12 spellbinding new science fiction and fantasy books to read this November
By Lacy Baugher
November 2021 release: A Marvellous Light – Freya Marske
Described as a mix of popular romance Red, White, and Royal Blue and historical fantasy hit Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, A Marvellous Light is certainly one of the more original titles on this month’s list.
Set in Edwardian England, the story follows newly titled, 25-year-old baronet Robin Blyth, who must take a job in the Office of Special Domestic Affairs and Complaints to make financial ends meet. While there, he discovers the reality of magic, knowledge which may well prove dangerous to his well-being.
Accosted and cursed by a pair of nameless thugs on the hunt for a powerful object that once belonged to his predecessor, Robin will find himself whisked to the country by his magical bureaucratic counterpart, Edwin Courcey, where he tries to manage the effects of the curse, (unbidden glimpses of the future) and research a solution.
But when Edwin and Robin are increasingly thrown together in an attempt to love the mystery of what precisely happened to Robin’s lost predecessor, they’ll not only discover a plot that threatens all magicians – but a blossoming romance they’ll have to decide how to face.
The official synopsis offers much more detail about the story.
"Robin Blyth has more than enough bother in his life. He’s struggling to be a good older brother, a responsible employer, and the harried baronet of a seat gutted by his late parents’ excesses. When an administrative mistake sees him named the civil service liaison to a hidden magical society, he discovers what’s been operating beneath the unextraordinary reality he’s always known. Now Robin must contend with the beauty and danger of magic, an excruciating deadly curse, and the alarming visions of the future that come with it—not to mention Edwin Courcey, his cold and prickly counterpart in the magical bureaucracy, who clearly wishes Robin were anyone and anywhere else. Robin’s predecessor has disappeared, and the mystery of what happened to him reveals unsettling truths about the very oldest stories they’ve been told about the land they live on and what binds it. Thrown together and facing unexpected dangers, Robin and Edwin discover a plot that threatens every magician in the British Isles—and a secret that more than one person has already died to keep."
A Marvellous Light is available on November 2.