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 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. ( )

in a riff off the Scarlet Pimpernel where there are some vampires, vampires who control their own houses and have their ways of working. Blood has to come from somewhere and while some are careful, there are others who are not. Now there's revolution in France and the Scarlet Pimpernel is rescuing some people from the excesses of the new regime. Into the mix comes an English maid, Eleanor, who has a striking resemblance to French royalty and there is a hope that Queen Marie Antoinette may be able to be freed with her help. She has to learn new skills and find courage within herself to succeed, but there are times when she has to ask who is right and wrong and why things are the way they are.
As a long-time fan of the Scarlet Pimpernel, both the books and the films, I liked this, it was an interesting modern reflection on the whole thing. ( )

Full review to come.

This was a quick read.
The description promises vampires, but the story is not actually about vampires all that much?
Eleanor is an English servant girl who gets caught up in the Scarlet Pimpernel’s schemes to smuggle aristocrats out of France and then with the French revolutionaries.

I was disappointed that the vampires were more of a side thing at first, but then the historical parts became great.
The English aristocrats frown on separating Marie Antoinette from her child, but the poor English people suffer the same. The league of the scarlet pimpernel appreciates Eleanor for her role, but still look down on her for being a woman and from the working class.
Eleanor herself struggles with her peasant upbringing serving a okay-ish mistress and the cruel realities of servants elsewhere. The way she balances sympathy and disgust for the French revolutionaries was very well written. Eleanor questions how much free will she has, as a servant following orders, as a young woman in a misogynist world and as an Englishwoman in France.

The rest of the book was fine. The presence of vampires and random magic made it feel confusing. In my opinion the book could have worked perfectly well as historical adventure. I mainly wondered if the league of the scarlet pimpernel actually valued Eleanor, and whether Eleanor would turn revolutionary. ( )

My review for Shelf Awareness can be found here: https://www.shelf-awareness.com/sar-issue.html?issue=1173#m21616 ( )