ARC Review: Fog Season

FOG SEASON
PATRICE SARATH
SERIES: Tales of Port Saint Frey, #1
GENRES/ SUBJECTS: Historical Fantasy
REPRESENTATION: Disabled MC

★★★★☆

GOODREADS // WORDERY

 

After the shocking events of last summer, the high society of Port Saint Frey has plenty to gossip about. Who was the Gentleman Bandit? Why hasn’t he been captured? And what really happened that night when the Guildmaster disappeared? When the Guild hires Abel Fresnel, a detective with special powers of his own, to find the answers, Tesara and Yvienne Mederos have to avoid his probing questions and keep mum about their role in the events of that dark night. Everything’s more or less under control until a dead man turns up in the dumbwaiter…

A copy of this was provided free of charge from the publisher in return for an honest review.

 

When I read The Sisters Mederos last year, I loved the characterisation of the sisters and the fast-pace of the story but felt that a few things were too underdeveloped. The book had a satisfying conclusion and I wasn’t sure if I’d pick up a sequel. But, when I saw Fog Season I found myself so excited to revisit Vivi, Tes and Port Saint Frey I just had to pick it up.

The greatest strength of Fog Season is still the sisters. Tesara and Yvienne are individually complex, well-written and full-rounded characters. Together they have different but complementary strengths and I loved how they balanced each other and supported one another.

There are a good number of supporting characters — some old, some new — and I liked the choices Sarath made with them.  Samwell and Albero were fleshed out nicely to give them a larger role and the most prominent new character — a Pinkerton-style detective — is interesting in himself but also hints at a wider world to be explored. I thought the author made some pretty brave choices in not bringing back certain characters but that the gamble paid off.

Without their parents to supervise or butt heads with, Vivi takes control of the family business and household. This was my favourite thing to read about. I love the way merchant cunning is so highly valued in this society, and seeing Vivi navigate and rebuild their interests was fascinating. I really hope we see more of Vivi showing off her businesswoman skills in future novels. After all, she is “the smartest girl in Port Saint Frey”.

I also thought it was brave but clever for Tesara’s previous love interest to be shipped off early, and for her to realise her feelings there weren’t all she thought they might have been. How often do first-crushes pan out? There was still a bit of romance in this book, but I liked that the girls kept their options open and that the story really focused on them as siblings (although I think it would be really interesting if either of the characters Vivi showed feeling for were to develop romantically in future).

Overall this was an exciting adventure, with two fantastic leading ladies. I felt this was stronger than the first book (although I’d be tempted to go back and reread that someday) and I’m looking forward to continuing this series as it comes out.

 

GOODREADS

WORDERY

 

Some blogger reviews of the first book in this series, The Sisters Mederos.

My Review of The Sisters Mederos

Review from Nana’s fantastical reads

Review from Way Too Fantasy

Review from The Misadventures of a Reader