So this was a mixed bag for me. Alexis Hall has a pretty wide range, which means that sometimes things really work for a wide range of people (Boyfriend Material), and sometimes they hit hard and deep with a few who will love it with all their soul (Prosperity).

The narrator of this magic infused regency romp, Robin, is the same as in Mortal Follies, so if that worked well for you to have a magical narrator who is not very reliable, then it’s likely to work again.

There are some things that were done incredibly well. There were some tiny jokes that I found hilarious (like the Earl of Semweir). Lizzy Bickle was a mixed bag, sometimes she was hilarious, but other times it felt heavy handed and overdone.

One of the most brilliantly written parts of the book is an action scene that flips back and forth between a ball and a fight happening in a bar, and it was beautifully written in an incredible cinematic way.

If you like and know a lot about Shakespeare and Opera, this would feel like a story full of clever allusions. If you don’t it feels like being at a party and hearing inside jokes, knowing enough to be aware that you are missing something, but getting given the literary equivalent of implying “you had to be there”.

I didn’t realise this had a book before it, but I also really struggled to get into the way the book is narrated.

Confounding Oaths by Alexis Hall: Review
My thanks to NetGalley, Hatchette Australia & New Zealand and the author for the opportunity to provide my unbiased opinion on this release.
Another hilarious fantasy story set in the regency era, Confounding Oaths continues with the characters from Mortal Follies, about a year after those events.
I love that the story again starts with a thoughtful trigger warning, and the fantastic hobgoblin narrator, Robin (straight from Shakespeares ‘A Midsummer Nights Dream’), returns. Interspersing the romantic storyline between John Caesar and Captain Orestes James and the troublesome bargain between Titania’s agent and John’s sister, the fairy storyteller ruminates on modernistic society and his woes at being exiled from Oberon's Court. Full of witty dialogue, sardonic characters and fourth wall breaking, I enjoyed CO even more than MF.
I also appreciate the authors LGBTQI+ representation, and the inclusion of folklore and Shakespearean flair.
I think pacing might have been a bit smoother as there were patches that became a slog, but otherwise I found the read enjoyable and look forward to another instalment (Lysistrata Bickle, I’m looking at you!)

I enjoyed this more than its predecessor – the pacing is much tighter, the plot romps along nicely, there’s some nifty fairy magic of the “be careful what you wish for” variety, and I liked the characters and relationships. Also, that cover is absolutely scrumptious!

My main gripe remains, however, and isn’t much ameliorated by knowing it was coming: the choice of narrator. Puck, or Robin Goodfellow, once again liberally throws around sneery asides, anachronistic language, tedious explanations on his disguises, location changes, and wilful omission of information, myriad observations on his own greatness and callousness, etc. etc. ad nauseam, making it really bloody difficult to actually connect to the characters or the story being told.

Reader, I cannot stand that charmless hack. It’s only the voice of the whole book, so yeah, that’s a problem. As with the first book, the narrative framework creates a massive emotional remove, and I just find this type of aggressive whimsy exhausting. YMMV.

Thank you to Netgalley and Hachette Australia & New Zealand for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to Netgalley, Hachette Australia & New Zealand, and Alexis Hall (and the truth author, Robin Goodfellow, of course) for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

4.5 stars, rounded up.

I would like you, dear reader, to note that this rounded score is not influenced by any undisclosed agreements struck with the constituents of the Other Court, nor is it the result of an opinion formed under pressure from external threats from otherworldly entities, as such assertions would constitute slander and libel. Rather, this score has been rounded up to align with other 4.5-star reviews that chose to round down. I ask you to remember, reader, that the Other Court is always benevolent and generous to us mere mortals, and we should truly be grateful that Robin Goodfellow graciously chose to sully himself by penning this remarkable book for our benefit.

And what a book it is.

