I love finding a series that I can totally trust when it comes to a fast-paced storyline, engaging characters and a little sprinkling of magic. For me, the Invisible Library series and this series – Regency Faerie Tales – fall into that perfectly.
Title: Longshadow
Series: Regency Faerie Tales #3
Author: Olivia Atwater
Pages: 288
Publisher: Orbit, Little Brown Book Group
Publication Date: 18th August 2022
Ownership: eARC
Rating: 4 stars
About the Book
Proper Regency ladies are not supposed to become magicians – but Miss Abigail Wilder is far from proper.
The marriageable young ladies of London are dying mysteriously, and Abigail Wilder intends to discover why. Abigail’s father, the Lord Sorcier of England, believes that a dark lord of faerie is involved – but while Abigail is willing to match her magic against Lord Longshadow, neither her father nor high society believe that she is capable of doing so.
Thankfully, Abigail is not the only one investigating the terrible events in London. Mercy, a street rat and self-taught magician, insists on joining Abigail to unravel the mystery. But while Mercy’s own magic is strange and foreboding, she may well post an even greater danger to Abigail’s heart.
My Review
We are back with some familiar characters for the third instalment in this series. Abigail Wilder, former workhouse orphan, has grown up in the care of Elias, Lord Sorcier, and Dora, who we new well from book one. After her unusual experiences in Faerie, Abigail has become an unusual young woman. Disinterested in balls and finding a husband (and never pressured to by her parents), she prefers to dabble in magic and explore her independency with her ghost-brother, Hugh.
And if you want a lovely, queer storyline that doesn’t involve lots of soul-searching and agonising, and is instead one woman realising that she is truly attracted to another woman, and wouldn’t it be wonderful is she liked her too? There’s no labelling (and even harder to do with humans and faeries!) but instead just a lovely heartfelt acceptance of ‘this is who I am and this is what I want’.
The story itself explores more of what it’s like to have a kernel of fae magic inside you, as well as the finality of death. This tale also features the sluagh, drawn from Irish and Scottish folklore, but with Atwater’s own slant on their appearance and role in death, instead guiding lost spirits to the other side.
The epilogue was quite a fast wrap-up to effectively tie the story off with a bow, but this is a series that won’t disappoint – everything is thought of and covered neatly, and just leaves you with a feel of general satisfaction.
I received an eARC of this book from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
Alpha-Beta-Hannah 