pagesofjulia

I really enjoyed this magical alternative history or speculative fiction, with mystery, intrigue, romance, and bicycles! What a treat. Happily, it’s first in a trilogy. I’ve already purchased books two and three.

I was calling this setting Victorian-esque, in my head; the back of the book calls it Edwardian, which is a smallish distinction (the two eras abut), and this is not really my area of expertise, and anyway this is an alternative world, without an Edward or a Victoria at the helm. In a British-type major city called Kingston, Miles Singer, a veteran of the ongoing war, works as a psychiatrist at a veterans’ hospital. We meet him as he’s asked to send 16 patients home to free up their beds for the next round of returning soldiers. This is an impossible task for Miles; his patients are suffering and cannot yet care for themselves. He’s been working to discover the nature of the dangerous sickness that plagues them. And oh yes, he has to hide his magical powers and his true identity. Miles has been on the run for years from his powerful family of mages, who would enslave him to use his lesser powers to support those of his sister. They are involved in some national- and world-scale political connivings that he’d rather have nothing to do with, although he does miss his sister. A strange man brought to the hospital on the brink of death, a handsome stranger, and an unfortunate surprise at a donors’ dinner together offer a major disruption to Miles’s quiet life. He has a dangerous mystery to solve, patients to care for, his own need for privacy to attend to. But there might be more still.

Miles rides a bicycle! And the rules and etiquette for bicycles on the busy Kingston streets are elaborate. There is one remarkable bicycle *chase* that I’m still thrilled about. This feels like a period-appropriate detail and obviously pleases me immensely.

I love the world-building here, and how class plays into the significance of different types of magic. And the slow-burn love affair is stimulating, both for plot and world-building and for the reader who simply wants to see good-hearted Miles happy and comfortable. The story has momentum; I could easily have stayed up all night in a delicious binge session (instead I took three rapid days). Witchmark ends on a high, hopeful note, leaving me excited for book two. C.L. Polk is one to watch. Please join me.

Filed under: book reviews | Tagged: Kingston Cycle, LGBTQ, romance, speculative fiction |