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    Shades of Milk and Honey
    Shades of Milk and Honey
    Shades of Milk and Honey
    Audiobook7 hours

    Shades of Milk and Honey

    Written by Mary Robinette Kowal

    Narrated by Mary Robinette Kowal

    3.5/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    The fantasy novel you've always wished Jane Austen had written

    Shades of Milk and Honey is exactly what we could expect from Jane Austen if she had been a fantasy writer:Pride and Prejudice meets Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell. It is an intimate portrait of a woman, Jane, and her quest for love in a world where the manipulation of glamour is considered an essential skill for a lady of quality.

    Jane and her sister Melody vie for the attentions of eligible men, and while Jane's skill with glamour is remarkable, it is her sister who is fair of face. When Jane realizes that one of Melody's suitors is set on taking advantage of her sister for the sake of her dowry, she pushes her skills to the limit of what her body can withstand in order to set things right-and, in the process, accidentally wanders into a love story of her own.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherMacmillan Audio
    Release dateAug 4, 2010
    ISBN9781427210883
    Shades of Milk and Honey
    Author

    Mary Robinette Kowal

    Mary Robinette Kowal is the author of the Hugo, Nebula, and Locus Award-winning alternate history novel, The Calculating Stars, the first book in the Lady Astronaut series. She is also the author of The Glamourist Histories series and Ghost Talkers and has received the Astounding Award for Best New Writer, four Hugo Awards, the Nebula, and Locus Awards. Her stories appear in Asimov’s, Uncanny, and several Year’s Best anthologies. Mary Robinette has also worked as a professional puppeteer, is a member of the Award-winning podcast Writing Excuses, and performs as a voice actor (SAG/AFTRA), recording fiction for authors including Seanan McGuire, Cory Doctorow, and Neal Stephenson. She lives in Tennessee with her husband Rob and over a dozen manual typewriters.

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    Reviews for Shades of Milk and Honey

    3.5/5

    89 ratings46 reviews

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    • 5/5
      Glorious! A delightful foray into Victorian Regency melodrama and magical realism with just enough glamour to make it magical without falling into whimsy. The characters were engaging in a way that was proper without showing the least amount of impropriety. Loads of Austen-esque relationship banter but relying on simple language to convey it which makes it a quick weekend read. As often remarked and I reiterate this novel has the societal satire of Pride and Prejudice with the affectations of Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell.

