James Falconer is everything you would want in a grandson. Ambitions, hard-working, intelligent, and sensible. He intends to fulfill his legacy, helping his father in his market stall. But James wants to be the boss. When he is discovered by the head of the market, Henry Malvern, he's on his way to reaching his goals.
Alexis Malvern, Henry's daughter, is the heir to his fortune. She is also intelligent and hardworking. She has no interest in getting married, for in Victorian London her fortune would then belong to her husband. She is perfectly happy working for her father and being a businesswoman.
We follow the stories of these two for most of the book. It isn't too obvious how their stories will come together, but they eventually do. There is a lot of introduction to the characters and families, beginning with James' grandparents, who are successful, but not nobility, and have had a great influence on all of their children and grandchildren. It is all very interesting and didn't bore me at all. The descriptions of the people, surroundings, activities, and clothing were all quite enjoyable. The book blurb says Master of His Fate is "intricately detailed" and that is entirely accurate. What I had a problem with is the mention of seemingly unimportant details like his turning off the light and locking the door when he left. I thought maybe we got this information because someone was going to try to break in later? But no, just extraneous information that I found annoying. These types of descriptions happen throughout the book.
Master of His Fate is still a very interesting story, and I enjoyed it very much. I am invested in what is going to happen and will probably someday read the following books in The House of Falconer. Just be aware that when the description says "detailed," it is an accurate description!
Published by St. Martin's, November 20, 2018
eARC obtained from Edelweiss
416 pages
Rating: 4/5
I also find it annoying when there are details that are just extra and detract from the story.
ReplyDelete