The book: Landry Park (Landry Park #1)
The author: Bethany Hagen
The rating: 4 stars
Landry Park left me with mismatched thoughts. Overall, the novel was enjoyable. I was definitely enthralled by its Austen-like premise, but I had a love/hate relationship with protagonist Madeline, and if it makes any sense at all, I felt put off by the world building while simultaneously loving the atmosphere.
As I mentioned back in my review of Legend, I've noticed that an outrageous number of dystopias build the same world... there must be a subconscious undercurrent of today's society that is certain we're gearing up for a war between China and the United States, because that's the story all these authors weave. Hagen does the same in Landry Park, and after reading down this road countless times before, I was less than impressed with the encroachment of the Eastern Empire onto the American west coast. I mean, Hagen slates some of these events to begin as early as 2022... for anyone who has taken an international history or international affairs class in the last decade or so, the proposed future!history is a bit difficult to swallow.
In creating a society of futuristic gentry, there's a number of plot holes. Why is everyone smoking again? Sure, they didn't know any better in Austen's time, the time period Landry Park is trying to emulate, but what part of a war with China and an energy revolution got rid of the toxic effects of cigarettes? How did class becoming 'the most important delineator in society' bring whist back from obscurity? Landry Park is clearly a period piece set in the future, and although the rationale for why some things have reverted to their 18th/19th century form isn't always clear, I immensely enjoyed the atmosphere it created. Fancy dresses, aristocracy, family intrigue, balls and romance... there's something so incredibly readable about a period piece, and Landry Park uses this atmosphere to its fullest potential.
Now, Madeline. There were times when I was rather found of her. The wallflower debutante, the girl who would prefer reading about King Arthur to engaging in frivolous ballroom chatter, the one with dreams of getting an education and being something more than just an heiress... the one with a conscience. Despite the promise she showed, in the end, I was rather ambivalent. I was never really convinced of her love for David; their first dozen interactions seemed little more than her being an aloof jerk, almost as if she was a student at the Edward Cullen school of romance, and he returned the favour by being the king of mixed messages. She lacked agency, and while that lack was an important part of her character and the conflict she had to overcome, it pushed her into the position of being an annoying drag to the plot, rarely concerned with the issues with which the reader was, therefore spinning the narrative in pointless loops away from the parts of the story that were truly interesting.
When it comes to dystopic versions of period pieces, Diana Peterfreund's For Darkness Shows the Stars will always take the cake, but Landry Park is an admirable addition to the genre. Despite its flaws, the novel truly captures the spirit of such fiction, imbued with the je ne sais quoi that makes readers love Pride and Prejudice and all those other classic tales of romance, marriage, and estates. In terms of dystopias, Landry Park's world may leave something to be desired, but the other half of its coin makes it a novel well worth reading, and definitely a series opener to keep an eye on.
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