The Magpie Lord (Charm of Magpies, #1)

by Kj Charles

[jamiereadthis]

Both the plot and the romance hustle and move, especially for a first novel. But what surprised me this time: there’s a mean spiritedness to the tone that didn’t sit well with me. Every second stray character is dismissed as a bitch or an idiot. Even between the two leads, who pretty much fall into friendship and defend each other right away, the same harshness and violence crops up. It’s to a purpose— in fact, it’s all to a purpose, plot-wise— but it rubbed me the wrong way in a way I wasn’t expecting.

Which confounds me, because I’m sitting here having recently read and loved books with much worse things than sneering at villagers or throwing tantrums and furniture. But here it feels… unexamined? The Le Guin and the Reisz, the Pacat and the Walton; they’ve made me rethink some presumptions. Confronted me on some blind spots. This book just feels like it has some of the blind spots I’ve recently had to address.

I dunno. It surprised me. I’m still working through what I think. And I liked the book; there’s good stuff within it. I just wanted less casual violence; a different vocabulary for it, I think. More examination thereof. Less raging, more thinking. A core that’s tender, not snide.

And I say all this to mark it, how I’m aware of a difference. Not to pick at the book. I just need to digest what’s changed within myself. Whatever it is, I like it. I don’t want to go back.