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The Laws of Magic #3

Word of Honour

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Sinister plots, schemes within schemes, magical upheavals, and a world to save from evil. As always, Aubrey goes looking for trouble--and finds it, in spades.

Magical genius Aubrey Fitzwilliam, along with his loyal friend George, is trying to immerse himself in his new life at university. But for Aubrey life is never straightforward.

When Aubrey's father, the Prime Minister, invites him and George to take a ride on a top-secret submersible, Aubrey can't resist. The magical attack that threatens to send them to the bottom of the ocean begins a whirlwind series of events - a plot to rob Albion's largest bank, strange underground disturbances and an opera singer who bears an uncanny resemblance to Aubrey's nemesis, Dr Tremaine... How can Aubrey concentrate on his studies when there are mysteries to unravel?

444 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2008

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About the author

Michael Pryor

130 books191 followers
Michael Pryor's bio
Check out my Fantasy podcast, 'The World Below the War in the Heavens' wherever you get your podcasts!

I was born in Swan Hill, Victoria. I spent my childhood in country Victoria and Melbourne before moving to Geelong at the age of 10. I lived in Geelong until I went to university in Melbourne after secondary school.

I currently live in Melbourne. I’ve worked as a drainer’s labourer, a truck driver, a bathroom accessories salesperson, an Internet consultant, a Multimedia Developer, a Publisher, in a scrap metal yard and as a secondary school teacher. Whew.

I’ve taught English, Literature, Drama, Legal Studies and Computer Studies.

I've published over thirty-five novels and more than sixty of my short stories have appeared in Australia and overseas in publications such as Overland and the New South Wales School Magazine. My writing moves from literary fiction to genre Science Fiction to slapstick humour, depending on my mood.

I’ve been shortlisted eleven times for the Aurealis Award for Speculative Fiction, and have also been nominated for a Ditmar award. My short stories have twice been featured in Gardner Dozois’ ‘Highly Recommended’ lists in The Year’s Best Science Fiction and The Year’s Best Fantasy. Nine of my books have been CBC Notable Books, I’ve been longlisted for a Golden Inky and I’ve been shortlisted for the WAYBRA Award. I’ve also twice won the Best and Fairest Award at West Brunswick Amateur Football Club.

My reviews tend toward the three word style of the trenchant critic, N. Molesworth.

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5 stars
212 (38%)
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222 (40%)
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99 (18%)
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13 (2%)
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Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews
2,374 reviews50 followers
April 19, 2021
This book is set in Trinovant, the capital of Aubrey's country, Albion. Albion is a thinly disguised version of UK and they're still gearing up for war with Holmland.

Aubrey is back to hunting for a solution to his little death problem, and in the meantime, deals with a mysterious singer that looks like Tremaine. I liked the application of how language affects magic, and the sense of academia that permeates this book. I liked how this book deals with women: there are women as lecturers, in university: but although Aubrey doesn't talk or deal with the difficulties they face, there is always Caroline there to remind him.

Speaking of Caroline, I felt that the resolution in this book was too easy: she is still angry with him for causing her to lose her place in the previous book, but she's also leaning towards forgiveness after some time away.

We do end with them going back to being friends (I guess it would be out-of-genre for her to remain angry for too long) as they foil Tremaine's plan of
Profile Image for Fatima Sarder.
535 reviews1 follower
June 12, 2023
I read the first chapter of the next book and immediately thought: Where's von Starlick?

Focusing on the main character's exploits is lovely and all but I wish the side-characters were given more attention. George has a problem at the beginning of the book, said problem is promptly resolved by the end of the story with hardly a mention in between.

Still, this novel makes for a good read.
2,490 reviews17 followers
March 11, 2019
I honestly like Caroline, but Audrey constantly being struck by her beauty is laying it on a bit thick. Every so often would be better!
Profile Image for Mike.
Author 46 books194 followers
January 12, 2024
An improvement on the previous book; the same editing issues are there ("may" when it should be "might," occasionally "is" when it should be "was," verb and noun not agreeing in number, too many commas between adjectives, a dangling modifier, and this time a homonym error too: "racked" for "wracked," and an incompletely revised and therefore garbled sentence: "Sounds like a pair music hall of music hall performers"), but they're less frequent, and the plot almost gets along completely without helpful coincidences, in contrast to the multiple ones in the previous book. It even manages to avert both a deus ex machina and a heel-face turn at the climax, which the protagonist manages by protagonizing; this is good.

It does explain a little more about how magic works: the bigger the effect, the more complex the spell needs to be and the more it costs the caster (which surely means that Aubrey should not have been able to levitate a 5-storey stone tower with minimal preparation, or even at all, in the previous book, but never mind). The one fortunate coincidence supplies Aubrey with a kind of Rosetta stone to Egyptian hieroglyphics, one which seems too small for the purpose and oddly situated in a Roman temple, but again, never mind; this enables him to advance his theories on how to manage his unfortunate partly-dead condition, though not to the point where he can actually take care of it. The Aubrey-Caroline romance gets somewhat back on track, but makes little progress. Caroline points out that they did dance at the ball in Not-Paris, at least, but if my memory is correct they in fact did not, since Aubrey started out looking for people, and then events occurred, and there really wasn't any room for dancing in there.

This is a middle book; things progress incrementally, but nothing is really resolved. The villain appears again, and all the same problems are there (and a couple of new ones, at least one of which does resolve within the book; it belongs to George, who hasn't had an arc to this point, but it's almost entirely handled offstage, George doesn't resolve it, and its main function is to show character growth in Aubrey, so George remains merely a sidekick). Notwithstanding, this is an action-packed volume with some strong set-pieces, though still let down a bit for me by the poor standard of editing. Something has gone wrong with the paragraphing, too, in this series; it doesn't follow the convention that a new speaker gets a new paragraph, and sometimes there's a paragraph break in the middle of someone's speech for no reason. Poor conversion from a print book to an ebook, perhaps.

The whole series frustrates me, because with just a bit more work by a competent editor it could be really good (and an experienced author like this shouldn't make the errors in the first place). But the storytelling is good, the emotional arc is sound, and despite all my carping I did enjoy it and am now reading the next one.
Profile Image for Eva.
107 reviews12 followers
February 25, 2013
Kunjungan Sir Darius bersama Aubrey ke dalam prototype kapal selam Albion berakhir dengan bencana. Untung ada Aubrey bersama2 mereka sehingga problem itu bisa diatasi. Sayangnya masalahnya tidak berakhir sampai di situ; Lady Rose, ibu Aubrey, diserang dalam perjalanannya ke Antartika bersama2 si beib Caroline. Lalu puncaknya adalah kemunculan seorang penyanyi ternama yang mukanya begitu mirip dengan musuh bebuyutan Aubrey dan buronan Albion, dr. Tremaine. Begitu serupa bagai pinang dibelah dua, namun semua orang menolak kenyataan itu dan mulai mempertanyakan kewarasan Aubrey, bisa ditebak si bocah penyihir jadi makin tujuh keliling.

Bertekad menyelidiki masalah itu, Aubrey menyuruh sejumlah orang memata-matai sang penyanyi untuk membuktikan kecurigaannya. Bermula dari sejumlah masalah yang muncul di lorong2 bawah tanah Trinovant, dia menemukan konspirasi untuk merampok bank terbesar di Albion yang menyimpan seluruh harta kekayaan negara, Bank of Albion. Tapi rupanya tidak hanya bank of Albion yang menjadi sasaran kejahatan musuh2 Aubrey, rupanya Trinovant sendiri juga berada di bawah ancaman.

Siapa pelakunya? Tentu saja dr. Tremaine.

Di buku ketiga ini, hubungan trio Aubrey, Doyle, dan Caroline masih stagnan--sialnya. Doyle masih tetap one dimensional dan gue mulai ragu dia akan berkembang lebih dari sepotong karton tipis bak wayang. Caroline juga berkembang di sini, tapi masalahnya dia berkembang jadi lebih menyebalkan lagi. Entah kenapa gue bener2 gak tahan sama cewek ini, sama sekali! Kemunculannya dalam tiap bab hanya membuat Aubrey bersikap tolol dan membuat gue kepingin tepak jidat. Memang masalahnya ada di Aubrey sendiri yang nggak bisa berhadapan sama cewek dengan smooth. Tapi kayaknya kok nggak worth banget ya? Kehilangan intelejensia hanya buat cewek kayak begini.

