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"Red White & Royal Blue meets Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell in debut author Freya Marske's A Marvellous Light, featuring an Edwardian England full of magic, contracts, and conspiracies. Robin Blyth has more than enough bother in his life. He's struggling to be a good older brother, a responsible employer, and the harried baronet of a seat gutted by his late parents' excesses. When an administrative mistake sees him named the civil service liaison to a hidden magical society, he discovers what's been operating beneath the unextraordinary reality he's always known. Now Robin must contend with the beauty and danger of magic, an excruciating deadly curse, and the alarming visions of the future that come with it-not to mention Edwin Courcey, his cold and prickly counterpart in the magical bureaucracy, who clearly wishes Robin were anyone and anywhere else. Robin's predecessor has disappeared, and the mystery of what happened to him reveals unsettling truths about the very oldest stories they've been told about the land they live on and what binds it. Thrown together and facing unexpected dangers, Robin and Edwin discover a plot that threatens every magician in the British Isles-and a secret that more than one person has already died to keep"--… (more)
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This historical fantasy-mystery-romance in Edwardian London has a fascinating hidden magic system. Robin knows nothing of magic so conversations, primarily with Edwin and his family, allow readers to be introduced to the rules of this magical system. Robin is a fun character, with a kind and cheerful disposition. Edwin is a bit more curmudgeonly, prefers books to people, and has a habit of overexplaining things that he's fascinated by. I couldn't help but love both of them. The romance of reluctant allies to lovers gets quite steamy. But the real selling point for me was the assured writing style of this debut, with a lot of dry humor coming from the narration and dialog. The ending was satisfying while leaving threads open for book number 2 in the trilogy.
It's not that, in principle, I see anything wrong with an uptight, self-hating academic falling in love
The mystery was fine, and I thought the reasons the two main characters couldn't be together were a lot more interesting than the reasons why they were. But I think that if one enjoys it when the main characters of a romance fight and finds it dull at best when they act like they are in love, the romance has failed on a fundamental level.
As Mr. Edwin Courcey conjures a snowflake from glowing string above his office desk, it’s clear to Sir Robert (Robin) Blythe that his assignation to His
When Edwin and Robin are unable to locate Reggie quickly, Edwin, who has a talent for understanding magic but is a weak practitioner, attempts to devise a way to lift the curse himself. Meanwhile the pair continue to seek more information about the magical artefacts demanded by the shadowy thugs, despite being assaulted by vicious swans, and a murderous maze.
Set in Edwardian England, Marske captures the period credibly, from the behaviour and attitudes of the characters to her descriptions of London and country manor estates. The magic system sits well within the world Marske has created, and I thought the basics were adequately explained. I really liked some of the more unique elements, such as using the movements of a Cat’s Cradle to cast spells, and the sentient nature of the magic that imbues family estates.
A Marvellous Light unfolds from the alternating perspectives of Edwin and Robin. Edwin presents as aloof, cautious and fastidious, while Robin is easy-going, and charming. Both men are from dysfunctional aristocratic family’s, though only Edwin is part of the magical community.
I really liked the dynamic between Edwin and Robin. While neither is particularly impressed with one another initially, they slowly become friends. Given the illegal status of homosexuality during the period, both men are wary of expressing their growing sexual attraction though. I thought Marske built the romantic tension between Edwin and Robin very well, and the mix of tenderness and heat in their relationship was appealing, though I wasn’t expecting the sex to be quite so explicit.
Blending fantasy, romance and mystery A Marvellous Light is a delightfully entertaining novel, the first in a new series, from Freya Marske. A Marvellous Light isn’t perfect but I fell into the story so easily, it’s charming, witty and fun and I’m already looking forward to the next.
I will say that the set up and story did keep me reading, or at least what the story could have been without the slack pacing and tedious sex scenes. My objection with the sex is not the gender of the two characters, but only that I don't enjoy the modern equation of sex with love - I much prefer old fashioned romance and subtle inferences over 'here follows a chapter of detailed biological descriptions to demonstrate that two characters who met a week ago really quite like each other'. When shy Edwin and golden boy Robin stopped bonking (or when I started skippinng ahead) and got back to the mystery of the Last Contract, the pages flew by.
