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Lark of The Bookwyrm's Hoard

A delightful blend of fantasy and Regency romance

Reviewed in the United States on September 20, 2017

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A delightful blend of fantasy and romance, set in an alternate 19th-century England.

Humans and elves (essentially the Sidhe) maintain an uneasy peace in Burgis’s Angland, which is also populated by fairies and trolls. Cassandra Harwood, the first young woman formally admitted to the study of magic, has recently lost her magic. She must rely on all her fierce determination and intelligence when she finds herself enmeshed in a promise to a hostile elf lord.

The relationship between Cassandra and her former fiance Wrexham is based on a typical romantic trope, but the way it plays out is influenced by the unique sociopolitical structure and mores of the alternate Britain, at once quite different and somewhat similar to the historical 19th-century England. Here, women rule the political sphere, men the magical one. With political power comes domestic power; women are the heads of their households. Yet men don’t appear to be subservient or second-class citizens, but partners. (However, it’s apparently men, or possibly both sexes, who can be socially “compromised” and forced into marriage.) It’s a refreshing change from typical Regency romances, much as I enjoy them. There’s also more diversity in Cassandra’s world than in the average Regency or Victorian romance.

As enjoyable as the romance is, however, the main focus of the novella is on Cassandra coming to terms with the loss of her magic…and, of course, on solving the mystery she promised to solve. The stakes are high, not just for Cassandra but for the future of human society.

If I have any complaint about this novella, it’s only that it isn’t long enough despite its 166 pages. I would cheerfully have stayed twice as long in Burgis’s world! Luckily for me (and other fans), Snowspelled is the first book in what promises to be a series worth reading. I can’t wait for the second.

NOTE: For those who prefer their romances “clean” or “sweet,” there are no explicit scenes in Snowspelled.

REVIEW ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED on The Bookwyrm’s Hoard blog.

Kristen S. Walker

Fantasy romance lives up to the legacy of Jane Austen

Reviewed in the United States on October 9, 2019

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I admit that I am picky about any books that claim to be inspired by Jane Austen because most of them fall short of being anything like Austen’s level of writing. Simply having a Regency setting with people drinking tea and dancing at fancy parties does not make you Jane Austen, nor does simply having romance with a snarky heroine. Jane Austen’s work was notable for many things, including her skillful dialogue, her social commentary particular about gender politics, and memorable characters. It’s a high bar to clear. So when I find a book like this one that manages to live up to the expectations.

The gender politics are a new twist because of the interesting society of Angland. In the division of labor, women are in charge of the government and politics while men are the only ones allowed to study magic (even when some girls are also born with magical abilities). Cassandra, the main character, broke the norms when she fought her way to be accepted by the only magic school, the Great Library. Now other women want to follow in her footsteps, but her eagerness to prove herself led to her downfall when she overused magic and broke her powers. Now, if she tries to use any magic ever again, it will kill her.

It’s fascinating to see how the gender roles have affected their culture and how Cassandra is working to overcome the limitations placed on all types of people. But the main story is actually about a foolish promise to an elf-lord. Just like in classic fantasy, you have to be very careful about the words you use around magical creatures, or you could find yourself trapped in a dangerous bargain. Cassandra has one week to find out who is causing a magical snowstorm or she’ll become the elf-lord’s slave–and he loves to torture humans.

LGBT representation: Cassandra helps another young woman learn magic in hopes that if she becomes a magician, she can marry her sweetheart, a woman with political aspirations. Their society doesn’t seem to have anything against same-sex relationships, but women with high political positions are expected to marry magicians. This was an interesting twist on the gender roles. The main focus of the story is on Cassandra and her heterosexual partner, but there are a few sweet moments with the lesbian couple, and it looks like they will be around in future books of the series.

This is a novella, so the story moves along quickly. There is just enough time for a sweet romance, a little politics, some teasing with Cassandra’s brother and his wife, and a hint at bigger things in Cassandra’s future. All in all, it was a quick, entertaining read without many surprises but well-executed writing. I would recommend it with a nice cup of tea to keep off the chill of the magical snowstorm. (I’ve been drinking pumpkin spice chai this fall.) And I’m looking forward to the rest of the books in the series.

Fans of Jane Austen, Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, and A Discovery of Witches will enjoy this story. If you need a lighthearted, shorter read to take a break from all the heavy epic fantasy in the SPFBO competition, you’ll find this novella to be a breath of fresh air.

