Review: The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue

The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue by Mackenzi Lee
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Silly me, I thought this was Mackenzi Lee's debut novel. Actually, no, it's not...but now I want to read her first book, and all her others after The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue dazzled me.

I've been waiting a while to read this one, and in that time, I've seen a fairly polarized string of reactions from my Goodreads and Twitter mutuals. Depending on who you ask, this book is either a fun romp or brought down by an annoying protagonist. After reading it, as expected, I've found myself falling somewhere in the middle of that spread of opinions...but definitely leaning more towards positive. Not 100% glowing, but it's a pretty good book all the same.

I think the two biggest points against Gentleman's Guide, for me, are its length - almost 500 pages, with a lot of slow-paced stretches throughout, punctuated by bursts of action for texture - and, hell, Monty himself. Though I love that he gives us some much-needed bi rep (whoo hoo!), his personality actually takes a hell of a lot of getting used to. Not so much his frequent giving in to his vices (gambling, though that's more of an informed attribute than anything else, and of course drinking and sex), but his way of treating those he loves selfishly. He even makes a few microaggressions towards his best friend and crush, Percy - and it's hard to say whether or not they're bigger slaps to poor Percy's face than the rampant racism he faces on the course of this Grand Tour.

Then again, though, that was probably the point: Monty realizing just how privileged he is (his bisexuality notwithstanding), and coming to terms with it. It's one of many heavy themes this book boasts.

In between the character interactions (most of which are surprisingly sweet even as they tend to highlight Monty's flaws), this book takes on a surprising bit of light adventure and historical fantasy, which I really didn't see coming as well as I should have. Certainly not the presence of a sorta proto-steampunk-clockpunk-biopunk MacGuffin that actually makes me wonder if Lee ever watched Alias, because it sounds like it could've easily been another lost Rambaldi device. As for the Grand Tour itself, that device quickly causes a few detours - so, even after the first third or so of the book goes through France, we then get to go to Barcelona (and I'm happy to see the Catalan language get some time in the spotlight when it so rarely does), across the sea to Venice, and finally to Santorini...all in the map at the start of the book, with those funny notes Monty adds in, though I was a bit disappointed that the narrative spends less time in each location as the story goes on.

Overall, Gentleman's Guide is a wonderfully diverse piece of historical fiction, one of the few in YA I've read and really enjoyed. I can't wait to read the next Guide book - centered on Felicity, if I'm not mistaken. Which will be quite the sight to see, given that Felicity is the smartest - if not the smart-assest - character Lee's graced us with thus far.

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