Underdogs and Dragons and Back-Stabbing Sorcerers

Sorcerer to the Crown by Zen Cho
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

For those who like 19th Century English novels and fantasy, this book is a must read. It has the setting and tone of a regency novel, along with the parties and politics and manners of that era, and the action of Harry Potter novel, with both the whimsy and sudden danger you find there.

My favorite aspect of the novel is the prose. Zen Cho writes some beautiful English. I enjoy the sound of it, the rightness of it, the way it takes an indirect route towards precise communication, and I was amazed at the perfection of so many passages. I would often think, "I wish I could write like that!" (having tried and failed) or, "I would not have thought of putting it that way--but it's right." The author has apparently absorbed the models of English literature (you know, in a good way), particularly 19th Century novelists, and reproduces their diction and phrasing and tone in a way that goes beyond emulation. It reads as genuine, and immersive.

The main characters are interesting and engaging--Zacharias, the African-born sorcerer royal in a court that despises him, and Prunella, an orphan and gifted magic user in a society that has little use for orphans and none at all for women who use magic. It's easy to root for them right from the start. To be honest, though, they both disappoint by the middle of the book, and are only a little rehabilitated at the very end, IMO.

Zacharias, who is studious, high-minded, calm, and ethical to a fault, feels for the first half of the novel to be the "I've-got-this" character. You wait for him to act, like a sleeping lion finally waking to take notice of those who've been poking him and baiting him before dispensing some righteous justice. I kept waiting for that, looking forward to it, eagerly reading. But then he doesn't act. And then he still doesn't act. In almost every scene, he ignores dangers crowding around him, or reacts to something if forced to it, and then carries on like nothing is happening around him. He doesn't solve anything. He confronts almost nothing head-on. I wanted to shake him.

Prunella, meanwhile, is sympathetic as the overlooked young woman of talent, but through her lies, carelessness, and selfishness she wears out her welcome. She's an exciting character with her magic gifts, her independent spirit, her fearlessness, but she's not a considerate friend for most of the novel.

SPOILER
[Strangely, her only truly selfless action was simultaneously an act of brutal betrayal. That action was so out of keeping with the tone of the rest of the novel I found myself wishing for a correction, an "it was all a dream" explanation, but nope. Everything about familiars I thought was off-putting and wished it could have been handled a different way. That whimsy got dark.]

However, Zacharias and Prunella are somewhat rehabilitated at the end (as always, IMO), a bit more like heroes, and I was more sympathetic to both than I had felt 50 pages earlier. I wanted them to drive the plot more than they did in this story, but I still enjoyed following them around, which is why I give this 4 ("I enjoyed it quite a bit") stars. I like where we leave them, both showing signs of growing and changing for the better, and so I have high hopes for sequels. My wish for book 2, though, is simple: I want them to use their awesomeness to be awesome.

Like heroes.

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