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So it says a lot about regency romances that when I got "The Duke of Shadows" by Meredith Duran from the library and saw that it was set in India I was going to take it back unread because there was no way it wouldn't be horribly painfully racist. (The last book of hers I read was set in Hong Kong and managed to have no non-white/POC characters at all apart from two very briefly mentioned servants, which was a step up from what I was expecting but still not exactly good)
But I got very bored today so gave it a go: and it's not! It's by far the least racist regency romance I've ever read and is better than some contemporary ones! The hero is OMG of mixed English/Indian descent. (And still an English lord, of course. But he identifies as Indian as much as he does English) He spends a lot of time muttering bitterly about how the English are a bunch of oppressive thugs who should get the hell out of India.
It's not perfect by any means, there's still a moderate amount of "Wow, India sure is exotic!" going on, but for example compare the odious "heroine discovers blonde blue eyed hero is muslim prince, thinks it's sexy as hell, he dresses up in traditional clothes so she can exotify him" scene in "Captives of the Night" by Loretta Chase to the heroine seeing the hero fitting into Indian society while they're hiding in a village from The Plot, her being a bit freaked out and saying "You're Indian then, not English," to which he replies "What nice convenient labels."
I'm making this post now because part of me is sure it's just going to disappoint me (I'm only 1/3 of the way through) and I wanted to enjoy the moment while it lasted. Because my lord I was getting sick of the constant creepy racism in regency romances, and this is probably as good as it's ever going to get. (Oh regency romances, why can't I quit you...)
EDIT: Have finished the book and I actually really liked it. Though partly for having just the sort of angst I like but doesn't appeal to everyone. One could justifiably accuse it of doing the "using momentous and painful events from the history of colonialised peoples as backdrop to white people's angsty romance" thing, it didn't feel overly appropriative to me, but I'm hardly the best judge.
But I got very bored today so gave it a go: and it's not! It's by far the least racist regency romance I've ever read and is better than some contemporary ones! The hero is OMG of mixed English/Indian descent. (And still an English lord, of course. But he identifies as Indian as much as he does English) He spends a lot of time muttering bitterly about how the English are a bunch of oppressive thugs who should get the hell out of India.
It's not perfect by any means, there's still a moderate amount of "Wow, India sure is exotic!" going on, but for example compare the odious "heroine discovers blonde blue eyed hero is muslim prince, thinks it's sexy as hell, he dresses up in traditional clothes so she can exotify him" scene in "Captives of the Night" by Loretta Chase to the heroine seeing the hero fitting into Indian society while they're hiding in a village from The Plot, her being a bit freaked out and saying "You're Indian then, not English," to which he replies "What nice convenient labels."
I'm making this post now because part of me is sure it's just going to disappoint me (I'm only 1/3 of the way through) and I wanted to enjoy the moment while it lasted. Because my lord I was getting sick of the constant creepy racism in regency romances, and this is probably as good as it's ever going to get. (Oh regency romances, why can't I quit you...)
EDIT: Have finished the book and I actually really liked it. Though partly for having just the sort of angst I like but doesn't appeal to everyone. One could justifiably accuse it of doing the "using momentous and painful events from the history of colonialised peoples as backdrop to white people's angsty romance" thing, it didn't feel overly appropriative to me, but I'm hardly the best judge.