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Sorcerer to the Crown

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Sorcerer to the Crown

By: Zen Cho
Narrated by: Jenny Sterlin
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About this listen

The Royal Society of Unnatural Philosophers has long been tasked with maintaining magic within His Majesty's lands. But lately, the once proper institute has fallen into disgrace. Zacharias Wythe ventures to the border of Fairyland to discover why England's magical stocks are drying up.

When his adventure brings him in contact with a woman with immense power, he sets on a path which will alter the nature of sorcery.

©2015 Zen Cho (P)2015 Recorded Books Inc Epic Epic Fantasy Fantasy Fiction Historical Magic Regency Regency Romance Romance

Continue the series
The True Queen cover art
The True Queen By: Zen Cho

Critic reviews

"Full of delights and surprises. Zen Cho unpins the edges of the canvas and throws them wide." (Naomi Novik, New York Times best-selling author of Temeraire)
"Inventive, dangerous, brilliant, unsettling, and adorable, all at the same time." (Courtney Milan)
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With court intrigue, a tradition of English magic and the influence of Faerie, comparisons to Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell are inevitable, but despite the similarities in setting, Sorcerer to the Crown is a different sort of story. Where Strange & Norrell had setting in depth but not, perhaps, so much plot, Sorcerer to the Crown invests only as much as is necessary into its setting and instead crafts a more satisfying story. The characters are less complex and morally ambiguous, but they are a most cheering bunch, and you will rather find yourself invested in them. Events come to a most satisfactory conclusion, and it will be all but impossible to keep the grin off your face as events come to a head--and particularly in the denouement.

Engaging characters, intriguing plot, and beautiful language well suited to the audio format, and excellently read in this recording.

Light, airy, yet thoroughly satisfying.

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The summary for this book had me hooked. The plot sounded great. (I thoroughly enjoyed Johnathan Strange and Mr Norrell, and expected a similar read...)

Sorcerer to the Crown however, is slow. The dialogue is, at points, needlessly lengthy and comes across like ‘Pride and Prejudice’. No reading (or listening!) between the lines necessary here; everything is spelled out in a wordy jumble.

By the end, I felt satisfied with the story, but I think it would have been much more successful if more time had been spent developing the characters rather than on elaborate dialogue.

So promising but ultimately disappoints

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I liked the story and would recommend it to some of my friends, but I do think everything was thrown at this; racism, sexism, double dealing, politics, headstrong underdog....

The core story was good - the racist and sexist element didn't improve the story significantly, in my view.

Maybe a bit too much?

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This book has concepts i love - thaumaturgy, flying clouds, dragons, faeries and thunder monsters but its such an irritating read at the same time. I felt sorry for and then annoyed with zacharias - what was he thinking putting up with that woman?

Intriguing but annoying

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An excellent narration of an imaginative and highly enjoyable tale. I look forward to the next book

enchanting

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