Sorcerer to the Crown

Written by Zen Cho

Narrated by Jenny Sterlin

The Royal Society of Unnatural Philosophers, has long been tasked with maintaining magic within His Majesty's lands. But lately, the once proper institute has fallen into disgrace. Zacharias Wythe ventures to the border of Fairyland to discover why England's magical stocks are drying up. When his adventure brings him in contact with a woman with immense power, he sets on a path which will alter the nature of sorcery.

• Language: English
• Publisher: W. F. Howes Ltd
• Release date: Feb 4, 2016
• ISBN: 9781510022461

Zen Cho

Zen Cho is the author of the Sorcerer to the Crown novels, Black Water Sister and various shorter fiction. Her work has won the Hugo, Crawford and British Fantasy Awards, and the LA Times Ray Bradbury Prize, as well as being shortlisted for the World Fantasy, Lambda, Locus and Astounding Awards. Born and raised in Malaysia, Zen now lives in the UK.

Reviews for Sorcerer to the Crown

[stefferoo · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

So many comparisons have already been made to describe Sorcerer to the Crown, and I’m going to chime in too with “This feels like epic fantasy for fans of Gail Carriger.” Zen Cho has created a world here that’s reminiscent of Austen meets Tolkien, yet at the same time it’s so wonderfully adaptable that pigeonholing this book into any one category makes it feel a bit remiss.A Regency setting is what you will get though, even if the nature of the style and story is up for debate. “Fantasy of manners” is also a subgenre that frequently crops up in discussions of novels like this, with a focus on a rigid set of expectations within a hierarchical societal structure. One of the protagonists in Sorcerer to the Crown is Zacharias Wythe, the first black sorcerer in Britain who also holds the highest office in his profession, a fact that makes him the target of much opposition and bigotry from many of his so-called “socially-refined” peers who feel that a freed slave should not have risen so far above his station.Institutional racism and oppression is a real menace in this story, even overshadowing the threats of war from France, the dwindling magical resources of England, and the political entanglements involving the matter of witches and belligerent visiting diplomats. In spite of all that’s going on, Zacharias’ greatest enemies end up being his own neighbors and fellows. Already plagued with ugly rumors surrounding the death of his predecessor and adoptive guardian, now it seems someone has decided to go even further by attempting to murder Zacharias. Just when he thinks life couldn’t get complicated enough, along also comes Prunella Gentleman, a mixed-race young woman of considerable thaumaturgical power, and Zacharias takes it upon himself to mentor her in a society where women using magic is considered anathema.The fleeting mention of Prunella in the book’s blurb actually belies the huge role that she plays. While I adored Zacharias, to me it was Prunella who stole the show as the star of the novel with the sheer force of her personality. In every proper situation she somehow still manages to find a way to throw expectations back into the scandalized faces of those who naively thought they could use tradition to keep her in line. It was also very entertaining to see how often she bends etiquette to her advantage, wielding it as a weapon rather than letting it restrict her (as evidenced by a particularly hilarious scene where she proposes the use of gossip and rumor as a way to actually deflect potential damage to her reputation). I loved her for her frankness and her thoroughly unbreakable spirit, and because she is strong, ruthless, and determined – in other words, the opposite of everything the small-minded folks in this book say about women magicians.I was also surprised at how light-hearted this novel was, some of its weightier themes notwithstanding. I definitely don’t claim to be an expert in Regency fiction or books of this type, but it’s my understanding that a particular style of humor is frequently employed and that it could be quite tricky to pull off. For what it’s worth, I thought the author nailed it. There’s some genuine wit in here, subtle but also infused with that certain Austenesque charm. That said, I wouldn’t exactly call Sorcerer to the Crown an easy read, especially if you’re not use to the style, which I’m personally wasn’t. I confess to having a difficult time at the beginning of the novel while adjusting to the writing, which I thought it was a little hard on the eyes and it made reading slow. But eventually I did get into it, as you can see; once I reached a point where I could enjoy myself and start appreciating its cleverness and nuances, this novel was a pure joy.Zen Cho crafts her setting with much love and care, evoking the Regency era and all its punctilious social arrangements but also manages to seamlessly weave in romance, adventure and political intrigue – and I haven’t even gotten the chance to mention the magic and all the fantastical creatures yet. Dandy socialites, posh boarding school matrons and quarreling politicians share this wonderfully unique world with fairies, dragons and magicians. It is a truly delightful alternate history where magic is an integral part of life.You really can’t ask for more. Sorcerer to the Crown is a deftly written novel that thoroughly explores important issues, adding further depth to a story already rich with memorable characters and a pleasantly entertaining plot. Zen Cho is a new fantasy novelist who is immediately going on my list of authors to watch, and I’m looking forward to her next book in this series.