I didn't really believe in the historical setting - why pick 1908, apart from the proximity to the First World War, and not the Roaring Twenties suggested by the Wodehousian dialogue? - or the cardboard cast of supporting characters either - the house inherited by Edwin had far more personality than the Courcey and Blyth families combined - and won't be subjecting myself to another 500 page soft porn sequel, but the magic and world-building saved the story for me.
I dunno, there was a bunch of stuff in there that just seemed really typical and boring. Didn't hook me. It was fine, but I didn't think the ending was satisfying enough to make me want to continue.
In a story like this, there is naturally a lot that is very predictable, but good world-building can make the story fun and interesting despite the predictability, and this book definitely has good world-building. The system of magic has limitations that feel natural, the good guys are charming, the bad guys are dastardly, and the plot is suspenseful even if the twists are predictable.
On top of all of that, the romance between Robert and Edwin is believable, and their affection and admiration feels natural. The book becomes downright pornographic and spends way more time on long explicit sex scenes than it needed to: that's fun, but honestly I got bored waiting for some plot to happen.
Anyway. This book is delicious and if you're into the aforementioned gays, magic, and Britain, you'll definitely enjoy this. It does start a bit slow and the romance is also a slow burn but I think it's worth it.
Sir Robin Blythe is, thanks to typical Edwardian bureaucracy and nepotism, shoved into a civil service (government) job that he has no qualifications for by someone who knows someone he knows when his predecessor vanishes without a trace. On his first day, a pompous and insufferable Edwin Courcey waltzes into his office and open's Robin's eyes to a world beyond the one he's known his whole life - one of magic. Unfortunately, this also opens up Robin to the dangers of that world and the reason the position was open in the first place.
I enjoyed the unique fact of how the mages in this book summon their powers (including Courcey's little handicap) and how it's a little more believable than, say, elemental magic. Marske also includes the historical prejudices of the era like how women aren't taught to harness their powers and/or are simply not expected to be as powerful as their male counterparts. There's also a bit of racism and classism as well as Harry Potter's magic vs. muggle bias showing their ugly faces here. Though, interestingly, no mention of The War that I can remember. Maybe in book 2.
Murder, mystery, mayhem, and magic bubble together into what's quite a fun ride. Throw in some spicy romance with a hint of enemies-to-lovers and it's just perfect.
The book started out promising, a murder, a curse, a trip to the country side.
Up until that first sexual encounter, the story was fun and well written, the growing romance between Edwin and Robbin was cute and you were ruling for them. But then came the sex scenes and
Honestly, there are more euphemism for penis than cock! It gets so annoying when they are getting to it and you have the same word repeated over ten times within a page. Also the constant lip licking, by the third time there was no imagination of a dashing Edwardian jock anymore, he had transformed into Bottom's Richie Richard.
All in all the sex scenes felt as if the author had been a very avid fandom slash writer in her youth, which is sad because it ruined the flow of an otherwise entertaining story, even though the end felt very rushed.
Digital review copy provided by the publisher through Edelweiss
The main draw here were the characters. They were very well crafted and felt real to me, and I felt a special kinship toward Edwin. Edwin is
The book is built around a plot of trying to rid Robin of a curse, while simultaneously trying to figure out what the hell is going on. While this was a solid story as a standalone, it's also clearly a first book in a new series. It introduces us to a very interesting turn of the century England where a woman working an office job is an event, and where the magical side of society reflects the non-magical one in the ways it succeeds in building class divides and appreciating magical power in place of financial one. The "real magic" is wielded by men, who find women's dabblings amusing and more suited for tricks as well as house hold chores. In addition to great characters, this book also has great humor. I love the dry wit of some of the characters, and there were some very unexpected instances of humor that had me laughing out loud.
This was really a very positive surprise for the end of the year, and I'll be looking forward to the sequel, whenever it comes out.
(I am a long-time listener of the Be the Serpent podcast. Happily, I liked Freya Marske's