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    Sorcerer to the Crown
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    Sorcerer to the Crown
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    Sorcerer to the Crown
    Ebook437 pages6 hours

    Sorcerer to the Crown

    By Zen Cho

    4/5

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    About this ebook

    Sorcerer to the Crown by Zen Cho is a delightfully fun and compelling Regency romp filled with love, danger and a pinch of fairyland magic.

    'An enchanting cross between Georgette Heyer and Susanna Clarke' – Naomi Novik, author of Uprooted

    In Regency London, Zacharias Wythe is England's first African Sorcerer Royal. He leads the eminent Royal Society of Unnatural Philosophers, but a malicious faction seeks to remove him by fair means or foul. Meanwhile, the Society is failing its vital duty – to keep stable the levels of magic within His Majesty's lands. The Fairy Court is blocking its supply, straining England's dangerously declining magical stores.

    Ambitious orphan Prunella Gentleman is desperate to escape the school where she's drudged all her life, and a visit by the beleaguered Sorcerer Royal seems the perfect opportunity. For Prunella has just stumbled upon English magic's greatest discovery in centuries - and she intends to make the most of it. Together, Zacharias and Prunella might just change the nature of sorcery, in Britain and beyond.

    'Inventive, dangerous, brilliant, unsettling' – Courtney Milan, author of The Duchess War

    Winner of the 2016 British Fantasy Society Award for Best Newcomer
    Shortlisted for the 2016 British Fantasy Society Award for Best Novel
    Shortlisted for the 2016 Locus First Novel Award

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPan Macmillan
    Release dateSep 10, 2015
    ISBN9781447299479
    Author

    Zen Cho

    Zen Cho was born and raised in Malaysia and now lives in Birmingham. She was a finalist for the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer for her short fiction and won the Crawford Award. Her debut novel, Sorcerer to the Crown, won the 2016 British Fantasy Society Award for Best Newcomer. She is also the author of The True Queen and Black Water Sister.

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    Reviews for Sorcerer to the Crown

