At the beginning (let's say, first 15-20%) I had trouble with the writing. Something about the formal style, maybe, made me keep having to reread sentences. Not a great start. I would say that it took me until about halfway through to actually start enjoying the plot more than I was bothered by the blandness, too. This book and I just were not clicking, despite how much I wanted to love the setting and Yvienne's nighttime adventures.

I think, and it's hard to say because of how much I slogged through it, that the book needed to be longer. The things that were interesting — Yvienne becoming the Gentleman Bandit, her search for answers to the downfall of her family — felt too shallow. We didn't see enough of these things that could have been really exciting. I can hardly even say what we were seeing instead of these things. Endless identical scenes of the Mederos family being stressed and grumpy, I guess?

There were some genuinely exciting moments, and (a very few) times the book surprised me about where it took the plot. I didn't expect the answer of what happened to House Mederos, although I obviously called who the bad guy was, because it was so blindingly obvious I assumed it was information we just started with? So the fact that Yvienne didn't know was just... really weird?

But all too often the book just tried to cash in on concepts it hadn't developed enough to deserve. Tesara's struggle to regain her magic and control it has a few moments of "Oh! I get it now!" and very little else. This is important to her character? It should have been proved.

Even her relationship with the two friends she makes at merchant parties, which I actually really liked (Girls being friends? Actually very common in this book, despite the snide background characters! And there wasn't a forced romance for either sister, which flat out amazed me), got sort of dropped off without resolution at the end of the book. Would have loved to see their reaction to the sisters figuring out the mystery, or how Tesara's almost-engagement turns out, or what Yvienne ends up doing about feeling trapped in a gilded cage. The ending almost tricked me because I was enjoying it so much more by that point, but it was still too abrupt. Nothing in this book was fully, purely good.

The Sisters Mederos thinks it's a lot more badass than it is. And it's a shame, because with more development it could have actually gotten there. Just one question: how can you have a fallen merchant girl disguise herself as a dashing robber during the night and barely focus on it??

Well, things that I really liked:

The sisters are very different people, and strongly written. I mean, they can both be headstrong, stubborn, and foolish, and both do very silly things. They’re different kinds of silly things.

The girls keep secrets from each other, but their narration drops little titbits which the other sister really, really needs to know. Frustrating, but I liked it.

Oh, also the fact that Yvianne managed to have a major part of her story happen off stage, and I didn’t guess! (That whole thing about the *spoiler* and the *spoiler*! And I was a bit miffed at her for not going to *spoiler* street earlier!)

No romance! I mean, one character is having a crush, and admits it to herself. However, the ultimate goal of the story of not romance, but revenge!

Similarly, even though there is magic, the story doesn’t focus on the magic. It’s rather refreshing, if a little strange at first.

Magic and danger as addictions was pretty great too. The whole “I can stop if I want to” though we know that they can’t! Rug roh!

There was also hints of LGBT within the world building. Girls crushing on girls, and the comment that “every man will be in love with you. All the women too”. I especially liked the sparks between Tesera and Mrs Fayres, the woman who happens to be the mistress of the man her uncle wants her to marry, and the woman who happens to wear gentlemen’s clothes in the midst of society. Yassss!

A charming fantasy of manners, however......

It feels like half a book. There are so many things unresolved that the ending feels abrupt. I’m assuming that there will be a sequel, but I would have liked a bit of a tease, kind of a “recap and renew” from the sisters.
Also...I apologise, but a story about young women and a Merchant family fallen on hard times? I couldn’t help but wait for a misunderstood Beast character. Sigh. Still, these girls are being their own heroes.


Arc received from Netgallery in exchange for honest review

The Sisters Mederos has an interesting premise, which is what prompted me to request it on NetGalley. Overall, the idea does work. I liked the characters of Yvienne and Tesera, and the world building for the world of Port Saint Frey was good. However, there were a few things that let down the story for me. Tesara's magic is never fully explained, and although it is introduced as a major plot point, it ends up having very little bearing on the story. Meanwhile, after a long build-up, I was disappointed with the ease and swiftness of the tale's resolution. Nonetheless, there is plenty of swashbuckling action and enjoyable games of manners, so if you enjoy those things, coupled with two strong female leads, you are bound to find something to appreciate in this book. I did also like the fact that Sarath didn't feel she had to concentrate on a romance angle, and showed the sisters able to act without boys/men being the be all and end all. 3.5 stars.

An action packed book with some badass sisters who will stop at nothing to protect their families honor.

