Book Review for the Notorious Virtues by Alwyn Hamilton

I received a free e-galley/ARC in exchange for an honest review.

My Rating: 3.5

CW’s: mentions of death and murder, loss of a parent, violence, murder attempts, toxic family dynamics,

So, off the bat, this wasn’t a bad book. There was something whimsical about it. I like the setting, the magic system, and how the book began. I will note that the format this was sent to me in what disjointed and badly formatted. But I don’t really plan to hold that against the book or the author.

Hionora (Nora) was flawed from the jumped. But in a realistic way. She’s a teenage girl who has just lost her mother to murder. But aside from that, a teenage girl raised in wealth and affluence. It makes sense that she’s a bit of a brat, smug, and spoiled. That is literally was she is built to be. Lotte is the opposite, because she isn’t raised in that same environment. I think Hamilton did a really good job here of having her characters (including Knight Theo) be realistic to the world and situation they grew up in.

The world feels realistic too. The magic system is unique and I liked the idea of “Knights” becoming body guards in this urban fantasy type world. But as the book fleshes out, there are some realistic portrayals of how women are treated. Exploitation still exists. And I think that’s realistic and handled well. I do think there is some lacking in the development of why this world isn’t ours but has many of the same turns of phrase (”damsel in distress” and “fairy takes” are two that come to mind). But I think I can allow for some wiggle room on that.

I will admit, I was a little disappointed Lotte was Nora’s cousin. I think this concept would’ve been great as an opposites attract/Romona and Juliet kind of deal. Like a sapphic star crossed lover story with a really cool magic system.

I think the development of the “trials” plot was pretty okay. It took a bit to get started, I think the author wanted to develop the characters and create a baseline for who would be competing and the history behind it with the folktales/fairytales.

I think the author did a good job of establishing the world building AND the characters’ motivations at the same time. She did an amazing job of building and fleshing out the mythology while making the motivations of the characters work. Each of the characters had qualities to them that were still redeeming, their motivations made sense with how they were raised and their characterizations. It felt consistent throughout the book.

The build up of the plot, the mystery, and the central climax was pretty good. I like the way the relationships developed. Both the familial ones and the romantic ones. I think the author did a pretty good job of building those outs and fleshing them into a developed relationship. The complex motivations involved in those relationships were well done.

I think the way the plot and mystery worked out was good too, not super shocking series of twists, but relatively good.