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The Magpie Lord

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The Magpie Lord

By: KJ Charles
Narrated by: Cornell Collins
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Summary

A lord in danger. A magician in turmoil. A snowball in hell.

Exiled to China for 20 years, Lucien Vaudrey never planned to return to England. But with the mysterious deaths of his father and brother, it seems the new Lord Crane has inherited an earldom. He's also inherited his family's enemies. He needs magical assistance, fast. He doesn't expect it to turn up angry.

Magician Stephen Day has good reason to hate Crane's family. Unfortunately, it's his job to deal with supernatural threats. Besides, the earl is unlike any aristocrat he's ever met, with the tattoos, the attitude...and the way Crane seems determined to get him into bed. That's definitely unusual.

Soon Stephen is falling hard for the worst possible man, at the worst possible time. But Crane's dangerous appeal isn't the only thing rendering Stephen powerless. Evil pervades the house, a web of plots is closing round Crane, and if Stephen can't find a way through it - they're both going to die.

Warning: Contains hot M/M sex between a deeply inappropriate earl and a very confused magician, dark plots in a magical version of Victorian England, family values (not the good kind), and a lot of swearing.

A Charm of Magpies, Book 1

©2013 K. J. Charles (P)2017 Audible, Inc. Historical Historical Fiction Romance Victorian Fantasy Paranormal England Magic Users Magic
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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.

Brilliant narration

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I found this series last week and now have listened to all five books twice through. It's very well written, funny, dark and while graphic also very tender. I'm not much for romance, don't think I've ever read such a raunchy novel in fact - found Bridgeton for instance boring and cringy- but didn't mind this at all. The magic though is the really good dark kind, great imagery that really stays with you. You get invested in the characters, and I really cared for them by the end. Suspect I'll return to this series for years to come. Will investigate the author further now. Narrator also perfect, not over the top, perfect pace and great accents.

Brilliant, could listen again and again

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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.

Great narration and entertaining dialogues

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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.

Simply Wonderful

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

Excellent story, very well read

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