Yah... tapi begitulah cinta. Kemane aje luuu?

Kemunculan kembali dr. Tremaine membuat cerita dalam buku ini menjadi sedikit gelap, meski masih tetap masih bisa diterima pembaca muda. Sepertinya pengarang ingin menggambarkan penyihir sakti ini sebagai seorang sosiopat dengan ambisi mengerikan, yang agaknya sedikit kabur. Kenapa dia berakhir jadi jahat gemblung begini? Mungkinkah ada orang yang emang terlahir jahat, nggak peduli kayak apa kondisi keluarganya, kalo udah setelannya sinting ya sinting?
Mungkin akan lebih kompleks buat dr. Tremaine jika dijelaskan pada pembaca, apa yang mendorong dia berambisi mendapatkan kehidupan abadi. Tulung lah...

Lagipula, kenapa dia kepingin hidup abadi ya? Bukankah menjadi abadi itu sebenarnya bakalan menderita berkepanjangan? Yang nonton pilem A.I pasti tau banget betapa menderitanya hidup abadi, setelah manusia musnah, bumi punah, tapi si tokoh utama tetep eksis.

Seperti kata Queens:
Who wants to live forever? Who dares to love forever, when love must die?
1,451 reviews26 followers
November 17, 2017
With the events of the summer behind them, Aubrey and George are ready for a new challenge: university. And Aubrey enjoys the classes, the professors, the atmosphere. But there are a few nagging things keeping him from fully immersing in such a life. An incident with his father on the nation's first submersible, a singer who looks suspiciously like Dr. Tremaine, and of course his fractured relationship with Caroline. . .

Aubrey may be back in a more normal side of life, but he's still never far from the action. And "normal" is a relative concept anyway for him. The intrigue starts immediately and goes in several different directions, piling mystery on mystery (on top of homework). Several new magical Laws are introduced, but for a large part of the book most of the magic belongs, shockingly enough, to someone other than Aubrey.

For his own health, Aubrey has decided it's time to give up magic. For good. He comforts himself with the tantalizing thought of all the research to be done in frontier areas of magic. This leads to vastly improved physical health, and coupled with his analytic thinking, still manages to introduce new magical spells while avoiding the superhuman antics he performed in Heart of Gold.

In addition, Aubrey's troubled relationship with Caroline adds new depth to him as a person. Having faced the consequences of treating people as objects, Aubrey proceeds with more wisdom and restraint; and being tentative around someone like Caroline usually doesn't leave the right impression.

It's a brisk book, packed with action, surprises, and laughs. It will stand alone but I would strongly advise reading it within the series to avoid serious spoilers of earlier books. I rate this book Recommended.
Profile Image for Alison .
1,490 reviews9 followers
June 18, 2015
Actually a rating of 3.5/5

In Word of Honour, Aubrey and George find themselves involved in a world of intrigue as events unfold that could lead the country into war with Holmland. Surrounded by mystery, Aubrey can’t help but interfere, and soon – accompanied by George and the ever-astounding Caroline – he is caught up in sabotage, thievery and danger. And what does the return of Dr Tremaine have to do with it all? I enjoyed this adventure more than I did the previous two books. The plot was simpler (whilst still complex enough to pose intriguing problems), and the description less overwhelming (bar one or two notable exceptions). This was a well-rounded adventure novel, and I loved the larger emphasis on steampunk and the way that Pryor managed to intertwine it within the fantasy setting. Word of Honour provided a great adventure for Aubrey and his friends, I look forward to their next one.
3 reviews
September 10, 2014
Aubrey, a teen who is gifted with an understanding of magic, has to find a way to bring himself back to the living after putting himself between life and death. After he arrives back to his city, Trinovant, he finds himself solving the mystery behind a sabotage to a prototype submarine, a singer who looks like his enemy, Dr. Tremaine, a plan to rob a big bank, and strange under ground disturbances. He has to try to "juggle" studying in the university and making Caroline, his love, forgive him while solving those mysteries. Aubrey, a person who wants to help people, finds himself resisting helping his friend's father facing foreclosure of his farmland, because of a promise. I think the book is great but the beginning has less action than I was hoping for. I feel that finding Tremaine (2nd time, at the power plant)at the end was too short of a final action against Tremaine. Overall I think it was a good continuation of the series.
Profile Image for NullusAnxietus.
338 reviews6 followers
January 24, 2015
The latest in the excellent Steampunk series by Michael Pryor, Word of Honour continues the adventures of Aubrey, a talented and intelligent magic wielder, George his salt-of-the earth best friend and Caroline, an enlightened modern woman and suffragette.

