One thing with the author's Invisible Library series is that as a reader you need to suspend your disbelief and just enjoy the ride! This new book is no different.

I have always loved the story of The Scarlet Pimpernel and have always been interested in the French Revolution and any stories from that period in history, so I was intrigued to see this pop up. But aristocratic vampires? I wasn't too sure about that as I have never been a fan of the whole trend of vampire books and movies. However, the whole thing is so cleverly and humourously done that it didn't put off my enjoyment of the story and characters and look forward to seeing where she takes this new series.

I have often taken issue with books that try and blend the historical and the fantastical where the deaths/lives of actual historical figures were involved. In Scarlet, Genevieve Cogman neatly sidesteps this common issue by choosing instead to reimagine another work of fiction that explored historical events - with that in mind I familiarised myself with the basic storyline of that old work before jumping right into this wild adventure.
I think the tone of this book is what was particularly of interest to me - because on the one hand Cogman is writing about a very turbulent and dark time in the history of France and of Europe as a whole (dare I say the world?). And yet I couldn't shake the feeling that this was fun, this is an adventure, the aristocrats are vampires. Perhaps it says more about my sense of humour that I found that a hilarious rather than a terrifying premise? But I think whichever way you read this story, as a fun romp or as a spooky vampire filled adventure you would still have a good time because of the clever way in which Cogman fashions this book.
Nellie, our main character, was incredibly enjoyable to read, I appreciated her growth throughout the story and I'm very excited to see where she ends up as the plots unfold further. So often characters like this can feel like they are just being swept along in a wider narrative but you definitely got the sense of her wrenching back control over aspects of her life as the book went on.
Overall I thought this was an incredibly strong start to a series and I am left feeling very excited for subsequent books - particularly since the issues at hand are only going to compound as the story continues. I am particularly interested in seeing where the conversations around class and wealth go to as that was something I felt was not delved into deep enough in this book (but to be fair the characters had a LOT of other things going on and I think if I were being chased by vampires and/or revolutionaries I wouldn't stop to debate these things either).
I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley, all opinions are my own.

Oh dear. This didn't work for me AT ALL. I'm a big fan of Baroness Orczy's Scarlet Pimpernel novels, flawed though they are. They're a nice bit of whimsy and escapism, just silly and frothy enough to be a light comfort read. Genevieve Cogman's addition is Eleanor, a young servant with a strong enough resemblance to Marie Antionette to make her central to a League plot to rescue the imprisoned queen and her children. So far, so Pimpernel. She makes makes an admirable but unconvincing stab at bringing a little more reality to them by considering the French Revolution trough the eyes of a lower-class woman with more in common with many the sans-culottes than the nobles she has served all her life or her new allies in the League. The problem is that's it's all very fragmented and repetitive as Eleanor wavers between railing at the luxury of the wealthy, landed classes and befriending the aristocratic League. Her tepid romance has no power or chemistry and there are several points where the fashions described are not historical and the noble titles are used incorrectly.

The vampires and sorcerers just make things worse. They are poorly integrated into the world-building and for long stretches of the story have no impact on the the narrative and "Anima" is a dreadful Deus ex machina. The story could have been better as a straight addition to the Scarlet Pimpernel canon without the supernatural elements or as an urban fantasy piece set during the French Revolution without the trappings of the Pimpernel.

DNF.

I just didn't click with the author's style, which is very tell-don't-show and loose, with so. many. ellipses.

I found the characters all quite flat and the story railroaded by the tale it is retelling. I had high hopes for a fun historical take with added vampires, and maybe I'm coming from a place of ignorance since I am not wholly familiar with The Scarlet Pimpernel, but this strikes me as a story that should be able to stand on its own merit. I frankly couldn't see a reason that vampires existed in this world other than for the sake of it, which was a shame, as its an interesting concept that could be explored in so many ways. Maybe more is revealed later than I managed to get through.

I hate being negative, but sadly this just wasn't for me.

I enjoyed this more than I expected to. The premise is that the Scarlet Pimpernel is rescuing aristocrats and sanguinocrats (vampires) from Revolutionary France and recruits a maid, who apparently looks startling familiar. So far so mildly-entertaining tale of derring-do in a historical urban-fantasy setting.

