The Ladies of Grace Adieu

Title: The Ladies of Grace Adieu

Author: Susanne Clarke

Publication date: 2006

Book's setting: Victorian

Random facts: Accompanied by gorgeous illustrations by Charles Vess.

Plot summary: A collection of eight short stories. One of them is set in the world of her novel Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, one of them is actually set in Gaiman's Stardust universe, and all of them are ridiculous and incredibly fantasies, filled with ridiculous and incredibly Victorian ladies.

Favorite aspects: Clarke has an incredibly pure type of magic in her stories. It's no-nonsense, yet bizarre and doesn't feel the need to follow any rules. It truly is faerie magic. Also she has the ability to keep up a really stuffy, old-fashioned style without the reader getting tired of it. Each one of her stories was written in a slightly different style, which was also very impressive.
I really loved all her, I don't know, not-stereotypically-annoyingly-strong-female characters who were awesome, confidant ladies never the less. Does that make sense? Eh.

Least favorite aspects: I... don't have anything... to say here...

Other works it reminded me of: Fragile Things by Neil Gaiman; Unexpected Magic by Diana Wynne Jones.

Sadie's merciless break-down: Quite possibly, this was the most busy month of my life- and it's still not over. The copy of The Ladies of Grace Adieu we have from the library is beautiful... but it's also a massive hardcover. It doesn't fit in my pocketbook, and therefore I have been reading it in ten-page bursts before bed. Now that things have seemed to (kind of) calm down, hopefully I can get rolling with the reading again. But whatever- I'm not here to make excuses for my lapse from reading.
Fantasy and I go way back. The Ladies of Grace Adieu had a really classic, ancient, Tam-Lin sort of incredibly British magic that I love. I don't think that there is enough of that sort of magic in fantasies. It doesn't follow rules, it's mystical, almost religious in a way. Pagan, I guess. Sometimes I think modern fantasy tries too hard to be plausible and logical. Leave "plausible" to sci-fi. Fantasy should just be allowed to be outrageous.

Recommendation rate: If you enjoyed her novel than these are totally worth reading.