A Gentleman's Position is the third book in the Society of Gentlemen universe, and it really can't be read before reading the other books (and one short story) in the series. Luckily, all of the stories are fantastic, and this is an incredibly satisfying end to the main sequence.
I don't want to talk too much about the specifics of the plot of this one in case there are readers of this blog who haven't read the first three stories and are intrigued. So what I will say is that this series focuses on the Ricardians, a group of gentlemen in Regency-era England who all prefer the company of other men to ladies, and their various love affairs. Unlike a lot of historical romances (many of which I enjoy very much), this series is very firmly rooted in the actual history of the era, although all of the main characters featured are fictional. As a result, there's a complexity to the universe that isn't always present in historical romances, and I love the focus on what goes on underneath the surface of manners and expectations for men of different classes and social positions.
This is the first book that focuses on Lord Richard himself, and part of what makes the first half so satisfying is seeing him taken to task for various things he's said and done in the first two books. He's a character who has to be taken down a notch or two before he can have the happiness he does actually deserve, and it was really great to actually get those confrontations that the first two books made me want. A friend of mine on twitter described the book as transforming midway through from gay Pride & Prejudice (with a bit of Jane Eyre) into gay Ocean's Eleven, which is exactly what it feels like. The second half of the book centers on the Ricardians coming together to thwart the evil intentions of an outsider, and it's the perfect final resolution to the conflict that the entire series has been building since the first short story. There's never any doubt that it will work, because it's a romance, but how they get there is so well designed and told with the perfect level of suspense and intrigue. I loved it. The second I finished it I started a reread of the entire series from the beginning. I would happily read a million more stories set in this universe.
Grade: A
I don't want to talk too much about the specifics of the plot of this one in case there are readers of this blog who haven't read the first three stories and are intrigued. So what I will say is that this series focuses on the Ricardians, a group of gentlemen in Regency-era England who all prefer the company of other men to ladies, and their various love affairs. Unlike a lot of historical romances (many of which I enjoy very much), this series is very firmly rooted in the actual history of the era, although all of the main characters featured are fictional. As a result, there's a complexity to the universe that isn't always present in historical romances, and I love the focus on what goes on underneath the surface of manners and expectations for men of different classes and social positions.
This is the first book that focuses on Lord Richard himself, and part of what makes the first half so satisfying is seeing him taken to task for various things he's said and done in the first two books. He's a character who has to be taken down a notch or two before he can have the happiness he does actually deserve, and it was really great to actually get those confrontations that the first two books made me want. A friend of mine on twitter described the book as transforming midway through from gay Pride & Prejudice (with a bit of Jane Eyre) into gay Ocean's Eleven, which is exactly what it feels like. The second half of the book centers on the Ricardians coming together to thwart the evil intentions of an outsider, and it's the perfect final resolution to the conflict that the entire series has been building since the first short story. There's never any doubt that it will work, because it's a romance, but how they get there is so well designed and told with the perfect level of suspense and intrigue. I loved it. The second I finished it I started a reread of the entire series from the beginning. I would happily read a million more stories set in this universe.
Grade: A
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