[Deepa Budhoo · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I enjoyed this more than I thought I would. Although the way they speak about women and people of colour makes me uncomfortable. They probably talked this way 100 or more years ago. Unfortunately there are still people that talk and think like this today. This book would make an amazing tv show.

[wealhtheowwylfing · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Zacharias Wythe is young to be the Sorcerer Royal for England, but his true disadvantage in the eyes of the Society of Magicians is his complexion--Zacharias was a slave, adopted to be Sir Stephen Wythe's heir. He bears the disdainful treatment of his fellows with admirable restraint and honor, but he wishes they would let him perform his duties in peace. This uncomfortable situation comes to head at the same time that he takes on a young woman as his apprentice. Prunella is astoundingly magically talented, but as a woman her practice of magic should not be countenanced. Prunella causes Zacharias a great deal of political and personal embarrassment and worry, but also helps him defeat several assassination attempts and a would-be coup. At last, she takes up the staff of Sorcerer Royal, and Zacharias is free to potter about the country doing magical research.

I wanted to absolutely love this book, as it contains my favorite things in the world: Regency society shenanigans, magical battles, and consciousness of class, race, sexism, and colonialism. But unfortunately the combination of it all didn't particularly work for me. It was like a light hearted romp smashed into a super serious book. A dragon and a mermaid tease each other about family anecdotes like something out of Wodehouse, while below them their masters are engaged in a battle that will lead to someone being tortured to death. Prunella foolishly trips off to confront a magical enemy, leaving behind a note that her noble patron takes as a sign that she's eloped. Prunella chatters away about her dress being out of style while a witch nearly stabs a fairy at a ball. Prunella sounds like she came straight from a Heyer novel, whereas Zacharias is a restrained noble soul struggling with weighty issues of parentage and equality. Putting them together made me feel like the very important and troubling problems Zacharias was having were of equal weight to the minor social problems Prunella caused for herself. And the tangle of very serious consequences for very silly characters really threw me for a loop.

[rivkat_2 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Zachariah was bought out of slavery as a child and raised by the Sorceror to the Crown to prove to the Sorceror’s British compatriots that Africans could do magic; now he’s the Sorceror to the Crown, though prejudice against him leads to whispers that he was responsible for his patron’s death. Meanwhile, Prunella Gentleman, raised in a school for suppressing magic in respectable young ladies (since witchery is all right for peasants, but not for well-bred women), has great magical gifts and a legacy from her parents that suits her ambition, which is to become wealthy and powerful--no matter who she has to steamroll to do it. There are some horrifying elements, but mostly this is a delightful mix of Austen and Susannah Clarke, with rather more acknowledgement of racial prejudice (Prunella’s heritage is Asian Indian).

[phyllis2779 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A slow start but it picked up as it went along. Lots of twists and turns. Humor and suspense and interesting characters. Some of the characters, Rollo and Damerell I really wanted to know more about. I liked the Regency setting and it fit beautifully with the fantasy theme the author created. Very fresh and amusing.

[adilinaria · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Jane Austen meets Fairies and Magic. Who would have thought that'd work so well?I really enjoyed this more than I anticipated, in fact it took a about 50 pages before I got into it, and about 150 before I realized I was getting pissy at interruptions because I needed to know what was happening. I got really pulled into it in slow and very sneaky way. I loved our characters, our diversity (the way this affected the story worked so good for me, gah, thank you), and the simple way it switched from politics and court intrigue to the absurd (giant mermaids destroying london? huge dragons swooping in and out? flying clouds?). The balance was really well done and the whole thing pulled itself off marvelously. I'm excited to see what the next installments will be!