And it is that, of course, but it’s much more fun that one might expect from that reductive summary. I’ve not read any Genevieve Cogman before and it’s only since mentioning that I was reading this that I’ve heard friends wax lyrical about how much they’ve enjoyed her other works. But this was so much fun, with intriguing twists and a couple of characters arriving partway through who are both surprising and bring so much more to the tale.

The book is designed also to work as a standalone, so I wasn’t expecting to enjoy it so much that I would be bothered to read the sequel, whereas now I’ve finished the book I am impatient to find out how this tale ends for all the characters, as well as wanting to come back to her other books.

I received an advance copy for free from NetGalley, on the expectation that I would provide an honest review.

Intrigue. Humor. And some good ole continental adventure in the 18th century.

My familiarity with the Scarlet Pimpernel (or titled English spies/noble rescuers during the French Revolution inspired by the original stage play and novel by Baroness Orczy) comes from the Pink Carnation series by Lauren Willig. And dear reader, if you haven't devoured that series and are interested in this exact time period with some love stories, put it immediately on your reading list! That was what made me want to pick up "Scarlet" by Genevieve Cogman... along with the unique twist of vampires.

I keep my expectations low when it comes to series since it sometimes feels like a rollercoaster of continuous quality, and this one was surprisingly off to a great start. The writing is wonderful and very well-paced. The characters are fun to get to know.

I'm not quite sold on the vampire inclusion in this historical fantasy story. However, I'm under the impression this is the start of a new series, so perhaps I'll be more convinced in the next installment. Don't expect sparkling seductive vampires in this story. This bounces closer to the scarier vampiric canon of "Dracula" with a dash of "Interview with the Vampire." Even the English sanguinocrats have an air of shadiness to them since their servants are expected to blood let for them when choice isn't really an option.

The world-building is good and vivid of the time period, though I did have a hard time figuring out who to root for in this world. The revolutionists? The aristocrats? The vampires? The espionage is heavy, the guillotine is highlighted, and the horrific moments are aplenty.

The main character Eleanor -- a servant who resembles Marie Antoinette brought on to assist Sir Percy and his crew -- finds new purpose in life with a caper to rescue the French royal family is the main plot, but there is a supernatural twist that happens to Eleanor midway through the book. Without spoiling the surprise, it was my favorite "I need to know more!" moment and gives us a new unexpected character that I hope appears again with more backstory in the novels to come.

This story doesn't end on a cliffhanger, but it leaves a lot of unanswered questions lingering on what happens next. It's an ideal setup for a continuing series. For folks who love unconventional historical fiction or a love of horror fantasy, this one will appeal! I'll definitely be on the lookout for more of the Scarlet series.

// Thank you so much to Netgalley and Pan Macmillan for providing me with an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review! //

Vampires in revolutionary France? Sign me up! The premise of this novel, which I later learned to be the first in a series, enthralled me from the beginning. Though unfamiliar with the original Scarlet Pimpernel, it was not a necessary background to have going into the novel itself.

Cogman writes about the setting through the eyes of Eleanor, a maid with a resemblance to Marie Antoinette - we follow the entire journey heart in mouth as it twists and turns through revolutionary France in ways we'd been told to expect and also learning just how unfamiliar the France of the revolutionary period, and that France of the Sanguinocrats has truly become.

The novel blended every element of its narrative well, even as it jumped location and twisted us away from the climax (and the Pimpernel's true goal) for just a few pages longer.

“Scarlet” is another spellbinding book from the author of “The Invisible Library” series.

Set against the backdrop of the French Revolution a young servant girl from England, finds herself embroiled in the workings of the League of the Scarlet Pimpernel, helping them to do what they believe is right, to free imprisoned aristocrats. To add to the excitement & peril this is no ordinary world, one similar to ours but one in which the aristocracy includes vampires.

I appreciated the short introduction to the historical background given at the start of the book, which prevented me from looking things up to understand the time period and allowed me to just enjoy the clever weaving of fantasy and reality.

I loved reading this book it was full of mystery, adventure, a little magic and characters who I came to understand and care about. I was left wanting more. I definitely recommend this book.

