2.5 (rounded down)⭐️⭐️

Thank you so much to PanMacmillan and NetGalley for an e-arc of this book.

I really enjoyed the first book of this series and was keen to see what significance the vampires had and where that was all going.

Unfortunately for me it all fell rather flat in the last book. Nothing really mattered, it wasn’t this massive conspiracy, the mages weren’t that interesting it was all just very average and felt very YA to me, and this is meant to be an adult book.

4.5 stars

Thank you to NetGalley and Pan Macmillan for the ARC.

The final part of Genevieve Cogman's vampire trilogy is a brilliant ending to the story. Set predominantly England, all our favourite characters are back, and as usual, Genevieve spins a brilliant tale.

This was probably my favourite instalment of the trilogy, doubtless because Eleanor feels more like the main character in her own story, finally coming into her power, making plans and taking action, believing in herself and her ability to make decisions, rather than deferring to the gentlemen in the Scarlet Pimpernel cohort.

Highly recommend for fans of The Invisible Library Series and historical fantasy.

Damned is the final book in this trilogy based on The Scarlet Pimpernel with vampires and, on the whole, it is a very good book.

I really enjoyed Eleanor in this book. She’s really come into her own and she manages to have a very commanding presence. The other characters are also enjoyable to read.

Cogman really manages to capture the spirit of the period. I actually feel like I am in London (and Paris in the previous books) in the late eighteenth century. It’s really well done.

The plot, for the most part is well done, and it does round off the series nicely. However, I feel that the climax was completed a little bit too quickly and the pacing was a little bit off. It feels like I blinked and missed something because the ending happened so fast. The book is less than 400 pages, so it is very fast paced but the middle bit seemed to go on forever and the ending just flew up and smacked me in the face.

All in all I did enjoy Damned, as I have enjoyed the other books in the trilogy. Is it as good as the Library series? No. I feel that the Library series was tighter with its plotting and characterisation but Damned was an enjoyable read. It’s fun and quick paced with likeable characters and I do like how the vampires are portrayed. It did feel like it was a bit of a race to the finish. The ending was good but I just wish it had a few more pages to allow the ending to breathe a bit more.

Fantasy is quite keen on us choosing sides. This is good, that is evil, they must be a hero or s villain. Is that too simplistic? Well, we humans like firm answers even in real life so perhaps not surprising stories echo that. Delving into the moral ambiguities is hard. In Genenvieve Cogman’s Damned we return to a tale exploring the power of revolutions, the dangers of status quo and attitudes to class which completes a very entertaining sequence of tales.

To recap Eleanor was once a simple servant but an uncanny resemblance to Marie-Antoinette brought her into the realm of Sir Percey Blakeney otherwise known as The Scarlet Pimpernel who work to rescue aristocrats from the threat of the guillotine in France. However, Eleanor’s adventures over there also cast doubt on that well known and trusted group of immortals - the vampires. Their motives no longer seem noble and instead are suggesting strings are being pulled both in France and England. As well as her wits and bravery Eleanor has also discovered she has the ability to perform magic of her own and a dying mage has told her that the clue to the Vampire’s destruction lies in England. On her return though the team the Pimpernel and his men are shocked to discover Sir Percey’s wife Marguerite is now being accused of treason.

This is a sequence of tales that have examined the way that Revolutionary France was posed as a huge danger and only in British culture could we imagine a series of books where rescuing aristocrats from working class revolutionaries is popular entertainment. Cogman has poked this several times in the previous two novels and that this time we have an English setting for the novel allows us t use the real history of the period to explore the green and pleasant land’s own failings. Eleanor finds now with her growing knowledge of the world that clearly those in power (living and undead) don’t want the people getting their own revolutionary ideas and so this time its English authorities cracking down on protest, free speech and seeing university towns as dangers to the world. This may seem weirdly familiar to modern readers too. It adds to the theme across the books that those in power be they aristocrats, new government or vampires are reluctant to then be challenged and lose that power. It adds something disconcerting that now the Pimpernel’s team find themselves up against the classes they themselves come from. Where even just being from a different country is seen as evidence, you’re very likely a traitor.