Top reviews from other countries

Greatgreenbird

A bit too light and fluffy for my tastes

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 12, 2019

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I picked this one up when it was on sale, since the blurb sounded like something that would work for me - it's alternate history with a side of magic, a society like the Regency period but one based off a history where men have magic and women do politics. In the end, I liked the idea a lot better than I liked its execution, which was frustrating.

As we start the book, our protagonist Cassandra is in a difficult but predominantly self-generated situation: having always been the odd one out (a woman who wants to do magic, even though she comes from a long line of female politicians), she's then proceeded to burn herself out by attempting a spell she shouldn't have tried on her own. As she was also engaged to another magician at the time, she's broken things off with him and is annoyed to find that she's thrown together with him in the context of a snow-locked house party. Someone there is threatening to upset the long-standing treaties with the fey by messing with the weather and, mostly as a result of an ill-judged promise, Cassandra ends up being the one who needs to find out and fix the situation. .

So far, so good. Plenty to work with there, you'd think, but also some room for recriminations and a soupcon of angst. Nope, not in this particular book - Cassandra's ex is particularly perfect despite having no perceivable backbone, as he's apparently the most understanding creature ever to make puppy eyes across the room at a woman in all of written history. Sure, she's trampled on his heart but he understands why and doesn't judge her in any way for doing so!

Anyway, the situation gets unravelled and the person threatening the alliance is identified and dealt with, while Cassandra and her ex get back together. There's a sub-plot around another woman wanting to follow in Cassandra's footsteps by becoming a magician, which is used as a way to sublimate her feelings around not being able to do magic any more by setting up a rival school for female wizards. Sadly, I don't think I could cope with this amount of sugar again, so I will bow out gracefully here and not pick up the sequel...

Book Lover

Regency romance with a dash of magic

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 16, 2017

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This is, quite wonderfully, enjoyable, frothy fluff. It’s a mix between Georgian romance (mostly likely Georgette Heyer), Emma Newman’s Split Worlds series, Etiquette and Espionage, and Sylvia Hunter’s wonderful Midnight Queen series. It’s fairytales, Regency house-parties, feminist worldbuilding and magic all mixed up in a political mystery, along with a large dash of romance – and it’s fabulous.

Cassandra is spiky, frustrated, frustrating, charming and captivating, all at the same time. We don’t see much of her ex-fiancé until the end, but when he turns up, he’s rather a character. Cassandra’s surrounding characters are fun, too – notably the strong-minded, political Amy and Cassandra’s scholarly brother Jonathan, in amongst a host of others. The plot is moderately complex, but relatively easy to follow – and all gets explained at the end – and the action is fun. I’m not entirely certain we found out what actually caused Cassandra’s accident, so it felt that this was a little glossed over… but maybe that’s in the next book? The worldbuilding is fun, too; even though the action is restricted to (mostly) one place, we get a brilliant sense of the political structure, the social niceties, the gossip and the courtesies that make up the world.

This is going to be a series, which is going to be great – this first story is a light-hearted read with an occasional thought-provoking undertone, and was definitely enjoyable. Pick it up if you think you’ll like your Regency romances with a dash of magic!

L Robinson

An impressive start to a new series

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 4, 2017

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Cards on the table: I'm the wrong age for Stephanie Burgis' MG work, but I've read them all anyway because I like her style. This is her foray into adult romance fiction. I subscribe to her newsletter and was given an E-Arc of this book for free in exchange for a fair and unbiased review. UPDATE: I have also bought a Kindle copy because I liked it so much and because we can't expect authors to keep writing if we don't pay them!

I could save you a lot of time and just write 'It's brilliant - buy it!' but in case you're not feeling very trusting and need a little more convincing, here's the long version:

Snowspelled is set in an alternate version of 18th century England, in which magic exists and is part of everyday life. Burgis plays with gender roles by having them clearly defined but reversed. Women are the politicians and men are the magicians. No exceptions tolerated. Men can be compromised by women, not vice-versa. Women have more potential strength and agency than in our own 18th century society , but a similar lack of choice and personal freedom operates if you don't or can't fit into the accepted norms . One of the reasons I like SB is that her heroines are never satisfied with the status quo and are always pushing past the limits of what society deems acceptable. This heroine, Cassandra, is no exception. She cannot see a 'no' without responding 'why not?' and 'I will'. This has caused her significant problems by the time the book begins because she was born with magic - unusually strong magic - and her brother was not.