I've never read the Scarlet Pimpernel so I can't speak as to how this novel works as a retelling. For me, it stands on its own as an exciting, action-packed story with a plucky English maid/heroine who is called upon to help rescue the French royal family during the French Revolution. Making the aristocrats (French and English) vampires lent an extra dimension to the conflict, certainly. I enjoyed the time period and Eleanor's perspective, and I look forward to reading the next novel in the series.

Genevieve Cogman is the author of one of my favourite series (The Invisible Library). I just knew that whatever she turned her hand to next would be just as good. Scarlet did not disappoint. It's a retelling of the Scarlet Pimpernel with magic and vampires. It is clear Ms Cogman did her research because 18th century France was vividly brought to life. I think that maybe I should have read the original tales to get all the nuances but this book has inspired me to check those out and I also look forward to this series continuing.

I read an eARC of this book so thank you to Net Galley, the author and the publisher for allowing this.

A thoroughly gripping and exciting novel! I’ve not read anything by this author before, but after reading this I would certainly check out their previous work.

This is a story set during the French Revolution, but with Vampires, reimagining the stories of The Scarlet Pimpernel. Although I had some prior knowledge of the revolution, I hadn’t heard too much about The Scarlet Pimpernel. For the first third of the book I didn’t really understand the inclusion of the vampires, but then there was an event that suddenly made it very clear why they were part of the narrative and from that point they were intrinsically linked to the core storyline.

Eleanor as a narrator felt like a perfect choice. She is an English Maid who has been chosen to be part of a rescue mission due to her physical resemblance to an aristocrat. Her mistress is a vampire but in Eleanor’s mind she treats her fairly and vampires aren’t that bad (even if they do insist on the maids letting blood for them to drink). Eleanor has a unique perspective because she can see both sides. She is a victim of the prejudice of the aristocracy while also not wanting to see people executed purely for the families they were born in to. She has sympathies both for the revolutionaries and the League who are trying to rescue Aristocrats in France.

This novel was so tense, it’s rare that Eleanor wasn’t facing some kind of danger. Her situation is very unfair and she’s often put in awful situations through no fault of her own. She wants a better life for herself where she’s able to earn a living through her own talents as a seamstress, but she’s often dismissed or even threatened due to her station and her history working for a vampire (visible through her blood letting scars). Even the people she’s helping can occasionally belittle her for not being an aristocrat, despite her putting herself in regular and extreme danger to aid them.

A good blend of historical fiction and fantasy-horror. I wouldn’t always lean into stories of sabotage and espionage but I thought this was excellent.

I read The Scarlet Pimpernel a long time ago, and those who called him the first superhero probably had it right!

In Scarlet, we’re getting an intriguing retelling with the inclusion of a whole different level of aristocrat, the sanguinocrat, a society of vampires who are barred from politics in the UK but retain money and station.

Enter Eleanor, a talented seamstress in the household of a sanguinocrat, Lady Sophie, who is gifted to the house of Lord Percy Blakeney - the Scarlet Pimpernel himself.

Eleanor doesn’t realise it yet, but she is going to be part of a very big plot that is going to lead to discovering the truth about the vampires, travels across a war-torn revolutionary France and a brand new life.

I really enjoy Cogman’s style of writing, and my love started with The Invisible Library. The weaving together of vampiric myth, and the bloodthirsty French revolution, plus the exciting introduction of the Scarlet Pimpernel makes for an exciting, fast-moving story that had me absorbed until the very last page.

I look forward to the next book in the series.

Due to her resemblance to Marie Antoinette, housemaid Eleanor is plucked from the household of an aristocratic vampire, to assist the Scarlet Pimpernel in a mission to rescue the French royal family from revolutionaries.

I enjoyed the world building in Scarlet. The premise of the French Revolution with vampires, seemed a bit odd initially, but Genevieve Cogman’s writing really made it work. I thought Eleanor was a well-rounded and likeable protagonist, and I appreciated her questioning of the motives of both the aristocracy and the revolutionaries. Scarlet was well paced, and kept me reading. I’ll definitely be picking up the next book in the trilogy.

An interesting retelling of the French Revolution and Orczy's THE SCARLET PIMPERNEL, with shades of Leigh Bardugo. Cogman is a good writer and I can see why she has leagues of fans - but this missed the mark for me. It fell a little short as both a fantasy novel and historical fiction, and felt largely like reading two books that had been shoehorned together. That said, it was an enjoyable, easy to read romp.

