Lady of Magick by Sylvia Izzo HunterMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
A strong second book in the trilogy, the more so because it has a self-contained story and isn't just a transitional book in a three-book story arc.
The first book was well done apart from the use of coincidence, fate, and prophecy to help the plot along and make the protagonist more Special. This book doesn't repeat those mistakes, making it even stronger. Sophie is still overpowered, but she does have fit opposition, and her overpowered abilities give her chances to make good moral choices and reveal her character in so doing.
I like books which extend a relationship beyond the wedding day and show us the couple navigating marriage, and this is one. And I like to see a marriage in which there's mutual respect and support, too.
The setup is that Sophie is studying, and Gray teaching, in the neighbouring country of Alba (= Scotland), where they have to learn Gaelic because, since it's separate from the Kingdom of Britain, the people there have not adopted English. They make a number of friends there, some of whom turn out to have agendas. Meanwhile, Sophie's sister Joanna, now in her mid-teens, is assisting with Gray's brother-in-law's important government work, and eventually she visits her sister in Alba and becomes involved in those events. There's also a quiet romance bubbling below the surface.
But it's not all university study and government work; there's a sinister plot, and the characters get involved in attempting to foil it because the plotters make the mistake of involving them. (view spoiler) In both books, and also in the third book which I'm now reading, the rulers are just and wise, though human, and the traitors against them are clearly villainous and self-interested.
The worldbuilding has a couple of small cheats in it. This is a kind of alternate-history fantasy world, in which the influence of the Roman Empire and its gods persisted and Christianity never took off, and in which, of course, there is magic. There was still an Anglo-Saxon invasion of Britain and a Norman conquest, but the Normans retained holdings in France (which isn't united as a single kingdom, as far as I can tell), and the people of Cornwall (Kernow) and Bretagne retained their language and culture into what's roughly equivalent to the Regency period (early 19th century) in our world. There was still a Tudor dynasty, and Henry Tudor "the Great" still had multiple wives, but better luck in ensuring his succession; it seems Edward VI lived to have sons, after growing up under the regency of his sisters, and there is still a Tudor - Henry XII - on the throne of Britain. The author throws in a couple of real 18th-century Scottish songs, and cheekily repurposes a verse of a very Christian hymn, Veni Creator Spiritus, as a pagan hymn at one point. So, while the departure from our history is very early and has a lot of impact, if she wants a piece of actual history for whatever reason she just drops it in there. This is what I mean by "cheats". It wasn't fatal to my suspension of disbelief, but it did take me out of the narrative a bit when it occurred.
What didn't disrupt my enjoyment of the story was the editing, which was close to impeccable; definitely once, and possibly twice, there are a couple of words in the wrong order, but that's it. And the Regency-era language is beautifully and, as far as I can tell, flawlessly done, as is the use of names. I rarely see a book in which these things are done so well.
Combine that with a more than solid story and good-hearted characters, and this first read of 2025 makes it into the Gold tier of my annual Best of the Year list.
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