Revolutionary France is no place to be, especially for aristocrat vampires facing the guillotine. But the League of the Scarlet Pimpernel are determined to rescue them. And they have an ace up their sleeve: Eleanor, a lowly maid from an English estate with a striking resemblance to French royalty.
For Eleanor, the League and their legendary deeds are little more than rumour – until she’s drawn into their most dangerous plot yet. The mission? Travel to France in disguise, impersonate Queen Marie Antoinette and rescue the royal family. If they succeed, it’ll be the heist of the century.
But there’s more to fear than ardent Revolutionaries. For Eleanor stumbles across a centuries-old war between vampires and their fiercest enemy. And they’re out for blood…
Over the last few years, I’ve read and very much enjoyed Genevieve Cogman’s Invisible Library series. While I’m still a little sad at that series having drawn to a close (at least for the time being!) I was very much intrigued by the premise of Scarlet which begins a new series and offers readers a retelling of The Scarlet Pimpernel with vampires. Full disclosure, I’ve neither read nor seen any adaptations of The Scarlet Pimpernel and going into this novel knew only the most basic outline of the plot – that a covert group works to assist the aristocracy of France during the Revolution, headed up by the elusive Scarlet Pimpernel themself. For anyone in the same situation, don’t let that put you off if you’re tempted by this novel. Not knowing much of the original didn’t dampen my enjoyment of this retelling at all, and while the underlying concept may be the same, I expect that the plot moves in a different direction given the vampires that Cogman has incorporated into the narrative.
While I appreciate that some readers may not enjoy retellings such as this, particularly with the added supernatural element, I think that it works brilliantly. The vampire is often used as a metaphor for the aristocracy who thrive by living of the blood (literally, in a vampire’s case), sweat, and efforts of those they consider beneath them. To fit them into a novel about the French Revolution and the aristocracy being overthrown to allow for a fairer society then makes a lot of sense. And while the idea of the vampire is a familiar concept, Cogman has taken elements of the creature but made it her own. Her vampires can tolerate light, for example, although they don’t enjoy it, and she has made it so that vampires are not able to hold positions of power – positions that their longevity would mean that they would hold on to for too long a period, most likely to the detriment of us mere mortals.
The novel itself begins with Eleanor – Nellie as she’s sometimes referred to – who works as a maid for a vampiric mistress. She is, somewhat surprisingly, relatively well treated, although she and the other young maids are required to give blood to their mistress as and when it’s asked for. This is presented as being simply another task for the maids to perform, alongside those that are more common for such a period. We do see later in the novel that not all vampires are so polite in satisfying their hungers, and it’s clear that Eleanor’s position could be worse. Her situation changes dramatically when she’s selected to assist her mistress’s aristocratic yet human friends, chosen because of her resemblance to Marie Antoinette. Through assisting with a plan to free Antoinette and the Dauphin of France, she sees an opportunity to better her situation as the promised reward would enable her to leave service and to fulfil her dream of working as a seamstress.
Eleanor is a great character and quickly proves herself to be intelligent, observant, and brave. The situation she finds herself in is an unusual one, and her resemblance to Antoinette will take her out of her comfort zone and across the channel to a country in turmoil and where suspicion is rife. While it’s daunting and she fears what may come, she repeatedly proves herself to be up to any challenge she’s presented with, and, alongside Eleanor, the reader is swept along on a great adventure with action aplenty. I raced through it, desperate to see what would happen and whether the audacious plan the League of the Scarlet Pimpernel has put together would succeed. Along the way, an additional element is added to the novel, hinting at a sworn enemy of vampires and everything they stand for, and an ongoing battle that Eleanor is about to get caught up in. I don’t want to say too much about this, but it does raise various questions and gives some insight into where the series may go.
Given the nature of the French Revolution, there is a sense of irony in a maid assisting the aristocracy in this way and which can be seen as supporting the continuation of the former social structure that the people of France are attempting to overthrow. Cogman deals with this nicely, highlighting that while Eleanor recognises that ending feudalism and having the richest pay taxes isn’t a bad thing, she doesn’t agree with the methods employed by the Revolutionaries, particularly when it comes to the executions of the nobility and their families. I do wonder if and how Eleanor’s opinions may shift as the series continues, however, particularly as it becomes clear that those vampires that remain are not happy with their lot and are seeking more power.
Overall, Scarlet is a great start to a new series, and I can’t wait to see how it continues in the second instalment, Elusive, currently planned for publication in May 2024. It’s a series that promises a bit of everything – derring-do, swashbuckling, the potential for romance, a covert group, and a bold heroine caught up in events that are bigger than her and which she has so far shown herself to be more than capable of handling. I loved it, and highly recommend it.
Jo's Book Blog 
Fab review Jo glad you enjoyed it! x
Thanks so much, Nicki – Cogman’s books are always such good fun! x