[jessicareadsthings · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Based on a copy from NetGalley. I'm not going to say that I liked this book better than Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, because I've dedicated years of my life to talking about that book. However, if I had to recommend one of the two, this would be my first recommendation. It's just so good, and it deftly deals with race, class, and sexism. Plus, the characters are wonderful.

[acdha-128111 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

If you like Mary Robinette Kowal's books you'll like this

[humouress · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

{First of 2/ stand-alone; Sorcerer Royal duology. Regency fantasy} (2015)Set in an alternative, magical England at the time of the Napoleonic wars this is a take on Jane Austen/ Georgette Heyer meet magic and Fairyland threaded through with a touch of Asian folklore. It deals lightly with racism, sexism and classism along the way as well since magic is forbidden to women who are judged too weak to be able to handle the power (except for necessary domestic magics wielded by the lower classes) and (in the England of the story) men must first prove that they are gentlemen (ie of a certain class and/ or financial status) before being allowed to become thaumaturges.In an England where, until now, all thaumaturges have been upper class Caucasian men, the new Sorcerer Royal is an African by birth although he was raised from infancy by the previous Sorcerer Royal and his powers, wealth and adoptive family are above reproach. Or, rather, they should be but Zacharias gained the staff (which confirms the position of its holder) under questionable circumstances which he will not clarify. Leofric, the traditional dragon familiar of the Sorcerer's Royal, has disappeared but Fairyland states that he accepted Zacharias, also without clarifying further and so he has been accepted as the Sorcerer Royal. Other thaumaturges plot his downfall but his first duty is to magic and to England.To get out of London in order to avoid one such plot and to take in a trip to the border of Fairyland to investigate why the supply of magic in England has been dwindling, Zacharias visits a school for gentlewitches which seeks to teach the daughters of upper class families methods of suppressing any magic they might have. Once there he realises that these girls, untrained in actual magical theory, have accidentally cobbled together their own spells which are extremely effective. This makes the Sorcerer Royal realise that by denying magic to everyone but gentlemen sorcerers of the Society for Unnatural Philosophy the girls may be coming to physical harm and England has not been taking advantage of a large cadre of magical practitioners.When he visits the border with Fairyland he discovers the reason why magic in England has dwindled and he returns to London to deal with this, a magical assassin, a political situation with the sultan of the (fictional) Malaysian island of Janda Baik and its powerful sorceress Mak Genggang, not to mention a faction of the Society which wants to oust him from his post. And, along the way, Prunella Gentleman has run away from the ladies' school to travel to London with him and he has to find time to train her in magical theory so he can propose his reforms to the Society.The story is light and fun and flows along gently. Zen Cho uses the style of writing convincingly (and I'm always critical of authors who try to copy Austen's style and don't quite pull it off) but right at the end I felt it could have done with a touch less humour and a touch more romance even though I liked the whimsy.... he was left in peace to pursue truth—even if that involved the occasional ingestion of a dubious cabbage leaf.The caterpillars were a problem, however. Fat, fuzzy and complacent, they sat upon his vegetables in veritable hordes, ignoring him until he addressed one directly.“Good morning, sir,” he said.The caterpillar paused the busy movement of its jaws to reply:“Pleasant weather, this, eh?”I would have liked to have learned a little more about Zacharias's birth family and circumstances of his adoption, especially as it was alluded to a couple of times.Zen Cho mixes in a little colonial history; as well as a nod to her own native Malaysia (although the island of Janda Baik seems to be fictional) we hear a little about Seringapatam (in India) where Prunella's ancestors hail from.Note: according to the author's website, although the series was sold as a trilogy it remains as a duology with two stand-alone novels set in the same world.3.5-4 stars

[stuartellis · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is very obviously inspired by Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, but not derivative. The tone is light and not entirely serious, which lets it still being a fun read, whilst having a surprising amount of supernatural horror elements, and addressing real-world horrors of that time period. The mix of intelligence and playfulness reminded me of Bridge of Birds. I'd definitely recommend this to anyone who is interested in the idea of Regency-era fantasy, but found JS&MN too much.

