Orczy - The Scarlet Pimpernel

Pros: great story, good characters

Cons: "outdated" language and style

Review: I have a weakness for "masked men" literature, or media in general. Is this the moment Lois realizes Clark is Superman? Will the police put another warrant out for the arrest of the Green Hornet, not knowing he is really publisher Brit Reed?...

Pros: wonderfully written adventure tale

Cons: the books that follow in the series don't live up to the first

Review: My mother always told me that there is a reason that classics remain classics. The Scarlet Pimpernel proves this. When I was nine, I discovered the Three Musketeers. After devouring all of the Dumas's works, I asked the librarian for something more. She...

Pros: Clever, witty, action-packed, tense, exciting. Need I go on?

Cons: More! More!

The Bottom Line: It's fabulous. Just read it.

Review: I LOVE this book. It rocks beyond belief. It runs fluidly, taking us from France in the height of Revolution to a vivid tavern in England where spies and aristocrats alike discuss the times.

We follow the French Lady Marguerite Blakeney...

Pros: Adventure, romance, politics and yes, a masked hero

Cons: Author's bias towards aristocracy, ethnic stereotyping

Review: Looking for an interesting classic to read over the holidays? Try the story of the first masked hero, the "Scarlet Pimpernel" by Baroness Orczy.

Originally of Hungarian descent, while Orczy wrote this book a century...

Pros: adventure, humor, romance

Cons: predictable, pace a bit slow before main characters are introduced

The Bottom Line: A good old-fashioned adventure with unabashedly royalist leanings, but still an enjoyable, light read.

Review: This is my week-late contribution to pambo's Bastille Day write-off. Due to the disorganization of moving and not being able to find my books, it's taken me this long to scrabble up something related to France. Luckily for me, I remembered we...

Pros: exciting page-turner plot; easy to read

Cons: very poor writing and character development; biased look at French Revolution

The Bottom Line: As a foreign-flavored swashbuckler, it’s okay. As a piece of literature, it’s a flop.

Review: I remember when I first heard the movie of the same name as the book, I was four years old, and of course the first thing I thought was, “The scarlet pimple? Why would anyone name a movie that?” Hey, I was only four! Well, fast forward ten years and I...

Pros: Easy vocabulary, as long as you understand the few French terms in it.

Cons: Weak character development. Could only be written an author of noble position.

The Bottom Line: If you want this kind of book, read Mark of Zorro. It is the same story, but at least the protagonist's actions make sense.

Review: This book is terrible. The author continually describes unimportant clothing, and beats the reader over the head with how smart Marguerite Blakney is, but has her act stupidly. Her life is a complete contradiction. The author writes that Blakney is a...