Status
Available
Call number
Series
Collection
Publication
Tor (2023), 314 pages
Description
It is 1793 and the French Revolution is in full swing. Vampires are a normal part of society across Europe--usually rich and aristocratic, they have slaked the guillotines thirst in large numbers. The mysterious Scarlet Pimpernel, a disguised British noble, and his League are heroically rescuing dozens of aristocrats and helpless victims from France, both human and vampire. Eleanor Dalton is an English housemaid working for the vampiric Baroness of Basing. Eleanor's highest aspiration is to one day become a modiste. But when the Scarlet Pimpernel and his wife come to visit, Eleanor discovers she resembles someone important. She is asked to impersonate a French aristocrat. Soon, she finds herself swept up in magic and intrigue beyond her wildest dreams.… (more)
User reviews
LibraryThing member rivkat
The Scarlet Pimpernel, retold in a world with vampire aristocrats—sanguinocrats!—and maybe some leftover sorcery. Eleanor is a servant in an English vampire’s household when she’s recruited for a dangerous mission in France to rescue (she’s told) unjustly accused aristocrats. But she
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can’t help noticing that the Scarlet Pimpernel has a lot of assumptions about servants and nobility that don’t match her experience. And are vampires really as benevolent as she’s been raised to believe? I liked the Invisible Library series better, but this certainly has adventure and magic too. Show Less
LibraryThing member AdonisGuilfoyle
I have a rule that I can only buy the books on my wishlist when the price drops to bargain basement levels, and definitely never buy new releases at full whack. Not because I'm cheap - we in Yorkshire prefer 'frugal' - but because any novels I do take a chance on are rarely worth the hype or the
My main gripe is the treatment of the original novels by Baroness Orczy. There are two types of authors who write what is essentially published fan fiction, borrowing established characters and contributing their own original protagonists and plots: the first kind love the source material and are sympathetic to the canon texts, in spirit if not in detail, like Jack Caldwell's The Last Adventure of the Scarlet Pimpernel; the opposing team of authors set out to correct what they view as flaws in someone else's work, and Genevieve Cogman, sadly, is a fully paid up member of the red pen brigade. For a start, she is primarily a fan of the film adaptations and not the books - mainly the 1934 Scarlet Pimpernel with Leslie Howard, she claims, but there is an entire scene lifted from the 1982 reworking and I knew the dreadful 1999 BBC series was an inspiration after Sir Percy and the League literally fight their way out of a tight corner. If the author did read the novels - on Project Gutenberg - then I don't think she got beyond borrowing the 'surging seething crowd' line from the first chapter, while cribbing character bios from the sequels. I was initially intrigued by the inclusion of Chauvelin's daughter and housekeeper, but the promise of a true fan was broken by the constant references to Sir Percy Blakeney, BARONET, as an aristocrat/lord/peer of the realm/member of the nobility. He is not, either technically or in terms of character nuance, an aristo. Some of the League are lords and viscounts, but Sir Percy and Andrew are baronets. And Marguerite's title is Lady Blakeney, not Lady Marguerite, which annoyed me throughout. At least get the titles correct - in England and France (citoyen/citoyenne).
Eleanor Dalton, the author's own creation, doesn't improve on the sloppy treatment of Orczy's characters either. All she does, from arriving at Blakeney Manor to joining the League in Paris, is whine incessantly about being working class:
For a second all the times she’d been helpless herself pressed down on Eleanor: all those occasions when being poor, or a servant, or a woman meant that her opinions and desires were unimportant and her future depended on pleasing Lady Sophie or anyone else of superior rank.
And she's hardly a bluestocking or a political mastermind - she's a maid with a talent for embroidery who shares a passing resemblance with Queen Marie Antoinette. I know the author has issues with the premise of the original story but I was fed up with Eleanor's speechifying before she even left for France. Neither am I sure of her motive for agreeing to help the League - why would a young woman who actually invokes the teenager's cry of 'It's not fair!' at one point agree to risk her own life to save the detested and condemned French queen?
Which leads me onto my second gripe: Eleanor's role in the League's most ridiculous mission to date. Yes, the Baroness has the Scarlet Pimpernel rescuing the young Dauphin in Eldorado but even Sir Percy baulked at saving the Queen. (The Pimpernel is more of a humanitarian in the original series, and not the blue-blooded snob out to save 'harmless aristocrats' and preserve 'France's heritage' portrayed by Cogman.) Yet here we have a plan to send Eleanor, who might look vaguely like Marie Antoinette but is actually fifteen years younger, into Paris to stage an 'escape' which will distract all of the guards in France and give the League time to rescue the real royal family. Two weeks training in etiquette and deportment, because of course the Queen would still be holding court while being held prisoner, sounds like failproof preparation for sending an English maid into revolutionary France as a decoy. No wonder the League have to resort to punching guards, blowing up the Temple tower and jumping into the sewer.
The author's distaste for Orczy's characters on loan aside, the vampires are actually the most credible addition to the story. Unlike other reviewers, I didn't feel like the supernatural element - both the undead and the spirit sorceress who inexplicably possesses Eleanor and gives her vastly more agency - hampered or was extraneous to the League or Revolutionary France. Apart from the obvious imagery of the aristocrats being bloodsuckers who feed on the peasants, the other-world building was well-crafted and suitably horrific in places. And who else would have the power to save Marie Antoinette from her fate?
I'll leave the author to her childhood memories of the film versions and reread the Baroness' books instead of bothering with 'Scarlet Revolution' books two and three, I think. Like Eleanor's forceful spirit kept insisting, I would rather throw Eleanor in the Seine than endure more of her poor-me class-based whining, thanks.
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expectation. Sadly, Scarlet falls into this category. I was so looking forward to The Scarlet Pimpernel and Vampires, which is essentially what is going on here, but I broke the rule and now I'm £7.99 out of pocket and disappointed yet again.My main gripe is the treatment of the original novels by Baroness Orczy. There are two types of authors who write what is essentially published fan fiction, borrowing established characters and contributing their own original protagonists and plots: the first kind love the source material and are sympathetic to the canon texts, in spirit if not in detail, like Jack Caldwell's The Last Adventure of the Scarlet Pimpernel; the opposing team of authors set out to correct what they view as flaws in someone else's work, and Genevieve Cogman, sadly, is a fully paid up member of the red pen brigade. For a start, she is primarily a fan of the film adaptations and not the books - mainly the 1934 Scarlet Pimpernel with Leslie Howard, she claims, but there is an entire scene lifted from the 1982 reworking and I knew the dreadful 1999 BBC series was an inspiration after Sir Percy and the League literally fight their way out of a tight corner. If the author did read the novels - on Project Gutenberg - then I don't think she got beyond borrowing the 'surging seething crowd' line from the first chapter, while cribbing character bios from the sequels. I was initially intrigued by the inclusion of Chauvelin's daughter and housekeeper, but the promise of a true fan was broken by the constant references to Sir Percy Blakeney, BARONET, as an aristocrat/lord/peer of the realm/member of the nobility. He is not, either technically or in terms of character nuance, an aristo. Some of the League are lords and viscounts, but Sir Percy and Andrew are baronets. And Marguerite's title is Lady Blakeney, not Lady Marguerite, which annoyed me throughout. At least get the titles correct - in England and France (citoyen/citoyenne).
Eleanor Dalton, the author's own creation, doesn't improve on the sloppy treatment of Orczy's characters either. All she does, from arriving at Blakeney Manor to joining the League in Paris, is whine incessantly about being working class:
For a second all the times she’d been helpless herself pressed down on Eleanor: all those occasions when being poor, or a servant, or a woman meant that her opinions and desires were unimportant and her future depended on pleasing Lady Sophie or anyone else of superior rank.
And she's hardly a bluestocking or a political mastermind - she's a maid with a talent for embroidery who shares a passing resemblance with Queen Marie Antoinette. I know the author has issues with the premise of the original story but I was fed up with Eleanor's speechifying before she even left for France. Neither am I sure of her motive for agreeing to help the League - why would a young woman who actually invokes the teenager's cry of 'It's not fair!' at one point agree to risk her own life to save the detested and condemned French queen?
