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Beatrice Clayborn is a sorceress who practices magic in secret, terrified of the day she will be locked into a marital collar that will cut off her powers to protect her unborn children. She dreams of becoming a full-fledged Magus and pursuing magic as her calling as men do, but her family has staked everything to equip her for Bargaining Season, when young men and women of means descend upon the city to negotiate the best marriages. The Clayborns are in severe debt, and only she can save them, by securing an advantageous match before their creditors come calling. In a stroke of luck, Beatrice finds a grimoire that contains the key to becoming a Magus, but before she can purchase it, a rival sorceress swindles the book right out of her hands. Beatrice summons a spirit to help her get it back, but her new ally exacts a price: Beatrice’s first kiss . . . with her adversary’s brother, the handsome, compassionate, and fabulously wealthy Ianthe Lavan. The more Beatrice is entangled with the Lavan siblings, the harder her decision becomes: If she casts the spell to become a Magus, she will devastate her family and lose the only man to ever see her for who she is; but if she marries—even for love—she will sacrifice her magic, her identity, and her dreams. But how can she choose just one, knowing she will forever regret the path not taken?
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Debutante balls! Regency fashion! Card parties! Swoon-worthy gentlemen callers! Reproductive rights and feminist manifestos! All with the gleam of magic sparkling over everything!
If that sounds like a laundry list of your favorite things in a book (can you tell it's mine?), you're in luck. The Midnight Bargain, by C.L. Polk, hits all the right notes in a fabulous, earnest, enchanting fantasy-romance.
Beatrice Clayborn is beginning her Bargaining Season - the time when young women are put on display to be wooed and won, their hands in marriage coming along with a dowry, the promise of plenty of magically gifted babies, and a (literal) collar that will prevent them from wielding magic for the duration of their married, child-bearing years. But Beatrice wants nothing to do with the life that's been planned for her, a life of submission to a wealthy husband, constant pregnancy and child-bearing, and worst of all, giving up magic. Already something of an adept at sorcery, Beatrice has a plan to make a pact with a spirit, restore her family's fortunes, and prove to her father that she's worth more as a spinster sorceress than as a bride.
The Midnight Bargain combines the froth of exquisite lace fluttering in a candlelit ballroom with the bleakness of an imprisoning collar and societal reality. It's an absolutely enchanting Regency-inspired magical romance, as Polk once again shows off the considerable world-building skills and swoony-romance-writing skills displayed in the as-yet unfinished Kingston Cycle; but it's also a grimly realistic approach to the issues of reproductive rights, feminism, and women's agency - over their bodies, over their lives, over their futures. All done up in the loveliest ballgowns, glittering like a Georgette Heyer romance, but it's a Heyer with magic - and with teeth.
Thank you to NetGalley and Erewhon for the advance review copy!
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I am so behind on telling you all about the lovely books I read that as much as I love reading I need to learn to love writing about what I am reading. This came to my attention via a booktuber I watch. Kayla from Booksandlala read this and the way she described it made me curious enough to pick it up. When you think of marriage you think of forever in love all hearts and flowers, right? Not in this book and not for our main character. In Chasland, marriage means a warded collar that stifles a sorceress’s magic to nothingness, all in the name of protecting the woman. You might be thinking what's the big deal like I did when I first started, according to their laws an uncollared married woman could be pregnant and the child could become ensouled. Beatrice wants to be a mage, but her family’s survival depends on her marrying well. Without a favorable marriage, the mortgage her father took out will come due; When you have to choose between happiness and love or duty to your family what do you decide? I loved Beatrice and her sister Harriet and I loved the balance between duty, love, and magic that took place. What I love most are the feminist feelings it develops both in the story and in the reader without being preachy.
The story is beautiful a search for a book of magic spells and a journey that leaves you wanting to find a way to have it all without hurting and sacrificing what you want. If you don’t love the supporting cast and the spirit Nadie go ahead and start over you missed something because it fits together beautifully. I won’t spoil the story I will just say that this is worth every minute that you will lose in sleep. Four stars all the way I hope that the next book I pick up from this author is wrapped in this much magic and fun.
0Fans of Zen Cho’s Sorcerer Royal series, and C.L. Polk’s Kingston Cycle will be thrilled by the latest work by Polk herself: The Midnight Bargain.
The Midnight Bargain tells the story of Beatrice, a young woman of prodigious magical skill who is trapped in a society that suspends a woman’s magical abilities for the sake of protecting her potential unborn children, whether the woman is willing or not.
This story is rich and exciting, full of magic and spirits, and luxurious descriptions of clothing, food, and spell casting. As is her style, Polk drops the reader headlong into the action without bothering to explain every piece of information first, to great effect. The world feels lived in, rather than fabricated, with richness to the various cultures that populate the world Beatrice inhabits.
The characters are charming and flawed, with sympathetic villains, as well as truly despicable ones, and heroes who make mistakes and behave selfishly at times, alongside their more remarkable, selfless moments.
This deeply feminist story is not one of particular subtlety. Yet it does not suffer for this. Seeing pro-choice arguments so deliciously laid out on the page in the midst of this textured, magical land is satisfying and inspiring. The writing is sharp and clever, and the love story is romantic and lovely. Another excellent addition to the works of the brilliant C.L. Polk.
Thank you to Erewhon Books and NetGalley for the ARC.
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