I found myself desperate for more information on this front, and though I could feel an explanation bubbling up from time to time, thinking, “Okay, she’ll finally talk about it now,” it remains a mystery. Kowal? Is there a wand involved? Are we talkin’ spells or hexes or what? All the reader ever discerns about this graceful system is that the efforts spent using it are physically draining, so much that the magician can collapse under the strain or even die. Jane, the Elinor Dashwood of this story, is particularly talented at manipulating “folds of glamour” that are “taken out of the ether.” She laces them together, twisting and winding and pulling them into gorgeous imagery that is both pleasing and purposeful.
Kowal weaves a beautiful magic system in Shades of Milk and Honey, its only shortfall being that it wasn’t fully explained or explored to the extent that I craved. Add dueling pistols and you’ve got yourself a Regency-era party!Īdd in magic, too. Jealously and bitterness prevail on more than one occasion, bringing rise to an explosive ending as the consequences of deceit, unrequited love and unspoken truths boil over. The difference with Shades of Milk and Honey, Mary Robinette Kowal’s debut novel, though, is that many of the plot twists carry a strong sinister twinge. The passionate sister even falls and twists her ankle the scoundrel is attracted the sensible sister tries to keep a lid on things. Indeed, the similarities to Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility are palpable, from the easily-placed characters and their tastes, feelings, and under-developed motivations, to the plot, with a cadre of viable bachelors parading around and only one of them noble in his intentions. Sound like any other story you’ve heard? Two sisters vying for attentions of the neighborhood menfolk with two completely different approaches: one passionate, erratic and overly capricious, the other steady and mindful and only dimly lit in terms of beauty. Presumably, one sister is “milk” and the other is “honey.” They complement each other, yet stand alone, one with sweetness and flashy, showy pizazz, and the other with banal yet comfortable stability.
But he knew how fickle young men’s hearts were.” Her skill with glamour, music, and painting was surpassed by none in their neighborhood and together lent their home the appearance of wealth far beyond their means.
His older daughter, Jane, made up for her deficit of beauty with rare taste and talent in the womanly arts. “Of his younger daughter, Melody, he had no concerns, for she had a face made for fortune.
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