Miss Mildred Percy inherits a dragon.
Ah, but we’ve already got ahead of ourselves…
Miss Mildred Percy is a spinster. She does not dance, she has long stopped dreaming, and she certainly does not have adventures. That is, until her great uncle has the audacity to leave her an inheritance, one that includes a dragon’s egg.
The egg – as eggs are wont to do – decides to hatch, and Miss Mildred Percy is suddenly thrust out of the role of “spinster and general wallflower” and into the unprecedented position of “spinster and keeper of dragons.”
But England has not seen a dragon since… well, ever. And now Mildred must contend with raising a dragon (that should not exist), kindling a romance (with a humble vicar), and embarking on an adventure she never thought could be hers for the taking.
Adam
Miss Percy’s Pocket Guide (to the Care and Feeding of British Dragons) is a witty and gentle regency fantasy. The titular Miss Percy inherits what she thinks is an assorted collection of worthless oddities from her great uncle, only to find that the singular large stone within is the egg of a dragon.
Miss Percy herself is a timid middle aged woman who once dreamed of adventure, trapped by circumstance and her own mental blocks, live-in nanny to her uppity sister’s three children. But she has her stubborn streak that helps drive the plot forward, and the friendship she strikes up with the local vicar becomes vital as they witness the birth of a dragon.
Of course, there must be antagonists, and while Miss Percy’s sister is a thorn in her side, determined to drag her down and keep her under thumb, the young and destitute Mr Hawthorne appears, ready to take the egg that he counts as his birthright, knowing it could make him rich beyond measure.
The characters could have been plucked from a Jane Austen novel, which is a compliment – and there is clearly an attempt to replicate some of her style in the writing, although with heaps more wit and snark crammed into the narrative voice. Occasionally this narrative gets overly self indulgent (and self referential, as in referring to the way the novel itself is being told) which I felt could be distracting. Some characters also get forced into caricature, which made the narrative’s earlier focus on relentlessly roasting Miss Percy’s sister feel a little cruel.
And I don’t have that much more to say. The story itself ambled along pleasantly, with a few moments of peril quickly resolved, and Miss Percy slowly learns to stand up for herself more, with a reasonable resolution and room set up for the sequel. It was a fun read, strongly written, and I wager some people will really connect with this book.
8/10
Kop
In some ways Miss Percy feels like a love letter to Regency era novels and stories, at least in my mind. (But I mean, it surely is…right??) But it also still feels like a product of today’s time, which I mean in a good way. I found it to be a book that I was curious to continue reading. Though I will admit that it was one of those books where if I had put it down for an extended period of time, I would be less and less inclined to pick it back up.
The mundaneness of it all intrigued me. It’s a dragon book, except the dragon is a hatchling learning about the world, and its caretaker is a woman who hasn’t the slightest clue what the hell she’s doing. Fueled by instinct and determination. It’s an adventure book…about a woman who travels from one small town to another place, getting into a minor bit of trouble (okay, maybe it was a major incident showcasing the fierce protectiveness of the dragon, but for some it was a scuffle) along the way. Fascinating. It was all so unassuming, and I loved that about it—how these extraordinary things were treated with virtually the same air as, “Why yes this new jasmine green tea is quite good.” (At least how I interpreted things.) It made for a pleasant reading experience.
Though I’m obligated (I’m not, actually, plot twist) to mention that there were some things I wasn’t that fond of. For the most part, the narratorial asides (of which there were many) were fun, quirky, or informative. But some of them felt like they were there simply to be there, like there was a quota that needed to be filled, which made parts of the book drag a bit for me. Some of them took me out of the story entirely to the point that it felt less like the narrator as a character and more like the actual author of the book. (Hi Quen, I did like your book!)
I felt too that it had a bit of an identity crisis at times, which to be fair could just be me. At times it felt like a serious book with lighter moments. Other times it felt like the opposite. It just seemed like there was an internal struggle going on regarding what the book wanted to be. For example, we go from a rather Disney-esque imagining of old, angry women shooing off an invasion to Miss Percy doing everything she can to care for and protect this dragon. Like I said, this could just be a me thing. But I felt a bit of whiplash while reading.
What’s good in this book is good. The characters, the writing, the conflict, the budding friendship into romance. All of it combines to tell a story that you really don’t see much of. The ending perfectly makes you (okay, well…me at least) curious about a sequel. The way Miss Percy doesn’t know everything (virtually nothing) about dragons but keeps her will to learn is admirable. To see her grow from a rather timid middle-aged woman to, realistically, a middle-aged woman who might still be a bit scared to stand up to the people around her yet does so regardless is fantastic to read.
So all in all while I did have some issues with the book, I did enjoy it.
7/10
The Fantasy Inn’s final score for Miss Percy is:
