Review of A marvellous light by Freya Marske

Only days after I decided to buy less new books I went out and bought this one. The rule would be not buy anything by an author that I haven't read before. Unless I couldn't get it through a library. This decision mostly came after cleaning out my bookshelf and seeing how many bad purchases I have made made.

Anyway less than a week after this decision I brought this one, mostly because it was recommended in the bookstore. But I can't say I regret it, quite the opposite. 

Plot

Turn of the century London and the young baronet Robin Blyth starts his new job in an unknown office of the government. Taking over after his predecessor Reggie Gattling disappeared (he dies in the prologue but they don't know that) he only accepts to help his family's financial situation. At least until he, on the first day meets Edwin Courcey and finds out what the job is actually about. Acting as liaison between the the British government and the magical society in their midst. Edwin being the Liaison for the magical assembly.

But Reggie took his secrets to the grave and his killers aren't giving up. Assuming Robin knows anything about this they curse him to make him find what Reggie had hid. Instead Robin enlists Edwin for help and the two of them leave London for Edwin ancestral home and the magical library there. Leaving Robins work in the hands of his Secretary the excellent Miss Morrissey who unlike Robin actually knows what shes doing.

It doesn't take long for feelings to develop between the outgoing and athletic Robin and the bookish and closed of Edwin. As they working together to break the increasingly painful curse and find out what Reggie had gotten himself involved with it becomes clear that the assailants are not far behind. 

My thought

 I like the characters a lot Edwin hiding in the library using precision and knowledge to make up for his comparative lack of magic. But mostly just hiding to avoid his thoughtlessly mean sister and his deliberately cruel brother. being standoffish and pushing people away to protect himself from hurt. And yes this does cause trouble with his budding relationship with Robin. 

There is a bit of a theme in the book about low-or non magical people in a magical world and how they handle it and the pitying scorn form the rest. How having a non magical person in the family is seen as a source of embarrassment. Even when Reggie is found to be dead his family doesn't seem to care that much. It is also heavily implied that Edwins father did nothing to stop Walter (his brother) from bullying him because Walter had so much more magic.  

There is also Flora Sutton who for being a woman was also denied formal magical education and responded by creating a whole other system of magic in secret. All these and many other characters all responds in different but all very believable ways.

Robin too but as a newcomer is mostly...not indifferent but doesn't see it as a lack in himself. To him its more like a nice parlor trick they can do but feels no need to emulate them. He's generally secure in his identity. Athletic, social and good at being the person others want to see. Something he developed as a response to his narcissistic parents. 

The plot is quite good even if more focus is given to the characters and slowly revealing the magic system. That being said it's not obvious who the antagonists are before they are revealed, expect from a meta perspective there are only so many named characters. Then again they were more focused on solving the curse rather than figure out who put it there. There are magical police in this world and it's assumed that they are solving the murder though we never hear from them. Why they didn't bring the cures to them on the other hand is never clear.

The book takes place at the very beginning of the suffragette movement, and has a number of excellent female characters. Many but not all chafing under the lack of opportunities but doing things anyway. Along with the insistence that women really shouldn't be taught magic. Most of this weight is carried by Robins younger sister Maud who are running a persuasion campaign on Robin to be allowed to go to university. 

That people with little or no magic gets looked down on and yet women supposed to be taught any more than the most basic of magic, does sound like a contradiction. But it's not in a way that feels unbelievable. 

As for Robins and Edwins relationship, it's good they complement each other well and bring some emotional support that they both clearly need. Edwin more than Robin but I feel he made the most character growth in the story. The inevitable end of second act argument is convincing. It stems from something that Edwin actually planned to do and was made worse by their respective insecurities. They also even in the argument doesn't try to hurt one another and does attempt to work through the issues. It doesn't work but an attempt was made. I have realized that as a reader for me to like a book the characters needs to try to solve things, they don't have to succeed but they have to make the effort.

There are sex scenes in the book but only three. They are a bit long for my taste but they had enough character development or exposition woven in that I didn't feel the need to skip them. Also not so spicy that I was uncomfortable reading the book in public.

