Arcana by Jessica LeakeMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
This is a fun fantasy that hits a lot of the right notes for me. I enjoy stories of female protagonists making their way in the formal society of an earlier England--Regency, or Victorian, or, as here, Edwardian England--and fighting to be their own person despite the restrictions of the age, especially regarding their decisions about marriage. I like settings that mix the historic as well as the fantastic, where a world looks much like ours but includes magic or magical beings. And well-done coming of age stories are always welcome.
Fantasy and romance are two great tastes that taste great together, though this novel leans a little harder toward romance than most fantasies I choose--on the Reese's scale, I think that's a little more chocolate in the peanut butter--but rather than being disappointed, I enjoyed the novel very much. This is an entertaining story with interesting characters, and if it is a bit melodramatic in parts, well... there are reasons why melodrama (of the A Star is Born or Wuthering Heights type) has been so successful for so long. Sometimes you want your heroes heroic, your lovers lovely, your villains villainish, and your nemesis truly nemetical.
(I'm confident these are the right words and I stand by them.)
I accidentally bought the second book first and had to hunt down this first one. I'm glad I did. I liked it, and I think it sets up a series nicely. The actual books are a different size, so that's gonna bug me, looking at them on the shelf, but I'm gonna have to just get over that. ;)
Recommended for those fantasy readers who like a novel of manners and enjoy a bit of sexy romance; recommended for those romance readers who like a bit of literal magic in their love story. Perhaps we can shake hands here in the middle.
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