A Marvellous Light, by Freya Marske

[sophia_sol]

A delightful historical fantasy m/m romance novel! Set in the early 20th century, it features two men working together to figure out a) a dangerous and unfamiliar curse on one of them, b) what happened to the workplace predecessor of one of them, and c) what turns out to be some dangerous magic secrets that some nasty people are trying to get their hands on. Will they be able to work together and trust each other and fall in love? Signs point to yes.

I adore that this is a joyful mashup of several of my favourite things: queer people, historical fiction, fantasy, and a story unabashedly organized around the principles of how a romance goes. It kind of feels a bit like if the author was like "what if: jonathan strange and mr norrell sensiblities, but a romance novel approach" which, brilliant.

I greatly enjoyed the worldbuilding and the characters and the romance in this book, and I'm totally in to read any further books in the series which it's clearly setting up. BUT ALSO. The book puts all this effort into setting up how actually even though men are in control of what's generally understood to be the British magical world (and doing a poor job of it, compared to other magical traditions in other cultures), women turn out to be doing some really interesting and powerful and intellectually-rigorous work on magic, and yet the book is focused on men. Come on! I liked these specific men a lot, but the world is laid out to make me far more interested in what's going on with all the women! What I want is to read more about Flora Sutton her crew, and Mrs Kaur, and Adelaide Morrissey, and all sorts of other women who I'm SURE are doing interesting things that this book doesn't have space to explore. I hope the sequels will dig further into this!!!

Comments

[lirazel]

and yet the book is focused on men. Come on! I liked these specific men a lot, but the world is laid out to make me far more interested in what's going on with all the women! What I want is to read more about Flora Sutton her crew, and Mrs Kaur, and Adelaide Morrissey, and all sorts of other women who I'm SURE are doing interesting things that this book doesn't have space to explore.

Agreed!!!!

[sophia_sol]

RIGHT?!???

[profiterole_reads]

I'm almost done. Book 2 will be f/f, so it should fit your needs. :-)

[sophia_sol]

excellent!!

[glitteryv]

I've heard mainly positive reviews of this book and, by happy coincidence, it's now my turn to read it at my local library!

Thanks for the frustrating but still helpful heads up that the female characters get sorta short-changed. I'll be able to adjust my expectations and, hopefully, avoid getting annoyed by that aspect of the novel.

[sophia_sol]

in this book's defense, it pays more attention to the secondary (female) characters than many romance novels do, it's just that by its very nature (m/m romance) the focus has to be on men! I hope you do enjoy it :)

[glitteryv]

Ah, gotcha, gotcha! But, yeah, this is one of the books I'm looking forward to enjoying the most this year.

[aria]

Sliiiides up I can tell you with VERY good authority that the next book is about Robin's sister Maud, and has a lot of Flora Sutton's crew, although I do regret to inform that there is a tragic lack of Adelaide (and also that slated book 3 goes back to being mostly about men, ALAS)

[sophia_sol]

HOORAY for next book!!!! that's very exciting news. in my not so humble opinion book 3 should be a prequel about Flora Sutton et al and their adventures in their younger days

[chestnut_pod]

So glad you liked it! Still peering up my TBR until I get there, but yay for more good reviews to whet my appetite.

[sophia_sol]

I hope you enjoy it too, when you get to it!