Excellent read, apart from Les Miserables I had no insight into this.

Thanks so much to NetGalley and the publishers for letting me read an advance copy of this book.

I'm a huge fan of the original Scarlet Pimpernel and I loved this new take on his world. Genevieve Cogman captures the essence of Sir Percy and his League perfectly, so much so it was like meeting old friends after a long time. I loved the alternate reality perspective where vampires are a part of our world and under threat from Chauvelin and the guillotine as much as any other aristocrat. I loved the hints that vampires might have more to them than meet the eye and what I fervently hope is a set up for a series of books. I loved loved loved this book and cannot wait for more.

I am a huge fan of the Invisible Library series and so was keen to read this new series by the author. It has many of the same features: a brave heroine, a series of battles or crises she must get out of and some magic. At first, I found the idea of rescuing aristocrats from the French Revolution to be something I didn’t care much about; however, half way through an underlying intrigue is introduced which I found more interesting and which I expect will be explored throughout future novels. In addition, as this is set in the past, Eleanor isn’t as free to be in charge as Irene was in the Library books. This was an okay start to the series which I will continue with but I hope will develop further. I have rounded up to four stars. Thanks to Netgalley for an ARC.

Okay, so I picked this one up because it's a retelling of The Scarlet Pimpernel, and I was interested to see that vampires had also been thrown into the mix, but in the end this was a book that left me more than a little conflicted. I'm sure some people will love it but I'm not one of them.

The basic premise is that, much like the book which inspires it, it's the time of the French Revolution and over in England a shadowy group of aristocrats are rescuing as many of their fellow nobles as they can from the guillotine. So far, so good. This is also a society where vampires are known about, especially as members of said aristocracy (since what's better for keeping wealth in the family than actual immortality?) and so that's also a major issue for many of the French revolutionaries. Except that apparently the French royal family aren't vampires? Okay, then.

Enter our protagonist, a seamstress working as a servant in a vampire household, who is recruited (not that she's really given a lot of choice) as she bears a significant resemblance to Marie Antoinette. The scheme is to train her up and use her to rescue the French queen and her children, after which she (the seamstress, not the queen) will be set up in business as her own boss. Naturally, things go wrong with this plan pretty soon after they reach France and matters go on from there.

So where did it all go wrong for me? Well, to be honest I was having great difficulty from very early on not siding with the revolutionaries and thinking the aristos just got what was coming to them. Our protagonist was treated a little better but not significantly, with a strong suggestion that blood-letting for English vampire aristocrats was maybe not quite as 100% consensual as it was being sold. It's just a very tough sell all round, once you actually take a step back and look at it from her perspective rather than those of Blakeney and his ilk. Clearly the author decided against the traditional plot-line, which is about the relationship between Blakeney and Marguerite, in favour of a new character and one of Blakeney's associates For Reasons and I don't think it really convinces.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher, via Netgalley. This is my honest review of the book in question.

I know my weakness: adding vampires to the French Revolution. Wait, what did you just say? The Scarlet Pimpernel is in there too?! …Ok, wow.

Scarlet is an action-packed opener to a promised trilogy featuring plucky servant girl Eleanor, who agrees to help impersonate and free the imprisoned French royal family, only to get caught up in a battle between militant revolutionaries and aristocratic vampires. Colman tells a cracking story, and I felt compelled to keep reading on.

There’s a lot done to update the Sir Percy’s exploits for a more (for want of a better term) “woke” modern audience. Given The Terror affected every strata of French life, why focus on rescuing condemned aristocrats? I’m not sure the in-story justifications satisfied me - perhaps it’ll be explored further in the next instalments - even though adding servant girl Eleanor was a good inclusion. If the book didn’t devote so much attention to the issue I’m not sure it’d have questioned it to begin with.

While Scarlet doesn’t end on a cliffhanger, a lot is less unanswered for future instalments, which personally annoys me. But I think readers will be charmed by Eleanor, Sir Percy and crew and I encourage them to check Scarlet out!

This was an incredible read. It had me gripped to the very last page. Thank you so much to the publisher for this wonderful ARC, via NetGalley.