This is a story where throughout there has been a theme of shifting sides. Eleanor has moved from servant to pretending to be royalty. She has seen all the classes and the artifice of these structures and is now working out where she fits or not. The love of her life the academic yet brave Charles is from a very noble family and part of the story is Eleanor confronting how she realistically can fit into such a society that treasures bloodlines and wealth. She puzzles over does Sir Percey think of her as a friend, a servant or just a tool and that ambiguity shifts across the book. We also find some former foes return who now may just possibly share a common agenda. Let’s stop the vampires!

The main storyline rolls along at a very good pace with rescues, imprisonments and ancient secrets coming to life. Eleanor is front and centre of this and we get to see how powerful the Vampires in England have become and there is a fascinating way of how they move to discredit Eleanor which plays into the power of telling a good or terrible story about someone from a different class to meet your own agendas. But it is also a tale of bravery, magic, fights and witty dialogue. Lots of fun is had while at the same time the Vampires here are shown to be indeed sometimes evil, always cunning but most of all corrupting. The idea that here are some groups who will always follow the power to their own ends is a persuasive one and builds them up as a foe to watch out for. The resolution therefore matches the threat and indeed has a few moral dilemmas of its own. Everything has a cost even for Eleanor.

Cogman rounds up the story we have in these three books evolve but leaves some room for more tales in the world changed by these events. I would not be averse to reading those. Funny, exciting, inventive and thoughtful this is entertaining fantasy that explores subjects with a little more weight than you’d expect in a simple adventure novel. A series I definitely recommend!

Damned by Genevieve Cogman is book three in the Scarlet Revolution trilogy. The book started where book two left off - after a huge revelation of what might be lurking in London - a potential solution to rid the cities of vampires.

As with the previous two books - Eleanor finds herself in peril and in need of rescue! Although, she’s often able to get herself out of tight situations, there was a somewhat tricky situation for her in Damned. However as a member of The League of the Scarlet Pimpernel, her friends are at hand to help. I loved that as the story progressed, she was coming to terms with how to use her new found powers as a mage.

I thoughtfully enjoyed the adventures in Damned and the mission to find what’s been hidden in London for a number of centuries.

Set in 1794, I love the imagery of the clothing and the streets during this period - and of course the mention of the revolution that’s still raging in France and many people facing the guillotine. I love this period in history and I love vampires - I’ve really enjoyed this unusual mash-up that sounds like it shouldn’t work, but really was a fun trilogy to read.

As this is book three, I thought the story and characters were rounded up really well - I’ll miss Eleanor, Charles and the league. They really felt like old friends, when settling into reading this book.

Thank you to the author, the publisher and NetGalley for my ARC copy of Damned.

In this third and final instalment of the Scarlet Revolution trilogy, we follow main character Eleanor as she delves deeper into her powers as a mage. This cannot be read as a standalone as it very much draws on events and characters from the previous books.

This series is inspired by the Scarlet Pimpernel novels by Baroness Orczy, but with the addition of vampires to the French Revolution. While I did not find it quite as strong as her Library series, it still makes for an entertaining read. This book focuses more on events in England, although some of the characters from the French episodes in previous books make their return. It provides a satisfying end to the series.

A recommended read for fans of historical fantasy, vampires, and the French Revolution.

Thank you to Netgalley and PanMacmillan for providing me with a digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

The third and final instalment of a series I never expected to love! Vampires and the French revolution combined with English aristocracy isn't usually my jam. And yet I'm absolutely obsessed with this series!

This rapid paced book takes us back to England where we navigate the existence of magic, the secrets of vampires, and an impossible relationship to boot. The plotlines that have been interwoven throughout this series so far are tied up incredibly well, sewn neatly into a tapestry that left me wanting more of this worldbuilding and I hope that more books are written in this universe!

Whilst we don't learn much about the magic system in this world, because our main character herself doesn't know anything about what she can do, I did enjoy what we did get to learn. It was just enough to make the plotline run without overloading us with facts and ideas in the ~300 pages runtime.

The characters definitely develop a lot by this third book. Seeing our main character Eleanor, who started as a housemaid, have so much more confidence around those from a higher social class than herself as well as more self-assurance in her ideas was fantastic. As well as seeing other characters, such as Chauvelin (yes, he makes an appearance on British soil!) have to adapt for their own aims and change in the process.

