The Magpie Lord

In case you didn't know, I have an extremely well maintained "want-to-read" shelf. I take it out at least every few months, dust it off, move books around, ensure that there's enough variety in there... that sort of thing. But most importantly, it helps me keep up my regular German reading. In theory, that is.

In practice, rigid reading lists often cause me to fall into severe reading slumps. So when a Victorian Gothic murder mystery with liberal MM flavoring gets waved into my face I cave. Hard. Especially when by "waved" I actually mean "purposefully scoured my friends' reviews for some guilty pleasure material".

I was seriously hoping that the story would never end, looking forward to every single aspect of the fantastic mystery to show more unravel. So much so, that the lack of out-of-context-quotability didn't bother me. Heck, I was ready to rate it 4 stars even without the shmexy aspects. *shock*

As much as it pains me to admit it, I care about length a LOT. (Yes, I'll wait until you finish your giggling bout.) For all that I may say that good authors can make even the briefest of writing interesting... I haven't actually found any book that fits this criteria. Until The Magpie Lord. My Kindle edition boasts of 180 pages, with the last 10% being ads for other novels. I finished the whole thing in 3 hours, and that included several re-readings of the more... scintillating passages. And the novel (novella?) didn't feel incomplete!
Not to say, that I was ready to move on after just one book. But I definitely had a new favorite author on my hands!

All I can reproach it really, were the few passages that left me increasingly confused. Not even subsequent re-readings helped clear them up. And when these scenes are supposed to be some of the more heart throbbing, throat tingling, stomach butterfly inducing ones... I just can't forgive that.

Score: 4.4/5 stars

Go for the ghosts, creepy Victorian artifacts, ancient English mansions with plenty of history to wade through. Stay for the absolutely adorable/alluring will-they-won't-they banter between the frivolously handsome Lucien Vaudrey (aka Lord Crane) and the uptight Stephen Day with the (literally) magic fingers.

As for the scoring: it's times like these that I feel incredibly petty, because I just don't really give full marks to romance novels. With such a niche reader-base, I feel like it would necessitate way too much explanation just to make a few "outsiders" give it a chance. That said, I'm happy to announce, that you have a new fan Ms. Charles. *cue demented sparkly smile* I promise I'm not crazy. Meaning... no one's certified me, so far.

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Review of book 0.5: The Smuggler and the Warlord
Review of book 1.5: Interlude with Tattoos
Review of book 2: A Case of Possession
Review of book 2.5: A Case of Spirits
Review of book 3: Flight of Magpies
Review of book 3.5: Feast of Stephen show less

This was an adorable romp, despite the sinister under tones and the careful juggling of lives and lifestyles in order to not end up dead (not much of a spoiler -- the wealthy aristocratic protagonist nearly ends up dead on the first page). A queer romance that doesn't gloss over the risks/dangers of being queer in the particular British historical setting.

Lucien Vaudrey's father essentially exiled him to China when he was 17. He had no intention of ever returning to England, but then both his father and older brother committed suicide, making him the new Lord Crane. All he wants to do is settle the legal aspects of his new inheritance and return to China. Unfortunately, either he's going insane or someone is trying to kill him with magic. In China, Crane would have called for a shaman. In England, he finds himself a magician.

That magician happens to be Stephen Day, a man who loathes him for what the old Lord Crane did to his father. Still, Stephen can't sit idly by as someone uses magic for evil, so he does what he can to help Crane. Helping him with part of the problem doesn't solve show more everything, however, so he sticks around to do more investigating and find the true culprit.

For some reason my brain insisted on depicting Crane and Stephen as Arcane's Jayce and Viktor (a shorter version, since Stephen is only about 5 ft. tall). Maybe because both pairs feature one person who's physically fragile (Stephen recently finished a case that almost killed him) and one isn't?

Anyway, I enjoyed this a lot. Crane and Stephen had great chemistry, and the fantasy and romance aspects were interesting. Crane was well aware that both his father and older brother were horrible people, so it didn't bother him in the slightest that everyone hated them, and he understood when people tended to immediately judge him based their experiences with those two. I liked that about him.

I definitely plan on reading the next book.

