The Notorious Virtues is probably the most promising new fantasy series starter novel I’ve read yet this year. It hooks you quickly with an engaging start, becomes a touch patchy for just a tiny bit, but then it takes off and I was having such a fun time reading this book I didn’t stop until far after I usually stop ARC reading for the day and picked it up again much sooner than I usually do this morning because I was eager to find out how it ended. Now I’ve got that familiar feeling: I need the next book right now. 

Had I known before I opened this book that it took place in a 1930s-ish setting, I would’ve been even more eager to read it. Had I known about the “My Girl Friday”-esque banter between former heiress-to-be Nora Holtzfall and reporter August Wolffe, I would’ve been so excited. Had I known about the awful nuns I would’ve been so happy to get to this book. And had I known just how seriously author Alwyn Hamilton was going to take the bourgeois versus proletariat debate in this book I certainly wouldn’t have just picked this book up before the others because of the page count. All of that, combined with the worldbuilding, makes this book an irresistible treat. 4⭐️

I was provided a copy of this title by the author and publisher via Netgalley. All thoughts, opinions, views, and ideas expressed herein are mine and mine alone. Thank you.

File Under: Book Series/Fantasy/Fantasy Series/Political Fantasy/Thriller/Urban Fantasy/YA Book Series/YA Fantasy/YA Fiction