      I am blissfully waiting for Glamour in Glass to come out in a few days.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 3/5
      Not my favorite book. It was entertaining and I got to the end without jumping ahead but not sure it’s on my list of recommended books.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 4/5
      I thoroughly enjoyed this Regency-style fantasy novel. I sped through it in just a few hours -- the style, while reminiscent of Jane Austen, is much simpler and faster than those nineteenth century classics -- and I found myself quite caught up in the fates of the main characters. The heroine, Jane Ellsworth, is one of the best Austen-redux characters I've ever read -- she is plain, first of all, but very talented in "the womanly arts", including the use of magical glamour (there is the fantasy twist) and, of course, dashed clever and sensible. I find this combination of traits to be a perfect transformation of the typical (I use that word reluctantly) Austen heroine into a realistic twenty-first century heroine -- retaining the most admirable characteristics, but turning the physical emphasis on its head, so that we -- the generations of the perpetually self-doubting, thanks to our culture -- can relate in a genuine and complete way. Jane Ellsworth struggles with the way people treat her due to her plainness, but she is also blind to the genuine regard that some people feel because she dismisses herself in a similar way; her journey toward true self-awareness is a significant part of this novel's emotional meaning.This is, naturally, a romance. The fantasy here is light -- no wizards or dragons or big special effects scenes -- and, like the novels that inspired it, this book focuses on the minutia of everyday. At least, everyday in a world where magic is sort of like glorified needlepoint. The interplay between the characters is the real delight here and one thrills as the various figures are revealed for who they truly are and as the romantic entanglements get sorted. I won't spoil who ends up where and with whom, of course, but I will say that this novel contains one of the better proposal scenes I've read in a Regency-style novel. I found it charming.Charming, in fact, really sums up the entire package. Some readers will be frustrated by the simpler aspects and the occasionally uneven pacing -- the end comes all at a gallop, but I am reminded that it often happened that way in Austen too, and Kowal is entirely forthcoming about the fact that Austen was the key inspiration for the novel. If one goes into this expecting the level of detail and brilliance that Austen's own work consistently displayed, however, one may be disappointed. No redux can approach that level, but Kowal's originality and fresh elements -- including the limitations of the magic, which make everything more plausible -- make this a wonderful read in and of itself. Approached as a bright, entertaining homage to a favorite writer and light, clever read in its own right, this novel shines.
    • 2/5
      The story was ok. I liked the main character, Jane. But the author states one of her main influences is Austen and this novel didn't have quite the wit of Austen. I also found the over use of the word "shew" a little annoying. The magic was intriguing. I would have appreciated more information on glamour and why everyone has this ability. The book kept me entertained for an afternoon, but I do not highly recommend it.
    • 5/5
      This book hit a very good sweet spot for me and sucked me in, hook, line and sinker. I want to purchase my own copy to reread and the series is going to be high on my wishlist.This is a romance, a story that feels like a Jane Austen Novel but with added magic. A magic of illusion, glamour. This magic is something pretty trivial, it creates an illusion of movement in pictures, a picturescape to accompany music, allows a dress designer to show a customer what the dress would look like when complete in miniature, serves as an alarm for a hunter. Small things. It's considered a skill all accomplished women should have, and uses fabric-like language to describe it.Jane is an accomplished weaver of glamour, she has resigned herself to spinsterhood as she's twenty-eight and plain. Her sister has more prospect of marriage than she does and she is content with that. However she finds herself caught up in a situation that requires her to push herself to her limits and along the way finds that maybe, just maybe, she might be able to find love.This drew me in and kept me reading. I sincerely didn't want to leave it until I finished it and look forward to some day re-reading it. The characters came across as if they had stepped out of a period fiction of the regency and had comfortably settled into this one. It just didn't misstep for me at any stage and this one will go on my favourites shelf on book sites.
    • 4/5
      The mention of Jane Austen or Regency England together with fantasy can be either a good thing or a bad thing. I was not that enamored with Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, for example. Although there were things about it I liked, I never really identified with the characters enough to truly care about them or was caught up into the story. The Magicians and Mrs. Quent captured more of the quality of Jane Eyre, especially in one-third of the book, and I'm waiting for the sequel to pass judgment. My knowledge of the time period comes primarily from Jane herself, Bronte's Jane Eyre, and Georgette Heyer's well-researched romances of the era. I have not been one to do much reading of Austen wannabes and have sworn off most Heyer imitators as well, preferring to stick with the best. Settling into Shades of Milk and Honey felt like settling into an Austen book. It catches the ambiance, the pacing, the phrasing. The characters and story continually catch one in looking for Marianne and Elinor in the two sisters, for Mrs. Bentley in Mrs. Ellsworth, for Mr. Darcy in Vincent, and for Mr. Knightley in Mr. Dunkirk. And yet this is not just a pastiche or imitation. Just as these same characteristics are what one looks for when moving from one Austen novel to another, yet each is unique in its own way, Kowal is also able to build her own story and characters while still evoking the atmosphere. She acknowledges that she moves further away from the principles of her preceptress in the denouement of the story, but perhaps more in the direction of a Bronte rather than modern times. I enjoyed the story very much, reading it in a single afternoon. I was engaged by the characters, as well as by the addition of the fantasy element of glamour in a way that was not intrusive or jarring but that was central to the story. I recommend it for an entertaining read.
    • 3/5
      I want, so badly to give this book 5 stars, but I can't quite do it.

      Don't get me wrong, I love this book, but I can't quite bring it to the "it's amazing" level.

      It is precisely what everyone says it is (including the author herself) - a book modeled on Jane Austen's writing. I adore Austen's writing, so it didn't surprise me when I enjoyed it. It's a beautiful regency romance, with magic thrown in. There's the whole upper-class society stratification and intrigue with that. There is a whole lot of beautiful writing and wonderful detail. The book is never surprising (at least there was nothing surprising or unexpected to me), and it's all-in-all very gentle. It's pretty much historical magical-realism.

      The only place where the book really falls short, in my opinion, is that the author borrows too heavily from Austen's characters. If you are very familiar with Austen's writing, you will be able to exactly pinpoint what characters she drew from. In many cases, when a character does something, I can point to which character, book, and scene a trait or action is taken from. It's a little too borrowed. If one is not as familiar with Austen, the book might be better for them, in fact, some things might actually come as a surprise (though the book is not an overly twisty tale and any one can see where the story is moving).

