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carpfish 's review for:
The Magpie Lord
by KJ Charles
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
With the book's cold open, the dispensing of introduction for most characters, the lack of context for character relationships, setting, and the lightning fast chemistry between the main couple, I honestly thought that I'd mistakenly opened up the second book in the series, and that these were characters and a world that we were supposed to already know and be invested in. Then I realized this is most likely names-filed-off fanfiction.
Which isn't meant to be an insult. I love fanfic. Read it all the time. Write it, even. And in the author's defense, this seem to have been one of their very early, if not earliest works, so HUGE kudos to them on getting their fic published. I don't want to discredit their labor and achievement, just give my evaluation as a recommendation for other readers. I distinctly recognized the breakneck pace of the main couple's development of attraction to one another, the glossing over of scenes where the leads are apart from one another, the rapid entry and exit of side characters whom it feels like we're just meant to <i>know</i> already without any prior mention (likely cameos of canon characters). These are scarcely an issue when you're already familiar with the cast and entering the work with an explicit investment in the main couple getting together. But coming at this as a fresh reader who hasn't even gotten to know the characters yet, this was all pretty jarring.
The different phases of plot seems almost episodic, with only piecemeal clue connections to one another rather than feeling like a cohesive cause and effect of events. This makes the plot feel like it's already over halfway through the bookwhen the main mystery is close and shut with surprising convenience and swiftness. The second half, really, is just additional drama meant to throw our heroes into an almost completely separate fraught situation using one-off villains whom all die (save for one) by the end of the book, solely for bringing our main couple together. Make no mistake: the setting is that of a historical fantasy adventure, but the actual genre of this book is sheer romance. The romance between the leads is the main, most focal, and most cohesive thread throughout the book, which is fine so long as you're entering with that expectation.
That being said, the book is peppered with Shanghainese swearwords and heavyhanded references to Chao mien and "lovely mandarins" (not the fruit) in order to remind the reader how daring and exotic one of the leads is. Definitely far from the worst that 2013 publishing has given us, I personally found the spicy whiteification of this disgraced British noble turned "Shanghai Joe" to be tiring at best, insensitive at worst.
Honestly, by the halfway point, my main interest was trying to figure out what ship this story was originally written for. My guess is Arthur x Merlin from BBC's Merlin, though I've never watched the show myself.
All in all, not a great experience as a standalone novel. But if you want a quick paced, feel-good gay romance with historical fantasy elements, and are willing to step into it with fanfic expectations of prior investment, then it's a fun and easy romp.
Which isn't meant to be an insult. I love fanfic. Read it all the time. Write it, even. And in the author's defense, this seem to have been one of their very early, if not earliest works, so HUGE kudos to them on getting their fic published. I don't want to discredit their labor and achievement, just give my evaluation as a recommendation for other readers. I distinctly recognized the breakneck pace of the main couple's development of attraction to one another, the glossing over of scenes where the leads are apart from one another, the rapid entry and exit of side characters whom it feels like we're just meant to <i>know</i> already without any prior mention (likely cameos of canon characters). These are scarcely an issue when you're already familiar with the cast and entering the work with an explicit investment in the main couple getting together. But coming at this as a fresh reader who hasn't even gotten to know the characters yet, this was all pretty jarring.
The different phases of plot seems almost episodic, with only piecemeal clue connections to one another rather than feeling like a cohesive cause and effect of events. This makes the plot feel like it's already over halfway through the book
That being said, the book is peppered with Shanghainese swearwords and heavyhanded references to Chao mien and "lovely mandarins" (not the fruit) in order to remind the reader how daring and exotic one of the leads is. Definitely far from the worst that 2013 publishing has given us, I personally found the spicy whiteification of this disgraced British noble turned "Shanghai Joe" to be tiring at best, insensitive at worst.
Honestly, by the halfway point, my main interest was trying to figure out what ship this story was originally written for. My guess is Arthur x Merlin from BBC's Merlin, though I've never watched the show myself.
All in all, not a great experience as a standalone novel. But if you want a quick paced, feel-good gay romance with historical fantasy elements, and are willing to step into it with fanfic expectations of prior investment, then it's a fun and easy romp.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Gore, Incest, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt