While not as good as The Scarlet Pimpernel, this was still a fun, fast read that I couldn't help but get caught up in. Shed some more light on the dreadful times of the French Revolution as well. The book opens with a duel between a young boy and a slightly older man. The boys death causes the emotional collapse of his father who makes the boy's sister promise the seek revenge on the other man. From there, the book takes us on the girl's journey as she tries to wrestle between the solemn oath she swore to her father and what her heart tells her to do. The Pimpernel plays a small but important part towards the middle and end of the story. The story just seems to pick up pace and energy when his character is involved.

Actual rating: 4,5.
Fast-paced, quick and fun, always a delight to read, this was my first introduction to The Scarlet Pimpernel, which is why I will always forgive its paper-thin characters, melodrama and purple prose (which I absolutely adore).

3.5, slightly tipping on the side of 4.

This was the 2nd Scarlet Pimpernel book published. However, I'm reading the Scarlet Pimpernel series in order of the chronology of events, which makes this the 4th book. I prefer this, it makes more sense, even if the character development looks a bit uneven as a result.

It was light in the Sir Percy, and he does tend to steal the show in every scene he is in. Marguerite and the league are barely mentioned. And the beginning of the novel moves a little slowly. But once Percy shows up for the first time, the pace picks up considerably. And once the reader makes peace with the writing style, the book improves dramatically.

A very cute novel.
Yes, the Scarlet Pimpernel.
Cute.
It seems like a sacrilege to say it, but the ending of this book made it that. It was adorable. Romantic. Passionate. But the ending was so lacking. It was too predictable, too easy. Despite all the frequent comments that this would be "The Scarlet Pimpernel's Most Difficult Situation Yet..." I didn't feel like it was.
Oh, Percy was a genius. Of course. When is he not? But sometimes....a little less about Robespierre's water sea eyes and a bit more adventure might be in order.
The story itself is typical of books following the original Scarlet Pimpernel , though perhaps a little better. Déroulède, a noble, accidentally kills a young man in fair fight. When the body of the boy is brought home to his aged Father, the nearly insane man forces his fourteen year old daughter to swear before God and upon her brother's corpse that she will get vengeance.
And vengeance she must get.
Ten years pass, the French revolution takes place. Now a young woman, Juliette has not forgotten the oath she swore so many years before. When fate grants her the opportunity to become the guest of Déroulède, she is certain this is God showing her how to pay-back this man who took the pride from her aged Father and brought his gray head to the grave...
Etc.
Etc.
Etc.
xD
What follows is the tangled emotional state of one young woman, as she finds herself falling in love with the man she vowed to destroy.
And the really sweet guy, Déroulède, whose chivalry and kindness make him popular with the fickle masses of France. When he confesses to his good friend, Sir Percy, that he is going to attempt to rescue the Queen... The Scarlet Pimpernel warns him it is not the wisest idea.
If only he'd listened.
Treachery, betrayal, court room scenes, and of course plenty of disguises from Sir Percy Blackney, Bart...the romance closely parallels that of our elusive hero and his wife, Marguerite.
Actually, I did like this book quite a bit. I almost liked it more than The Scarlet Pimpernel ...right up until the climax.
And then it lost me.
Because it just wasn't there. And if I read one more word about Déroulède's sinews quivering, I might have smacked somebody. Seriously, TMI.
And even Percy near the end...I don't know. He wasn't his "usual self." It all felt kind of written up and played out...not even a hitch or a suspenseful moment.
So for the first half, maybe even three-quarters of this book, I reccomend it.
The climax/conclusion just doesn't cut it though. There is a well played out theme of leaving vengeance to God. That was enjoyable.
I'd like to end with one of my favorite quotes from the book (a very sappy quote that Hope proclaimed "overly dramatic" but still, kind of cute ;) ) It proclaims the other theme of this book....a woman's heart is precious, but human.

"And 'twill be when you understand that your idol has feet of clay that you'll learn the real lesson of love," said Blakeney earnestly. "Is it love to worship a saint in heaven, whom you dare not touch, who hovers above you like a cloud, which floats away from you even as you gaze? To love is to feel one being in the world at one with us, our equal in sin as well as in virtue. To love, for us men, is to clasp one woman with our arms, feeling that she lives and breathes just as we do, suffers as we do, thinks with us, loves with us, and, above all, sins with us. Your mock saint who stands in a niche is not a woman if she have not suffered, still less a woman if she have not sinned. Fall at the feet of your idol an you wish, but drag her down to your level after that--the only level she should ever reach, that of your heart."

Where the heck is Marguerite?! I want her back!

I know that Edwardian swashbucklers are rife with ableism and xenophobia but I haven’t read enough to tell whether this series is a product of its time or whether Baroness Orczy was a particularly hateful person. Anyway. This book is testament to the lengths I’ll go to for a crumb of Percy Blakeney content (with an emphasis on crumb).

Our hero _Pimpernel_ seized the spotlight least (so far) in this the #3 installment in Orczy's series. Consequently, the story lacks the intensity of certain elements of adventure, clever scheming and plain good humor (abounding in the original). A good 'lighter' read though with its rich threads of 'romance' worked well into the familiar Paris setting during the Reign of Terror.