Which leads me onto my second gripe: Eleanor's role in the League's most ridiculous mission to date. Yes, the Baroness has the Scarlet Pimpernel rescuing the young Dauphin in Eldorado but even Sir Percy baulked at saving the Queen. (The Pimpernel is more of a humanitarian in the original series, and not the blue-blooded snob out to save 'harmless aristocrats' and preserve 'France's heritage' portrayed by Cogman.) Yet here we have a plan to send Eleanor, who might look vaguely like Marie Antoinette but is actually fifteen years younger, into Paris to stage an 'escape' which will distract all of the guards in France and give the League time to rescue the real royal family. Two weeks training in etiquette and deportment, because of course the Queen would still be holding court while being held prisoner, sounds like failproof preparation for sending an English maid into revolutionary France as a decoy. No wonder the League have to resort to punching guards, blowing up the Temple tower and jumping into the sewer.
The author's distaste for Orczy's characters on loan aside, the vampires are actually the most credible addition to the story. Unlike other reviewers, I didn't feel like the supernatural element - both the undead and the spirit sorceress who inexplicably possesses Eleanor and gives her vastly more agency - hampered or was extraneous to the League or Revolutionary France. Apart from the obvious imagery of the aristocrats being bloodsuckers who feed on the peasants, the other-world building was well-crafted and suitably horrific in places. And who else would have the power to save Marie Antoinette from her fate?
I'll leave the author to her childhood memories of the film versions and reread the Baroness' books instead of bothering with 'Scarlet Revolution' books two and three, I think. Like Eleanor's forceful spirit kept insisting, I would rather throw Eleanor in the Seine than endure more of her poor-me class-based whining, thanks.
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LibraryThing member jmchshannon
In the Author’s Note for Scarlet, Genevieve Cogman mentions watching The Scarlet Pimpernel movie with Leslie Howard and falling in love with the story. My first introduction to this delicious story was the TV movie starring Jane Seymour, Anthony Andrews, and Ian McKellan. Man, I loved that movie.
I am so glad that I had the chance to read Scarlet. It was the perfect nostalgia piece, taking place after the original story so that it stands on its own. We get to see all of our favorite characters but in a new light. Eleanor is a lovely addition to the cast. She is young and insanely naive, but I had such fun watching her learn and grow. By the end, she is definitely not the same person she was at the beginning, but she still has a long way to go - which is a good thing to have in a series opener.
Another good thing about Scarlet being a series opener is that it needs more vampires. They do exist in this world. Eleanor not only serves as a maid to one, but she also has a few run-ins with them later in the story. Still, Ms. Cogman hints at an underlying issue with vampires in this world, issues I hope she purposely keeps unanswered to reveal in later novels.
One of the things I love about Scarlet is the way that Ms. Cogman challenges the French Revolution. The Scarlet Pimpernel is all about saving the aristocracy from the dirty and evil hands of the commoners. And when you are reading it, you think nothing is wrong with that sentiment. You actively cheer on the Pimpernel and his followers.
Except, now that we see the revolution through Eleanor's eyes, everything you learned about it in school comes flooding back. The French Revolution was a good thing, after all. To believe in the Pimpernel and yet see the poverty and starvation the French face make for an intriguing complexity. I am excited to see what Ms. Cogman does with this element in future books.
Part of the charm of Scarlet is the nostalgia factor. Ms. Cogman mentions her love of the movie; this love shows in the reverential way she incorporates Baroness Orczy's characters into her story. If there are any problems with the story, I did not notice because I was too busy reveling in my childhood love. Eleanor is no Irene, but there is a lot of potential there. I know I will be reading the sequel whenever she releases it.
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Jane Seymour was gorgeous, Andrews the perfect fop, and McKellan was just evil incarnate for me. The book is just as fantastic, but I have a special place in my heart for that movie. So, when I read that Ms. Cogman would be releasing a new series that includes the Scarlet Pimpernel and vampires, I hit that Request button as fast as I could and was going to be crushed if Penguin did not say yes!I am so glad that I had the chance to read Scarlet. It was the perfect nostalgia piece, taking place after the original story so that it stands on its own. We get to see all of our favorite characters but in a new light. Eleanor is a lovely addition to the cast. She is young and insanely naive, but I had such fun watching her learn and grow. By the end, she is definitely not the same person she was at the beginning, but she still has a long way to go - which is a good thing to have in a series opener.
