The Lord of Stariel by A.J. Lancaster| Book Review
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Title- The Lord of Stariel (Stariel #1)
Author- A. J. Lancaster
Publisher- A. J. Lancaster
Tags- YA Fantasy | Gaslamp Fantasy | Fae | Romance | Big Family
My Rating- ★★★★★
Goodreads Rating- 4.03
Contents
BOOK BLURB
MY REVIEW
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Book Blurb
The Lord of Stariel is dead. Long live the Lord of Stariel. Whoever that is.
Everyone knows who the magical estate will choose for its next ruler. Or do they?
Will it be the lord’s eldest son, who he despised?
His favourite nephew, with the strongest magical land-sense?
His scandalous daughter, who ran away from home years ago to study illusion?
Hetta knows it won’t be her, and she’s glad of it. Returning home for her father’s funeral, all Hetta has to do is survive the family drama and avoid entanglements with irritatingly attractive local men until the Choosing. Then she can leave.
But whoever Stariel chooses will have bigger problems than eccentric relatives to deal with.
Winged, beautifully deadly problems.
For the first time in centuries, the fae are returning to the Mortal Realm, and only the Lord of Stariel can keep the estate safe.
In theory.
The Lord of Stariel is the first book in the Stariel quartet.
“Of course, there was one other way she could attract attention. She pulled off her left glove and stared thoughtfully at her palm. Concentrating, she called up an image she’d used in the play yesterday: glittering purple snake-demons writhing in smoke. She’d meant to summon an illusion only a few inches high, more as an idle thought than any serious attempt at a signal, but the snake-demons that emerged were as tall as she was.”
My Review
For me this was a five star read. It has wonderful atmosphere with a Victorian era/countryside vibe, mixed in with magic, Fae, a Draken, family drama, secrets, a mystery and romance.
Plot
After Hetta’s father dies, she has to return home to the family estate, not only for the funeral but for the Choosing. A ceremony where a magic stone selects the new Lord of Stariel. After being away for six years working in the unladylike profession as an Illusionist in a theater, Hetta is faced with disapproving relatives, old friends and a strange feeling as her ‘land sense’, her magical connection with the land, returns.
Characters and Magic
Hetta is a great character, she has a lot of personality and keeps the book interesting the whole way through. The relationships between Hetta and the other characters are really well written. I enjoyed all the complex family dynamics and how the family dramas wove in well with the plot. It’s kind of like Downton Abbey, but with magic.
A. J. Lancaster is a New Zealand author that more people need to know about! I would rate this book up there with Holly Black’s ‘The Folk of the Air’ series and recommend this to anyone who enjoyed The Cruel Prince, or just anyone who loves fantasy, particularly gaslamp fantasy and Fae.
“Hetta had quite enjoyed the loose morals of the Meridon theatre scene, but she had no intention of bringing that up in front of her brothers.”
About the Author- A. J. Lancaster
Growing up in rural New Zealand, AJ Lancaster escaped chores by hiding up trees reading books. She wrote in the same way she breathed—constantly and without thinking much of it—so it took many years and accumulating a pile of manuscripts for her to realise that she might want to be a writer and, in fact, already was. On the way to this realisation she collected a degree in science, worked in environmental planning, and became an editor.
Now she lives in the windy coastal city of Wellington and writes romantic, whimsical fantasy books about fae, magic, and complicated families. The Lord of Stariel is the first novel in her Stariel Quartet.
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