The Magpie Lord follows Lucien Vaudrey, an English nobleman who was exiled from England by his family but after the sudden deaths of his father and older brother, he's come into an inheritance that he must handle. Unfortunately for him, he's also inherited an enemy with magical talents so if he wants to live through the week, he'll have to get help from a magician. And of course, the magician in question, Stephen Day, has reason to hate Lucien's entire family so the whole saving Lucien from death business isn't exactly something he's real excited about. But Stephen has his professional pride and teams up with Lucien to find the enemy before it's too late.

I'm pretty torn on my thoughts on The Magpie Lord. On the one hand, I really enjoyed both Lucien and Stephen, who are endearing for their own reasons. I enjoyed their banter and while I get that it's not going to be everyone's cup of tea, I did enjoy their romance which starts out almost but not quite enemies and definitely delves into lovers territory. Charles does a good job of establishing the power dynamic between the two men and makes it clear that everything happening is consensual. When either character steps over the line (and both do at different points), they're called out for it and deal with it, which I appreciated.

I feel like Lucien is one of those characters that is definitely going to rub people the wrong way. He's arrogant, tends toward dominant and has a pretty low opinion of Stephen at the beginning until he gets to know him. I'm not terribly bothered by prickly or arrogant characters so I enjoyed his POV but YMMV on him. Stephen is more likeable I think, as someone who's capable but not been in a position of power and therefore has had to fight for recognition and respect.

My hesitation in giving this a higher rating however is due to the fact that Lucien has been living in China while he's been exiled from England and it felt a bit awkward to me to have some of these elements given the colonial background there. I don't think anything is outrageously bad but there's some Eastern mysticism and power dynamics that are just a little awkward to me.

I also recognize that this is a debut and it's recognizable as that, with some awkward prose, telling instead of showing or skimming over an encounter and almost presenting a summary of it. I still overall enjoyed it but it did take me out of the story a bit when this happened.

Overall, I definitely enjoyed this fantasy romance and it's one I'd probably recommend with some caveats. I really enjoyed the two main characters, the banter was fantastic and even some of the elements that weren't as great to me didn't spoil my enjoyment. If you like historical fantasy that incorporates fantastical elements and aren't bothered by some of the things I mentioned, definitely check it out.

Merged review:

The Magpie Lord follows Lucien Vaudrey, an English nobleman who was exiled from England by his family but after the sudden deaths of his father and older brother, he's come into an inheritance that he must handle. Unfortunately for him, he's also inherited an enemy with magical talents so if he wants to live through the week, he'll have to get help from a magician. And of course, the magician in question, Stephen Day, has reason to hate Lucien's entire family so the whole saving Lucien from death business isn't exactly something he's real excited about. But Stephen has his professional pride and teams up with Lucien to find the enemy before it's too late.

I'm pretty torn on my thoughts on The Magpie Lord. On the one hand, I really enjoyed both Lucien and Stephen, who are endearing for their own reasons. I enjoyed their banter and while I get that it's not going to be everyone's cup of tea, I did enjoy their romance which starts out almost but not quite enemies and definitely delves into lovers territory. Charles does a good job of establishing the power dynamic between the two men and makes it clear that everything happening is consensual. When either character steps over the line (and both do at different points), they're called out for it and deal with it, which I appreciated.

I feel like Lucien is one of those characters that is definitely going to rub people the wrong way. He's arrogant, tends toward dominant and has a pretty low opinion of Stephen at the beginning until he gets to know him. I'm not terribly bothered by prickly or arrogant characters so I enjoyed his POV but YMMV on him. Stephen is more likeable I think, as someone who's capable but not been in a position of power and therefore has had to fight for recognition and respect.

My hesitation in giving this a higher rating however is due to the fact that Lucien has been living in China while he's been exiled from England and it felt a bit awkward to me to have some of these elements given the colonial background there. I don't think anything is outrageously bad but there's some Eastern mysticism and power dynamics that are just a little awkward to me.

I also recognize that this is a debut and it's recognizable as that, with some awkward prose, telling instead of showing or skimming over an encounter and almost presenting a summary of it. I still overall enjoyed it but it did take me out of the story a bit when this happened.

Overall, I definitely enjoyed this fantasy romance and it's one I'd probably recommend with some caveats. I really enjoyed the two main characters, the banter was fantastic and even some of the elements that weren't as great to me didn't spoil my enjoyment. If you like historical fantasy that incorporates fantastical elements and aren't bothered by some of the things I mentioned, definitely check it out.