Without a Summer (Glamourist Histories)

Jane and Vincent are back home in England after the defeat of Napoleon. They come home to a country reeling under multiple threats - the unseasonably cold weather is threatening crop failures, the soldiers who fought Napoleon are being mustered out and are looking for jobs, and technical inventions

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causing workers to lose jobs that can be done by machine. On the more personal side, Jane is worried that her younger sister Melody doesn't have any matrimonial prospects.

When Jane and Vincent get a commission for a glamour from Lord and Lady Stratton in London, they accept and take Melody along in hopes of expanding her pool of potential husbands. Of course, London also throws them back into the arena of Vincent's father Lord Verbury. To say that Vincent and his father don't get along would be a gross understatement.

Melody falls for Lord Stratton's son despite the fact that he is Catholic which causes Jane some misgivings as she believes that Alastar O'Brien won't be allowed to marry Melody. Her misgivings increase when she overhears some things that lead her to believe that he is involved in some sort of conspiracy and when she sees him in conversation with Lord Verbury.

Mr. O'Brien also does some work with the coldmongers who are being wrongfully blames for the current weather conditions. Coldmungers are young men and boys whose magical skill is to lower the temperature a few degrees. They are used to keep food safe for longer periods and to provide cool breezes in warm houses. They have only small magics which are dangerous to use. Most die young. They are planning a peaceful march in London.

However, Lord Verbury has other plans. He wants to use the coldmunger's march to overthrow a political rival. His twisted plot draws in Jane and Vincent too. This story talks a lot about the various sorts of prejudice in England in 1816. Especially relevant to our hero and heroine is the prejudice against the Irish. But the story also deals with Vincent's family dynamics and gives Jane a much better knowledge of Vincent's background.

This was another entertaining and engaging entry into the Glamourist Histories.

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Pros: historical accuracy, intricate plot, complex characters

Cons:

The year is much colder than usual as Jane and Vincent visit with her family, and while they know the coldmongers aren't to blame, those less educated in the working of glamour aren't conviced. They take a commission for a glamural

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in London and ask Melody, whose marriage prospects at home are slim, to accompany them. But the weather remains dark and cold, and riots are breaking out. And when Vincent's family comes calling, things get worse.

Like Kowal's other books in this series, this one starts off by showing the life and times of the Vincents and slowly adds in intrigue. Only at the end of the book, when the full plot is revealed, do you realize how brilliant Kowal's writing is.

She takes great care getting the details in her book accurate, with notes at the back where readers can both check up on her facts and contact her if they discover an error.

The characters continue to grow, even as they're sometimes reminded of the events of the previous two books. The finale depends heavily on the climax of book two, so keep that in mind if you chose to start here.

This book didn't have the uneven pacing of book two, and, with its ending, is probably my favourite of the three so far.

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I won an ARC through a Goodreads giveaway.

Loved this. These books just get better and better. The depth of detail in the world-building of glamour is just fascinating, and the time period (and attention to detail to lifesyle and clothing and etc...) is also phenomenal.

I stayed up late in the night

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to finish, I kept glancing at how many more pages I had, wondering how on Earth everything was going to get resolved!


On another note: I'm wondering who to blame for the fact that it is April 1st here and I still have snow on the ground, and it's super cold. We better not end up "without a summer" ourselves!

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This third entry in The Glamourist Histories series enchants just as much as the first two with a magic tinged blend of real and alternate Regency history. Newly married Jane and Vincent are back home after a honeymoon on the Continent that coincided with Napoleon’s escape from Elba. They have a

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London commission to create a glamural, or mural produced with magic, and have brought Jane’s beautiful but lonely sister Melody with them so she can enjoy the Season and meet eligible young men.

Though the wars with Napoleon are over, roiling protests and unsettled weather mean all is not peaceful on the homefront. Luddites who have lost weaving jobs to looms are demonstrating in the streets (actual history) and so are the young boys who work as cold mongers (alternate history). These cold mongers practice a rudimentary magic that can chill food and whatever else the monied classes desire, but it’s 1816--widely known as the year without a summer--so not only are their services not needed, the cold mongers are being accused of ruining crops by somehow causing the snowfalls that are continuing into spring and summer.

Jane knows that kind of thinking is just superstition and prejudice, but when her sister Melody is attracted to an Irish Catholic man she finds she is not immune to the same kind of shoddy reasoning. Melody has matured since the first book and has a large role in this one, and we finally get to meet Vincent’s family, who are even more toxic and dangerous than we’ve been led to believe. A fourth book with another beautiful cover is being released in April 2014.

