Booklog 18/2021: A.J. Lancaster: The Lord of Stariel – Stariel #1

This is set in a pseudo-Victorian/Edwardian British-type world with magic. When one lord of Stariel dies, the next will be chosen by the land itself, because Stariel is an oasis of magic between the Fae lands and the mundane. The successor need not be the last lord's offspring, but it will be someone from the bloodline. Hetta returns to Stariel for her father's funeral and for the choosing, knowing full well that she will not be chosen as she broke with her father years ago when she left for the capital to learn more about her own powers of illusion, and to take up a life in the theatre. It also seems unlikely that her older brother will be chosen as he had his own difficulties with their father. It will most likely be cousin Jack whom their father groomed to take his place. Whoever is chosen there are the family's strange cohort of disapproving aunts to placate, but also a gathering threat from across the magical border as the Fae

When the funeral is over and the choosing ritual begins, no one is more surprised than Hetta when she is chosen, but is it real or has there been some kind of trickery? And who is the strange young woman her younger brother has brought home? All this is complicated by the prospect of romance on two fronts, the handsome neighbour whom she fancied like mad when she was growing uo, or the butler/house manager, Wyn, her childhood friend who is much more than he seems.
 

I enjoyed this. It was intriguing enough to keep me reading, though I guessed who the villain was before the reveal.

Booklog 19/2021: N.M. Browne: Bad Water

A dystopian young adult book set somewhere in Britain's future after the rise of the sea levels and the inundation of the land. Ollu is a barger who sails a matriarch boat, The Ark, with her mother and, as the story opens, a pair of newly born twins, Ollu's new siblings. Unfortunately Mum as going downhill fast with childbed fever. There's not much modern medicine in this world, barely a few scraps and remnants, though there is a significant amount of old tekk which can be salvaged. (Some of it is still in use, though not really understood.) Ollu has to leave her mother and the babies in the hands of people she doesn't really trust in order to sail the river and bring back weapons to trade for her mother's treatment.

Buzz is travelling in the flying machine his father built, but a disastous crash landing kills his father and leaves Buzz, stranded, trying to finish their quest to find the Queen B, a comp that their own comp, the General, managed to make contact with briefly. Buzz has been gen-engineered to mesh with mashines and so he's drawn to Ollu's barge. He's captured by slavers and barely manages to escape along with Ratter, a child who sees the future in fitful visions/ Ratter has seen Buzz Olly and himself braided - only together will they survive.

This is an engaging book with good characters. Ollu is tough, yet vulnerable. She makes decisions in the best interests of her family, not always good ones, but she recovers from the bad ones. Buzz is big and strong with amazing tech skills, but he doesn't see himself as a leader. Ratter is fearless - perhaps too fearless. A thoroughly engrossing book with a vision of the future that would scare the pants off you and me, but our characters know nothing else, so they get on with making things better if they can.

Booklog 20/2021: The Time Traveller's Guide to Regency Britain

There wasn't much in this book that I didn't know, but that's because I did extensive research for my three Rowankind books. But how I wish I'd had this book when I was buying masses of books for research and disappearing down internet rabbit holes for days on end. It has everything I needed in one succinct volume. There's loads of practical information here about how long it takes to travel from point A to point B, how much it will cost and how long you have to find a privy while your coach's horses are being changed at an inn. If you were dropped into the Regency period with this handbook, you could probably integrate pretty well (though your accent might be a bit strange to the locals). Chapters cover: landscape; London; The people; Character; Practicalities; What to Wear; Travelling; Where to Stay; What to Eat, Drink and Smoke; Cleanliness, Health and Medicine; Law and Order, and Entertainment.

 

The information is comprehensive, the style is readable. I had this on Kindle, but i will buy the paperback when it comes out later in 2021 as it's a great little reference book for the period. It's not strictly the Regency which only lasted for eleven years, but it covers what people think of as the wider period, from the 1789 to 1830. It compares and contrasts life through the period, noting changes. It covers this extraordinarily varied period from privileged scoundrels to the abject poverty of the urban poor; the cruelties of the law which would hang a child for stealing a handkerchief, to the beginnings of prison reform. It is, at once, comprehensive and succinct, and a great starting point for anyone interested in the period. I don't normally read non-fiction from beginning to end (I tend to dip in and out for research) but this read as easily as a novel. Though one warning to kindle readers, the illustrations are a dead loss in that format. You might do better with a Kindle Fire, or (probably) a dead tree version.