    4/5

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    • 4/5
      Fun story. The setting is kind of vaguely fantasy Regency, with heavy sexism and racism (and classism, which plays a lesser part), which is a large part of the point of the story. Zacharias gets seriously dumped on, from all directions. I found the revelation about Rollo near the end rather ridiculous; doesn't really fit the character, as previously revealed. Mrs. Daubney would no doubt be seriously unhappy to know who she was acquainted with... Prunella was...rather convenient, at least in timing, as was the arrival of the Sultan et al just then. All of this has been going on for years, and it just happens to come together in these few...weeks? Is it that long? The ending was rather predictable - actually, my reaction was rather "Oh good, they finally got around to it!" Good story, I enjoyed it, but it didn't really catch me. I might reread in a while, and I'll keep an eye out for the sequels. I got a copy from Netgalley, but was unable to read it (format problems, PDF) - I slogged through (I thought) a good bit of the story, but when I got this copy I found I hadn't quite finished the second chapter. So I'm not sure the disclaimer is necessary, but I did get a free copy of the book.
    • 4/5
      This was delightful. I loved the premise, the characters, and the execution. If you're in the mood for something that mixes humor and magic with political intrigue and historical fantasy, I can't recommend it enough.
    • 4/5
      Similar in tone and creepy-magic-ness to Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrill but... also quite different in character and world-building. Much enjoyed.
    • 4/5
      The two covers for this book, while both beautiful, would lend the impression that this is a story that takes itself seriously. The back cover blurb comparing it to Georgette Heyer comes closer to the truth though; in spite of the author's laser focus on the inequalities of race, gender and class in Great Britain during the time of the Napoleonic war, the story overall remains light and humorous. Prunella is a classic Heyer heroine: she goes along her way, creating her own reality, rather than waiting for anyone to create it for her. Zacharias is not, however, a typical Heyer hero. He's a typical beta male, thrust into an alpha role with little hope of an escape that does not include his death. He is purely ethical and naive, but also intelligent and brave. He didn't work for me so much; I prefer my heroes to have some alpha qualities. I didn't dislike him, and I was cheering him on all the way, but he didn't inspire any great attachment from me either. The plot was interesting and clever although the pacing was slow for me. It's strange to like a book but feel like it needs to be over at the same time. Tighter pacing could have shorted the story a little bit and kept it more consistently interesting. Overall it was a fun read all around. I'm not sure if it's meant to be YA or not, but it would definitely appeal to a younger fan of fantasy that isn't daunted by a 350+ page read, and there's nothing here that would cause parental concern.
    • 4/5
      Enjoyed the premise of this book and was really engaged through most of it. Magic is governed by the sort of men you might expect, if you lived in England during the Napoleonic Wars. But by a fluke, a black man, a former slave, is appointed the highest magician in England; and by a weirder fluke, he takes on an orphan girl born in colonial Southeast Asia as a secret apprentice. There's a crisis regarding the dearth of magic available in England, and as the story unfolds we begin to realize the crisis has something to do with colonial injustices and the suppression of women... imagine. 🙄 Anyway, most of the book is highly entertaining. I thought the narrative began degenerating around page 300, and it's always clear when the story reaches into the genre's bag of tricks to keep itself on track, but still think fondly of this world and its characters and will read the sequel when it eventually emerges.
    • 4/5
      Very slow start, but a lovely fantasy of manners.
    • 4/5
      A richly imagined and magical England is portrayed in this fantasy novel, in which a young Sorcerer Royal struggles to restore the drained stores of magic to the land and happens upon a decisive and strategic-minded young woman who might be able to help him, if she doesn't manage to upend society first. This book reminded me a little of Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell, but the story here is unique and I absolutely loved the character of Prunella, who along with Zacharias has plenty of room to develop in a sequel. Overall, a very fun and enjoyable read.
    • 4/5
      The pacing was quite uneven and it just didn't quite satisfy. Not a bad read and I found the concept of the world and the characters quite interesting. It touches on things like slavery and UK based slaves and class, gender etc issues and is interesting in many ways but the ideas pull the story rather than being illuminated by them.The Sorcerer Royal goes to a girls boarding school and comes away with more than he bargained for.Not a bad first book, I'm looking forward to more.
    • 4/5
      This entertaining fantasy introduces an England where Napoleon would be fighting with magic had the English and French sorcerers not made a treaty. Things are not going well for English sorcery. Magic a drying up. The Sorcerer Royal died and passed the staff on to his adopted son who happens to be a freed slave and black. The rest of the magic community, composed primarily of members of the upper class, are determined to remove the staff from Zachariah's hands and place it into the hands of someone more worthy.Zachariah takes a break from all the politics on London to make a speech at a girls' school and not only meets an unlikely young magician named Prunella but sees the length the headmistress will go to keep women from doing magic. Prunella decides to run away to London to make a better life for herself since she has been treated like an unpaid drudge since the death of her father. But she discovers that her father has left her a very powerful and very unexpected legacy.Besides Zachariah and Prunella's adventures, we also have a visit to Fairyland, a visit from a very angry witch, and a sneaky magician who has wrested a familiar out of Fairyland. The story is filled with adventure and has very interesting characters. I liked the magical world that was created. Fans of fantasy will enjoy this one.
    • 4/5
      This is a roughly Regency-era romance, in an England where magic works, the Sorcerer Royal is an important figure, and the Society of Unnatural Philosophers is a major institution. I say "Regency era" because Cho wisely refrains from peopling this world with familiar, historic names, and it at least appears that this England has a reigning king, not a regency.

      Zacharias Wythe, Sorcerer Royal, is laboring under a few handicaps. The first and most visible is that he is African, a manumitted slave that the previous Sorcerer Royal, Sir Stephen Wythe, purchased as an infant and raised as his adopted son. Not everyone in English society shares Sir Stephen and Lady Maria Wythe's open-mindedness. Compounding the problem is that Zacharias succeeded to the Sorcerer Royal's staff when Sir Stephen died late one night, with no witnesses other than Zacharias and his own familiar, the dragon Leofric. And no one has seen Leofric since.