To those of you familiar with Robin's previous work ( Mortal Follies), you will recognise the familiar penmanship and humour found within Confounding Oaths. As always, Robin expertly weaves intrigue and conflict into his stories with the kind of competence we've come to expect from the good folk. However, what you might find new here is how much Robin's documenting of "unimportant information" (see: character development) has improved. Confounding Oaths contained multitudes of characters, some familiar (John Caesar, Lysistrata Bickle, and brief cameos from Robin's previous subject, Maelys and Georgiana), and others brand new. And while, on the surface, it seems to be another romance-oriented book, at its core, Confounding Oaths is underpinned by a deeper narrative; that of found family.

On a personal level, I found this book to be even more enjoyable than Mortal Follies, as the subject chosen by Robin this time was someone I found particularly compelling: John Caesar. This lover of cravats really went through it during Confounding Oaths, in a manner that all eldest siblings are likely to find entirely too relatable. The romance was solid, the pacing was clever, the multiple plot strands were interesting, and the ending was satisfying.

Overall, this is a book I will be recommending to all of my mortal friends, as I truly believe it will enlighten us as a species and provide a sense of enrichment to our brief and meagre lives.

Robin, I wish you luck in regaining your master's favour. However, I would be more than willing to seek out your next book should you require additional income in the interim.

Some reason I didn't realise this had a first book. And if I had read the first one I probably wouldn't have requested this. I don't like the way it's narrated. That was my biggest issue with this book.
I couldn't get into the story or characters because I just couldn't click with this style.

Ok, I’m brushing aside the glittery cobwebs and shaking off the fairy dust as I make my way back to reality after immersion in this thoroughly enchanting romp.

Robin Goodfellow (banished from Oberon’s court, stuck in the 21st century, and forced to work—write novels—for a living) is back with another captivating yarn for us. Robin knows we love stories about the regency, so this is one from 1815 and is 100 per cent true and not made up, Robin takes great pains to show us how he witnesses everything that happened. (You might, if you haven’t already, want to read Mortal Follies first, even though they are strictly speaking stand alone. Robin would certainly like you to.)
It’s ostensibly about the trials of the Caesar family—events kick off at a society ball when young Mr Caesar’s sister Mary is insulted about the colour of her skin, and Mr Caesar (very incompetently) punches the insulter in the face, setting off a train of events, not least being rescued by a handsome captain, a duel at dawn, and almost being sacrificed to the river by a Mithraic cult. Mary Caesar meanwhile, wishes she was beautiful in the hearing of a fairy, is turned into an irresistibly enchanting living statue made of glass and light. This, as you might guess, does not go well, and a visit to Titania’s realm is required to bring her back. A delightful romance between Mr Caesar and the handsome Captain James moves things along nicely too.

If this sounds bonkers and complicated that’s because it is, and that’s just the plot. Well. Some of the plot. For me the sheer delight of the book is the sweet crumbly mille feuille of layers of narration—the way Robin lets us fall into the narrative, reels us back, tells us what he’s doing (reminding us constantly that he’s trustworthy, never lies and never helps events along) then throws us back in again. While praising Oberon whenever he gets a moment. (I’m such a sucker for story that’s about storytelling as much as anything else.) Also, he has *really* got it in for Shakespeare and takes every opportunity to have a dig at ‘that bastard Bill’, that ‘son of a glover’. Which I do find highly amusing. Puts a whole new light on the Shakespeare authorship question—maybe some of WS’s plays *were* written by one of his characters, who am I to say?

Meanwhile it’s delightful to see the return of our beloved Miss Bickle from Mortal Follies, giving ‘off with the fairies’ her own particular vibe. Vague and tending not to live quite in the same world as everyone else, it turns out she has a special kind of wisdom all her own. (Also it seems she has single handedly invented fanfic, particularly around the work of The Anonymous Lady Author of Sense and Sensibility. Which is pretty funny.)

While all these shenanigans around authorship and narrative and veracity and trustworthiness do have a certain distancing effect between reader and character, we still get some beautifully moving moments when characters make life- and love-affirming decisions (which I won’t go into because I don’t want to spoil anything.) BUT
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[MINOR SPOILER]
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(It’s so good when the bad guy literally gets eaten by a bear.)