I’ve never read Baroness Orczy’s original tales of the Scarlet Pimpernel. In fact, everything I know about the character comes from an episode of the third series of Blackadder. I’m kind of glad that I came to Genevieve Cogman’s Scarlet knowing very little about the Orczy’s stories; I can’t fret about how faithful Cogman is to the character and the story, or search for extra originality to distinguish this retelling from the original. I stay away from most books about characters or historical figures I know a lot about for these reasons. Also, this way I won’t get thrown for a loop when the vampires show up.
After a brief prologue introducing us to the violence of the French Revolution and the Reign of Terror (with a vampire), the novel settles on English maid Eleanor Dalton. Eleanor wants very much to escape her dull life working for a vampire aristocrat in the English countryside. She dreams of becoming a modiste in London. She also very much wants to get away from the man who is courting her before someone badgers her into marrying him. When the chance to leave arrives, Eleanor leaps to take it. When she learns exactly why she’s been summoned to London, Eleanor is very much surprised: she bears an uncanny resemblance to the imprisoned French queen. Oh, and her new employer is the Scarlet Pimpernel.
I loved how quickly Cogman whisked us through Eleanor’s training for her mission to drop us in France. Even more, I loved how Eleanor is tested when so many of the Pimpernel’s plans gang agley. Any mistake could send her to prison or the guillotine. Anyone she meets could be an informant, a revolutionary, or a member of the ancien regime in hiding. For a young woman raised in service in the country, Eleanor is incredibly gifted at strategic thinking, and she and the men of the League of the Scarlet Pimpernel save each other more than once.
This book was full of swashbuckling fun that sets us up for the rest of an exciting series.