beer good
Well-Known Member
Victoria's life isn't simple. Not only did she just turn 18, and is trying to get out from the control of her mother and her mother's advisor, but she has to win the heart of that cute prince Albert from next-door (well, Germany) - and in the middle of this, she just became queen and ruler of the entire British empire. Oh, and King Leopold of Belgium is a demon lord who's heading a conspiracy of demon half-breeds, werewolves, zombies and succubi trying to take over all of Europe, and it's up to Victoria to fight them.
It is, of course, not a coincidence that this comes out so soon after the success of Pride And Prejudice And Zombies. Very soon afterwards. So soon afterwards that the publisher hasn't even had time to proof-read it. In fact, if it had as many successful jokes as it had mistakes, it would be... still an obvious attempt at cashing in on a trend, but at least a reasonably funny one. The idea of Queen Victoria as a vampire sla... sorry, demon hunter is potentially funny. And of course, P&P&Z worked pretty well.
As it is, though, they apparently didn't have time to put the jokes in. Yes, the entire premise is silly but has potential for some plain historical comedy - sort of a biography of the early days of Victoria written on crack. But it's not funny. In 375 pages, Moorat manages to make me smile exactly twice: when it turns out the queen's bodyguards are called Hudson, Hicks and Vasquez, and when Lucio Fulci makes a cameo as a member of the House of Lords. That's about as fun as it gets: some characters have names that remind you of other (better) works. The rest is just a plot nicked wholesale from season 1 of Buffy except without the snappy dialogue or well-rounded characters, with absolutely no suspense, and written in a prose that tries hard to sound Victorian and just ends up sounding like... well, bad Victorian prose with added profanity for no particular reason.
It is, of course, not a coincidence that this comes out so soon after the success of Pride And Prejudice And Zombies. Very soon afterwards. So soon afterwards that the publisher hasn't even had time to proof-read it. In fact, if it had as many successful jokes as it had mistakes, it would be... still an obvious attempt at cashing in on a trend, but at least a reasonably funny one. The idea of Queen Victoria as a vampire sla... sorry, demon hunter is potentially funny. And of course, P&P&Z worked pretty well.
As it is, though, they apparently didn't have time to put the jokes in. Yes, the entire premise is silly but has potential for some plain historical comedy - sort of a biography of the early days of Victoria written on crack. But it's not funny. In 375 pages, Moorat manages to make me smile exactly twice: when it turns out the queen's bodyguards are called Hudson, Hicks and Vasquez, and when Lucio Fulci makes a cameo as a member of the House of Lords. That's about as fun as it gets: some characters have names that remind you of other (better) works. The rest is just a plot nicked wholesale from season 1 of Buffy except without the snappy dialogue or well-rounded characters, with absolutely no suspense, and written in a prose that tries hard to sound Victorian and just ends up sounding like... well, bad Victorian prose with added profanity for no particular reason.