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I go once again into the breach of aspectors, spellbreakers and Georgian England in Charlie N. Holmberg’s Spellmaker.
[***Warning – Spellbinder spoilers. I encourage reading Spellbreaker before reading Spellmaker***}
Spellmaker flows seamlessly from Spellbreaker. Elsie is doing something considered not on the “up and up” for a good cause whilst considering the burden she is to Bacchus, Ogden is still recovery from his life as a spell slave and Emmeline is bringing in another telegram from a pining Bacchus. Ms. Holmberg continues to flesh out this lovely world of magical practices broken into disciplines of physical, rational, spiritual, and temporal. Then there are the spellbreakers like Elsie; while aspectors (those who practiced one of the spell making disciplines) often pay to learn them (and, hence, tend to be limited to the realm of the well-to-do). Spellbreakers, on the other hand, are simply born with the ability and must be honed through study and practice. This world is full of class distinction, xenophobia, and racism (just ask Bacchus); you know, kind of like our world except the magic part. (BTW, I love how some reviewers seem to attribute to Ms. Holmberg all the sins of her literary world.)
[Full disclosure: I received an advanced reader’s copy from Netgalley for review purposes. Not only did this not influence my review, but I bought the audiobook version since I love the narration. Unfortunately, life came between me and completing the review by its publication date.]
While it’s a bit endearing to see Elsie and Bacchus’ humility, it’s equally clear that their lack of confidence in affairs of the heart come from a history of rejection in Elsie’s case and the aforementioned racism in Bacchus’. Now the trio (including Ogden) are loosely banded together to bring down Lily Merton and her serial murders to accumulate opuses. (An Opus is book describing all of an aspector’s spells that was birthed upon their death; anyone could execute a opus spell; you didn’t have to be an aspector to use an opus.)
Bacchus and Elsie courtship dance is usually fun and sometimes frustrating to behold. The relationship between Ogden and Elsie (and even Ogden and Bacchus) is a little more complex since Ogden is as driven by his need to right the wrongs of his enslavement as it is by his relationships. While the character arcs remain relatively flat, they are intriguing characters none-the-less. It is worthwhile watching their story continue to play out. This is a paranormal, historical novel, set in time where Elsie and Bacchus could have exchanged greetings with Darcy and Elizabeth or Edmund and Fanny. It’s one where these disciplines of magic reign with a bit of sleuthing thrown in for fun. Actually, there are quite a few twists and surprises not so much in the direction the story takes but the means by which it arrives. .
One of the things I like to do is think about music by which I would like to read a novel. For this one, it seemed like a marriage between the soundtrack to the Colin Firth/Jennifer Ehle’s version of “Pride and Prejudice” and “The Prisoner of Azkaban”. While I’m not in love the book and I haven’t seen the movie – the best mix seems to be Ferando Velazquez’s excellent soundtrack to “Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.”
One complaint I’ve seen is that characters, especially Elsie, too readily took others on face value. They found this especially troubling given that magic, especially mind control, should make people more skeptical. I would say that this was Georgian England was different time, when people over-all were a bit less jaded, more conscious of authority especially of people of certain rank. It’s always easy to step back in these situations because we, the reader, know things are going to run amiss. Within the story and day-to-day interactions of the characters, not so much. Finally, at least in one example given, there was little choice.
A bit over midway through the novel, I switched between the audiobook version and the Kindle. As with Spellbreaker, Elizabeth Knowelden narrates, but this time joined by Noel Arthur. Ms. Knowelden is a first-rate narrator and Mr. Arthur adding his own twist. The narration added to the story rather than being distracting.
I thoroughly enjoyed Spellmaker. There was good development of the story arcs of the characters, the world and its workings remain fascinating, and I love a good Battle Royale. I highly recommend it.
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