(Original review posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.) show less

This is one of those frustrating books that's so close to being genuinely fantastic, and has so much potential, but which unfortunately seems not to have passed under the eye of a thoughtful editor before publication. K.J. Charles' conjures up a genuinely imaginative and engaging magical world which feels quite lived in and as if it exists beyond the boundaries of the book; the dialogue sometimes gets a little too arch but is often genuinely funny; and her characters are distinctly drawn, both the protagonists and the side characters (and I desperately want to meet Esther, the badass Jewish magic practitioner!).

However, these aspects of the book must be ranged against the fact that Charles sometimes falls back on expository chunks show more rather than more fluid reveals; the choppy changes of POV were sometimes disorienting; and Charles seemed to have much less of a grip on the social realities of mid-nineteenth-century England (I think? There are trains and I think an oblique reference to the Opium Wars, so I'm guessing 1860s) and some of the dialogue was a bit too anachronistic for my taste. These didn't stop me from speeding through the novel wanting to know what happens next, but they were minor road blocks along the way.

A bigger one was the relationship between the main characters, Lucien and Stephen. I enjoyed them as individual characters, but I don't yet quite buy that they're a couple. The author seems to think that describing one guy as older, well over six feet, and a top and the other guy as younger, barely five feet tall, and a bottom is the equivalent of real relationship development. Size/age difference not being something I find inherently attractive, I mostly felt uncomfortable during the sex scene and embarrassed by what Lucien thinks dirty talk is.

I'll probably try the sequels, and hope that they're a little more developed than The Magpie Lord. show less

I was a little unsure of this book because while I found the description interesting, I don't really care for any romance and I don't really read LGBT. The main plot and the banter between the characters won me over so fast I read the book in one sitting. I just skipped the sex scenes like I do in any other romance book. It's paced well, there is a lot of action, I loved the writing, and the characters were very likeable.

4.5 Stars!!

I don’t know what that was, but I sure as hell liked it!

First you have Lord Crane. He’s an arrogant scoundrel but a reluctantly honorable one at that. Upon his father and brother’s death, he grudgingly returns home from exile to settle their affairs - affairs that were often mired in depravity and cruelty. Because of their horrific past discretions, he finds himself a target by familial association as multiple magical attempts are made on his life.

Enter Stephen Day. Don’t be fooled by his small size. He may be short in stature but not short in power and hard truths. Though his family was horribly devastated by the late Cranes, he too, is honorable and just, and is determined to uncover who has placed such a powerful show more hex on the youngest Crane.

So these two resignedly pair up. As threats continue to knock on Crane’s door, Day must work faster to unravel the twisted, complicated web, where it seems more than one person wants a piece of his lordship. Soon they both realize the other is more than what’s seen on the surface, and they fight and then embrace their attraction while danger presses upon them at every turn.

Richly imagined world building, this was the perfect historical paranormal made that much better by the commandingly, uber sexy Crane and the scrappy, underestimated, practitioner Day. Add in superb writing that tells of taut plotting, intense action, sharp banter, and excellent UST, and you get a near unputdownable fast paced read. Crane and Day ultimately discover a deeper, more binding connection, making for a literal combustible joining as they realize that together of course, they’re more than apart. I am obviously caught by these two, and I hope to be equally impressed with the rest of this series. Wish me luck! show less

Rating: 4.5* of five

Yep. Big winner, this book. Big. Liked everything about it. Yeup. Everything.

I'll come back for a normal, articulate review soon.

***NOT-SOON***

Careless of me to lose sight of this really very enjoyable tale. The problems I still have with books featuring majgickq are lessened when, like Author Charles, one goes to the trouble of thinking the actions and reactions necessary to make the manipulation of the world work consistently. The Magpie Lord, ancestor of Lord Crane, our main character, is never explicitly described nor is his codification of majgickq's workings explored. I nevertheless was convinced by the fussiness and sticklerishness of Day, the judiciary of magical crimes hired to deal with the Magpie Lord's show more various magical issues, that the system of this world was well thought out and believable enough for me to move on.

And move on I did. I enjoyed the sexual heat between the men. I approved of the sheer unbothered indifference of Lord Crane to social disapprobation. Day's history with Crane's family lends this story a lovely enemies-to-frenemies-to-lovers dynamic that more often than not works well for me. It affords me the opportunity to size up characters in their rounded, 3-D being, which is an index of how well I will respond to a given author's thought processes.

Author Charles, in this outing, comes through my maze of mishegas and misanthropy with nary a hair out of place. Another series to follow with eager gratitude for the pleasures I am confident I will receive.

PS it's a laugh riot on top (!) of everything else. show less