long game.

Once again, there is a dramatic finale, the same as book 1 Sir Percy plays a very small role with Eleanor taking centre stage for the most part although all the league are always immeasurably relieved to hand back the reins when he does eventually put in an appearance.

Overall, I’m enjoying this series.  I like the way it’s written.  There are certain restrictions that are placed on our MC as a result of the period and her position in society, but for the most part the author has brought to us a very easy to like and capable character in Eleanor.  She isn’t well educated but she’s keen to learn.  She has courage but still feels fear whenever she’s rushing into a situation that is dangerous and it’s interesting to join in her adventures because of the way she’s developing.  Plus, this ending, a perfect set up for the next instalment.

I received a copy through Netgalley, courtesy of the publisher, for which my thanks.  The above is my own opinion.

My rating 4 of 5 stars