Sorcerer to the Crown

This book is delicious. On one hand it's a romantic book of manners that revels in the milieu of colonial Britain's high society-similar to a Jane Austen novel. On the other hand, it ruthlessly wields modernity like a sword, as it dismantles heretofore hallowed notions of patriarchy and white supremacy by centering the story around a manumitted slave and a mysterious mixed-race woman of dubious origin. The protagonists tangle with ruthless assassination attempts from magical bureaucrats, society balls and tea parties, miffed witches from Southeast Asia on diplomatic missions and interlopers from the The Land of Fairy. The book was thoroughly engaging from beginning to end.

This is a book suitable for a pre-teen, written with a vocabulary suitable to an English major. The story is predictable but well-told. While the outcomes were never in doubt, it was great fun to see how they were achieved. I would buy it again and read it again.