The ending of this trilogy is incredibly satisfying. Everything has been thoughtfully planned out and wrapped up, and I thought the ending of the vampire plotline was really well done. It does, however, still leave me wanting more from this universe and I think Cogman has left herself open to that. I hope she returns to the world one day. This is such a fun historical fantasy trilogy with royalty, vampires, magic, romance, and enough dastardly plots to foil to keep anyone entertained!

So, the time has come for this is our last adventure of The Scarlet Revolution trilogy...Damned ! It's been quite an amazing series.
In this last book Lady Blakeney is charged with spying and Eleanor and the League must go to even dangerous lengths to save her.
Eleanor is coming to understand and control her magic, and uses it with greater skill to help in this current adventure. When she is in the most danger, help comes from a very unexpected quarter...
Set in England, with a new nemesis, the book takes us from London to Oxford and the Bedlem Hospital for the insane....

Intertwined within the plot are woven social commentaries of the day as the characters are embroiled in politics of Britain and France and the unrest that led to the Revolution. The class system, as demonstrated by Eleanor and Charles's budding relationship and Eleanor's feelings of inferiority to the rest of the League is a key feature.
Thriller and exciting, you feel the ever menacing presence of the vampires lurking in the shadows as their conspiracy rages.
A great mixture of fantasy, histfic magic and espionage.
Suse

DAMNED is an action packed finale. I loved returning to this alternate history of the French Revolution with its vampires, and a maid in the middle who is starting to finally, truly feel a part of the League.

Eleanor's journey across the trilogy has been great to watch. The confidence she has gained and the certainty that she has the same worth as her aristocratic peers. I liked watching her assert herself more in this book, not always simply going along with other's plans. She still is not the most prominent of their group, that is the chief, but she impacts their plans more, deciding events rather than being caught up in them.

I really liked that the men faded a bit into the background for this book. Eleanor is of course the main character, but Marguerite really gets a chance to shine this book. She's so vivacious and quick in a disaster, not letting anyone tell her what to do. Lady Sophie is a great villain, chilling for all she presents so sweetly. I really liked that Fleurette returned - she's such a good friend to Eleanor and has a strength she hides.

Fleurette and her father, Chauvelin, were a delightful surprise when they turned up in the book. It was so much fun to see Chauvelin and Percy work together, head of secret bodies in France and England, and very much enemies. Chauvelin's disdain was a great counter to Percy's effusiveness, the pair sparking in such a fun manner.

You know a world has been drawn well when it ends such that you feel like there are more stories to be told in their world. It is greater than the scope of the books, and that's the feeling I got at the end here. It wraps up in a way that ties up the loose ends, gives you the resolution (and finale) you wanted, but get left with a sense that the world goes beyond this trilogy.

A satisfying and exciting ending to the Scarlet Pimpernel trilogy. Eleanor must join forces with Chauvelin, sworn enemy of the League and Sir Percy Blakeney, to find the secret that the First Vampire Lady Sophie has been hiding that is the source of her power. Eleanor comes into her power as a mage and faces down the source of the evil that has infected the world with vampires to protect her lover Charles and her friends.

This is 3.5 stars really. It is the last part of a series of three which started off based on the Scarlet Pimpernel. By the time you get to this episode, the focus is much more in the vampire part of the story. Eleanor is now a mage with increasing powers and feared by the vampires, including her previous mistress, Sophie. It’s exciting in the same way that the Invisible Library books were because there is a lot of action, I liked the idea of the secret under the House of Parliament but think it would have been kept much more securely than it was! Eleanor is a plucky heroine but this series isn’t as strong as the library one. I am looking forward to seeing what the author writes next. Thanks to Netgalley for an ARC.

Absolutely excellent! I loved the previous books in this clever and imaginative series, but this one surpassed those. Even though the second one was a very hard act to follow!
I wasn’t so sure about reading a historical series to start with, despite my enthusiasm for this author, but the way she wove the disparate elements and characters together was inspired. You never quite knew just what she was going to come up with next!
I love fascinating and well-formed characters, and I love plenty of action; I was not disappointed.
All I can now say is … I really want to know what happens on their travels!

