I re-read Patricia C. Wrede and Caroline Stevermer’s The Grand Tour because the third book, The Mislaid Magician, is out but I didn’t have enough functioning brain cells to read anything new and didn’t remember anything that happened in this book.
My initial reaction was that the plot wasn’t very surprising; now I just think there wasn’t that much of it. Since we’re getting one set of events told two different ways instead of two sets separated in place, as in the first book, this makes sense, but I still regret it. Also, Cecilia gets kind of short shrift, since she’s only writing a narrative for evidentiary purposes while Kate is keeping a diary: we get to know a lot less about her.
Finally, I have a shameful confession to make: I am incapable of remembering which name goes with which major male character. In the first book, I didn’t have to remember: one was with Kate, one was with Cecy, and the two didn’t appear together. But now they’re all traveling together, and every time they show up I have to stop and remember which of them is married to Kate or to Cecy. “James” and “Thomas” don’t look alike as words, so I really don’t understand what my problem is.
Still a fun book, but I admit I have somewhat high hopes of the third, which is apparently a return to a letter format.
LOL! I had the same problem with the husbands’ names, and felt like a rotten male chauvinist insensitive pig for it. I feel much better now…
I think you’re only a rotten male chauvinist insensitive pig if you forget the _women’s_ names.