Unexpected Magic: A Romantic Fantasy series by Jude KnightMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
Fantasy regency was suddenly a thing a couple of years back, and I read and enjoyed more than a dozen books in the subgenre, but I haven't seen any for a little while. I was happy, then, to pick this up from Netgalley for review.
Like a surprising number of the Regency fantasies I've read, it involves dragons. Unlike several of them, it isn't a close retelling of Pride and Prejudice , though the setup does have similarities if you look closely: the male lead is related to nobility, the female lead is minor country gentry, there's mutual pining obscured by the obvious impossibility (for a few extra reasons) of the match, he proposes in an insulting way and she gets angry at him. And, like some but very much unlike others, it's well edited, even in the pre-publication version I saw, except for a few hyphens where they shouldn't be.
It's an original version of the Regency world, in which people have magic and there are also various magical creatures, some born from humans and others from nonmagical animals. This has made history somewhat different as well; Arthur II, the older brother of the man our history knows as Henry VIII, lived and defeated a rebellion by his brother, and his descendants are on the throne. Nobility comes only partly through bloodlines, and mainly through magical gifts; having no gifts can get you dropped out of the nobility, while having them can raise you into it.
The heroine, Cordelia, known as Delia, is the daughter of a baronet, meaning that her father has minor magic. She herself seems to have none, but it turns out she has very powerful and rare magic that's much sought after by Britain's enemies (an independent Ireland, the independent parts of Wales, and the French under Napoleon, currently conquering Europe). She's also looking after a newborn unicorn, a rare creature which belongs by law to the queen, and must be looked after by a maiden, since they can't stand men or women who smell of men. Her parents are awful, especially her mother, and she has had to become the person who deals with everything around the estate. She's intelligent and competent, but considers herself plain, and without (she has always believed) any magical gift, she's had no suitors, and is unmarried in her mid-20s.
The hero, Jasper, is the nephew and designated heir of a duke, with powerful magic that he can't make behave consistently, despite his best efforts. He thinks Delia is wonderful, which, to be fair, she is. Delia thinks he's pretty amazing too. But because she's a designated unicorn maiden (and, in her mind, unattractive and just a country girl well below his station), of course they can't be together. Or can they?
The worldbuilding has had thought put into it, the characters are appealing and have some dimension, and my main complaint is that it's short (a novella, I think) and feels like it wraps up suddenly. Not to worry; it's a series starter, and I will definitely be watching for more in the series.
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