      Murder used to be the traditional means of acceding to the position of Sorcerer Royal, though it has been considered beyond the pale for several centuries.

      With all this, Zacharias also has problems that would challenge any Sorcerer Royal. The Fairy Court has imposed a ban on summoning new familiars, and a familiar is essential for making the jump from thaumaturge to sorcerer. And England's levels of atmospheric magic are declining, while France and other rivals suffer under no such handicap.

      Meanwhile, Prunella Gentleman, age nineteen, is finding her time at Mrs. Daubeney's school for young gentlewitches increasingly untenable. She knows nothing of her mother, except the very evident fact that she was not a European, and her father committed suicide when she was very young, leaving her in the care of Mrs. Daubeney, with money to cover her education through age eighteen. She has begun teaching the younger classes of students at the school, but she has considerable magical talent and skill, and the main purpose of this school is to teach girls not to do the magic that is considered far too dangerous for the delicate constitutions of mere females. When Prunella finds her father's valise, containing a diary, a silver orb, and most startlingly, what her cautious studies have taught her are familiars' eggs, she glimpses a way out of her constrained future.

      I enjoyed both the character development and the world building here. There are holes, but overall I found the world building very satisfying. It's not a small thing that Cho recognizes that all this magic would make the world different than the one we know, and doesn't try to shoehorn in recognizable historical figures. Both Zacharias's and Prunella's problems are complex, challenging, and entertaining, and none of conflicts are created by plot-driven stupidity. When characters don't share information, it's because they have real reasons not to, and it's not at all clear they've made the wrong decision.

      This is a fun, engaging, thoroughly enjoyable fantasy from a writer I've only recently discovered.

      Recommended.

      I received a free electronic galley from the publisher via Penguin's First to Read program.
    • 4/5
      Zacharias Wythe is the newest Sorcerer Royal in England but most people are not happy with it since he started life as a slave that was freed by the previous Sorcerer Royal. With members of his society actively scheming against him and blaming him for the lack of magic in England Wythe takes an opportunity to leave town to speak to a girl’s school and also speak to the Fairy court and find out why there is no flow of magic. At the school, girls of quality are trained in how not to use their magic since it is unseemly and dangerous for women to wield magic.
      While he is there Prunella discovers items of her father’s that have been forgotten in the attic upon his death. This spurs her to leave the school when her guardian decides that for the sake of the school, Prunella must no longer treat with the gently born students and live the life of a servant at the school. She manages to attach herself to Zacharias to travel to London and with her in tow things don’t go as planned for him but it makes for a great catalyst on change in the world. He does find out the reason for the flow of magic and it is political in nature and that is a problem for him since the Society has kept out of politics since it was founded. Somehow he must fix all this and with the help of Prunella things get done.

      I liked this story and even with several characters coming from different parts of the world it does seem to boil down to relationship disagreements more than battles between kingdoms. Can’t wait to see what happens in the next book.


