4.5 stars

AUTHOR PROJECT
I love these books. They are so cute and so funny. Cat is a total charmer and the world never stops being fun and interesting, but also never stops changing and keeping you on your toes. I also love how every book has a different combo of the friends, sometimes more Pedro and less Frank, sometimes more Johnny and less Syd, sometimes opposite. It makes it feel episodic and serial, like a good tv series. I love how they interact with history, but at the same time have the rich type of world building that comes from the best kind of fantasy. You get this great "this very well COULD have been happening, we will never know" type of vibe from the underworld type of characters and the theater stuff that gives the world the kind of life you could never get from a well-researched book set in court with real figures. I just love them so much!
I'll repeat what I always say about this series: best recc for reluctant historical-fiction readers because they really read like adventure novels set in any good fantasy world. Greatest ever. And they cover so much without feeling plodding. and the pacing is wicked fast. and the dialogue is great. the frame, the acknowledgement of the reader and the maps and cast lists and glossaries of slang just make it so much fun to explore and shakes things up. and Cat is just the best narrator. I love how smart she is and how well she connects with people, and how she is always taking in what is around her but not always looking into her own feelings all that much. She feels believeable as a fourteen year old because of that. She is such a gem, she's honestly one of my all-time favorite protagonists, up there with Percy Jackson.
Any other things I have to say?
I love these books? I love that I had forgotten pretty much everything that happens, just because they are so wild and complicated (but don't feel that way, but definitely are in retrospect once you start thinking about all the story strains that it follows) that there's no way my brain could fill in what is going to happen next so I was always surprised. I'm sure this book couldn't stand up to close re-reads, but it's been years since I read it so I had quite the good time. I can't wait to finally finish this series due to the magic of Inter library Loan because College is Good.
Also, these remind me in a really positive way of the Finishing School books by Gail Carriger that I just read recently. I actually had that thought while reading Cat Royal, that 'hmm, i might have found myself returning to these a little while ago if I hadn't found the Finishing School books that filled that just same hole'
LOVE
.................21 January 2011.......................
Gave five stars ~~
Frank & Johnny & J-F are just cute and I love them.

★★★.5

Ah, Cat--always in some kind of jam, this time in a foreign country during a time of revolution! Still ridiculous, still funny, still full of great characters and great adventures. Cat's in pretty serious trouble this time, both in England and in France, and has to do some pretty heavy thinking about who she is and how she wants to live her life. She's definitely more of an insecure, confused teenager in this one than she has been in the first two books, although as mouthy and scrappy as ever, of course. This series is totally addictive though...

P.S. I really hate the American covers for these books. :(

i love it.

Loved it!! Love J-F!! And of course, Johnny. And Frank. And Syd. I LOVE Syd. I actually can't decide who I like best for Cat. I love them all. And Billy is just scary. But, Johnny married, so that narrows it down a bit. She better end up with one of them!!!!

Another engaging adventure set in revolutionary France.

Cat is sooo funny! Had me in stitches!!!!!

I enjoy this series - Kind of. It was a bit stressfull to know this girl was in such peril at such a young age. That she makes it through all her problems seems unrealistic concidering her circumstance.

This is one of the volumes to Julia Goldings pack of books and it really has got me into adventurous things.

I cried for the first 4 chapters, so I had to stop reading, and then i read it in a day.
It was one of those books that just left you sitting there thinking "Wait it's over, what just happened?" and contemplating the whole story over in your head. At least for me.

Not the strongest of the Cat Royal books, but still good fun. I was disappointed in the French Revolution aspects because there's just not enough book here to really immerse Cat in the goings-on, but that's not what this series is about, anyway, so I'll just move along.