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Willful Impropriety: 13 Tales Of Society, Scandal And Romance (2012)

by Ekaterina Sedia(Favorite Author)

3.4 of 5 Votes: 2

ISBN

0762444304 (ISBN13: 9780762444304)

languge

English

genre

Romance

publisher

Running Press

review 1: Not at all what I expected, in the very best of ways! Wonderful stories (only one I didn't particularly enjoy, and even that wasn't actually bad, just not to my taste) and all wonderfully subversive in terms of gender and sexuality. It reminded me a little of the Tamora Pierce edited anthology Young Warriors, except that what those stories did with race, these did with sexuality/gender. Clever, well written pieces that work very well in this collection. Marvellous stuff, highly recommended!
review 2: I'm never any good at giving ratings to anthologies, and found this one harder than normal, as it didn't live up to expectations overall. There were a few good stories, a few I thought much less than good, but my favourite was Stephanie Burgis' story, "The Unladyli... moreke Education of Agatha Tremain". Not just because I expected to, given how much I've enjoyed everything else she's written. It was short and sweet, and it took a while for me to figure out what I thought was great about it. Part of it was that it showed how hard Agatha had had to struggle in order to be allowed to study magic, and how completely all that was taken away from her. More though, was the fact that the subversiveness that was the heart of the whole anthology allowed for more than just Agatha's living a fulfilling life herself. (Not, of course, that I have anything against stories that show characters doing just that.) Agatha's personal misery, had she not been able to escape it, would also have required that the misery be passed on down to the next generation female. I really, really liked this, because it fits in with the idea that striving to be happy oneself is essentially an unselfish act; freeing oneself necessarily leaves one with more to give to others, not less. The romance wasn't very developed, but I was fine with that, as the romantic partner showed Agatha that magic itself was infinitely more than she'd ever been taught - I'd consider that made for a keeper too. less

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