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Sorcerer to the Crown
416 pages
A sparkling, magical comedy of manners that hides a razor-sharp critique of empire beneath its polite drawing-room banter.
What it feels like
Reading this book feels like attending a glittering Regency ball where half the guests are secretly plotting a revolution and the other half are trying to control rogue magic. It moves with a brisk, sparkling energy, propelled by arch dialogue and delightful drawing-room politics. Beneath the whimsical atmosphere of fairy borders and magical familiars lies a sharp, wry critique of colonialism, racism, and sexism, giving the cozy historical fantasy a satisfyingly subversive bite. The prose is elegant and deeply indebted to nineteenth-century literature, wrapping its radical heart in the comforting cadence of a comedy of manners. It is an absolute delight for anyone who loves watching stuffy, prejudiced institutions get gleefully dismantled by the very people they tried to exclude.
- Mood
- whimsical
- elegant
- subversively cozy
- Tone
- wry
- sparkling
- satirical
- charming
- Pace
- brisk
- Themes
- dismantling institutions · the burden of representation · defying societal expectations · colonial exploitation
- The writing
- Arch, elegant, and dripping with period-accurate wit, reading like a nineteenth-century comedy of manners infused with magical flair.
- The arc
- Begins with the heavy, isolating weight of societal prejudice and transforms into a joyful, chaotic rebellion of marginalized voices.
- Who it's for
- Readers who love the sharp social observations of Jane Austen but wish her drawing rooms were occasionally interrupted by rogue fairies and magical duels.
Content notes
- racism
- sexism
- historical slavery references
- emotional abuse
About the book
"In this sparkling debut, magic and mayhem clash with the British elite... The Royal Society of Unnatural Philosophers, one of the most respected organizations throughout all of England, has long been tasked with maintaining magic within His Majesty's lands. But lately, the once proper institute has fallen into disgrace, naming an altogether unsuitable gentleman--a freed slave who doesn't even have a familiar--as their Sorcerer Royal, and allowing England's once profuse stores of magic to slowly bleed dry. At least they haven't stooped so low as to allow women to practice what is obviously a man's profession... At his wit's end, Zacharias Wythe, Sorcerer Royal of the Unnatural Philosophers and eminently proficient magician, ventures to the border of Fairyland to discover why England's magical stocks are drying up. But when his adventure brings him in contact with a most unusual comrade, a woman with immense power and an unfathomable gift, he sets on a path which will alter the nature of sorcery in all of Britain--and the world at large.."--
Description from Open Library.
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