      Still, it was a good book, and it was an immensely enjoyable read.

      Update: When I wrote this review, I had decided I would probably read the sequels, but after some time, the charm wore off and I decided against it, there are too many books that I want to get to, and this series didn't feel like it would keep the love for me.
    • 5/5
      Fantastic, both in the sense of involving fantasy and in the sense of being well-written. The characters are entertaining and although the book definitely has a Regency/Austen feel, it still feels fresh. I was very happy to hear that there will be a sequel.
    • 2/5
      I'm sorry but this just drove me nuts. I’m kind of at a loss for what other people saw in it. Again and again I found myself channeling Diego Montoya, “I do not think that word means what you think it means.” Some examples:

      Both of my girls are too sensible for such nonsense.""Yes. We are sensible girls. ...And so we should have no trouble in using our sensibility to convince you of the importance of new gowns..." No. Sensibility is not the ability to be sensible. It is the ability to be sensiTIVE, and open to emotional and aesthetic experience. Anyone embarking upon an Austen pastiche should KNOW that!! Dammit Janet!!!!!!

      Buffington expects me to sit in on the next round of rubber
      Again, no. Rubber is not a kind of game. Rubber means the best of three rounds. You could play a rubber of any card game but you would never say a round of rubber. I don’t think that word means what you think it means.

      a quicksilver of unease flourished through Jane's joints Um. That phrase is just wrong. Its clunky and awkward and makes no sense. If quicksilver is serving as a noun here, well the noun quicksilver means mercury and if she has mercury flourishing in her joints you might want to get her to a doctor. If, as seems more likely, quicksilver is supposed to be an adjective, then what is it describing please? It seems to me there’s a word missing from this sentence. Perhaps a quicksilver feeling of unease flourished (honestly, flourished?) or a quicksilver frisson, or a quicksilver tremor or something but as this sentence stands its just goofy, and I’m sorry but when vague random things start flourishing in people’s joints I’m just...ugh.

      Rendered in far greater detail than Mr Vincent had employed in the scenery for his shadow-play, Jane could still sense his hand in the graceful line of the trunks. Please! Get control of your referents! As this sentence stands it says that JANE was rendered in greater detail than the scenery. Well I should hope so, being as how she's a person and not a backdrop.

      There is page after page after page of this stuff. Gack. Just... gack. Is it too much to ask for Austen pastiche to at least aspire to prose that is not actively painful to read? Austen’s prose was lithe, elegant, balanced, lovely. If you are going to imitate her at least make a better effort than this nonsense.

      As much as the style made me nuts, the content made me more nuts. I mean come on. The two sisters at the center of the story spend most of their time backstabbing and one upping each other in hot pursuit of available men by all means necessary. They lie, cheat and steal, I’m not just spouting a cliché, they actually do all of those things. They eavesdrop, they tell tales on each other. They act like two first graders squabbling over a toy. The novelist keeps telling me these are loving sisters, but that’s not what she shows me. What she shows me is pettiness and endless rationalizations for pettiness.

      The protagonist discovers that the man she’s been pursuing for most of the novel has done something horribly immoral murdered , I say again, murdered his sister’s husband and it does not appear to give her one moment of pause . But when she gets a better offer she drops him at once. She makes promises to other characters and then breaks them as soon as they become difficult. She always has a reason for failing to live up to her commitments, she’s full of self justifications, but I would trust her about as far as I could throw a Buick.

      Plus some of this stuff is just absurd. At one point the main character passes out and lies outside on the ground overnight. !! She then hops up, apparently exhibiting no ill effects except a slight headache and some messy hair, and goes home where no one questions the fact that she’s been MISSING for twelve hours. Then, without changing her clothes or swallowing a cup of tea, she goes racing off (with her father’s blessing forsooth!) first, on foot, then in a carriage, and then on horseback in some strange eighteenth century equivalent of a car chase in order to prevent a duel.

      By the way, duels are conducted according to a set of rules, none of which are even acknowledged in the “duel” portrayed here, let alone followed. Which makes what happens not a duel, but a roadside assault. But again, none of the characters even questions that for a moment.