A House Party heralds potential disaster if she cannot overcome her distaste for politics and avoid the trap set by a scheming elf lord. It's not made easier by the presence of her ex and the little matter of her usual skills being unavailable. Or by some truly dreadful decision making.

I loved the world SB created, the cast of characters and the way in which she uses the story to make you think about why society operates the way it does, and whether you can be brave enough to accept the consequences of trying to change it. If that makes the book sound heavy, it isn't. It's warm and witty and I only wish it had been longer.

Leigh

Wonderful little book

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 23, 2019

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Snowspelled is set in an alternative England on the regency period, where men and women have set professions and there is magic! We follow the main character, Cassandra, who was a magician and joins her family at a country retreat. But things have not been easy for Cassandra, and are about to get worse as her ex fiance is also at the country retreat and she has a rather unfortunate encounter with an elf lord, which may endanger the pact that has existed for hundreds of years.

I liked this book, it's written in 1st person and is a very easy read. There were no grammar or speaking mistakes that I noticed and I managed to get through it pretty quickly.

I also found the characters likeable, a few were a little eccentric, but they were nice little quirks. The world building was also fantastic, it was subtly done, I felt as though I got a lot of information, but wasn't overloaded, which was great! I felt the world was also very well done in terms of the “real” world, Snowspelled was still a difficult place to be for women and the lower classes at times, which I think was a great touch and helped the ground the story more.

The only thing I didn't like about this book as the length! Its very short only about 150 pages I think. So I'm hoping to move on to the next one asap!

Jess Gofton

Wonderful character work and world-building in a fluffy alternate Regency setting

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 3, 2019

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I’ll be honest, I was expecting more of a wintry feeling from this than what I got. While the book does take place during the winter, and there’s a lot of snow, the majority of this novella took place indoors and was much more focused on Cassandra’s character growth than anything else. While I would have loved to feel a little more wintry while reading this, I did really enjoy the story.

More than anything, I was so impressed with how much worldbuilding Burgis managed to pack into so short a story. This is an alternate history novella, in which Boudicca fought the Romans off Britain’s shores all those years ago, so society is more of a matriarchy. That doesn’t mean it’s perfect, however. Because society is a matriarchy, women are pushed towards politics and positions of power while men are pushed towards becoming magicians, so men who want to pursue politics, women like Cassandra who want to work magic, or her brother Jonathan who has no interest in either subject, are snubbed in much the same way as women who first longed for the vote in our own history.

Cassandra, who has spent her life pursuing magic and became the first woman admitted to study magic at the Great Library, has lived a miserable four months after losing her ability to use her magic and breaking off her engagement for fear of holding her magic-using fiance back. When she accidentally makes a promise to a powerful elf lord during a winter party, she is forced to team up with her ex-fiance, Wrexham, to put things right.

As I mentioned above Cassandra’s character growth was the most prominent part of this novella, and it was also one of its most satisfying elements. There’s very little I can say without spoiling anything, that’s one of the challenges with reviewing any novella, but what I will say is that I love that there’s no magic cure to all of Cassandra’s ills. Her journey isn’t a journey of finding a solution to all of her problems, but learning to live with the consequences of her actions and how to turn them to her advantage, how a failure for her can turn into a lesson and foundation for someone else.

I loved the relationship between Cassandra and Wrexham; again, for so short a story there’s a real sense of their history and chemistry packed into each of their scenes together. They so easily could have been competitors, and in a way they are, but their similar desires bring them closer rather than push them apart. They’ll never quite understand exactly how the other has experienced the world, but as Cassandra is a woman and Wrexham is from a lower class background they both understand having to fight to get their foot into the door of magic.

In fact all the character work in this story was great, especially certain characters Burgis so easily could have fallen into stereotypes to write and instead side-stepped those stereotypes wonderfully, and I enjoyed Burgis’s writing style an awful lot.

I believe there’ll be more of Cassandra in another novella coming next year, and I’m looking forward to getting my hands on it and plenty more of Burgis’s work! Her work isn’t as joyously silly as Carriger’s work is, but I think Burgis has the potential to become another favourite author.

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