[iansales_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I should have been on this like, well, like really quickly, since it is after all a fantasy set in Regency England and I’m a big fan of Georgette Heyer (and, more recently, Alice Chetwynd Ley). But I am not, to be fair, a fan of Regency fantasy. It’s not a large genre – unless you include timeslip romances – and most examples I’ve read have not been especially good, mostly because they’ve been by US authors who haven’t quite understood Regency England (at least not to the extent it convinces an experienced Heyer reader), and while I have mostly positive memories of Sorcery & Cecelia, that was a) pretty much the first Regency fantasy, b) an epistolary novel, and c) I read it a long time ago and would reread it except it’s now in storage. Anyway. Anyway. Zen Cho is not an English author, but has lived and worked in the UK for a number of years and so is to all intents and purposes an English author. If Sorcerer to the Crown falls over sometimes in terms of its Regency prose, that’s a failure of craft – Cho knows the period inside-out, that much is clear – and Regency diction can be a little convoluted at the best of times. Having said that, not everything in the plot actually adds up. Britain’s magic has been decreasing, and the witches of Bandar Jaik are partly responsible, but the decrease predates their involvement and is never explained. But Sorcerer to the Crown is more concerned about the race of its title character, the emancipated son of slaves, who takes the title of the, er, title under mysterious circumstances, and his colour of course makes him a number of enemies as well. I wanted to like this book, and I did like it – but I have caveats: the plotting needed to be more rigorous, some of it doesn’t quite add up, and the Regency prose slips on occasion. Heyer, this is not; but then its sensibilities are twenty-first-century and that’s definitely a plus over Heyer. I understand a sequel appeared last year. I would definitely read it. Oh, and apparently there are two sequels to Sorcery & Cecelia, which I didn’t know.

[chris.bulin · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

3.5 stars. This was a very slow starter, but I believe it is in service to later books in the series, so I am looking forward to the next installment.

[bookbrig-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This was delightful. I loved the premise, the characters, and the execution. If you're in the mood for something that mixes humor and magic with political intrigue and historical fantasy, I can't recommend it enough.

[dmturner · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Great fun, both terribly Regency and a little wild.

[allison_s-802575 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

*YELLING*

What a DELIGHT of a novel. I hate using the words "charming" and "quirky" in reviews, but THIS WAS SO CHARMING AND BRILLIANT. Regency England plus dragons plus Malaysian witches. Eat your heart out, Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell!

This took me a couple chapters to get into, as I'm completely out of practice in reading anything convincingly Regency in flavor, but then it really takes off and goes in a few really wonderful directions. Zacharias and Prunella are both entirely engaging protagonists, and Prunella is an absolute riot and a half. I laughed aloud quite a few times and hooted in a public a bit too much.

Warm, inventive, and AMAZING. THRILLED that this is the first in a series.

(P.S. If you haven't read Zen Cho's "Spirits Abroad" collection, do it!)

[bookishtexpat · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I have heard a ton about this book - I'm an avid listener to Book Riot and they've been taking about Sorcerer to the Crown for months. I was excited to pick it up because I love magic realism/fantasy stuff. While it was pretty good, I felt like it was a little over-hyped. The main protagonists are both people of color, which was great, and Zen Cho write them beautifully. My biggest complaint is that the thread of female empowerment - while appreciated - at times overpowered everything else. I loved the idea that Zacharias was working for female magic reform and yet I was reminded of this agenda over and over and over again. Overall it was a good book and I will be looking forward to reading the second in the Sorcerer Royal series.

[bragan_8 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A fantasy novel set in an alternate, magical version of Regency England. The Sorcerer to the Crown is one Zacharias Wythe, although there's a lot of resistance to his holding that title, as he came to it under somewhat mysterious circumstances, and also because English society is not at all thrilled with having a black man holding the foremost magical office in the country, even if he was personally raised and mentored by the last person to fill the position. When Zacharias makes an appearance to give a speech at a school for magical girls -- a school to teach them how not to use their magical gifts, that is, because of course women are supposed to be too delicate for such things -- he makes the acquaintance of the delightful, and memorably named, Prunella Gentleman, who turns out to have a mysterious magical background of her own. His path quickly becomes entwined with hers, as he tries to avoid assassins and to solve the problem of England's declining magic levels.It's a fun read, with some entertaining magical shenanigans, a sense of humor that really snuck up on me, and a romance that actually worked for me, when so many romances in fiction don't.