      Again and again and again the period details are just wrong, wrong, wrong and wrong. The specifics, names, manners, words, games, rules of precedence and behavior, choices, are nails on a blackboard wrong much of the time. But more than that, the people are just wrong. These are not people of the eighteenth century, they don’t exhibit the beliefs or the world view of people of the eighteenth century. These are people who would be much more at home on Jerry Springer, pretending, not very convincingly, to be from the eighteenth.

      I really am at a loss here. Is this supposed to be some sort of Flashman-like comedy? You know, where the joke is in the divide between the morals and manners professed and the morals and manners expressed? If so, throw me a hint, throw me a bone.

      Because honestly what I’m reading here is a somewhat cheesy romance novel dressed up with some vague historical and magical set dressing which is in no way integral or important to the story. Don't even get me started on the magical set dressing. The whole business of manipulating glamour could be instantly replaced by painting watercolors or playing the piano without changing the story in any way. Which makes the magic nothing more than a decoration, which means this is not actually a fantasy novel. Nor is it a regency novel. It’s a contemporary romance in a Halloween costume.
    • 3/5
      This was super cute, and Austeny without being embarrassingly so.
      If you like Regency romances (which I do) and you don't mind there being just a tiny bit of magic (which I don't) it's a lovely way to spend an afternoon.
    • 2/5
      It was fine. It kept me occupied during a couple of flights home. I shouldn't have bought it, though -- borrowing it from the library would have been best.Early on, she uses the word "comprise" wrong -- that always bugs me.
    • 5/5
      Jane Ellsworth is not blessed with the beauty of her younger sister Melody, but she excels in artistic pursuits such as music, painting, and "glamour," or the ability to manipulate magic to create illusions. Both Jane and Melody wish to marry well, but opportunities in their quiet neighborhood are scarce, and Jane, with her plain features, has nearly resigned herself to the fate of a spinster. Will love ever come her way?Kowal does a good job of echoing Austen's tone, though Kowal's novel is simpler than any of Austen's. The plot is reminiscent of Sense and Sensibility, but it's not just a lifeless copy -- Kowal's story is a gracefully balanced homage with plenty of unique details. The magic system is a perfect fit for this sort of story, enhancing but not overpowering the plot. I look forward to reading more by this author.
    • 3/5
      by Mary Robinette Kowal

      Opening line: “The Ellsworths of Long Parkmead had the regard of their neighbors in every respect.”

      Jane Ellsworth is an older daughter, highly accomplished but plain. Her younger sister Melody has all the beauty of the family, but she wishes that she could have admiration for something other than that.

      Parts of this book were really, really well done. I loved the idea of the folds of glamour and the way it is used in this society. It honestly is one of the most fascinating systems of magic I can remember reading about and I’d love to have more stories set in the same world so that we can get more of a sense of its uses. Here it was almost exclusively for art–decoration, music, and so on. But surely there are practical applications as well?

      At the same time, there is a kind of worldbuilding necessary in historical fiction, as well as in sci-fi and fantasy. This was, unfortunately, often ignored here. Now, I will grant that I am a real stickler on this point, especially in Regency era books. The problem is, a lot of it was fine–I loved the use of tableaux vivants–but occasionally the details faltered, especially in the use of names which simply didn’t ring true. Even Melody doesn’t seem quite right, nor does Beth as a nickname for Elizabeth. It’s not that I know either of these were never used in the Regency era; they may have been. It’s rather that as set-dressing, they made the whole thing rather unconvincing.

      I have to admit that I was also slightly annoyed by the bouquet scene, which seemed not so much simply an homage to Austen as Austen herself. The characters involved are different, but the whole thing made me roll my eyes and say, “Oh, REALLY?”

      There are a number of recent fantasy books which have done the Regency period very well: the Kate and Cecy series (in the Georgette Heyer style), Naomi Novik’s Temeraire series (in the Patrick O’Brian style), and Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, which is probably the best of all at simply evoking that time. This book, while it has a sweet story and a fascinating premise as far as the magic goes, fails to deliver on the Regency aspect as well as I could wish. However, it’s still a good read, especially for those of you who might be a shade less likely to be nit-picky about such things.*

