From the Editorial Page of the Falchester Weekly Review

Oooh, I knew exactly which points of the pompous Mr. Talbot's letters would piss off Isabella (they pissed me off as well), and to no one's surprise, she ripped him a new asshole both in letter form and in the incredibly satisfying conclusion.

3.5/5 stars. I've never read any of the Lady Trent books but after reading this I'll make a point of picking them up. Hilarious epistolary short wherein an educated woman argues about science.

Very short story, shouldn't count towards my book total.

Academics snarking and throwing shade at each other is delightful. The 'punchline' had me literally laughing out loud in bed. Lady Trent is an excellent role model for women and academics alike.

Cute little story, purely epistolary - even the end, when Lady Trent took action, is described in yet another letter. Some examples of a) scams involving dragons and b) what Lady Trent had to put up with (I don't think he actually calls her "little lady", but the flavor is there). Amusing. But light enough, and unrelated to the series enough, that I didn't remember that I had read it before in Maps to Nowhere.

This is a very short story set in the same world as the Memoirs of Lady Trent series. It’s actually a set of fictional letters started when our main character, Isabella, challenges the author of a scientifically questionable notice in the Falchester Weekly Review. She and the author both send their letters to each other via the Falchester Weekly Review, so they’re published publicly.

I guess this is sort of what a Victorian-era flame war might look like. :) The letters were written shortly after Isabella’s return from her expedition in the third book of the series. Although too short to have any substantial meat, it did make a nice little supplement to the series and the ending made me laugh because it fit Isabella’s character show more so well.

This is currently available for free on Tor’s website here. show less

Series Info/Source: Part of the Lady Trent series, bought for Kindle.

Story (4/5): This is a really short read, takes 5 minutes to read. It’s less of a story than a series of letters published in a newspaper between Lady Trent and one of her scientific colleagues. The final letter is published by the newspaper itself and has a funny twist to it.

Characters (4/5): Lady Trent is the main character in this series, I love her sardonic wit and her willingness to act when a situation demands it.

Setting (3/5): There really isn’t a setting here, but the idea to set the whole thing in a series of newspaper letters was clever.

Writing Style (4/5): In general I enjoy Brennan’s writing style, it’s easy to read and flows well. I do think the show more Lady Trent series is her best series by far.

Summary (4/5): Overall this was a fun little read. I am not sure it’s worth 99 cents, it would make more sense to have it as a free Kindle offering because it’s incredibly short. I did enjoy visiting Lady Trent and her world again however briefly and got a fun little chuckle out of this. You will definitely want to read at least the first book of the Lady Trent series before reading this short story, you’ll be completely confused about what’s going on otherwise. show less

Wonderful, fun, and very quick read. Editorial letter pages are the Facebook comment threads of the 19th century. A great addition to the series. And available for free online here: https://www.tor.com/2016/04/05/from-the-editorial-page-of-the-falchester-weekly-...