      Digital review copy provided by the publisher through NetGalley
    • 4/5
      As I began this book, I found it pretentious. It seemed to be trying too hard to be Jane Austen meets sword and sorcery—with commentary on racial prejudices of the Regency era thrown in for a bonus. I put it aside for a while, and when I returned, it only took me a couple of chapters to start really having fun. It might have been around the time Prunella comes on the scene.By the end, I was thoroughly enjoying myself.The author does a good job of slowly revealing important knowledge—what happened to Leofric, who Prunella’s mother is, and so forth, and she reveals them at the right time for the story—not in a way that seems contrived, but when it’s important to the plot.I enjoyed Zacharias’ reluctance to use his power, but, once he had it, he was determined to use it wisely and well. Prunella’s original goal—an advantageous marriage—gets sidetracked, but in a very beneficial way indeed! Possible objectionable material:If you don’t like magic, don’t read this. There is some minor violence and injury from magical attacks. No cursing or sex—this is just as clean as any Jane Austen novel.Who would like this book:Lovers of Jane Austen, fantasy, or both. This has only mild moments of romance, so if you’re in it for the romance, this might not be the book for you. Because of the Regency-era style, there are some more elevated vocabulary words and more complex sentences, so I’d say strong middle graders on up. I think boys can enjoy this just as much as girls, even if they aren’t Jane Austen fans! Approximate Lexile: 1260Thank you, NetGalley for the Advanced Reader ebook. I’ll be looking for the other books in this series as they come.
    • 4/5
      I really liked this. I would read more in this series.
    • 4/5
      Sorcerer to the Crown is an alternate history fantasy novel set in Regency England. Magic is running low in England, and many pin the blame on an easy target – Zacharias Wythe, the first ever Royal Sorcerer to be an African. Zacharias has to navigate political difficulties, a situation involving Malaysian witches, and find a way to return magic back to England. In this effort, he’s added by Prunella Gentleman, a mixed race women with prodigious magical abilities of her own. It is one of those rare books that manages to deal with such difficult themes as institutionalized oppression but remain an overall fun and charming read.The comparisons to Susana Clarke’s Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell are inevitable. Both are books about magicians and fairies in Regency era England. Both deal with returning magic to England. Both explore the ideas of who is allowed access to magic. While there are similarities between the two, I’d say that Sorcerer to the Crown is it’s own book. People who like Clarke’s book might like Cho’s, but people who hated Clarke’s book might love Cho’s, especially given the differences in tone and writing style. Sorcerer to the Crown is a much more accessible book that never takes itself too seriously. The result is delightful.I might go anywhere and do any magic I pleased if I were Peter, not Prunella.Society in Sorcerer to the Crown deems magic to be a fit career only for gentlemen. They ignore the lower class people who practice magic and expound upon the dangers of female magicians, whose bodies are “too frail” to hold the necessary magic. Both our protagonists are excluded from the qualification of “gentlemen” and face many struggles as a result."Your amoral ingenuity in the pursuit of your interest is perfectly shocking,” said Zacharias severely.“Yes, isn’t it?” said Prunella, pleased.Characterization was overall well done, but only Prunella really stole my heart. I love Prunella! She is smart and determined, a force to be reckoned with. While she cannot imagine living without her magic, Prunella does not at first see any point in studying it. She grew up at a school for gentlewitches, where young women are taught to repress their magical abilities. She’s seen the results of what happens to women with magic, and she thinks the only path to success in life for a woman is marriage. Especially for Prunella, a half-Indian girl stuck between classes, this seems her only chance.Prunella took to the ballrooms of London in the spirit of ruthless calculation of a general entering a battlefield.It surprises me just how quickly I read Sorcerer to the Crown. It’s a middling sized fantasy book, just under four hundred pages, and yet I read it in less than twenty four hours. It wasn’t so much the plot that drew me in but the characters and world that Cho had created. This is a truly excellent debut novel. Oh, and as a bonus, there’s dragons!I give Sorcerer to the Crown a strong recommendation, particularly for anyone who likes fantasy of manners, historical fiction, or diverse characters. However, Sorcerer to the Crown should really appeal to anyone looking for an engaging book that will make them smile.Originally posted on The Illustrated Page.
    • 5/5
