It's Yuletide season, so time to discover new books via fandom promos and random tagset browsing! Full disclosure, this is the first in a trilogy, so some of the things I criticize might be addressed in future books; the rec said that book one is satisfying on its own and would be plenty to use as a basis for writing fanfic about, so that's as far as I've read.
In 1895, Leda Cassidy travels from Scotland to Singapore to serve as a companion to a young lady whose mother and siblings have recently died. Unfortunately, the house is haunted. Fortunately, Miss Cassidy came prepared.
Singapore in the 1890s is a vibrant mix of people and cultures--Malay, Chinese, Indian, British; Catholic, Taoist, Hindu, and Buddhist. It's a time of change, on the cusp of modernization; secret societies run extortion rackets, and families debate whether it would be beneficial to a daughter's future to bind her feet. A lot of the charm comes from the evocation of what, to me, was an unfamiliar and compelling setting. There's even a great Chekhov's gun on the etymology of the name "Singapore" (which means "Lion City.")
“And since their father has insisted the girls must meet their suitors, I cannot pick a man who is ugly, or fat, or has pockmarks, or any of these things,” she concluded in disgust. “They would simply refuse. At their age, they are still foolish; they want a handsome husband. Ah, I wish all brides could be like Mui Ee—she was easy. ‘Find me a husband who is patient and will not beat me,’ she said, ‘and the rest can be dealt with.’”
Miss Cassidy had to admit, Mui Ee’s criteria summed things up rather sensibly. It was striking how many men failed to fulfil those basic requirements, in Miss Cassidy’s experience.
She had not appeared to materially change anything in that bare little accommodation, yet it had seemed brighter for her presence in some indefinable way. Of course, if he asked the womenfolk, they would have pointed out that Miss Cassidy had cleared the yard of weeds and rubbish, swept the floor, put in fresh sheets, and polished the window-grilles and fixtures till they shone, so wha he thought of as a mysterious aura of crisp goodwill was merely the result of efficient housekeeping.
At first, I got the impression that Miss Cassidy was kind of a Mary Poppins-type character. She's seen a lot of strange things, to the point where it makes her unflappable, but she's basically looking for a decent job like any other forty-ish Scotswoman. When she just happens to have useful salt or iron on hand, my reaction was: "okay, at some point, we'll learn more about her backstory and what she went through to make her realize the value of these tools." But gradually, it's revealed that she's
way older, and more powerful, than she looks. We get some teasing hints of "her showing up at this haunted house wasn't just a coincidence, someone else was pulling the strings and needed her help," but not enough about Miss Cassidy's own motivations. At her age, what's in it for her?
Then she meets a Chinese widower, and "Nobody else had such an effect on her, from demons and shamans to goddesses and ghosts; only this mere mortal man had such an astounding ability to continually stagger her." Okay, I'll suspend my disbelief; true love is always mysterious, no matter who you are. But Miss Cassidy's vastly different perspective means she can come off as sort of condescending towards ordinary humans: "if you want to celebrate the birth of your deity on December 25th, that's cute, I approve of festivities and merriment with family." This is maybe just something I'm unusually sensitive towards, but it doesn't feel like a recipe for a mutually loving, respectful relationship.
Almost the entire book is from Miss Cassidy's POV, but there are a couple jumps into other characters' perspectives. I think it would have been stronger if it was either in the same POV throughout, or there was more purposeful, consistent, "let's get outsider POV on the mysterious stranger in town." Instead it felt like kind of hamfisted "oh, we need to introduce this other character who Miss Cassidy hasn't met yet."
There are a couple big character developments that happen offscreen that I wanted more of. There are twins considering getting married, and slowly realizing that they'll have to live apart for the first time (unless they marry a pair of brothers...) But then there's a bit of a timeskip, and they wind up marrying unrelated people. I wanted more about that. Another character goes from being a practicing Catholic to marrying an Anglican curate. What happened there?
It's a fast read, but I'd have preferred it to be a little slower and answer more of the questions it raises.
Bingo: Book in Parts, Gods and Pantheons, Author of Color, Stranger in a Strange Land.
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kaberett
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