All told I'm definitely going to read the next in the series even if, from what I understand, Edwin and Robin wont be the main characters. Also I'll probably reread this one someday. 

If you have read it what did you think? Leave a comment. If you haven't read it you can check it out here Marvellous on Amazon.

Review of The Scum Villain's Self-saving System by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu part two

Readers be warned this review contains spoilers for the first book and also doesn't make much sense without it so go read my review of part one and maybe the book before reading this. 

 Plot

The scum villain is back in this part two of the series.

It starts about a year after the end of the first book Shen Quingqui has spent the last three years mourning his student Lou Binghe (who Shen stabbed before pushing him into the demon realm during a competition) but also enjoying his freedom from the system. 

Shen and others sect leaders are having a meeting (this is truly the most thrilling of settings) when a  messenger arrives. They are told about a city being completely isolated except one man managed to escape explained that there is a plague in the city before dying. Since then various sects has sent in healers to try and help but no one has come out again. Shen, Liu Quigge and Mu Quingfang decides to go to a city in order to investigate the plague and hopefully curing it. However once they have snuck in Shen discovered that it is in fact not a plague but rather caused by demons. While chasing a demon he instead runs into Lou who is back from the demon realm. Except he is two years earlier than in the original novel and his proximity is turning the system back online (it makes sense if you've read the first one). He has in fact been back for some time and has become the premiere apprentice to Huan Hua Palace and rumors abound about what really happened at the competition. Many are quick to point fingers at Shen (not undeserved) since clearly Lou is not dead like Shen said. As accusations pile up from demons and Huan hua palace apprentices alike and an old flame of Shens show up and things are looking dark. 

My thoughts

Unsurprisingly my thoughts are mostly the same as the last one. Shens frustration with the system are still funny and the plot is interesting and exiting. There is a thing though the Chinese original was a web series when they divided them into books it got odd. I noticed this in the first novel too after the climax of the competition the story should have ended instead there is another chapter of Shen finding mushrooms and a snake person. the same happens in this where Shen dies (he gets better) which should have been a cliffhanger ending but instead happens in the middle of the book.

Last book it was clear that while Shen saw Lou through the lens of what he would one day do and was unaware of Lous affection for him which were obvious to the reader, now it's different. I honestly don't know what Lou is thinking. Shen is convinced Lou hates him and is angry and is going to do all the horrible things he did in the original work, specifically the things Lou did to him. The system on the other hand claims Lou is merely annoyed And I honestly don't know what he's thinking does he love him, hate him? Lou is obsessed though sometimes he feels more hurt and confused. If it's not clear this is a good thing I prefer my books to not be predictable.

And finally after much ado he has realize what we have all known. That the longer it goes the less help  he'll have of his knowledge of the original work. Shen's not the sharpest when it comes to interpersonal relationships and is of course horrified to realize Lou is no longer a peak masculine stereotype. Wondering what the fans will think about the harem of 300 ladies not happening and Lou having feelings for his teacher, obsessive and necrophilic though they may be.

All in all I'm definitely going to continue reading the series but I might not post about the rest. 

If you have read it what did you think? Leave a comment. If you haven't read it you can check it out here Scum villain.

The Scum Villain's Self-saving System by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu

This is a meta story about a person being transported into the plot of a book he's read.

Shen Yuan has a love hate relationship with the immensely popular web-novel series "Immortal demon way". Having just finished the last book and upset about the unresolved plot threads, the cliche plot and bland side characters he dies. Only to find himself waking up inside the book. Not as the male power fantasy protagonist Lou Binghe but rather as his horrible teacher Shen Qingqiu. Who routinely encourages the other students to bully Bingue and will in later parts of the series try to kill him. 

He will also (as Yuan knows) later be gruesomely killed by the protagonist. Something Yuan (since he is in Qingqiu body wants to stop). Using his knowledge of the books, Qingqius magical powers and along with the unhelpful system (a google translate voice that only Yuan can hear that arbitrarily assigns him points and quests) he must set out to fix the plotholes and avoid his fate of death by protagonist. Except until that feature is unlocked he can't act too out of character.  