I went into this somewhat hesitantly; "wealthy merchant house has a great fall, daughters seek revenge" isn't, to me, the most instantly promising premise.

In the event, I liked it. The daughters are skilled and determined; they take a lot of risks, but that's a thing that real young people do, and they carry it off. They're willing to brave a lot in order to unwind the mystery and gain their vengeance, though, in the event, the specific ways in which they invest most of their effort (gaining money from their former peers both by winning money at gambling and by robbing them at the point of never-adequately-accounted-for guns) don't turn out to be important to the plot's resolution. When the resolution does come, it comes somewhat abruptly and thoroughly.

The question of who can be trusted and who is on their side is prominent throughout, and the answers change a lot, sometimes suddenly and without much preparation, at other times with some foreshadowing. Although the sisters do keep some secrets from each other, at least for a while, the plot doesn't rely on this to create conflict, and they mostly confide in each other and work together.

On the whole, I felt the plot and characterization were competent and well handled, and the tension was maintained well. It isn't my new favorite, but it's a decent effort.

The Sisters Mederos by Patrice Sarath is a great adventure. Set in an alternate 18th century, the story tells of how Yvienne and Tesara Mederos set off to get revenge and clear their disgraced family name. Once the Mederos family was the top of the wealthiest merchants in Port Saint Frey, but one night when Tesara was ten, disaster stuck and their fleet of ships sank to the bottom of the sea during a thunderstorm and now they are poor and in disgrace forever, or so the story goes.
Six years later, Yvienne and Tesara still didn’t believe it and think something must have happened. Tesara, armed with her mother’s old pink gown and her cards shark skills she learned from her uncle, goes to steal from the rich to start a new nest egg for the family. Once padded then they can get a loan to start their fleet over again. Her older sister Yvienne takes a different route, dressing up in a black suit and armed with two pistols she becomes the masked bandit and robs her former friends at gunpoint. But that’s not all that Yvienne has in mind, she calls out the rotten to the core Merchant Guild in the newspapers and sets off a chain of events that starts with murder but it doesn’t end there. Why is the family Mederos being spied on by the Merchant Guild, are they in danger? Is it the new head of the guild Mr. Trune who has taken over their family home or something else going on? Did anyone discover Tesara’s power to control the wind and waves despite having a crippled hand? The book is a lovely one and has great adventures throughout. I would love to see another adventure in the fabulous world of the Mederos sisters

"The Sisters Mederos" is a dashing cloak & dagger / fantasy of manners novel about the eponymous Mederos sisters who are seeking revenge after their family fell from grace.

The story is told from the switching perspectives of the two sisters and there are some flashbacks - which were not my favourites, mostly because they were difficult to distinguish from the rest of the story. But I quite liked the writing, even though there were some strange colloquialisms here and there, that didn't really match the setting, but overall the language is fitting and works well for the novel. It's mostly unobtrusive so the story itself was in the foreground. And that story was quite good. It started out rather slowly but once the pace picks up it's pretty captivating even though there weren't many surprises or plot twists.

I didn't connect with Tesara at all. Even though the book starts from her perspective, for the first half of the book she was just a distant, one dimensional figure and I couldn't bring myself to care about her. That changed a bit over the course of the book and she became a bit more tangible but by then I just couldn't be bothered. Yvienne however is an entirely different story, I liked here almost immediately, even though I first thought that she would be stuck up and annoying - thanks to her sister's pov. But then the perspective switched and she turned out to be awesome. Sure, there were also some things I didn't like about her, but they were minor and overall she was an amazing, kick-ass heroine. And she just seemed way more mature than her sister, who often appeared to be quite childish.

Still, all in all I really enjoyed "The Sisters Mederos" - their adventure is a solidly told tale of revenge, robbery and magic with some flaws but also a lot of awesomeness.

I enjoyed the premise for this book but the pacing was off, it was difficult to get through the book as it seemed like a chore. I'm a sucker for historical fiction though especially Victorian era stuff so I'd still recommend it.

I really liked the narrative, the characters, the writing of this book but man did I find the pacing sluggish at times. There's a whole bit where the elder sister becomes a governess as a cover and the head of the household tries to take advantage of her and that goes nowhere. There's a bit where the two sisters both in their heads acknowledge that they're addicted to danger and that they can't stop but then the mystery (which is ignored for most of the book) resolves and then they just head back into society? This book felt 600 pages long in not the best way. Saying that though I would still recommend it because I thoroughly enjoyed the writing and the characters, well the sisters, the parents and uncle are very one-dimensional to the point of painful at times.... I really don't sound like I liked this book do I?