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A review by maddyd51
Sorcerer to the Crown by Zen Cho
4.0
Ah, the glorious potential of a new trilogy, tempered by the painful realization that you have to wait for the next one to come out. Within a Victorian setting, Sorcerer to the Crown by Zen Cho explores issues of race, sexism, morality, and power. This fantasy story is set in an England where only men of wealth are allowed to practice magic, but that magic is mysteriously decreasing.
This is one of those novels that requires a bit of patience up front. Specifically, be prepared to pull out the dictionary, unless you are a major vocabulary wizard. I rarely have to look up words in a book, but goodness gracious, I think looked up one per chapter while reading this! At times, it starts to feel like the author pulled out a thesaurus to find an arcane word when something more common would have done the job just as well. Just a few examples: stoicheiotical, froward, licentiate, negus, homunculus, directoire, and goety. Thank God for the Kindle dictionary is all I have to say.
The writing style is true to the time period in which it is set, so the syntax is definitely old-fashioned. It feels more like reading a novel by Jane Austen than by a modern novelist.
However, if you can acclimate yourself to the vocabulary and writing style, you'll find a delightful story full of wit and intrigue in Sorcerer to the Crown. There are twists and turns, characters that are fully fleshed out, and a sense of humor that leans to the darker side. I was at times shocked and at times brought to laughing out loud. Through all that though, I wasn't completely drawn in to the story, possibly because I kept getting distracted by the style.
This novel is worth a look for fans of fantasy series set in a world of magic and I'll likely pick up the next in the series, though not if I'm in the mood for an easy read.
This is one of those novels that requires a bit of patience up front. Specifically, be prepared to pull out the dictionary, unless you are a major vocabulary wizard. I rarely have to look up words in a book, but goodness gracious, I think looked up one per chapter while reading this! At times, it starts to feel like the author pulled out a thesaurus to find an arcane word when something more common would have done the job just as well. Just a few examples: stoicheiotical, froward, licentiate, negus, homunculus, directoire, and goety. Thank God for the Kindle dictionary is all I have to say.
The writing style is true to the time period in which it is set, so the syntax is definitely old-fashioned. It feels more like reading a novel by Jane Austen than by a modern novelist.
However, if you can acclimate yourself to the vocabulary and writing style, you'll find a delightful story full of wit and intrigue in Sorcerer to the Crown. There are twists and turns, characters that are fully fleshed out, and a sense of humor that leans to the darker side. I was at times shocked and at times brought to laughing out loud. Through all that though, I wasn't completely drawn in to the story, possibly because I kept getting distracted by the style.
This novel is worth a look for fans of fantasy series set in a world of magic and I'll likely pick up the next in the series, though not if I'm in the mood for an easy read.