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After the previous books, what more is there to say? Even though there is quite some action at the end, these books still come closest to the feeling of dignity and tranquility (if only on the outside sometimes) I get from Jane Austen's books. How everyone is so preoccupied with decorum and

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propriety comes through, even when Jane and Vincent actually work for a living and when on occasion, Jane dons trousers for a good cause. Clearly, such a thing would never happen in a Jane Austen novel, and the general level of excitement is a good deal higher in Without a summer as well (No riots, imprisonment and public trials in Austen's work!). Still, the general atmosphere remains very Austen-like, and even though it may not have been appropriate for Austen's work, I think it is no bad thing to have the heroine be a bit more active in Kowal's. In addition, even if society of that time would not approve of everything that Jane (the character) does, I'm glad that her husband does not inhibit her in any way.
Another pleasant surprise in this novel is Jane's sister, Melody. In the first novel, she came across as silly and at times a bit spiteful. It was therefore no great loss to me when she hardly appeared in the second novel. In this third one, she plays a more significant role, and as it turns out, she has grown a lot. I can understand why Jane would overlook this at so many occasions: when you have accepted a certain view of someone, you start seeing that view and you interpret everything in light of it. In essence, you stop really seeing someone, and that is what happened with Jane, I think. Since in the past she has had to act as Melody's mother in lieu of her real one, it is perhaps not so surprising that she has failed to notice that Melody has grown up, as many parents do. Melody has become a very nice person, sensible, smart, and with great courage and love. It seems to me that Mrs. Kowal paints her characters in a more positive light than Mrs. Austen did. The easily influenced sister has become sensible, the father is not as indulgent as a Mr. Bennet, and even the mother is not as idiotic as Mrs. Bennet.

I'm quite curious to see what other stories Mrs. Kowal will come up with. These books are starting to become instant-buys for me..

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Jane, Lady Vincent could never be considered a beauty, but possessed of a loving husband and admirable talent, had lived thirty years in the world with only a few events to cause her any true distress or vexation. She was the eldest of two daughters of a gentleman in the neighbourhood of

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Dorchester. In consequence of her mother’s nerves, Jane had spent the better part of her youth acting as mother to her younger sister, Melody. Her sister had received nature’s full bounty of beauty, with all the charms of an amiable temper. At the age of twenty, it was therefore surprising to find Melody not only unmarried, but without any prospects.”

And so we learn from the opening paragraph, that this book, the third in the Glamourist Histories series, will feature more of Melody, who surprises all, especially her older sister, when she turns out to be more than just a pretty face.

Jane admires her sister’s beauty, being a bit of a plain, er, Jane herself. Especially since her sister is quite becoming, both in terms of physical beauty (set off by her well-chosen wardrobe) and her charm (knowing what to say and when).

“Jane could not help but notice the picture her sister made as they were escorted through the palace interior and to the grounds behind it. Over her dress, she wore her celestial-blue Hessian pelisse, which fastened with broad ornamental frogs up to her throat in the manner of an officer’s uniform. The regularity of the braids cast the swell of her bosom into graceful contrast. Her gold curls were piled onto her head and peeked becomingly from beneath a high-crowned hat that had been trimmed with blue and white ostrich features. She carried before her a muff as white as a cloud against the sky.”

Jane’s concerns at the moment, besides her work which has brought her and Vincent to London, is with introducing her sister to the eligible young men of London:

“Is it necessary for you to throw me at every young man who appears?”

Of a sudden, the room felt overwarm as Jane blushed deeply. “I did not know that my efforts were so transparent.”

“La! I dare say half the room knows that I am for sale.”

Then there is that simple matter of meeting Vincent’s estranged family for the first time. His father, the scheming and dark Lord Verbury, his guileful sister Lady Penelope, and his quiet and unassuming mother, among a host of others.

So wrapped up is she in these rather pressing matters (as well as some political intrigue) that she hardly sees her sister for who she really is.

“We talk politics. I am becoming quite bookish. I am even thinking of acquiring spectacles.”

Jane laughed aloud at the thought of her sister as pedantic scholar. “Forgive me. I do not doubt your intelligence, but it is hard to picture you as an old maid with your hair pulled back and spectacles settled upon your nose.”

We mustn’t forget the world of glamour they live in. For Vincent and Jane are highly regarded glamourists, the Prince Regent’s glamourists. And as they arrange their threads and weave their folds, they are constantly thinking of their coldmonger colleagues, who weave a different glamour of their own, working with cold, as their occupation states.

It’s not the easiest thing to describe, this glamour, it’s ethereal and yet when fastened properly, is quite lasting. It is used mostly for frivolous purposes, such as glamurals at parties and events, but as we had seen in Glamour in Glass, also can be used for military purposes, such as creating a sphere obscurie to hide oneself, or troops.

