superb!

loved the book and the narration was perfect - highly recommended and I look forward to hearing the rest of the series

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Excellent story, very well read

I really enjoyed listening to this book. Lots going on and my kind of humour.

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A brilliant series, well told...

The audio for this was very good, and to my surprise and there may have been a few fist-bumps here, also included an audio version of Interlude with Tattoos as a freebie at the end. Loads of laughs, good female voices and Lucien's upper class accent was excellent. I still love the interaction between Lucien and Mr Merrick. Delightful.

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Simply Wonderful

I was put off The Magpie Lord at first because of its length. I like BIG books (and I cannot lie...) that have time to establish characters, endear the reader to their plight, time for the plot to come together and properly bloom... length is not something this book has. At six hours long (minus the half an hour teaser for book two) it is a quarter of the length of the books I prefer. Despite that, I found myself enjoying it and fell in love with the author’s style hard and fast.

If you go into this, accepting that the plots are not going to be convoluted Byzantine mindfuddle, you can expect to have a grand old time. I love well done Victorian fiction, and oh wow does K. J. Charles give us a delightful world. The juxtaposition of a tight laced Society for Lord Lucien’s flamboyant confidence to shine against, as well as the small and lean stature of Stephen who is a powerhouse of magical energy and controlled danger is very satisfying. It’s rare that a book that leans into the height difference trope manages to evade the trap of making the smaller man a weak damsel in distress. Both men are capable and vicious in their own way and it’s like watching a lightning storm when they interact in the book.

The writing is amazing, and so too is the narration. The voice actor does a magnificent job giving character to the different voices and putting in excellent effort to give the words fluid emotion.

There are some weak points, but those are personal taste rather than anything significantly damning to the book’s structure. It is a personal peeve when an author decides to tell the reader that the characters are bantering and sharing a story or a joke without sharing any of it with the reader. I feel left out when the author does this - why don’t we get to know the hilarious story about how Lucien got his tattoos? Mutter mutter, grumble grumble.

Besides that small gripe, I deeply adored this. The magic system is really interesting, the characters are well fleshed out and charming, the plot was a little on the weak side but honestly this book was more to do with the characters and how they interacted and that’s perfectly acceptable when they are this fascinating.

I am certainly going to be listening to this one again, and I have already picked up the second of the series. 4.5/5, half a mark lost for the plot being just a little too frail.

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Great narration and entertaining dialogues

I liked this book more than I expected.

It took me a while to get into it, I couldn’t initially work out who is who but when I eventually did, I enjoyed the magical element to a historical romance type story.

Lord Crane and Stephen Day are enjoyable characters, I particularly liked the snarky dialogues. Well written.

I am a bit torn on the plot was but it is original enough that kept me listening.

All in all, an enjoyable read.

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Superb audio

What made the experience of listening to The Magpie Lord the most enjoyable?

The whole series is wonderful, fresh, finely crafted, but the audio is great the narrator does a fantastic job of briniging the characters to life.

What other book might you compare The Magpie Lord to, and why?

Difficult to say as the series is so unique, but in terms of a book I enjoyed as much...umm, probably Hell and High Water, this impressed me in the same way.

Which scene did you most enjoy?

The dramatic ending, wow. You can feel the tension.

Any additional comments?

Give this a listen, I highly recommend it. Bought the second in the series halfway through this first, but I have been listening to the first pretty much on a loop it’s so good.

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3 people found this helpful

Somewhat fast, but lovely

The narration is a bit fast-paced—had to set it to x0.9 for a more comfortable listen—but Collins for the most part does an admirable job. There are a few places where his character voice slips a bit (particularly with the ladies), but not so much that it gets confusing.

Was pleasantly surprised that this book also contained the extra (free) short story "an interlude with tattoos".

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1 person found this helpful

Brilliant narration

The story itself is fine, and a great setting and characters. But its full of tropes seen before, and the story really is nothing new. A few times I felt myself tuning out, and the climax sort of confused me. But, the redeeming factor was definitely the narration, the way the narrator constructed characters was fantastic. Would recommend for those interested in gay magical Victorian tales.

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1 person found this helpful

Brilliant

Clever, spine chilling plot and beautifully written and narrated. I loved the repartee. K J Charles never disappoints.

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Good story but book not for everyone

Plot and execution are great. If you also want graphic sex you will love it. Personally I just wanted to get on with the plot.

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