This was a significantly higher three than its predecessor, which only goes to show the lack of nuance in the goodreads rating system. I want a rubric.
Anyway, part of the reason is that the plot of this novel is eminently more suited to the book that inspired it than the first novel was to Persuasion. There’s a horrifying revolution, there’s a spy, everyone needs their heads knocked together...sounds like an excellent retelling of The Scarlet Pimpernel.
And Peterfreund mostly delivers. The gender swap was delightful, the completely different direction from her previous book was appreciated and yet there are two more significant issues that both books share.
The first is world building versus window dressing. Why are, historically, women not allowed to hold power on one island but not on the other?
Because plot! Why does the amazing technology turn inward instead out also out? Plot! Why is there an aristocracy? Plot!
Like, yes, there has to be to have 19th century retellings, but at least GESTURE in the story towards explaining the development. You gave history for the other developments, you explained why we’re on this deserted island. There are more examples, but this basically gets the point across. World building should’ve feel deep, not like it just exists to give color to the story.
The second problem...this book is better about slavery, but still has serious issues in the way it doesn’t think about disability. Like, yes, it clears the very low bar of “the people intentionally disabling others and turning them into slaves are bad”. But it assumes that mental/developmental disabilities are the worst thing that could ever happen to people and tends to treat those with disabilities as objects of pity, scorn, or utility rather than as subjects in their own right and it’s just very uncomfortable. Again, it’s a level of thought that implies window dressing and not real and thoughtful world building.