      I loved it, The premise of a land where everyone is capable of some degree of magic is absurd and outrageous. I fell for it, however, I fell through the looking glass, directly into Regency Britain and was transported by the tale of an underdog who triumphs (two underdogs to be exact). My eyes sped along in the delicate and elegant language this author employs. Instantly, I was reminded of Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell, but this is more child-like and less dark. I say "Here, Here", Ms. Zen Cho. Let's have some more from your pen. My thanks to the author and the Penguin First to Read program for a complimentary copy.
    • 3/5
      A tale of sorcery and reformation set in a Victorianesque time, this interesting take on magic and relations with the fae is a refreshing take on tales of this nature. While at first the tale seems more about prejudice against different races and genders, that gives way to an interesting plot line which satisfyingly ends with a far more open, and welcoming, magical society.
    • 4/5
      If you like Mary Robinette Kowal's books you'll like this
    • 5/5
      Based on a copy from NetGalley. I'm not going to say that I liked this book better than Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, because I've dedicated years of my life to talking about that book. However, if I had to recommend one of the two, this would be my first recommendation. It's just so good, and it deftly deals with race, class, and sexism. Plus, the characters are wonderful.
    • 5/5
      I received an ARC of this book at San Diego Comic-Con. It isn't for sale until September 1st.High society hijinks, politics, and magic are artfully blended in this absolute gem of a novel. This is one of my favorite books of the year. That said, I imagine some people will have difficulty getting into the book because the voice is so thick and true to the 19th century. It took me a few chapters to find the Regency groove, but once I did, the novel pulled me in like a hungry kraken.The two leads are characters of colors, and I loved how Cho handled the issues of racism and sexism. They are ever-present concerns and I felt they were handled within context of the period without being too heavy-handed for modern readers. Zacharias Wythe is an African-born emancipated slave, adopted at an early age by the Sorcerer Royale. As the book begins, Zacharias has assumed the role of Sorcerer Royale upon the death of his mentor--and inherited many other woes as well.Meanwhile, Prunella Gentleman is an orphaned young lady of great magic talents who faces a future utterly reliant on marriage and the concealment of her great skill. Things are complicated even more by the discovery of her inheritance.A romance between Zacharias and Prunella is inevitable (and really the only predictable plot in the book), but handled with decorum and charm. The main plot contained many twists and turns. The climax completely surprised me. I have already added this book to my list of possible nominees for major awards this coming year. It may not be a read for everyone, but it sure hit my sweet spots.
    • 4/5
      This was OK but didn't wow me.
    • 4/5
      I like the diverse cast of characters in this books and the only sometimes predictable plot.
    • 4/5
      This alternate-history fantasy is set in Regency England, where the supply of magic is in an alarming decline. The new Sorcerer Royal, Zacharias Wythe, is only 24, having taken over the position, in spite of not wanting it very much, from his late guardian, Sir Stephen. Nor do the thaumaturges much want Zacharias; he is not only "just" an adoptee of Sir Stephen’s, but, constituting an even greater crime, is black-skinned, having been born to slaves.Dark skin wasn't the only way you could incur a lack of respect in Regency England, however. Being female was another. Agency, competency, and opportunity were all denied to women. But as it turns out in this story, there are many women who were born with magical abilities, and Zacharias has come to believe these women must also have a chance to ply their trade.His new enlightenment on this subject is owing in large part to meeting 19-year-old Prunella Gentleman, a mixed-race girl who was taken in as a young child by Mrs. Daubeney, who runs a School for Gentlewitches to which Zacharias has been summoned to lecture. This school teaches girls and women how to suppress their natural talents. Ironically, Prunella, who serves only as a factotum at the school, turns out to have more magic than anyone else.Prunella foists herself upon the shy, restrained Zacharias, imploring him to help her get introduced into London society in exchange for a very great magical gift she will share with him. As with all his subsequent encounters with the strong-willed Prunella, Zacharias is unable to talk her out of it or stand in her way; indeed, if he tried, he would likely get the quarterback sack, anachronistically speaking, by the gutsy, aggressive, and ambitious Prunella. Zacharias has always aimed to “stand above reproach in word and deed, since his colour seemed to prove a ground for