My thoughts

I like it a lot. Yuan arguing with the system is very funny and I like him although he is a bit slow to realize that his actions has consequences for the plot going forward. Also that Bingues respect for him as a teacher becomes hero worship once he is shown the least bit of kindness and self sacrifice. 

Although not getting murdered is one of the reasons for Yuan wanting to change the plot it is mostly just that Yuan is a mostly decent person and seeing a child bullied is just wrong. 

Unfortunately it doesn't have the best view on women. the female characters are mostly there to be saved by Binghe and then ignored. Which isn't surprising considering that the story is supposed to be a male power fantasy (In the Original book Bingue ends with a harem of 300 women) but it's also not questioned by Shen. Hopefully that will change in the later books. 

If you have read it what did you think? Leave a comment. If you haven't read it you can check it out here Scum Villain

Locked Tomb series by Tamsyn Muir

 So far three books has been published in this series Gideon, Harrow and Nona the ninth and we are awaiting Alecto the ninth that is supposed to end the series. I'm mostly going to write about the first two partially to avoid spoilers but mostly because the books get weirder as you go and I don't think i can explain Nona in a way that makes sense.

Gideon the ninth

Ten thousand years from now humanity is spread out into space divided into and controlled by the nine necromantic houses. Sort of, the first house is mostly the emperor and god and his immortal lyctoral saints and the ninth house is a dying cult desperately trying to keep up appearances.

There's also a war happening but its not relevant to the plot and so its not explained, as in after three books I'm still not entirely sure who they are fighting. this book takes an unusual approach to exposition as in there are none figure it out from context.

Anyhow several of the lyctors have died and in order to fill out the ranks the emperor has called on the nine houses to each send a necromancer and their cavalier (swordfighter) to become new lyctors. the ninth house sending the Reverant daughter Harrowhark Nonagesimus (this is not the weirdest name in this series) and her cavalier Gideon Nav. They are chosen because they are literally the only people in the ninth house below retirement age. They arrive at the mostly empty planet and the research facility there the past lyctors worked were given access to their labs and told to figure it out. 

Then one by one the other chevaliers and necromancers are found dead. 

Harrow the ninth 

After the events of the first book Harrow isn't doing too well. She is a lyctor living with the emperor on his space station and being taught by the older lyctors. But her powers doesn't work the way they should and she keeps having flashbacks to the events of the first book. Except the flashbacks doesn't show the events as they happened. Most notable Gideon isn't there and having been replaced by Ortus as Harrows cavalier.

Don't remember Ortus? He died off screen in the beginning of the first book while harrow and Gideon were fighting.

To make matters worse Ortus is trying to kill her. Not flashback Ortus, there's a lyctor that's also named Ortus. Though the Emperor treats it all with exasperation so it's probably not too serious. Plot-wise we find out that there is something called resurrection beasts. These are mile long Lovecraftian horrors that they have spent the last 10 000 years fighting. The reason new lyctors were needed was that the others had all died fighting them and now one is approaching.

Also the Emperor undying and Necrolord prime is a nice if weird man named Jon and Harrow can't wrap her head around her god being a person.

What do I think

Do I like it? I don't know, I mostly spend most of the book trying to figure out what is even happening.

Will I read the next one? Definitely, these are the most unique books I've read in a long time and I plan on rereading them, hopefully by then I'll understand something.

An interesting part of Harrow the ninth is Jon and his remaining three lyctors. It explores the long term effect of immortality. They are all somewhat disconnected from time, they speak of things that happened thousands of years ago as if it happened last week and keep rehashing the same arguments again and again.

It's a very good and interesting series, I like both Gideon and Harrow as characters and I would recommend it to anyone who likes fantasy. But it's not an easy series, you can't just sit back and relax. You need to actually pay attention if you want to figure it out.

If you have read it what did you think? Leave a comment. If you haven't read it you can check it out here Locked Tomb.