Another good thing about Scarlet being a series opener is that it needs more vampires. They do exist in this world. Eleanor not only serves as a maid to one, but she also has a few run-ins with them later in the story. Still, Ms. Cogman hints at an underlying issue with vampires in this world, issues I hope she purposely keeps unanswered to reveal in later novels.
One of the things I love about Scarlet is the way that Ms. Cogman challenges the French Revolution. The Scarlet Pimpernel is all about saving the aristocracy from the dirty and evil hands of the commoners. And when you are reading it, you think nothing is wrong with that sentiment. You actively cheer on the Pimpernel and his followers.
Except, now that we see the revolution through Eleanor's eyes, everything you learned about it in school comes flooding back. The French Revolution was a good thing, after all. To believe in the Pimpernel and yet see the poverty and starvation the French face make for an intriguing complexity. I am excited to see what Ms. Cogman does with this element in future books.
Part of the charm of Scarlet is the nostalgia factor. Ms. Cogman mentions her love of the movie; this love shows in the reverential way she incorporates Baroness Orczy's characters into her story. If there are any problems with the story, I did not notice because I was too busy reveling in my childhood love. Eleanor is no Irene, but there is a lot of potential there. I know I will be reading the sequel whenever she releases it.
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LibraryThing member Carolesrandomlife
I enjoyed this book quite a bit. After loving Cogman’s Invisible Library series, I was eager to pick up her newest book. I have not read The Scarlet Pimpernel so I cannot tell you how this book compares to the source material but I can say that this was a delightful tale. Set during the French
Eleanor is a great character. She gets the opportunity to work on this mission due to her uncanny likeness to a well-known individual. I loved that she is able to think quickly and handle impossible situations rather competently. There were a few times that I was worried about how things would work out for Eleanor and the others that she was working with. I liked the fact that this book was set during an alternate French Revolution and enjoyed what the vampires added to the story.
I listened to the audiobook and thought that Georgia Maguire did a wonderful job with the story. I liked the various voices that she used and thought that she did a fantastic job of adding just the right amount of emotion to her reading. I felt like she brought the story to life through her reading which only added to my overall enjoyment of the story.
I would recommend this book to others. I thought that this was a very unique and exciting story that was filled with a cast of great characters. I cannot wait to read more of this promising series!
I received a review copy of this book from Berkley Publishing Group and Penguin Random House Audio.
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Revolution (but with vampires), Eleanor joins a group that works to save people they feel are unjustly punished. I found this story to be quite exciting and I loved that it kept me guessing until the very end. I am so glad that I decided to give this book a try.Eleanor is a great character. She gets the opportunity to work on this mission due to her uncanny likeness to a well-known individual. I loved that she is able to think quickly and handle impossible situations rather competently. There were a few times that I was worried about how things would work out for Eleanor and the others that she was working with. I liked the fact that this book was set during an alternate French Revolution and enjoyed what the vampires added to the story.
I listened to the audiobook and thought that Georgia Maguire did a wonderful job with the story. I liked the various voices that she used and thought that she did a fantastic job of adding just the right amount of emotion to her reading. I felt like she brought the story to life through her reading which only added to my overall enjoyment of the story.
I would recommend this book to others. I thought that this was a very unique and exciting story that was filled with a cast of great characters. I cannot wait to read more of this promising series!
I received a review copy of this book from Berkley Publishing Group and Penguin Random House Audio.
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LibraryThing member quondame
The Scarlet Pimpernel recruits a servant girl from a vampire's household to impersonate Marie Antoinette in an attempt to rescue the remains of France's royal family. Eleanor has modest ambitions of her own, which prior to this adventure existed without questioning the order into which she was
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born. The primary weakness of this book, other that the vampires are entirely redundant and could be written out without changing the plot more than a hair, is that it's just sort of stupid. The vampires are likely important in future volumes, which the level of this, in itself a faded tribute to SP, does nothing to justify. Show Less
LibraryThing member passion4reading
Eleanor Dalton is a maid servant in the employ of Lady Sophie, Baroness of Basing, who happens to be a vampire. Owing to Eleanor's striking resemblance to a member of the French royal family, she is recruited by Sir Percy Blakeney to join the League of the Scarlet Pimpernel, who rescues nobles
I read The Scarlet Pimpernel as a teenager, and I believe that was the first time I encountered fiction set during the French Revolution; the period has remained a firm favourite ever since. So when I read that Genevieve Cogman had published a retelling, I knew I wanted to read it.
While clearly inspired by the source material and the 1930s film version, Genevieve Cogman has updated the story to present a more balanced view of the revolution per se, and the relationship between nobility and servants, as well as placing Eleanor on a more equal footing with her male League members (every one a nobleman). This works well, in my opinion, without seeming too forced. I enjoyed watching Eleanor grow from humble servant who knows her (supposed) place in society to someone a lot more independent and trusting in her intelligence and judgement.
I thought the addition of vampires to the narrative provided an interesting angle: it is the mob and the members of the Committee of Public Safety who are thirsting for the blood of the people rather than the vampires themselves, who have been integrated into society for the last few centuries and now get provided with the necessary nourishment as part of the employment contract between themselves and their servants. The moments when vampires are portrayed in the traditional manner are few but very effective.
The only element I'm currently not sure about is theinclusion of Anima, the spirit of a thirteenth-century sorcerer who takes up (temporary) residence in Eleanor's mind, and who essentially provides her with superpowers to help her escape her enemies . However, I'm certainly invested in the characters and the story and look forward to reading the next two instalments.
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(both human and vampire) from the guillotine. While the plan sounds relatively simple and straightforward when proposed by Sir Percy in the safety of his house, Eleanor and the other members of the League encounter obstacles and danger at every turn when in France. Will they be able to achieve their objective and stay alive long enough to return to England?I read The Scarlet Pimpernel as a teenager, and I believe that was the first time I encountered fiction set during the French Revolution; the period has remained a firm favourite ever since. So when I read that Genevieve Cogman had published a retelling, I knew I wanted to read it.
While clearly inspired by the source material and the 1930s film version, Genevieve Cogman has updated the story to present a more balanced view of the revolution per se, and the relationship between nobility and servants, as well as placing Eleanor on a more equal footing with her male League members (every one a nobleman). This works well, in my opinion, without seeming too forced. I enjoyed watching Eleanor grow from humble servant who knows her (supposed) place in society to someone a lot more independent and trusting in her intelligence and judgement.
I thought the addition of vampires to the narrative provided an interesting angle: it is the mob and the members of the Committee of Public Safety who are thirsting for the blood of the people rather than the vampires themselves, who have been integrated into society for the last few centuries and now get provided with the necessary nourishment as part of the employment contract between themselves and their servants. The moments when vampires are portrayed in the traditional manner are few but very effective.
The only element I'm currently not sure about is the
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LibraryThing member wyvernfriend
in a riff off the Scarlet Pimpernel where there are some vampires, vampires who nbhb
LibraryThing member wagner.sarah35
It took me a while to get into this novel, but the quick pace of the last half really made up for the slow start. The story is essentially a retelling of the Scarlet Pimpernel with the addition of vampires. Opening in England, Eleanor is recruited to a secretive league for a high-risk mission
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because she bears a strong likeness to one deposed French queen. Given a crash course in espionage, she soon finds herself en route to revolutionary France, where she manages to get separated from her fellow league members and to fall afoul of a murderous vampire. I enjoyed Eleanor's adventures, once they got going, and I may just need to check the next book in this series. Show Less
Language
Original publication date
2023-05-09
ISBN
1529083729 / 9781529083729
Local notes
A witty historical adventure romp and vampire-themed retelling of the Scarlet Pimpernel.
GSFF June 2023. Signed by the author, #227 of 2000 numbered copies, cover design reproduced on decorative sprayed page edges.
GSFF June 2023. Signed by the author, #227 of 2000 numbered copies, cover design reproduced on decorative sprayed page edges.