When it comes to the romance side of this, I can't think of a better word other than "sweet," and not in the industry sense of "no sexy times," but in the real-world sense of "oh wow, the couple love and respect each other and try their best to communicate on what they want out of their relationship." (Well, except for the very end, a little, but that's resolved quite quickly, have no doubt.) Oliver and Mattie actually remind me a lot of historical power-couple Frederic Chopin and George Sand, pen name of Amantine Dupin, who were alive and doing their respective things in the 1830s and beyond. Like Chopin, Oliver admires that Mattie can rock menswear, smoke cigars, and break gender roles in all sorts of ways. Oh, and he's totally cool with her being taller than him. Do you know how rare that is even nowadays???!!! Mattie's character could have so easily been a Mary Sue, but Marshall does a good job of showing Mattie's insecurities, especially when it comes to a relationship between a white man and an "octaroon" woman.
Which brings us to the historical side of the book, which Marshall REALLY hits out of the park. This is not the book for someone who wants pure escapism, who wants a prettied-up history of the antebellum South. The narrative makes VERY clear that slavery in the South was the foundation of the British Empire's textile industry, as the source of cheap cotton. Of course, Oliver and Mattie are opposed to slavery (otherwise Darlene Marshall would have had a book that would never be published), but Oliver's solution to cutting off plantation holders' profits is to start up cotton plantations in Egypt and India, and... the Brits did that in real-life; I think it's fair to say that they solved a moral dilemma by introducing new ones... Point is, though, that Marshall does a great job of weaving in the complexities of history with character development and plot. No, the crew of the Prodigal Son can't just incite a slave rebellion, because look at what happened to John Murrell just recently in book-time. (I looked him up, and yes, a real historical figure! He didn't even have moral issues in mind, he just wanted to be king of Florida or whatever.)
I can't end the review without mentioning how well Marshall writes about Oliver discovering white privilege (obviously not in those terms) and then wrestling with how it impacts his relationship with Mattie. Mattie is fully aware of what she's missing out, not being light enough to pass, but also aware that she's really privileged in being the daughter of a wealthy English baron for a father (and acknowledged as such) and allowed to engage in traditionally masculine pursuits. God, my mind is spinning from all the complexities this book brings up. None of this is new if you keep up with the discourse on inclusivity, but great to read nonetheless. Oh yeah, and as an Asian American, it's awesome that the Prodigal Son has a Chinese crewmember who's not described in Orientalist terms! I can't read other authors' historical romances that involve Asian settings or characters because it inevitably turns into Chinese ("Oriental" *shudder*) prostitutes smoking opium and sultans with harems who kidnap/buy a white Englishwoman... really puts the recent RITA authors of color winning controversy in perspective, doesn't it.
Anyway, buy this book at full price, it's so worth it! And of course, Roscoe the parrot-cat is amazing, and I'd want every book to have a parrot mascot if I weren't worried about encouraging exotic wildlife trafficking. (Yes, this is how my brain operates.)
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