A Charm of Magpies Series by KJ Charles

It’s this or a robin; I don’t have many pictures of birds

I didn’t just read The Mapmakers and SSBB this past interim, though. I also found The Magpie Lord hanging out on my kindle, and decided to give it a try. And then liked it so much that I went and got the sequels; A Case of Possession, and Flight of Magpies. Plus two short side-stories: A Case of Spirits and Interlude with Tattoos. There’s another short story that I haven’t gotten to yet, and also I think there’s another book that’s supposed to be set in the same world–Jackdaw, maybe? And while the series is nicely wrapped up, it is also open to another potential sequel, which I would read in a heartbeat (a declaration that doesn’t explain why I haven’t read the third short, however).

I liked the whole series, which, of course, always makes it difficult to review.

The world is a Period-England setting with Supernatural Elements, because that’s a Thing these days, but it’s a pretty solid such setting. I believe the author is actually from England, so there’s an extra hint of reality with all the details (the ones that are lacking when the author has only taken England 101 at Hollywood Kollege). And some parts of the magic system seem to have been built as-needed by the plot, but it still works out nicely in the end (nothing painfully grafted on a previously detailed explanation or anything).

And now I have to confess that I read the books almost two weeks ago, and thus recall very little about the writing style or story-telling craft. Which probably means they were both good or fantastic, because if something bugs me, I remember. I can say assertively that the story-crafting grows with the series; there were a few things I almost remember from the first book, but I don’t want to bring them up because I definitely do NOT remember them from the latter ones.

So there you go. A nice, awesome thing to read next time you’re looking for a decent period-supernatural gay fantasy series. Just, I do recommend reading the side-shorts in the correct order (it seems one goes between each pair of novels), because I did not, and it was mildly confusing. Plus they are canon to the full novels, and referred to therein.