any allegation.” Thus he has tended to suffer every indignity with passivity, and to be fair to him, even then he must contend with threats and attempts on his life. But brave and very likable Prunella lets nothing circumscribe her behavior; she responds to slights by getting in your face. Her brazenness is echoed by another strong woman witch in the story, Mak Genggang, who represents a contingent from a foreign country seeking aid from Britain. And in fact, these two are not the only powerful women in this book. Although men are ostensibly in charge of access to political, social and educational advancement and opportunities, it is clearly the women who are stronger, and who make most of the men look like fools. Of course, this just makes the men more determined to keep women out of an positions of power and influence. But in this fantasy world at least, the men find to their astonishment that there are forces wielded by women over which they have no control whatsoever, and they must grant, however reluctantly, entry to their society’s top prizes to women. As for romance? There is certainly that as well, but again, the roles are largely reversed, at least when Prunella is in the picture.Evaluation: This is a charming book, although I didn’t love it as much as the rest of the media. Some of the scenes with magic struck me as silly. I prefer my magic more “realistic,” if that makes any sense whatsoever. But please be aware most ratings are higher than mine, and this book made more than a few “Best of 2015” lists!Note: This reads like a standalone, but is said to be Book One of an eventual trilogy.
    • 4/5
      Zacharias is a black man who is the highest sorcerer in the land after his adoptive father's death, much to the chagrin of other magicians. He is fighting off a mysterious assassin while attempting to figure out why magic is decreasing in England. Meanwhile, Prunella is a half-English, half-Indian young woman going to a magic school for girls - which is not to say she's learning how to use magic, but how to suppress it.The book has a fascinating premise and setting of Napoleonic England, but I felt like what could've been a fantastic adventure story is drawn out and slow paced instead. Zacharias was okay, but I was much more interested in Prunella and would've preferred if the book were entirely about her. This is the first in a planned trilogy, and I may try the next to see if the pacing picks up but it's not high on my list.
    • 5/5
      This is so good! I loved it all, especially Rollo.
    • 4/5
      I had reservations about reading a book that sounded so similar to Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, which is one of my favourite books. But I'm really glad I read this. The tone is totally different - this is fun and often fluffy - and I really appreciate that it's a Regency period novel that is extremely critical of British Imperialism. This is yet another great book I heard about from listening to a Book Riot podcast (probably SFF Yeah).
    • 3/5
      The premise holds great potential - a dark-skinned young man becomes Sorcerer Royal of England under suspicious circumstances and forces conspire to remove him from the post. By chance, he meets a young woman who possesses more magical talent than many of the magicians who have studied magic for years. Society has always deemed magic as unacceptable, and quite possibly dangerous, for ladies of high class. But, with a steady decline in the amount of magic in England, Zacharias begins to wonder if the solution doesn't lie in the women's magical education. Prunella couldn't care less about education - she already knows how to work magic - but she was orphaned with nothing more than an old suitcase of dubious treasures and needs to get to London to find a husband if she hopes to claim her rightful place in magical society. Written in the mannered language of the Regency period, the story develops rather slowly. Zen Cho's world is interesting but not well-developed. She succeeds in creating a sympathetic character in Zacharias and, even though their interactions are the source of much of the humor in the book, Prunella emerges as a somewhat unlikable brat who learns everything there is to know about magic from a foreign visiting witch in about two days' time. Obviously the beginning of a series, the novel resolves satisfactorily but one hopes Prunella's character might be better, and more appealingly, developed in the next book.
    • 4/5
      This is very obviously inspired by Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, but not derivative. The tone is light and not entirely serious, which lets it still being a fun read, whilst having a surprising amount of supernatural horror elements, and addressing real-world horrors of that time period. The mix of intelligence and playfulness reminded me of Bridge of Birds. I'd definitely recommend this to anyone who is interested in the idea of Regency-era fantasy, but found JS&MN too much.
    • 4/5
