The first in the "Industrial Magic" series, this gaslamp fantasy is set in an 1850s London which has a certain amount of magic in it. There exists the Royal Society of the Esoteric Arts, the country's way of regulating those who can perform magic, who can become a danger to themselves or others if they are not correctly trained.
In this world lives Charlotte Gunn, a woman living a secret life as an illustrator to help support her sick brother's attendance at a trade school. It's not her only secret, however, as they both display hints of magical talent, her a rather massive amount. And just to make things even worse, her father has managed to get himself involved with a loan shark with a grim reputation.
Luckily, since her brother is a "Latent", his family are going to sell him to the Royal Society, as they pay a bounty to those who bring themselves forward and volunteer to join. This is to prevent people from going rogue, as they tend to get a bit explosive and need to be dragged in off the street. Unfortunately, Charlotte has no intention of telling the world she exists, so she doesn't have to give up both her work as an illustrator and her ongoing relationship.
It's effectively an origin story, giving Charlotte time to find her feet and develop her relationship with the magical colleges, while setting her up as an investigator in training, and building the world. That is something of a weakness of the book though, in that it feels like the first third of a full-length novel. Just as the book gets started, it finishes.
I mean, it works well as a teaser, as the various potential villains in the mage colleges are relatively interesting, and one in particular stands out as a cool monster. The major threat of the book gives us some nice moments of tension as Charlotte tries to save her family while still going undetected and playing Sherlock.
There's also some clunky romance writing, with Charlotte's intended chap being more or less non-existent in the book. Now admittedly, if I suddenly discovered magic was real, I could see myself getting a bit too obsessed, but here it's more as if he's only around when convenient in order to let her feel bad about fancying a devilishly handsome wizard.
I'll have a look at the second one, mostly because it feels like they've just split a novel in half and I don't want to leave the story unfinished, but I hope if the series continues it's not so divided in future.
Tagged: Book Historical fantasy Magic detective Novella Print