Flibbertigibbet

Book Review: Masque of the Black Tulip

I finished reading The Masque of the Black Tulip today. This is the sequel to The Secret History of the Pink Carnation, which you will recall I enjoyed for its giddy, romantic adventuresomeness. (Is that a word?)

I was excited about this second book because I was really hoping that some of the problems from the first book would be corrected. I wasn't completely disappointed. This book did have a reference to a dark mound of curly hair between a certain female's legs, which I read aloud to Mister Bookworm last night. He's so cute when he's horrified.

In this book, we delve deeper (no pun intended) into two supporting characters from the first novel. They aren't nearly as colorful as the previous hero and heroine, but they are fun. The conflict is a bit more well-developed, but the plot did seem to revolve more heavily around the romance and less about the intrigue. This undoubtedly appeals to the main demographic to which these books seem to be striving to appeal, namely women.

I was particularly happy to seen The Pink Carnation in action again with a little more detail. I kind of love her, so I hope she appears in another novel.

The "live" romance of Eloise and Colin continues in this latest book and it is even more distracting than it was in the first book. Eloise is annoying and banal. I want a big rock to fall on her and Colin, perhaps a moment before he confesses his love for her. I just don't go in for all this emotional distress some people have over romance. Eloise's adolescent preoccupation with looking silly in front of people is ironic given how silly she admits to being. But not the fun kind of irony.

The identity of the Black Tulip is obvious from the introduction of the character. There is one surprise at the very end that I probably should have predicted, but didn't. It's not all that shocking to me, really. I kind of hope that Lord Vaughn appears again.

I'm going to take a break from this series of books before picking up the third one, but I will still call these worthwhile reads. It's imperfect and the modern sort of personal philosophy that the author has is glaring at points, but the overall sense of life is one of childlike joy.