      Book source: public library
      Book information: Tor 2010; adult
      *I do apologize for this; I did write a thesis, half of which was on Pride and Prejudice. Invoking Austen is as likely to incur my wrath as my pleasure. Here it’s not wrath, just mild disappointment.
    • 3/5
      A Jane Austen plot, with the addition of small, domestic magics, told in slightly more modern language.I wasn't really quite in the mood for this. Add at least half a star if you're fond of Austen.
    • 5/5
      The blend of Austen and fantasy is delicious. Definitely a voice apart from the many other magical fantasies set in the era: more melancholic and elegaic.
    • 5/5
      Jane is the elder, plainer, and more talented of two sisters. Over the course of a few months Jane and Melody fight, flirt, spend time with their neighbors, fall in love, and see their loves confounded. And then, in the midst of a Regency novel worthy of Austen, there is magic, of a special sort called glamour. there are happy endings for the good, and unhappy endings for the wicked.
    • 4/5
      Fast read; Kowal was able to blend the elements of illusion/glamour within a twisted Jane Austen setting. Really liked the character of Jane and detested her sister, Melody. Enjoyed the mysterious character of Mr. Vincent and the subtle love triangle that emerged as the plot was developed. Recommended for Jane Austen fans.
    • 4/5
      Jane and Melody are sisters in need of husbands in a time when propriety was everything and estates were entailed away. Lovely Melody seems to have an interest in either Mr. Dunkirk or Captain Livingston, the nephew of Lady FitzCameron. Jane hopes to attract the notice of Mr. Dunkirk herself; she may be plain, but she is quite an accomplished lady, not least in the ability to work glamour. Yes, you read right. In this Austenesque fantasy, working magic - known as "glamour" - is an art much like painting or music that could be added to a woman's (or man's) repertoire. When one thinks of it as this type of accomplishment, the idea is not so foreign really, and gives the fantasy a light touch. This is an inventive tale that cleverly nods to Jane Austen while succeeding as a story in its own right.
    • 2/5
      I'm vacillating between two and three stars on this one -- it's not halfway between, I'm just trying to decide whether I'll give it credit for keeping me reading, or dock it for how very high its debt to Jane Austen's work is. It's basically a cut and paste job on Austen's characters and situations, and while the writing is competent enough, it doesn't have the same subtlety and humour that Jane Austen brought to her work. It suffers very much in comparison, because of its debt.

      The fantasy woven into it lies awkwardly on top of Jane Austen's work, I found, and wasn't fully explored. For example, if the working of glamour is so essential to a lady, but so few men do it, why is there no sign of any assumptions of effeminacy that would likely go with that? There's a few hints that being a "glamuralist" -- a person who goes around making complicated artwork out of glamour for people who don't have the skill themselves -- is considered lower class work, perhaps, or is stigmatised in some way, but at the same time both male and female characters admire Mr. Vincent's work, and hardly seem to treat him with inferiority.

      Something about the language Kowal used doesn't ring true for me, either. When you read Jane Austen, it's plain that she's writing in her own style, in a natural sort of manner. The style of this, though, is so plainly a copy of someone else's style, and the gaps show through in the choice of language here and there.

