Newt’s Emerald audiobook

This is a complete departure from Nix's previous YA work. It's adult regency romance meets gaslight fantasy. If you took Mary Robinette Kowal's Glamour series and crossed it with the Parasol Protectorate books you'd get something like this. It's similar in tone to Sorcery & Cecelia in that it has a nice light touch with a plucky heroine. It features one of my very favorite tropes: girl disguises herself as a boy ~ w00t! It's not steampunk, but an alternate regency era with magic in it. It was such a surprise and so so good. The magical system is a little underdeveloped but the characters are marvelous. Truthful is fun and engaging, her lover is a darling, and I really adored it. No major nookie but the romance element is sweet. Charming, quite quite charming.

3.5-4 starsThis was utterly delightful and so much fun! I lost track of the pages, with all the laughing - and a bit of swooning - I was doing. Newt's Emerald is an engaging throwback to Georgette Heyer and Jane Austen regency romances, only more campy and with a slight fantasy bent. Don't go in expecting much character development or a complicated plot; it's not meant to be taken too seriously but with the expectation of a rollicking good time. I really enjoyed getting to know Truthful (also known as "Newt"), her gruff love interest Charles, and her wickedly awesome great-aunt as they search for Truthful's stolen family emerald. It's a truly fun cast of characters and a story that I didn't want to put down. Bonus points: cross dressing! It is light on the romance, but for all that I'm glad it was not driven by angst and I could just simply root for Truthful and Charles to figure things out. Pick this one up if you're looking for a good palate cleaner or for some brain candy!Note: I received an ARC of this book at BEA, but that did not affect my review in any way.This review can also be found at Love at First Page.

Newt's Emerald is a deliciously frothy, magical Regency treat! I love the way it feels so like a Georgette Heyer novel-with-magic; the tongue-in-cheek tone is just pitch-perfect, and the magic fits into Regency life in a lovely and matter-of-fact way. The characters are enormously fun, from the elderly chaperone-with-a-sword-stick (and a fabulous magical wand!) to the various male cousins with their absurd plans for getting the stolen family emerald (a seriously powerful magical item) safely found or replaced. As you can guess just from the heroine's name - Truthful - this isn't a book that focuses on deep character motivations, but it doesn't need to be - it's just an enormously playful and fun Regency romp. I started reading it on Friday morning and finished it Saturday morning, despite the fact that I'd been house-cleaning and Thanksgiving-meal-preparing in the meantime - it was just such a fast and addictively pleasurable read!The part of the book that I found least personally satisfying was the romance, because I didn't actually like the hero - Nix uses a familiar romance trope by starting the hero out as an obnoxious misogynist, but then skips the traditional "groveling" scene at the end (where the hero traditionally apologizes to the heroine for his earlier remarks and attitudes), which made it harder for me to forgive him. Sigh. (You could read one line at the end as an indirect apology - and he's certainly no longer acting in that way, so we can assume that he has gotten over it, and won't be acting that way in future - but I thought the heroine really deserved a serious grovel after the first part of the book, and I was annoyed on her behalf that she didn't get one! If I had been her, I would have looked elsewhere for a husband.) But! The romance is treated so lightly, as such a tongue-in-cheek subplot - and the magical adventure is a much more major part of the book - that my dislike of the hero didn't hinder my enjoyment of the book in the slightest. NEWT'S EMERALD was just pure, frothy fun from start to finish.(And btw, part of being a romance written in Georgette Heyer's tone is: it would be perfectly fun for younger readers, as well as for adults. Score!)

Garth Nix + Regency Period = YES MUST BUY. Whether I'll love it or hate it, anything by Garth Nix, I have long learnt I cannot NOT read. Plus, this book reminds me of A Matter of Magic and Sorcery & Cecelia: or The Enchanted Chocolate Pot, two series which I enjoyed in a light, teen/YA way! So I can't wait to read this, and to see if Nix can work magic with one of my favourite time periods!Updatefull review later--my rating biased based on love for the period and the works of this author! it should probably be 3.5 but I bump it to 4 for bias.and omg the afterword mentions Georgette Heyer! that makess me so overjoyously happy!!I N I T I A L T H O U G H T SWhen I finished this, I could totally see why people were griping on about why this book isn't as great as it could have been. And in many ways, I agree. I was utterly surprised to see how this story came about. It jumped a lot, and flowed at the same time. It was really fast paced, and sometimes, Truthful was a little too good at what she was doing. There was a lot going on, yet not enough detail for the whole story to flow smoothly. There was a cute romance here, but it came out awkwardly. And there's a lot of magic, and even the introduction of the fay, but not enough attention to its development, which I kind of think is sad, since those quick brush overs within the book is probably why some readers didn't enjoy it as much.Me, well I'm biased when it comes to Garth Nix. I really enjoyed it despite all the above flaws. My reasons:- This is Regency! And it's Garth Nix!- There's magic and glamour involved!- He spoke about Georgette Heyer in his afterword! (How can I not love it??)- I would have love this a lot more I think if I was thirteen--then, the flaws wouldn't have jumped out at me as much.- This plot involves some gender-bending, and a cute guy who's trying to solve the mystery!- Reminds me of Sorcery & Cecelia: or The Enchanted Chocolate PotP L O TThis was fast moving. Centred on the stolen Newington Emerald, it focusses on Lady Truthful finding it. But she can't do it as a girl. So she dresses up as a boy, and in a world where glamour is accepted and used daily (reminds me of Shades of Milk and Honey ), it's a little easier to do! She meets Charles, who is also investigating the stolen Emerald, and through various twists and turns, they eventually retrieve it.The plot is very unsubtle. It's just bam, bam, bam. Things happen. There's no real mysterious either. There is the suspect, and then there are the people chasing after the emerald. In many ways, the plot is highly structured for a young audience, where the aim is to entertain rather than to puzzle. W O R L D B U I L D I N GNix did some decent research for this book, and also, I love how he's read nearly all of Georgette Heyer's Regency Romances. I can see the influences in his work. However, of course, Heyer is incomparable. Nix's world is indeed Regency, and I did love seeing it. But it was a little lacklustre with a focus on the mixing Newington Emerald stealing all the glory. Indeed, he built the world up well, but there's actually a lot less dancing and interactions with the main love interest than one would expect in a regency story (again I'm biased because I have mainly only read Heyer's regencies and somewhat, horridly, refuse to read anyone else writing about the same period of time). There's magic and fay. The magic, the glamour is given a decent amount of attention and usage, but the fay were kind of thrown in there, and I kind of wished there was more about them. C H A R A C T E R SLady Truthful. You know, I really like the way Nix names his characters in this. There are so many nonsensical names that actually also sound really decent. Lady Truthful's name was interesting though. Now. Her character. Her character was interesting, though I don't overly love her. Mainly because she was both fragile and hoyden at the same time. And I didn't think she was cut out very well. There was so much blushing and Truthful being a bit of a pain. I wish I could say she's the kind of heroine with traits I could overlook, as I often do with Heyer's heroines(particularly the ones always getting into scraps) but I think that the way she was written could have been done differently. At the same time, I do also like the way she was written and wouldn't suggest her to act any other way!But Charles though. Charles was funny. He's rude and a little brooding, but I thought he was funny because he said things so bluntly and wrong things at the wrong time. He did develop in the story, but not much. I wish I could say that he turned out like the classic Regency hero, but he half didn't come across that way. It was just something in the way the whole of his character came out. But will-->guilty pleasure alert, I will say I liked how he came out at the end of the story, because despite all the flaws in his character, and the fact that I thought some of the things he said were absolutely absurd and awkward, his interactions with Truthful were cute sometimes.The romance between them, well it wasn't really a very good romance. Yeah, it was cute, yeah there was some chemistry, but it just wasn't overall swoony (though maybe for a younger audience). It's not like how Heyer does it, really tying her characters together, giving them time to express how they feel, be conflicted over it too. I think because this story was focussed on retrieving the emerald, it neglected the other things. At the same time, because this story wasn't focussed on a romance, I enjoyed seeing Truthful and Charles together. Specially Charles when he realised he had to untie his own little web.Supporting Characters: Of course, I'm glad there were some comedic characters present. Like Truthful's great grandma, and the Newington-lacy cousins. Both lots added some light humour. Ugh, I hate that I'm such a big fan of Heyer, it often overshadows other stories, like this one! I would have loved this a lot more if I didn't know the existence of Heyer, weren't as old as I am now, and appreciating something simple. But I'm glad I own this, because now I can read something light and silly whenever I like.O V E R A L LLight, fun, predictable, magic related, regency historical, Garth Nix, any of those appeal to you? Then give this a try. But keep in mind it's very simple, yet fun!--Update Dec 2020--Upon rereading, I must revise part of my initial thoughts of the romance and Charles and Truthful. I still stand by everything I said above, however, I think that other than the quick paced timeline, Truthful and Charles are beyond cute together, and that they did grow as a pair. It just felt like less time to dwell because the novel as a whole is comparably short (200 something pages).

I’ve been meaning to read this for ages, and I’m not entirely sure what finally prompted me to pick it up — but hurrah that I did. If you enjoy Georgette Heyer’s work, you’ll probably enjoy this. It’s a little adventure very much along the same lines, only with magic as well. Girls disguising themselves as boys, a Pride and Prejudice moment for the romance, and daring escapades. The tone is light and witty, and okay, it’s not as though as it’s as deeply committed to being authentic as Heyer was, but you wouldn’t expect that from a book that injects magic as well!I found it really fun, and a surprisingly quick read too. The romance is… well, Heyer-ish, so if dislike-turns-to-love and capricious young ladies who deny they have any feelings for That Odious Man bother you, it probably won’t be your thing. It’s definitely not much like Nix’s other books (at least the ones I’ve read).It’s a little magical cream puff, and I enjoyed it greatly. It helps that the main character gets to be kickass and daring, and she’s also really smart. She’d verge on too perfect if she didn’t have the odd immature and petulant moment too, but as it was, she was a lot of fun.Reviewed for The Bibliophibian.

Newt's Emerald really is like a Heyer novel with magic and adventure. I loved it. The tone was so Heyer-like - witty and not taking itself too seriously. But unlike Heyer's, the focus was more on the mystery of the emerald than on the etiquette and balls and romance, which were there but in the background. It also reminded me of Victoria and the Rogue by Meg Cabot but with less romance. The magic is not a huge player throughout - mainly referenced but not experienced, so although I'd call this a Fantasy of Manners, it's not too much different than an ordinary Regency period novel. And since it's more modern than Heyer, there's less Regency jargon to get bogged down in.A quick read, lots of fun, not too serious. I'll be keeping my eye out in case Nix decides to write more in this vein (please!).

This is incredibly charming. I really enjoyed this. I do wish it was longer, and the world better explained. Actually, what I wish is that this was part of a larger series of books set in this world, because this world is all kinds of fun. Also, Newt is a really great protagonist.Also, flouting convention note: The flouting works here. I think it's for a few reasons, one it's not a straight historical, it's a fantasy, which helps with disguises and such (disguises protecting identify and therefore reputation). Two, the female character in question takes risks for a well-justified reason: her family's prize emerald has just been stolen, and said theft has resulted in her father becoming gravely ill, due to magic. Three, even though Newt takes some risks, she still feels like a product of her time (gasp! I know! What a concept). She is really looking forward to coming out. She enjoys balls, and dresses, and dancing. She just also happens to think she should have more say in what happens to her powerful family heirloom. I feel like this is flouting done right. The heroine takes some appropriate precautions to protect herself, and despite some flouting, she also respects certain limits that are imposed on her.Plus, a romance of mistaken identify is always good times. (view spoiler)[Although, why is my dancing always thwarted by the stupid dramatic plot in these things? It always is. I just want my dancing. That should not be too much to ask in a historical. I accept that dramatic plots need to culminate in sufficiently dramatic fashion, but surely that could have happened five minutes later after my dancing. They'd have still both been in the ballroom and everything. Annoyed. (hide spoiler)]

Adventure in an alternate, magical Regency.At Lady Truthful's eighteenth birthday, her father shows her and her three cousins the heirloom emerald. She's too young for it, but it will give her power to command weather. Except that, in an incident involving a lightning strike, it vanishes. Her father, horror-struck, is afflicted with fever. Her cousins make foolish plans to recover. Truthful herself goes to her aunt, where she was about to come out, and with her help, disguises herself as a (male) cousin of hers to search.The plot involves King Canute, Napoleon's having been entombed in the Rock of Gibraltar, Truthful's colliding with someone in the street, being trapped in a barrel, a masquerade, a sea anchor, a maid who does not use iron pins, and much more.

More Stephanie Burgis-esque than Heyer-esque - this is a magical Regency England romp, and it's entertaining and hilarious and fun. There are moments when it seems to poke fun at itself, but it's not doing anything Burgis, and Heyer before her, haven't done; it reads best not as commentary on a genre but as a worthy addition to it. The title's a bit misrepresentative. This sat for ages because I had no idea what it was about, and I'd forgotten that one good review I'd read about it. So that's what it's about. It's not quite - oh, adult enough to be Sorcery and Cecelia levels of hilarity, but it's really good.

A regency romance by Garth Nix? Tis true my friends. There was magic. Disguises and shenanigans. Mary Sue that I didn't hate. It was a bit slow in parts, and predictable. I think it was a smart idea to keep this tale short. 3.5 stars.

I received this book from the publisher at no cost.It's no secret I've been a fan of Garth Nix's books for a long time. I've only recently started reading some Regency romances, though, so the idea of Nix writing one 'with a magical twist' was an intriguing one.The thing with Regency romances is that there's a fairly standard plot arc - indeed, it applies to most romances, right? Girl and boy, difficulties, difficulties overcome. Of course sometimes that trope is subverted, but it's still clear that that subversion is happening for a reason. I'm not saying that's a bad thing; the point is that you know what's probably going to happen, and the fun bit is all the extra stuff: what exactly will the author throw at Our Heroine? Which of the potential beaux will actually be the Right One? How witty can the banter be? How many dresses can be worn, how many snubs borne, how much tea drunk and how many headaches faked? Um. It's possible I'm becoming a fan.Anyway. Nix is clearly a fan of Regencies - there's a great interview where he talks of his love of Georgette Heyer. And what he has written is, exactly, "a Regency romance with a magical twist." Lady Truthful Newington's (there is only one genre where you get away with a name like that) life is just about to be turned upside down because it's time for her to be presented to society, when it's really turned upside down because the great heirloom of the family, a magical emerald, is stolen. She has to go to London to try and find it but of course a respectable young woman can't be doing solo investigating and so, resource of all plucky young heroines: she dresses as a man. Hijinks ensue; family history, useless cousins, frustrating military men (ohh...), the occasional bit of glamour, mistaken identity - they all get their look-in. Also there's banter. And balls, which necessitates dresses. There are also sandwiches and tea. Also snarky comments about the French and Old Boney (who, in this world, is of course a powerful magician.)I haven't read enough Regencies to know whether it's a significant trope or not, but one of my favourite bits of the story is the old cantankerous aunt, Lady Badgery. She wears a fez (usually only in private). She's powerful in personality and magic and connections. Her personal history is a magnificent. If I didn't want Nix to keep writing more Old Kingdom books I would be after one that detailed the exploits of Ermintrude Badgery. Stat. Probably my one disappointment with the book is that there's not quite enough world building around the idea of magic. Truthful's servant may have "fay blood" - and there are a few mentions of not touching iron - but this aspect, that there was once more congress between our world and faery, presumably, isn't explored enough to make this much more than a tantalising dark pink herring. It's a fast read, and an amusing one. It's a great entrepôt into the world of Regency romance, and would lead easily into reading Mary Robinette Kowal... and of course Georgette Heyer, and then if you're properly hooked you'll never be short of a book. Recommended.

3.5 starsIf you’re looking for a deliciously frothy and magical treat, Newt’s Emerald is for you! This story is a complete departure from Nix’s previous work and I wouldn’t necessarily recommend it to fans of his mega-popular Abhorsen series. This is a fantasy of manners in its simplest form and it’s a better pick for fans of the genre classic Sorcery & Cecelia.Growing up with a gaggle of boisterous, beastly boys – her cousins – has unwittingly prepared the Lady Truthful for the adventure of a lifetime. When her family’s priceless heirloom emerald is stolen, she simply slaps on a glamour-enchanted moustache, puts on her best cousin impression, and sets out to scour the streets of London. What could possibly go wrong?I loved the heroine, Lady Truthful (nicknamed “Newt”) who was sassy and engaging. The side characters are also great fun, especially Newt’s elderly aunt and chaperone Lady Badgery, whose liberal application of her sword-stick-slash-magic-wand had me in stitches. I think I would’ve truly loved this had it not been for Charles, Newt’s love interest. Oh, Charles. I’m assuming that I was meant to read him as gruff with a heart of gold, but I thought he was a misogynistic arse. He behaves obnoxiously for most of the story and he doesn’t even properly apologize to Newt! Not unusual to see a love interest behave this way, but I felt the absence of a “grovel scene” keenly. But their romance does takes a backseat to the adventure plot and it’s treated so lightly that I could almost forget how much I disliked it.Nix is clearly a Georgette Heyer fan, employing a similar tone, structure, and style. His tongue-in-cheek tone hits just the right note and emphasizes that we’re meant to focus on enjoyment here – not logic. The magical system and characters are a smidge underdeveloped, and the plot is also rather predictable and convenient. Newt’s Emerald is a flaky croissant of a book dusted with the icing sugar of all my favourite genre tropes. The thing about a croissant is that in spite of their deliciousness, they don’t leave you full for long.Newt’s Emerald promises a playful romp and that’s what it delivers. If you’re expecting more, you’ll be disappointed.

I loved this book. It's so... so regency romance only with some fantasy elements. It's a bit silly; you can't take this book too seriously or else you're going to end up disappointed because the book doesn't take itself too seriously. Truthful is a delightful character who seems to trip into situations without meaning to (except when she does) and the fact that she disguises herself as a boy made me grin because at least, even being as pretty she is, it's disguised by magic. Why Truthful is the one who has to go haring off after the missing Newington Emerald is a bit of a mystery (couldn't they hire people for that?), but it's cute, it's fun, and you find yourself cheering her on as she bumbles along. Of course you have 'Major Harnett' (it's quite clear right after you first meet him that Major Harnett is NOT [gasp] in fact Major Harnett) who Truthful has a somewhat contentious relationship with that turns into romantic feelings. Admittedly that part of the book was weak--you start having some progression from the arguing and all, but then it seemed 'Harnetts' feelings click in and BAM. Truthful's feelings, however, do progress nicely as you start seeing her agonize a bit more over her feelings as the novel progresses.That said, it's a very light read. It's meant to be fun and campy and it does the job with aplomb. The plot almost seems to amble along sometimes, but I found myself not minding as I was rather charmed by the entire novel. Truthful has her own agency and she's plucky while being a lady, which I thought was a nice touch. It's not a deep book. The plot line is pretty straightforward and you're not going to find greater meaning in this at all. It's not meant for that. What it IS meant for is a bit of light, fun reading that will help pass the time enjoyably. 4 stars.

What a brilliant book! It was just what I needed after coming down from the emotional rollercoaster that was Queen of Shadows. Delightfully quirky and hilariously tongue-in-cheek, this book made me genuinely happy. I loved everything about the characters, escpecially some of the secondary characters most notably Truthful's great-aunt Ermintrude. What a riot! It was fairly predictable but in a Regency romance it's kinda meant to be and it didn't diminish the story at all. A drastic departure from Nix's other work but fantastic none-the-less. Highly recommended for a good bit of fun. Many thanks to Allen Unwin for the arc.