Damned is the third and final installment in Genevieve Cogman’s Scarlet Pimpernel retelling, where the French Revolution meets vampires. This time, we return to England, where the characters must deal with the consequences of magic being real and navigate the secrets the vampires have been hiding. While I did miss the rich atmosphere of revolutionary France from the earlier books, this final volume delivers a tightly woven plot and a noticeably quicker pace that kept me engaged throughout.

One of the book’s strengths is how well-established the character dynamics are by this point. The story flows naturally without needing to revisit too much from the earlier entries. I especially enjoyed Eleanor’s interactions with the rest of the cast - her dynamic with Charles was a highlight, and I was delighted to see their romance finally addressed in a satisfying way. A surprising and welcome twist was the reappearance of Chauvelin from the French Committee of Public Safety—this time on British soil! His role added an intriguing layer to the plot.

If you’ve enjoyed the previous books, you’ll definitely want to see how it all ends. The conclusion felt thoughtfully planned and wrapped up the vampire storyline in a rewarding way. I wholeheartedly recommend Damned, and the entire trilogy, to fans of historical fantasy, political intrigue, and clever twists on classic tales.

Satisfying conclusion to the trilogy, another historically influenced scarlet pimpernel / vampire romp. Threads built up over the three books are resolved satisfactorily, the melding of actual history / vampires / mages and magic is entertaining and there is genuine warmth for the characters, whose individual story lines are paid off with emotional heft. Very enjoyable - interesting to see what Cogman does next after this and the invisible library

The final and perfect instalment in the enjoyable Scarlet Revolution trilogy where mages meet vampires in the time of the French Revolution. The League of the Scarlet Pimpernel are now back on the home shores of England as their attention switches to unravelling the great hidden secret of the vampires. Eleanor has to help uncover the mystery of what lies beneath the Houses of Parliament whilst getting to grips with her talents as a mage. An excellent end to a highly recommended series. Cogman never fails to impress.
My thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley. This review was written voluntarily and is entirely my own unbiased opinion.

A brilliant end to this trilogy, as I would expect from Genevieve Cogman. Wonderful characters, lots of corners in the plot and a great twist in the tail. Recommended.

A wonderful read. I’ve truly loved this series, the universe and the characters. Thank you so much to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this.

This is such an amazing series and Damned was the perfect finale! It's fast-paced, just like the other two books in the series, and gives us answers we've been waiting for. I loved it!

Damned is the final book in the Scarlet Revolution series...
The League have returned to England to find that Lady Marguerite has been imprisoned in her London townhouse on charges of treason and espionage. It looks like the vampires are aware of Eleanor's growing powers and are putting the pressure on. Can the League outsmart them one more time?
Much like books one and two, this is a fast-paced adventure full of magic and mayhem and secrets revealed.
This was a great series, I'm going to miss the League.
Thank you, NetGalley and publishers, for the ARC. 5*

Damned is the third and final book in Cogman's enthralling Scarlet Pimpernel/vampire mash up - and what a finale! So well plotted and written that the reader is kept guessing all the way to the end, the peril and adventures never letting up.
Eleanor, once lady's maid turned member of the Order of the Scarlet Pimpernel turned mage and her companions are in a race against time. Now the vampires know Eleanor has magical powers they won't rest until she is dead, but her quest to find out where the secret which could destroy the vampires is buried is hampered by the net closing in around the Order, starting with allegations that Lady Blakeney is a spy. Meanwhile unrest is fermenting across England countered by ever more opressive measures and calls for the ban on vampires in public office to be lifted. Cue a book filled with daring escapes, dangerous encounters, old enermies turned allies, tested loyalties and forbidden love.
Cogan is one of the most inventive and talented fantasy writers published today - one of the joys of this series is that although it's as exertly plotted as The Hidden Library, as inventive and fun and original with equally memorable and perfectly drawn characters, it is a totally unique series, showing Cogman's versatility. I am sad to see the end of Eleanor, Charles and the rest of the Order, but very much looking forward to whatever Cogman decides to write next.