Mortal Follies

by Alexis Hall

Genres: Fantasy, Romance
Pages: 402
Series: Mortal Follies #1
Rating:

Synopsis:

It is the year 1814 and Miss Maelys Mitchelmore finds her entry into the highest society of Bath hindered by an irritating curse. It begins innocuously enough, with her dress slowly unmaking itself over the course of an evening at the ball of the season, a scandal she only narrowly manages to escape.

However, as the curse progresses to more fatal proportions, she realises she must seek out urgent assistance, even if that means mixing with the most undesirable company-and there are few less desirable allies than the brooding Lady Georgiana Landrake-who may or may not have murdered her own father and brothers to inherit their fortune.

If one is to believe the gossip, she might be some kind of malign enchantress.

Then again, a malign enchantress might be exactly what Miss Mitchelmore needs.

Alexis Hall’s Mortal Follies is a lot of fun: I love the conceit that it’s narrated by Puck (as in, Oberon’s servant). I thought that might become tiresome, but actually it’s well done. Hall knows how to let the narrative voice get out of the story’s way at the right moment, so it doesn’t create a weird distance, despite the fact that technically we’re being told everything at second-hand by an invisible fairy turned narrator.

I love Maelys and Georgiana, too: yes, at times I felt like yelling at Georgiana to open her eyes and see the woman in front of her not her own fears, but at the same time, she has a lot of good reasons for her fears. And Maelys can at times be a bit inclined to sit back and see what happens, but she does learn through the story to take things into her own hands when she needs to, and that works well.

And let’s face it, Miss Bickle’s adorable and deserves her very own amazing romance.

At times it felt like this was dragging just a touch, because there’s a lot of back and forth, a certain amount of will-they-won’t-they, and some repetitive elements — but once I was into the book, that seemed a very minor quibble. I ended it reluctant to let the characters go, and eager to read Confounding Oaths (although it doesn’t follow Maelys and Georgiana, it should still have the fun narrative voice).

Rating: 4/5