      A frothy fantasy farce with serious ideas under its lacy skirts; comparing it to Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell (as many people seem to) feels almost entirely inappropriate to me as I found that novel dour and slow. Sorcerer to the Crown may also be set in a Regency England with a well-established magical tradition, but it has a gleeful exuberance.If the tone is whimsical, the context is anything but: we meet former slave and newly-appointed Sorcerer Royal Zacharias Wythe in mourning for his adoptive father. Elevated to the highest thaumaturgical office on his father's death, he is undermined and threatened by the racial prejudice of his sorcerous colleagues and under pressure from the Government to help them out with a 'little problem' in the colonies. The snubs and backstabbing provide a major plot thread, but the novel lays out the politics and moves right on without getting bogged down.Zacharias travels to the country to escape a vicious rumour that he killed his father. He also needs to replenish England's diminishing magic with some clever spell-casting on the Fairy borders (another plot thread; needless to say nothing is simple), but he visits a school of 'gentlewitches' on the way as a favour to a good friend (the joke tied up with said friend took 250 pages to catch up with me - sometimes the intimidating aunt really is a dragon). Here we meet the outrageous Prunella Gentleman, orphan, magical prodigy and unstoppable force of nature. One of the things I delight in across all of Zen Cho's work are her ferocious female characters. Prunella is half-'foreign' (uncovering her parentage being a peripheral storyline), with no prospects and absolutely no idea of how much is too much. She throws herself into situations that anyone with half an ounce of common sense would shy away from and pooh-poohs most of the strictures of polite society. She's delightful, and she gets away with it all by combining wide-eyed naivete with a self-absorbed lack of regard for the opinions of others. Prunella was made to tiptoe through Gothic corridors getting into trouble (but she'd probably frighten the monsters), or - as here - to storm the sensibilities of British Magic. She's arguably a little too perfect - too bright, too pretty, too talented, too brave - but I was too charmed and giggling too much to care.She is a vivid contrast to poor, put-upon Zacharias, who is all woe and duty and has a dark secret besides. When he decides that women can and should be formally trained in magic (the school of gentlewitches actually teaches them to suppress their powers), and that Prunella will be his project, it's painfully clear that he's bitten off far more than he'd be able to chew even if he didn't have so much on his plate already. It's ironic that Prunella appears to be every bit as frivolous as England's thaumaturges fear 'females' will be (GAH. But, this is also a book laughing in the face of sexism, so) and in spite of this is a better magic user than any of them. In spite of this, she's over-shadowed by Malaysian witch Mak Genggang whenever the cantankerous old lady is on-page. She is a powerful, browbeating archetype who is determined to get what she needs from Zacharias and stymie the British government in their interference. If Prunella doesn't much care for conventions, Mak Genggang simply doesn't know they exist - she is a hurricane that storms through a scene, upsets everything in sight (and, inevitably, makes Zacharias' life even more complicated).Between the sorcerers manoeuvering to strip him of his staff, a fragile relationship with the Fairy Court, a magical situation even more complicated than it seemed, a mysterious illness he tries to hide from everyone, and a highly talented young lady more intent on finding a husband than mastering the principles of thaumaturgy (Prunella thinks magic is great; learning less so), Zacharias has more than enough on his hands. It's sometimes silly, over the top stuff, and I had to be in the right mood to enjoy it. Thankfully, the writing is polished and Cho masters the mannered Regency dialogue, which could have been a real stumbling block if done poorly. She also sustains multiple inter-related plots and adds nuance around racism, sexism and colonialism without the whole thing feeling over-burdened. I liked the occasional darker touches - Cho has always blended sour with sweet in her short stories, and she's not afraid for her protagonists to be ruthless (Nidget!), which stops this being too saccharine however cosy it all feels (at no point did I think I was in for an unhappy ending, although I wasn't sure how the challenges would be resolved). I think Zen Cho is one to watch, and I'll certainly watch out for the sequels.
    • 3/5
      Not bad for a debut novel. A historical fantasy that has strong females characters and set in a regency-era atmosphere. There's some magic too. The pace is a bit slow for my taste and a little more action would help move the story along, but you can tell the author researched the period. For historical fiction fans.Penguin First to Read Galley
    • 5/5
      Lovely read. Spent the weekend cuddled up with it. No regrets.