Mary Wollstonecraft aspires to literary greatness, and Ada Lovelace aspires to scientific genius, but their plans of grandeur aren't the only things they have in common. After discovering that they are fae with magical abilities, what are these two girls to do except create an animatronic automaton from scratch, named Pan, and try to pursue their dreams?
The writing trifecta of Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, and Jodi Meadows will be coming out with the much anticipated My Salty Mary novel in August 2024. In preparation for this, I read all three of the Lady Janies books and the first two Mary series books. Across five book reviews, I will share my thoughts on this wonderful, unique, sarcastic, YA historical fantasy series.
This was another solid addition to the Janies/Marys series! Mary Wollstonecraft, daughter of the famous thinker also named Mary Wollstonecraft, wants more in life than just living above her father's bookstore. She wants a life of her own alongside her secret love interest, Percy Shelley. Similarly, the daughter of Lord Byron, Ada Lovelace, wants to be a famous scientist, even if male scientists take credit for her work and a pronounced limp get in her way. While at a scientific presentation about reanimation at the bookstore, Ada and Mary accidentally stumble upon their potential ability to use magic, resulting in a a series of misunderstandings that the duo could not fully predict. A dangerous scientist is determined to figure out the secrets of bringing the dead back to life, even if Mary and Ada are unable to fully understand it themselves. A fae instructor arrives when their magic is revealed, and Mary and Ada struggle to find their footing with this new group and their new rules. As if this wasn't enough chaos, the duo also accidentally imbue their magic into a creature of their own design, the automaton Pan, who accompanies the two ladies as they try to reconcile with their families- famous or otherwise, understand those they love- including the noted rake Percy Shelley, and determine how they can achieve their dreams- with or without magic to guide them.
I very much so enjoyed this novel. It had all the hints of Frankenstein I wanted while still focusing more on the history of Mary and Ada as real-life individuals. I learned so much that I didn't know about them through more research on these two inspired by not knowing all the famous connections they had. It's wild! As a former scientist, the way in which Ada talked about her passions and her frustrations felt incredibly relatable, and she was by-far my favorite character, even if she was a bit bristly at times. While sometimes rolling my eyes as I read about Mary and Percy, I thought Mary had great character development as well as a great A-B-C plot related to her relationships with magic and the automaton, Pan. The POV of Pan was a great addition to the book overall despite being hard to get behind at the beginning. By the end of the novel, my heart went out to Pan, and I couldn't have asked for a better way to be hooked.
Overall, this was a solid 3.5/5 for me. I don't want to spoil anything, but I really liked the aspects of history that the book tweaked, and the ending made me smile!
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