“With a flash of colour like a prism dropping through sunlight, the glamour shivered into a rainbow.”

It is a complicated procedure and some can take days, weeks of work.

“To someone whose eyes were only adjusted to the visible world, Vincent appeared to be waving his hands at random while washes of colour came into view overhead. When Jane let her vision expand to include the ether, his real work became apparent. Vincent pulled skeins of pure glamour and folded their light to his whims. Almost like a puppet showman working a marionette upside down, he wove a pattern on the ceiling with the folds.”

It’s a little bit of fantasy, a little bit of Regency romance, set in Jane Austen’s time, and with some rioting and politicking thrown in. Plus there are intelligent female characters, one of whom actually works (as opposed to sitting around and trimming bonnets), and the other is bookish. My library has deemed fit to label it as ‘Science Fiction’ (the shelves of which encompass fantasy), but to those who think fantasy/SF isn’t quite their cup of tea, it’s worth a try. Kowal has created a brilliant series, inspired by Jane Austen’s works, but truly, magically, her very own.

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Kowal continues with her charming look at the Regency Era combined with her unique view of a Fantasy lace coverlet. Here, as in the first, her Austenian voice emerges and we see the Regency as Jane would. *WWJD* Or more correctly How Would Jane Write.

The first book gave us a view that we saw in

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Pride and Prejudice, a small quaint country life style. Here we go to London (The second book took us into the intrigue of the end of the Napoleonic wars) and we hear a clear Austen distinction that bleeds in the end into the world we expect more from Dickens. A world that Austen steered clear of. Even so, Kowal brings together several threads of real politics and events into her fantasy realm that not only is fitting, but run and well done.

What she also gives us is views on ambition and end games that make it nearly hard to relate how far down hatred can intertwine with this and make humans exactly what we are, fallible and dark when playing for the largest prizes. We see the entirety through the POV of our heroine, the same as Austen, and I would like once to see what our Hero thinks for our hero, unlike Austen, spends a great deal of time in introspection on her own failings. Too much repetition there, and perhaps some issues are a bit far fetched.

If you like the Regency Era, you at least should glance at this series and if you are like me, you will become a fan and know that these will be a reread for you as well.

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I started reading this almost as soon as I finished book 2. This one has more to do with England's political climate at home and Jane offering Melody to come to London to search for eligible men. Both treads get woven tightly together during the book and I like that Jane does misstep and isn't

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perfect. How she deals with the missteps during the story really show you she is a product of her time. Really enjoyed it and hoping for more.

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Very satisfying fantasy novel set in Regency England. Trying to put it in a genre, I'd lump it in w/ Ellen Kushner's Riverside novels in the "mannerpunk" niche genre. Maybe this is "historical mannerpunk." It also strongly reminded me of Naomi Novik's Temmeraire series, but with more manners and

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fewer dragons.

In any case, a lot of the conflict and resolution in this delightful story takes place in personal relationships and social observations. It does an excellent job of creating, maintaining, and resolving tension in a satisfactory manner.

It is the 3rd in a series, something I missed, but I didn't miss a beat getting drawn into the story. I'll be checking out the other Glamourist Histories and hopefully will be up to date when the 5th is published in March.

*Note, Mary Robinette Kowal reads this herself. Normally, this is a huge red flag for me, since the skills that make one a good novelist do not tend to overlap with the skills that make a competent narrator. However, Kowal is tremendously talented at both.

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I love a "Jane Austen with magic" book, and these are the best.

This is the third in the series by the wonderful Mary Robinette Kowal (I can verify that "wonderful" having spent time with her in person) and I'm pretty enamored of the series. She's created a world, extremely similar to our own, only with a different sort of magic (for I am convinced there is

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real magic in our own world.) The books have often been compared to Jane Austen, and while I can see the similarities, in my mind, I feel that though they share a time in history, a love of character and conversation, some character names, and some gentle poking of fun at society/conventions, the Glamourist Histories are truly a world apart. The author's notes at the end of each book have always also been informative. This woman does her research!

With plots that have enough twists to keep those readers who said "I saw that coming" at bay, the three books each have exquisite detail, delicious conversations, and thought provoking insights. This one expanded the concept of glamour and the magic of this particular world in an interesting tangent, that of coldmongers, used for their skills of keeping food, homes, etc cool at a time when refrigeration was not around. Add in some social inequity, strife, throw in a handful or two of greed and treachery, a pinch of betrayal, stir well, and top with a little romance, and Without a Summer serves up a sumptuous read.

I look forward to seeing where Mary Robinet Kowal takes Jane and Vincent, next.

PS I'm waiting for the return of the wicked Livingston.

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This is the third book in the series, and another enjoyable outing. I know exactly null about the Regency era and indeed it took me until this book to connect the "Prince Regent" to "the Regency" so I might actually be kind of stupid. That in no way kept me from enjoying this book, which was full

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of intrigue (I like intrigue) and politics (I like politics), as well as romance (which is also political and full of intrigue) and family affairs (ditto). I felt like there was less of the actual magic but more world backstory including re: the magic, but also re: The Regency Era, so that's ok.

Having heard the author speak last year I appreciated and kept in mind her point that manners and indeed what could conceivably be discussed between two characters at all were just plain different in that time and that place than in ours, and I find it good to keep in mind when reading the books. It's like science fiction, but instead of gleaning the rules of an alien planet from context, I'm trying to figure out our own history. (This only works with an author you trust to have done good research and convey details properly, and even then... our brains still come with default cultural settings, after all).

Anyway: this is a good book, and Robinette Kowal has the gifted touch of making the reader sympathize with the characters even when they are making mistakes, which is enjoyable.

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I applaud Kowal for her story of the romance and reality of marriage, woven in with fantasy, historical detail, espionage and enjoyable characters.

This third volume of the Glamourist Histories had some good things going. I enjoyed the look into the poorer users of glamour and how their reliance on their magic for their livelihood affected their health. Their struggles to better themselves echoes the struggles of the poorer in society in the

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same timeframe in the real world. I was also fascinated by all the intrigue with Vincent’s family and the detailed look at the Regency legal system.

Vincent and Jane were just as awesome as ever. I love them more and more with each volume I read. Their open and honest relationship is a model I wish more romance novels followed. The dangers as they were caught up in the struggles for class equality and the consequences thereof showed in stark relief their support and love for each other.

Secondary characters were mixed. I actually really enjoyed Melody in this one. She’s a lot more three-dimensional and vibrant here, with a mind and opinions all her own. Yet, I really have to roll my eyes at certain members of Vincent’s family, especially his father. Familial intrigue is interesting to read to a point, but the Earl takes it to a new Sniddley Whiplash level at times. It seemed like there were no redeeming factors to his make up at all and that made for flat reading.

The return to more familiar stomping grounds of matchmaking, social calls, and dances also was a bit of a mixed bag. The whole deal with the coldmongers, the legalities, and Vincent’s family kept things from being as flat and boring as book one, but more than once I wished for more to the story than dialogue and social niceties.

Pretty good book overall with great characters, relationships, and intriguing historical details as they relate to this fantastical alternate world. Some secondary characters and slow sections, though, show this book’s suffering from middle-book-itis. Still a very enjoyable addition to this saga that I enjoyed to the hilt.

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This is the third book in Kowal’s Regency fantasy series, and while – being a huge fan of Georgette Heyer and having read a number of US Regency romances – I had thought it’d take some convincing for me to accept a US-written Regency-set novel, and a genre one to boot, but I have to admit

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Kowal has done an excellent job on these. She has the dialogue down to a tee, and the prose is not far behind. She manages the sensibilities well enough that a British reader can find no cause to complain, and she incorporates real world history in such a way it adds to the plot. (Although I read a couple by US writer Fiona Hall, a pseudonym of Ellen Pall, back in the 1990s that did something similar and weren’t bad.) Anyway, 1816 – not 1916, as the backcover blurb claims – did indeed suffer climate abnormalities, due to the eruption of Mount Tambora in 1815 (not to be confused with Krakatoa, East of Java, which is actually west of Java, and happened in 1883). The extended winter has meant the coldmongers – who use magic to chill things, and are all children, much like sweeps, because of the perils of their occupation – can find no work, and are being blamed for the unseasonal weather. It turns out the coldmongers are planning a march to protest their poor lot, but an unscrupulous peer intends to escalate it into a full-blown rebellion so he can unseat the current prime minister (I think; I can’t check as the book has gone into storage). Protagonist Jane, and her husband David, get dragged into the plot due to a family connection and their sympathies for the coldmongers. It ends with the pair of them held in the Tower of London for treason but, of course, they can hardly be hanged as there are two books following this one. That’s probably Without a Summer‘s chief fault – the jeopardy is meaningless, because the two leads are sure to be found innocent and restored to their former position. Still, a fun read, and I plan to get the sequels.