      I think I'll settle for two stars, "it was ok", since I'm not turned off Kowal's work, and enjoyed it well enough to fill a few hours.
    • 4/5
      Summary: The Ellsworth estate is entailed to Mr. Ellsworth's uncle, so it is critical that his daughters Jane and Melody marry well. Melody, at least, is young and cheerful and attractive, and does not seem to lack for the attentions of several prospective suitors. Jane, other the other hand, is older and plainer than her sister, although she is more talented at magic - a skill which is considered to be as important to the education of a well-brought-up lady as music or drawing - and she seems resigned to remain unmarried forever, despite her growing affections for one of their neighbors. Jane frequently resents her sister's flighty and flirtatious behavior, but when Melody gets in over her head, no one but Jane will be able to save her. Review: Shades of Milk and Honey was a fun, easy, light read, a perfect diversion for a rainy Sunday morning. While I think its cover blurb oversells its uniqueness - the literary world is not currently undergoing a shortage of historical fantasy in general, or even Austen-esque Regency Fantasy in particular - this book is a fine example of the genre, and does incorporate some unique elements. I especially liked the idea that magic - in this case focused around the manipulation of visual and occasionally auditory glamours - is primarily, although not exclusively, a feminine art. No secret societies of learned (and therefore typically male) magicians here, but magic as a matter of course, used to improve a painting or brighten a room (or change one's appearance, although Jane dismisses that sort of thing as frivolous). Kowal does an excellent job of blending magic into the world of country balls and dowries and sitting rooms, in a way that feels completely organic - something that is probably helped along by how effortlessly she keeps her prose and her tone period-appropriate.This book is much more character-driven than plot driven, and a lot of the action (such as it is) takes place within Jane, as she deals with her feelings about her sister and and her own prospects and the various men she encounters. It does absolutely have the feel of an Austen novel, which cuts both ways: the familiar feel makes it an easy and comfortable read in which to get absorbed, but also meant that what plot there was unfolded pretty predictably. I also wish that characters other than Jane had had some more depth to them; I particularly think that the book would have been meatier if Melody had been a more layered character. But regardless, I thoroughly enjoyed this book; it's one of those books that feels like an old favorite even when you're reading it for the first time. 4 out of 5 stars.Recommendation: Regency fantasy fans should check it out for sure, as should Austen fans who want to dip a toe in the fantasy waters without straying too far from shore.
    • 4/5
      Delightful tale, Austen-esque + fantasy as described. Th America author/reader's less than perfect accent is occasionally distracting, but is offset by her distinct and amusing voices for the many characters.
    • 3/5
      "Shades of Milk and Honey" had enough Bronte and modern fantasy feeling for me to like it, but too much Austen for me to help feeling that it was a little thin. Still, Kowal is a good stylist with a light touch and a subtle imagination.
    • 3/5
      Of the two Ellsworth sisters, the younger, Melody, may be prettier, but it is Jane who has the highly desirable talent of working with glamour, a must for any well-to-do lady in this alternate Regency England. However, Jane feels like she is forced to acquiesce to Melody’s physical superiority, and sit on the sides while Melody flirts with the gentlemen in their social circle: Mr. Dunkirk, their kind and gentle neighbor; Captain Livingston, a childhood friend who has just come home; and Mr. Vincent, an accomplished glamourist hired by the neighbors.As Jane navigates the everyday life of a respectable woman, she learns more about glamour, people, and herself.SHADES OF MILK AND HONEY sounded like it was going to be my favorite type of novel. Who can resist a magical version of Regency England? The idea is certainly nothing new in books. However, while I thought SHADES OF MILK AND HONEY captured the language of the time fairly well, it ended up having very little substance to fully ensnare me.My favorite thing about this book was its language. Kowal’s writing style is very loyal to Austen’s—to the point where it might feel like you know exactly what’s going to happen, because you can find nearly all of the possible plot twists in Austen novels. I enjoy it when the language of a novel feels appropriate to its setting, and SHADES OF MILK AND HONEY did that in my opinion.I liked the idea of glamour as a quality of feminine status, and enjoyed reading about Jane’s glamour workings, and what exactly it entails for her and her social circle. I couldn’t help but feel, however, that the glamour idea was not as well integrated into the world as it could be. That’s because, when it comes down to it, I feel like this book tries to be no more than a pleasant portrait of life in this alternate-world Regency England, lacking in the memorable characters and social satire and make Austen’s novels so beloved. The characters are either blandly generic (like Jane) or irritatingly obsessed with the “feminine duties” of flirtation and presentation (like Melody).I don’t mean to say that this book required a “deeper message” in order to be a good read. But I wish that it had done what it attempted to successfully. The plot developments piled one on top of the other so rapidly and inconceivably that it was like watching a TV show with a lot of potential for charm gradually but steadily go the way of the ridiculous. Secret affairs, double engagements, deception, an armed showdown!—I became really confused as to what this book wanted us to get out of it, especially when it had tried so hard to present itself as poised, instead of melodramatic. But that’s what it became, in the end.SHADES OF MILK AND HONEY makes for a charming diversion for fans of Austen and light fantasy, but beyond that I’m not sure it has enough power to make an impression. It might even be that the more one thinks about this book afterwards, the more annoyed one might get. I enjoyed approximately the first half of the book, and still think the concept is a good one, but when I came to the end I was glad to be finished. And I’m not sure that’s a feeling I want to get out of reading.
    • 3/5
      A charming book, if somewhat slight. It captures the Jane Austen aura very well, while being somewhat less tedious in subject matter - I have astonishingly little interest in the courtship rituals of Edwardian England; a little bit of magic goes a long way to mitigate that - and the characters are deftly handled. I look forward to the sequel, and hope very much that the scope is broader.
    • 2/5
      Oh dear, I tried to finish this but just couldn't. Mary Robinette Kowal is one of the podcasters on Writing Excuses, and she is a fabulous speaker about storytelling and craft. I had read that people generally rate her short work over her first novel, but my library only had the latter. I will politely assume that she is suffering from first novelitis here and is a much better storyteller than this.

