Reviews with content warning for Alcohol - The Magpie Lord

Reviews tagging 'Alcohol'

kiriikiri's review

Go to review page

adventurous dark lighthearted mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Content Warnings

numerous_bees's review

Go to review page

adventurous dark funny mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

Not as polished as Charles' later works, but I won't hold the linear flow of time against her.

The plot got a bit convoluted towards the end, with new names being introduced and connections being made which relied on information the reader isn't privy to, which is a little disappointing, but ties into what I consider one of the book's strengths: that the hidden world of magic is barely glimpsed despite being the driving force of the plot. Crane isn't the type of man who asks theoretical questions and Steven doesn't take time to painstakingly detail his everyday reality and the end result is that the story feels like a slice from a larger, pre-existing universe instead of (as I believe it is) the first venture into this world.

Something that bears mentioning is that there is a lot of talk about rape. Nothing occurs onscreen, but Crane's late brother was apparently able to abuse women with absolute impunity - I don't know how true to the time period this is, but it was uncomfortable that the characters glossed over the man's repeated assaults (in the case of

Steven's mother

, barely mentioning her assault and focusing on the later, unrelated, damage to her husband's reputation). It made later encounters between Steven and Crane take on an odd tone, especially in the short story that cane with my edition. It is within the context of a somewhat dom/sub relationship and both charcaters explicity acknowledge that Steven could stop Crane if he wanted to, but - for all the tension previously wrung out of Crane not being like his brother - it made me uncomfortable that, when his physically smaller lover says (but doesn't necessarily mean) "no", Crane manhandles him into compliance without so much as checking in with him.

Nonetheless, I do like Steven, Crane, and Merrick, and - while this story is complete - I'm glad this is the first of a trilogy because I'd like to spend more time with the characters and exploring the world.

Content Warnings