Confounding Oaths

Confounding Oaths (2024) Alexis Hall (Mortal Follies #2)

Set in England in 1815.

Mr. John Caesar wants his sisters’ coming outs to go well, so they can make good matches and be taken care of. But it won’t be easy, because they aren’t quite like the rest of society.

Alexis Hall comes out the gate with snark and social commentary.

Lady Mary, had been born the youngest daughter of the Earl of Elmsley but had defied the conventions of the ton by marrying a freedman of Senegalese birth whom she had met through her work with the abolition. And whereas in the enlightened twenty-first century the marriage of a British aristocrat to a Person of Colour is a wholly unremarkable thing that results in no hostility whatsoever, in the bad old days of the 1800s it caused quite a scandal.

As with the previous book, this is historical fantasy / romance, set in Napoleonic England, but with some magic thrown in.

It’s a perfect format for Alexis Hall.

Of all the Hellenes, I have always had a quiet respect for Artemis. Insult most gods and they will spin elaborate schemes of vengeance involving falling in love with your own reflection or being transformed into a spider or having your whole city burned down by men hiding inside a big wooden mammal. But sweet Artemis will usually just fucking kill you.

I mean…

Or at least as angelic as you can look if you aren’t a giant wheel of flaming eyes.

Although this book is fade to black, it isn’t shy about the existence of sex.

It was to sex what a loaf of stolen bread is to a starving man. Not strictly of the highest quality, but with a savour born of hunger and a worth weighed at least partly in the knowledge that you could be hanged for it.

Which made it that much better, as far as I am concerned.

Characters: Mr. John Caesar, Miss Caesar, Miss Anne Caesar, Miss Penworthy, Alexandre, Vicomte de Loux, Miss Mitchelmore, Mr. Thomas Ellersley, Lysistrata Bickle, Richard, Lord Hale, Major Bloodworth, Captain Orestes James, Jim Bailey, a maid of all work by the name of Nancy, Infantryman Callaghan, Lord Hawksmoor, Lady Georgiana, Mr. Saunders, Barry Barryson, George Kumar, Boy William, Jackson, Sal, Lieutenant Reyne, Amenirdis, Jim Cooper

Cover design: Regina Flath. Cover illustration: Radiante Mozzarelle

Publisher: Del Rey

Rating: 9/10

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