      This book, at least for the first hundred pages, just has too little urgency or narrative drive behind it, and the narrative and scenes lack focus. Frankly it's boring! The characters and plot feel shallow, more an Austen pastiche than a thoughtful historical fiction. The magic is intriguing, but rather mechanical in its execution; you can see where Kowal has ticked off all the boxes on the Magic System 101 checklist (rules, check; limitations, check; costs to the magic user, check).

      The premise is really pretty nifty - there have been lots of Regency fantasies, but I haven't read one that confines its story and even its magicto the domestic sphere. It's a worthy endeavor; I was just really nonplussed by the story.
    • 4/5
      Mary Robinette Kowal managed to implement style of Jane Austin novels and still seems original. There are all the elements we loved: silly mother, one plain but smart sister and the other beautiful one, rich neighbors, dinner parties, strawberry picking parties, unexpected friends and villains...

      Glamour aka magic used in everyday life was very interesting. I often wondered what would we do if magic was everyday occurrence - would we use it for greater good or for fun/prestige and other mundane things....
    • 4/5
      Well my goodness, what a strange and charming little volume! Shades of Milk and Honey by Mary Robinette Kowal is described as "Pride and Prejudice meets Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell" -- though I would have suggested Sense and Sensibility as the Austen novel in question (if only for the sisters relationship, though other elements clearly owe their foundations to P&P) and the magical element is not nearly as strong in this as in Jonathan Strange. Still, that vague quote will at least clue in a reader to the fact that this is not your ordinary Jane Austen wannabe romantic story. Kowal evidently is quite a Janeite, having thanked the online Jane Austen community in her acknowledgements, and this book could certainly be called an Austenuation, given its tone, character similarities, and occasional spellings. The magical/fantasy element consists of the insertion of "glamour," which I'm sure I will not describe properly, as I'm not sure I even understood it properly. Glamour appears to be a magic pulled from the air that one can manipulate into visual displays -- whether this be the addition of small amounts that would add something extra to an existing item (allow trees in a painting to sway in the wind or give the illusion of light playing against books) or something a bit larger (create an entire theatrical tableau vivant around people, a "glamural" large-scale work, or curtaining off people using folds of glamour so they disappear from view). The thing is, in this world, it doesn't appear as though manipulating glamour is exactly a highly prized skill... at least for men. It seems to be something in the feminine arena, used mostly for improvements in the home, as it doesn't appear to create anything substantial, simply an enhanced visual. There are a few well-regarded artists who work with the medium but, as artists, they are still working at a kind of trade and therefore are a notch above some, but not quite on the level with the usual gentlemen and ladies who do not require a pesky occupation to keep them financially solvent.Jane Ellsworth is twenty-eight and has almost resigned herself to the life of a spinster... almost. There is still a desperate hope in her heart that despite her age and lack of beauty, she might still make a match and not end her days serving as a tutor to her beautiful younger sister's sure-to-come children. Jane has two things in her favor -- her father has set aside a bit of a dowry for each of his daughters (as he's smart enough to know that they will need this, given that his estate is entailed away) and Jane herself is a somewhat accomplished glamourist. Not that she would own the description as an official title, but even she knows that she can manipulate glamour relatively well and as this talent is appreciated in women to make a home comfortable, to entertain, etc., there is a hope that it enhances her marriageable value. Her younger sister Melody is quite a beauty and beloved by Jane (though the reader rather has to take Jane at her word on Melody's good points, as Melody comes off as a selfish, flighty, and rather vapid creature). Their parents are quite the image of Mr. and Mrs. Bennet, though at least Mr. Ellsworth has a bit more sense when it comes to providing for his daughters and keeping them out of trouble as far as that dreaded city of Bath is concerned. The neighborhood is small, but still has a number of interesting personages within. First, there is Mr. Dunkirk, of whom Jane thinks rather highly, though she also knows her sister feels the same and is immediately inclined to allow her sister the conquest. When his sister Beth comes to visit, Jane develops a fondness for the much younger girl and assists Beth in her basic study of glamour; this quietly delights Mr. Dunkirk, who has a real appreciation for Jane's talents and more than hints that such talents are what truly make a comfortable home. The local elite family is the FitzCameron family, presided over by