Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Let me just rest for a second, and try to find my breath before I explain the reasons this is such a great book.
Felicity Montague wants nothing more to be trained as a doctor. Like literally, that's it. And it's denied her because of her sex. In her desperation to know about the world, Felicity makes a risky bargain with a pirate and heads off on a quest to obtain the one thing she's told she can't have: a place in a world among men.
"You're trying to play a game designed by men. You'll never win, because the deck is stacked and marked, and also you've been blindfolded and set on fire. You can work hard and believe in yourself and be the smartest person in the room and you'll still get beat by the boys who haven't two cents to rub together."
The Patriarchy
So, this is interesting because most of the books I read that I would consider to have feminist messages are modern, so I understand more or less the view and expectations of women. This is a feminist novel that takes place in the 18th century, so there had to be a balance between the historical accuracy of what the societal role of a woman was and the conventional view of that role versus making Felicity a BA feminist. I think this was achieved. Mackenzi Lee even mentions in the Author's Note that many people have the assumption that just because women were repressed in the 1700's that means they also accepted their societal role without question. This is not the case, and I like the exploration of rebellious women in this novel. The patriarchal scenes were absolutely infuriating, but that contextualization was really important to understand how brave and important Felicity's defiance really is.
In the company of women like this--sharp-edged as raw diamonds but with soft hands and hearts, not strong in spite of anything but powerful because of everything--I feel invincible.
Girls Supporting Girls
This is absolutely one of my favorite aspects of the way feminism is presented in this book. You've got three female characters, who express their strength and individuality in completely different ways, and support each other despite those differences. Felicity's our middle ground: a girl who dresses plainly and is super ambitious and wants to join a career field made up entirely of men, and persists despite setbacks. She has a sense of self-righteousness throughout the novel, the kind of "I'm different than other girls" mindset that is set right by the end. Then you have Sim, who is smart and intimidating and quiet, who Felicity originally judges as dangerous because of her lack of femininity. And finally, sweet, wonderful Johanna, who Felicity believes cannot possibly be a proponent for women's independence because she loves femininity. One of the most memorable parts of the book is when Johanna and Felicity sit and talk about where their friendship went wrong, and Johanna calls Felicity out for thinking she's frilly and silly just because she enjoys wearing dresses. Felicity has to face her own egotism and realize that her brand of feminism is not the only valid one out there. And by the end of the book, they're all supportive and friends and it's just something really beautiful, if a bit idealistic.
You deserve to be here. You deserve to exist. You deserve to take up space in this world of men.
Felicity's Self-Worth
I think this is an important book for girls to read because of Felicity's character development. From the beginning of the novel she's strong-willed and persistent, but she really gets to know herself throughout the book and comes to understand what she wants in life. She's not unrealistically tenacious; she still doubts herself throughout the book because of the patriarchal society she's been raised in. But by the end, she decides that if she can't win the game, she'll change the rules. If she can't fit into the doctor mold that's required in conventional hospitals and universities, she'll have to branch out. She steps outside her comfort-zone at the same time as she finally gets to do the one thing she's most comfortable and happy doing: discovering the world.
I don't give this book the full five stars because it just didn't hold my attention like the first one did. I think it's because the story is not completely original. It's essentially the same plot as the first book, but replace some character names, the names of the cities they stop in, and the supernatural aspect. I just felt the plot was too similar to Book 1, so I wasn't as impressed the second time around. One other thing I want to mention is that some of the writing is confusing at times. I love the quotes in the book (obviously, because I include like 5 in one review), so I can see how much emotion the author writes with. But sometimes it just goes a bit too far, and comprehensibility is lost in an attempt to be artistic.
This is such a good feminist book for people to read, not in spite of the fact that it's set in the 18th century but because of it. In the first book, we got the perspective of being LGBT in that setting, and now it's the perspective of being an ambitious woman in the same time period. The characters are brilliant, and there are so many beautiful precious moments in this book. It makes me not want to forget the opportunities I'm afforded as a woman in the 21st century (acknowledging that breaking down barriers that never should have existed in the first place shouldn't have to be an accomplishment). THANK YOU MACKENZI LEE for this book.
Everyone has heard stories of woman like us, and now we will make more of them.
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