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I have books due sooner than this, but I really wanted to continue reading about Jane and Vincent's lives, whoops. Also a quick read, this covers the 'Year without a summer' where the globe had unseasonably cool temperatures due to a volcanic eruption. Citizens don't realize this and place blame on

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coldmongers, glamourists who can manipulate cool temperatures to a certain degree but not that extent. Jane must carefully balance her attention between attending her sister at her first season in London and supporting Vincent as he encounters his estranged family for the first time in a while.

I liked it more than the previous two, probably because we're stepping a little bit away from Austen and more into world events at the time.

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I'm still enjoying this series of cozies. I'm less enamoured of the cover.

Jane and her husband, Vincent, are back in England and now that they've recovered from their encounter with Napoleon's army, both of them are eager to get back to their work as glamourists. When they're offered a job in London, they jump at it and agree to bring along Jane's younger sister, Melody,

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who is eager to find a suitor who appreciates her for more than her beauty. Of course, upon arriving in London they find themselves embroiled in political protest as many of the citizens are blaming coldmongers for the unseasonably cold summer and Vincent's distant father suddenly seems interested in the couple with unknown aims.

The third in Kowal's Glamourist Histories series and it continues to be an enjoyable mash up of Regency historical fiction with light fantasy. Initially the plot of this one seemed pretty straight forward but Kowal managed to squeeze in a twist I wasn't expecting. At this point, I'm fond enough of these characters I'll read any entry in the series even if it isn't quite as strong as the first.

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Melody was great in this book. I adored seeing her develop as a character; she is so much more than her family ever believed.

Vincent's father is evil. I mean, we knew that, but experiencing it is something different.

Something I particularly liked is that Jane makes some pretty huge mistakes and in

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this book she acknowledges them, apologizes, and begins to do better. That's an awesome thing. Especially, for me, when it comes to improving Jane and Melody's relationship.

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The Glamourist Histories just get better and more exciting.

This book is slow going. Once the pieces start to come together, though, it moves quickly. I liked the idea of watching people not understand the weather when I myself know why it's cold. That was interesting. A lot of the story was Regency tediousness, though. And there was not nearly enough usage

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of glamour.

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The Glamourist Histories continue with strength. Another excellently told story with a delightful regency voice. What I love about these books is that they are so firmly seated in the domestic sphere, but then Jane and Vincent slowly get drawn into dangerous intrigue without quite realizing what

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path they are treading. I love learning so much about the period through these books (great author notes!) and I am amazed at the moments when I'm on the edge of my seat(arrested for treason?!? what!) Very nerve-wracking and completely delicious.

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I am loving this series. The concept of magic as being almost a small thing, almost negligible by most people, regarded as a woman's craft but David Vincent is making a name for himself in the craft along with his wife Jane. They bring Melody to London with them during a long cold summer and they

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have to face racism and politics that include David's family politics that will put their lives at risk.

The details are great and the characters really read well, this is a series I'm seriously considering buying for my own collection.

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After the previous books, what more is there to say? Even though there is quite some action at the end, these books still come closest to the feeling of dignity and tranquility (if only on the outside sometimes) I get from Jane Austen's books. How everyone is so preoccupied with decorum and

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propriety comes through, even when Jane and Vincent actually work for a living and when on occasion, Jane dons trousers for a good cause. Clearly, such a thing would never happen in a Jane Austen novel, and the general level of excitement is a good deal higher in Without a summer as well (No riots, imprisonment and public trials in Austen's work!). Still, the general atmosphere remains very Austen-like, and even though it may not have been appropriate for Austen's work, I think it is no bad thing to have the heroine be a bit more active in Kowal's. In addition, even if society of that time would not approve of everything that Jane (the character) does, I'm glad that her husband does not inhibit her in any way.
Another pleasant surprise in this novel is Jane's sister, Melody. In the first novel, she came across as silly and at times a bit spiteful. It was therefore no great loss to me when she hardly appeared in the second novel. In this third one, she plays a more significant role, and as it turns out, she has grown a lot. I can understand why Jane would overlook this at so many occasions: when you have accepted a certain view of someone, you start seeing that view and you interpret everything in light of it. In essence, you stop really seeing someone, and that is what happened with Jane, I think. Since in the past she has had to act as Melody's mother in lieu of her real one, it is perhaps not so surprising that she has failed to notice that Melody has grown up, as many parents do. Melody has become a very nice person, sensible, smart, and with great courage and love. It seems to me that Mrs. Kowal paints her characters in a more positive light than Mrs. Austen did. The easily influenced sister has become sensible, the father is not as indulgent as a Mr. Bennet, and even the mother is not as idiotic as Mrs. Bennet.

I'm quite curious to see what other stories Mrs. Kowal will come up with. These books are starting to become instant-buys for me..

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