Lady FitzCameron, a widow with an unmarried daughter... which is why her nephew, Captain Livingston, is in town... a rather dashing and rakish young man in the service of His Majesty's royal navy. Also a guest in the FitzCameron household, we have the standoffish and gruff Mr. Vincent, a noted glamourist who is being employed by Lady FitzCameron to create a large-scale and grand glamural in her home.While the novel lacked a real Austen-like focus on social commentary and deeper and yet witty observations, Kowal was able to create a heroine who felt quite like a woman who could have existed in an Austen novel, and one who would have merited the high opinion of those sensible souls around her. Jane is quiet and demure, keeping her shrewder thoughts to herself and able to keep confidences (while yet struggling with the question of whether or not to share them with others if only in the best interest of those concerned who might come to harm). She values her sister so highly that she is constantly trying to repair any breaches that occur, though none of them are Jane's fault. Melody is an incredibly annoying chit of a girl, whereas Beth is only a trifle better, if only because she manages to act decently well on a day-to-day basis. Perhaps the more surprising thing (when it concerns comparing Shades of Milk and Honey to any Austen or other Regency novel) is the fact that for all of Jane's concerns about ending a spinster, she actually plays the field a whole lot more than she realizes. The reader will understand pretty quickly who her ideal match would be, but Jane seems to hold two men in high regard for quite some time -- and indeed, even when the real love-match becomes clear, the relationship with the other fellow is not quite closed off (which is, perhaps, a bit more realistic). There's also a rather ridiculous scene filled with galloping horses and duels that feels a bit over-the-top in this particular novel, but perhaps one can forgive it for the sake of fun. It is a pity, though, that there was not more depth to this story beyond the romantic storylines, as I believed Kowal to be quite capable of greater societal observation than was evinced in this volume. The limited mention of how glamour can be used to mask falling fortunes was not quite enough (or at least it didn't ever come to much) and should have merited a greater exploration.All in all, I would say that Kowal's novel is rather charming, though Regency purists will not be particularly pleased with all this glamour stuff. As I have noted, I do wish that the magical element actually played a bit more of a role in society as something necessary, as opposed to the surface delight that glamour epitomizes. It just doesn't seem to be necessary in the way I would think such an addition would have to be -- but perhaps in future novels of this world (as one always assumes there must be more, nowadays), we'll get more on that subject. Modern readers who can pick up both Georgette Heyer and light fantasy will be able to enjoy Shades of Milk and Honey as a pleasant diversion and I'll be happy to read the next item that comes from Kowal's pen.
    • 4/5
      A fast, fun read that very much reads like Jane Austen with magic. I quite liked the characters and adore the magic Kowal's created. I hope to see more in this world!
    • 3/5
      I really enjoyed the setting and plot of this book . . . up until the last couple of chapters. I think the ending could have worked if she'd foreshadowed it a bit better. Instead, it felt like some characters got off too easy while other characters we'd come to love were unexpectedly thrown under a bus (or carriage). Very disappointing.
    • 4/5
      Pros: quick pace, seamlessly adds magic to historically accurate pre-Victorian settingCons: entirely character driven, ending felt rushedTwo British Regency era sisters, one beautiful the other accomplished, vie for the attentions of men.Despite her mastery of the womanly arts of painting, piano and glamour, 'plain' Jane Ellsworth despairs of finding a husband and is jealous of her younger sister's good looks and easy manner.The novel's a quick read, with short chapters and lots of dialogue. Though not in first person, we see the world through Jane's eyes, as she tries to deaden her feelings for Mr. Dunkirk for fear that he's interested in her sister. Meanwhile she learns more about magic by examining the techniques of a visiting glamourist, much to his annoyance.Like the Jane Austen novels it was based on, Shades of Milk and Honey is entirely character driven and has no plot beyond whether Jane will end up married and to whom. Those who enjoy Victorian literature will appreciate the attention to detail Kowal puts into her work. The addition of magic - the only non-historical attribute - adds an interesting element to the story and is seamlessly integrated into the Victorian culture.Jane could be a Mary Sue character were it not for her rivalry with her sister. Always proper, Jane suppresses her emotions to the point that her art is lifeless, despite her talent.While the climax was dramatic, the ending felt a bit rushed. Everything was too neatly tied up in too few pages.If you enjoy Regency literature, this is a great read, whether you're into fantasy or not.