alinajr's review against another edition
5.0
an epic ending to a great trilogy, I am so in love with Lucien and Stephen I can't put it into words ❤️
claire_michelle18's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
taffy_sea's review against another edition
4.0
Excellent, satisfying conclusion to a delightful serious. This is easily my favorite magic system of KJ Charles's, and one of my favorite magic systems overall. I love how the magpie tattoos transfer between the two of them. Fantastic historical setting/world-building. Good romance.
j_j_k's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
urlphantomhive's review
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.25
palvi00's review
4.0
This was way much better than I expected. I loved reading about Stephen and Crane, especially how they fought for important reasons and how they made up. Their chemistry was amazing.
The secondary characters are really well done too.
I enjoyed how it ended and it was definitely a very intriguing story to read.
The secondary characters are really well done too.
I enjoyed how it ended and it was definitely a very intriguing story to read.
dreamerfreak's review against another edition
5.0
I love this series so much! I was so glad that this book finally gives Lucien and Stephen the true happy ending they deserve, and wraps up many loose ends that have been flapping about. Plus I got to see the beginnings of Jonah and Stephen's feud. *snickers* Another fantastic mystery, and though I'm sad that we won't get more mayhem with Steph and Lucien, I'm glad that their lives have settled down.
sarsev's review against another edition
3.0
This series is a lot of fun, in the completely bonkers way that you would expect if you mashed together the campiest urban fantasy you could find with a trope-filled Victorian romance. I flew through this whole series in like three days while holed up in my apartment with bronchitis, and had a great time. (With the books, not the bronchitis).
That being said, this series is definitely not as good as K.J. Charles's more recent stuff. It just isn't. Which is always going to be the risk that you take if you're reading an author's earlier work after their later stuff - it's like watching progress backwards.
Particularly noticeable is the really irritating early-writing habit of repeating a character's physical descriptions in narration over and over and over again because one hasn't yet realized that using the name instead functions for the reader as an unmarked noun and not a repetition of language. You know the thing I'm talking about - it's the epithets thing that people complain about in fanfic. It's all over the place in this series (usually with regards to Stephen's height), and while it noticeably decreases by Flight of Magpies, it's never totally gone. It's completely ironed out by Charles's later work, so I wasn't expecting the mistake, and it's been grating on me.
But that's mostly my fault - for starting with Sins of the Cities, where the writing is downright perfect, and then jumping right back to the very beginning of Charles's career. It's actually really to her credit that she gets better and better with every book, because that's exactly the way it's supposed to go.
And it's no reason at all not to read this series, which is actually kind of a blast. There's a lot of magic running around in Victorian-era London, lots of gothic undertones, our protagonists are a sort of magician-law-enforcer, and an international-criminal-turned-reluctant-aristocrat, there's lots of murder and meyhem and mystical magpies, and family curses. There's also basically sexually transmitted magic, which is a completely bonkers plot point that I wouldn't think would work story-wise at all, but that sort of almost does.
.
By this point, at the end of a series that made my convalescence significantly more fun, I really want to know more about what Lucian was up to in China all those years. And while I know there's a spinoff novel about the windwalking guy, I actually want one about Leo Hart, or maybe Merrick and Saint. (But mostly Leo. You cannot convince me that a former international mobster-level lady criminal is going to just quietly turn into a well-behaved society wife. Titles didn't make Crane any less of a disaster, I highly doubt Leo's going to turn respectable).
That being said, this series is definitely not as good as K.J. Charles's more recent stuff. It just isn't. Which is always going to be the risk that you take if you're reading an author's earlier work after their later stuff - it's like watching progress backwards.
Particularly noticeable is the really irritating early-writing habit of repeating a character's physical descriptions in narration over and over and over again because one hasn't yet realized that using the name instead functions for the reader as an unmarked noun and not a repetition of language. You know the thing I'm talking about - it's the epithets thing that people complain about in fanfic. It's all over the place in this series (usually with regards to Stephen's height), and while it noticeably decreases by Flight of Magpies, it's never totally gone. It's completely ironed out by Charles's later work, so I wasn't expecting the mistake, and it's been grating on me.
But that's mostly my fault - for starting with Sins of the Cities, where the writing is downright perfect, and then jumping right back to the very beginning of Charles's career. It's actually really to her credit that she gets better and better with every book, because that's exactly the way it's supposed to go.
And it's no reason at all not to read this series, which is actually kind of a blast. There's a lot of magic running around in Victorian-era London, lots of gothic undertones, our protagonists are a sort of magician-law-enforcer, and an international-criminal-turned-reluctant-aristocrat, there's lots of murder and meyhem and mystical magpies, and family curses. There's also basically sexually transmitted magic, which is a completely bonkers plot point that I wouldn't think would work story-wise at all, but that sort of almost does.
Spoiler
I thought the sex scenes themselves were cringe-y and mostly ridiculous - but that might just be me. I don't read a lot of historical romance, so I don't actually know if being this heavy-handed is common in the subgenre, or if it's part of the pseudo-BDSM thing, or if it's another early-writing flaw. It could be any or all of the aboveBy this point, at the end of a series that made my convalescence significantly more fun, I really want to know more about what Lucian was up to in China all those years. And while I know there's a spinoff novel about the windwalking guy, I actually want one about Leo Hart, or maybe Merrick and Saint. (But mostly Leo. You cannot convince me that a former international mobster-level lady criminal is going to just quietly turn into a well-behaved society wife. Titles didn't make Crane any less of a disaster, I highly doubt Leo's going to turn respectable).
loulou87's review against another edition
5.0
I WANT MOOOORE!!!
This series is now one of my absolute faves!
Lucian and Stephen are just so amazing together.
This will also be short and sweet because I'm currently listening to the novella.
The writing. AMAZING WRITING
The romance. THESE GUYS ARE SO SWOONY
The case: I WAS HONESTLY SURPRISED BY THAT!
The steam... dude! THE STEAM! Although not many and not overly explicit, but they are certainly imaginative lol.
The narration: SUPERB by Cornell Collins
Fave Quote:
“Stephen can, of course, use my power, for two reasons. Firstly, because it’s his, just as all I am and all I have are his. Not that he ever asks, of course. I’m not sure that he quite believes it.” He looked round at Stephen, a rueful smile dawning, ignoring Fairley’s loud noises of disgust. “But I do hope you are aware, my sweet, somewhere in that absurd heart, that I am ever, entirely, and quite pathetically yours.”
SWOOOON
This series is now one of my absolute faves!
Lucian and Stephen are just so amazing together.
This will also be short and sweet because I'm currently listening to the novella.
The writing. AMAZING WRITING
The romance. THESE GUYS ARE SO SWOONY
The case: I WAS HONESTLY SURPRISED BY THAT!
The steam... dude! THE STEAM! Although not many and not overly explicit, but they are certainly imaginative lol.
The narration: SUPERB by Cornell Collins
Fave Quote:
“Stephen can, of course, use my power, for two reasons. Firstly, because it’s his, just as all I am and all I have are his. Not that he ever asks, of course. I’m not sure that he quite believes it.” He looked round at Stephen, a rueful smile dawning, ignoring Fairley’s loud noises of disgust. “But I do hope you are aware, my sweet, somewhere in that absurd heart, that I am ever, entirely, and quite pathetically yours.”
SWOOOON
kiiouex's review against another edition
4.0
tbh I don't have much to say about this one, it is exactly as competent and delicious as I have come to expect from this series, it is fun and exciting and raunchy, plus a good ending, plus I love all the characters. I could re-read the whole thing right now quite happily. Very sad I have to move on to other books.