The book follows the adventures of the trio as they once again battle the machinations of the nefarious Doctor Mordercai Tremaine, foiling a plot to topple the monarchy of Albion in the process. It's a great fun read, though I do wonder sometimes at the sheer luck of Aubrey who always seems to be in the right place at the right time.
I particularly enjoy the treatment of magic in this series with it being essentially just another science and it's fascinating to see how it's utilised in all facets of modern life.

Overall Word of Honour is a fantastic read, though it will make little sense to you if you haven't read the previous installments

TNT Score 4/5



Profile Image for Kathryn.
88 reviews8 followers
May 12, 2012
Aubrey Fitzwilliam again: still the Prime Minister's son, still in awe of the lovely Caroline Hepworth, still cleverly using magic where he can to save the day, but now at university, studying magic. Aubrey, George and Caroline are mostly busy studying, but when they're not, they're trying to work out what evil ex-Sorceror Royal Mordecai Tremaine might be up to.

Another lovely read. Sweet, fun, with fantastic characters and wonderful language again. Aubrey is a charmer, and in this book we really see the three friends come into their own. I loved it, and the only thing stopping me from reflecting that in my rating here is the fact that whilst the action is somewhere in the 'rollicking good fun' category, it was never actually particularly suspenseful, when it definitely could have been.

For more, here's my full review: http://whatsheread.com/?p=30
Profile Image for Miffy.
400 reviews27 followers
November 13, 2015
Am currently on a series revisit, listening to the audiobooks on my way to and from work. The writing is superb, paying homage to P.G. Wodehouse, Agatha Christie, Conan Doyle, whilst imbuing the characters with many modern-day views and values. I've said it before and I'll say it again - I want to come back in my next life as Caroline Hepworth! Aubrey is alternately competent and bungling. George's laconic steadfastness is wonderful. And I must make mention of the reader - Rupert Degas. Some male narrators are unconvincing as women, but Rupert gets the all spot-on.
Love, love, love.
Profile Image for Mei Ying HO.
24 reviews
September 1, 2016
This book is definitely magical! I'm currently reading page 6-7...




























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Profile Image for Ellie.
1,140 reviews63 followers
August 13, 2016
An enjoyable read. I love the setting and the characters! (especially Aubrey and George). The magic is really well written and fun to read.
The main thing that bothers me is that some of the characters and certain elements of the plot can get very stereotypical.
Despite that, it's a fun book and I'd recommend it to anyone who likes historical fiction, fantasy, sci-fi or steampunk.
Profile Image for Katharine (Ventureadlaxre).
1,525 reviews49 followers
Read
November 30, 2015
Katharine is a judge for the Sara Douglass 'Book Series' Award. This entry is the personal opinion of Katharine herself, and does not necessarily reflect the opinion of any judging panel, the judging coordinator or the Aurealis Awards management team.

I won't be recording my thoughts (if I choose to) here until after the AA are over.
Profile Image for Kayla.
182 reviews
May 24, 2025
I had goosebumps at the end, but the start of it is quite boring.


2025 review: young me was dumb and failed to see how great this series is. I also have no recollection of anything that happened in this book when I read it last but the scene with the ‘wires’ made me shudder.
Profile Image for Camille Stanford.
231 reviews1 follower
October 6, 2013
The book begins with a sabotaged submarine, and it just gets more dangerous from there. Similar to the first book in many ways, but still slightly different. I like the concept behind how magic works, and I find these books well-written.
Profile Image for Vickey.
793 reviews1 follower
November 30, 2015
A bit of a mess compared to the first two books. An extra villain is introduced and the crew gallivant about in a submarine and try to prevent a bank robbery. Kind of fun to read but feels like filler.
Profile Image for Trisha.
2,170 reviews118 followers
August 5, 2011
This is great. The action moves swiftly and Aubrey is constantly whipping off on tangents which coinidentally and fortutiously, helps him to bring together all the puzzling plot points. Oh it's good.
Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews

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