Newt's Emerald by Garth Nix: it's a Fantasy of Manners! I'm so happy

Newt’s Emerald 

by

 Garth Nix

              On her eighteenth birthday, Truthful, also known as Newt, is set to inherit her family’s greatest treasure: the Emerald. It is a stone bigger than a man’s fist which marginally increases a sorceress’s power. Truthful needs desperately needs the Emerald, she’s not the most capable of weather magicians without it. Unfortunately, this being a Victorian mystery with magic (I just want to make sure you heard that. Victorian mystery with magic!), the Emerald goes missing before Truthful can inherit it. Peeved at the loss of her family heirloom, Truthful heads to London and begins searching for the Emerald; while in the guise of her male cousin. Truthful's search leads her on a grand adventure all over Magical Victorian London (I’m just going to keep saying that until you lot respect how awesome it is) with sorcerers, sorceresses, parties and sailing ships. Can you tell I’m excited? Because I’m excited.

Note From the Editor: Who names their child Truthful? Or Nicknames her Newt? It seems unduly cruel; especially the nickname.

Characters

Truthful: I’m going to say it now, I really liked Truthful; but, I have to admit that her character development was a bit rushed. I see where Nix was trying to go, he was developing a rather timid gal into a more confident one. That’s great! But, the book just wasn’t long enough for such a drastic change; which isn’t fair because I enjoyed both sides of Truthful’s character. I just couldn’t quite get over the awkward about-face she experienced. If the book was just a hundred more pages or so it would have given her a decent transition from reluctant "proper" heroine to the realization that "hey, that time I took initiative turned out nicely. I should do that more often." As it was, she basically had one successful adventure that magically turned her into a confident butt-kicker. I still loved her, but I couldn’t quite let that one slide.  

Charles: Again, the book was too short! I felt like Charles was growing quite nicely from a blunt and mildly awkward person into a much more conscious fella, then the book ended! He’s still great though. He just says the wrong things all the time! I mean, they’re the truth but they always come out so horribly. Basically, he comes off as being an absentmindedly rude guy which is a lot more hilarious and endearing than it sounds. Honestly, how often do you say things before thinking about them? Of course, he has his genuine moments since that whole ‘his words take a shortcut around his brain and straight to his mouth’ leads to some ham-handed but kind compliments. I really liked Charles, even if his name is stupid.

Note From the Editor: Anyone else find it funny that Charles is always bluntly speaking truth? I mean, Truthful is the MC's name but she isn't the truthful one. Also, Charles is a fantastic name. Fight me, Kat.

You decide who's who :)

Likes

I liked the romance: It was certainly underdeveloped, but it was sweet and a tiny bit hilarious. It was played more for comedy and cutesy moments than angst and passion, which I guess is just my kind of thing. Sure there a bits where it’s a bit over the top, again played more for comedic effect and not really to be taken seriously, and there’s plenty of times where the characters really just needed to sit down for two minutes and talk to each other like adults but thankfully it didn’t last long. I don’t even really know why I like this romance. Heck! Maybe the book was just too short for me to hate it. That kind of makes sense.

The setting! in case you didn’t notice but I kind of bet you did since I mentioned a lot: Apparently, the Regency/Victorian era with magic is called a fantasy of manners. New favorite genre. Actually, it’s always been one of my favorite genres, I just didn’t have a name for it. So, thanks random Goodreads author for letting me in on this secret. It’s like Sorcery and Cecilia which is one of my favorite books. I really hope this genre gets more steam because it’s awesome.

It was just freaking enjoyable, dang it! nobody says a book has to be brilliantly crafted to be fun. In fact, I just wrote a Top Ten Tuesday about why I don’t read contemporaries. While writing the post, I thought I’d look up reasons for why people would read them (mostly out of curiosity). Invariably those lists would mention how fun the books were. That’s what these little fairytale-esque fantasy books are to me. The Enchanted Forest Chronicles, Sorcery and Cecilia, Dragon Slippers and now Newt’s Emerald: they’re just fun. They’re the kind of books that I sit down and read when I’m tired, or sad, or lonely. Those are my fluffy romantic contemporaries, because they have dragons. 

Dislikes

The climax was very rushed: Imagine that, I’m complaining about a book being too short. But it seriously was! It’s almost like it was planned to be a series of short little mysteries where each one would expand on the characters and the world (kind of like the Enchanted Forest Chronicles), but at the last-minute Garth Nix changed his mind and wrapped it up with a shoehorned climax.

I would have loved to stay in this world and learn about other kinds of magic and watch the romance grow a bit more. But no, the story just stops. The end. No sequels. Really? Is that really all? Rude sir. Very rude.

Note From the Editor: Yeah, rude. For shame, Garth Nix. 

I really enjoyed this book, pretty much to the point of being ridiculous. The book isn’t anything special. It’s just so easy to read and enjoyable with just a little bit of uniqueness that lets it stand out a bit. If you’re interested in this fantasy of manners genre then you should definitely check this book out.