Sorcerer to the Crown (Sorcerer to the Crown novels, 1) - Tapa dura

A comedy of manners ... a classic, gently barbed upper-crust comedy mixed with magical thrills, modern social consciousness, and a hint of political intrigue. A decidedly promising start * Kirkus Reviews * Magic, manners and dragons in Regency England . . . a mix of Jane Austen, P. G. Wodehouse and Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell, and all its own thing. Glorious * Aliette de Bodard * Zen Cho is spectacular, a confident and exciting new voice * Paul Cornell * Compulsively readable and wickedly funny, this magical marriage of Jane Austen and P. G. Wodehouse delivers love, laughs, and a thoroughly modern sensibility, and will keep you reading long into the night. I loved it * Lavie Tidhar * I would marry this book if I could * Justine Larbalestier * A delightful and enchanting novel that uses sly wit and assured style to subvert expectations while it always, unfailingly, entertains. I loved it * Kate Elliott * A warm, funny debut novel by a brilliant new talent * Charles Stross * Fabulous! If you like Austen or Patrick O'Brian, or magic and humor like Susannah Clarke, or simply a very fun read, you will really, really, enjoy this * Ann Leckie * An enchanting cross between Georgette Heyer and Susanna Clarke, full of delights and surprises * Naomi Novik *

Shortlisted for the 2016 Locus First Novel Award & the British Fantasy Society Award for Best Novel and Best Newcomer The fate of English magic lies in their hands. . . In Regency London, Zacharias Wythe is England's first African Sorcerer Royal. He leads the eminent Royal Society of Unnatural Philosophers, but a malicious faction seeks to remove him by fair means or foul. Meanwhile, the Society is failing its vital duty - to keep stable the levels of magic within His Majesty's lands. The Fairy Court is blocking its supply, straining England's dangerously declining magical stores. And now the government is demanding to use this scarce resource in its war with France. Ambitious orphan Prunella Gentleman is desperate to escape the school where she's drudged all her life, and a visit by the beleaguered Sorcerer Royal seems the perfect opportunity. For Prunella has just stumbled upon English magic's greatest discovery in centuries - and she intends to make the most of it. At his wits' end, the last thing Zachariah needs is a female magical prodigy! But together, they might just change the nature of sorcery, in Britain and beyond.