[glennis.leblanc · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Zacharias Wythe is the newest Sorcerer Royal in England but most people are not happy with it since he started life as a slave that was freed by the previous Sorcerer Royal. With members of his society actively scheming against him and blaming him for the lack of magic in England Wythe takes an opportunity to leave town to speak to a girl’s school and also speak to the Fairy court and find out why there is no flow of magic. At the school, girls of quality are trained in how not to use their magic since it is unseemly and dangerous for women to wield magic.
While he is there Prunella discovers items of her father’s that have been forgotten in the attic upon his death. This spurs her to leave the school when her guardian decides that for the sake of the school, Prunella must no longer treat with the gently born students and live the life of a servant at the school. She manages to attach herself to Zacharias to travel to London and with her in tow things don’t go as planned for him but it makes for a great catalyst on change in the world. He does find out the reason for the flow of magic and it is political in nature and that is a problem for him since the Society has kept out of politics since it was founded. Somehow he must fix all this and with the help of Prunella things get done.

I liked this story and even with several characters coming from different parts of the world it does seem to boil down to relationship disagreements more than battles between kingdoms. Can’t wait to see what happens in the next book.


Digital review copy provided by the publisher through NetGalley

[treehorse-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Very slow start, but a lovely fantasy of manners.

[wagner5sarah35 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A richly imagined and magical England is portrayed in this fantasy novel, in which a young Sorcerer Royal struggles to restore the drained stores of magic to the land and happens upon a decisive and strategic-minded young woman who might be able to help him, if she doesn't manage to upend society first. This book reminded me a little of Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell, but the story here is unique and I absolutely loved the character of Prunella, who along with Zacharias has plenty of room to develop in a sequel. Overall, a very fun and enjoyable read.

[tronella_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is so good! I loved it all, especially Rollo.

[xiaomarlo · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I had reservations about reading a book that sounded so similar to Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, which is one of my favourite books. But I'm really glad I read this. The tone is totally different - this is fun and often fluffy - and I really appreciate that it's a Regency period novel that is extremely critical of British Imperialism. This is yet another great book I heard about from listening to a Book Riot podcast (probably SFF Yeah).

[deeehmm · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Enjoyed the premise of this book and was really engaged through most of it. Magic is governed by the sort of men you might expect, if you lived in England during the Napoleonic Wars. But by a fluke, a black man, a former slave, is appointed the highest magician in England; and by a weirder fluke, he takes on an orphan girl born in colonial Southeast Asia as a secret apprentice. There's a crisis regarding the dearth of magic available in England, and as the story unfolds we begin to realize the crisis has something to do with colonial injustices and the suppression of women... imagine. 🙄 Anyway, most of the book is highly entertaining. I thought the narrative began degenerating around page 300, and it's always clear when the story reaches into the genre's bag of tricks to keep itself on track, but still think fondly of this world and its characters and will read the sequel when it eventually emerges.

[velmeran · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

A tale of sorcery and reformation set in a Victorianesque time, this interesting take on magic and relations with the fae is a refreshing take on tales of this nature. While at first the tale seems more about prejudice against different races and genders, that gives way to an interesting plot line which satisfyingly ends with a far more open, and welcoming, magical society.

[magickislife · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

While it is probably not something I would have picked up on my own I really loved this book. The only part that I did not enjoy was the knowledge that I have to wait to read the next book.

[tldegray-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

[I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an unbiased review.]

[liscarey · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is a roughly Regency-era romance, in an England where magic works, the Sorcerer Royal is an important figure, and the Society of Unnatural Philosophers is a major institution. I say "Regency era" because Cho wisely refrains from peopling this world with familiar, historic names, and it at least appears that this England has a reigning king, not a regency.

Zacharias Wythe, Sorcerer Royal, is laboring under a few handicaps. The first and most visible is that he is African, a manumitted slave that the previous Sorcerer Royal, Sir Stephen Wythe, purchased as an infant and raised as his adopted son. Not everyone in English society shares Sir Stephen and Lady Maria Wythe's open-mindedness. Compounding the problem is that Zacharias succeeded to the Sorcerer Royal's staff when Sir Stephen died late one night, with no witnesses other than Zacharias and his own familiar, the dragon Leofric. And no one has seen Leofric since.

Murder used to be the traditional means of acceding to the position of Sorcerer Royal, though it has been considered beyond the pale for several centuries.

With all this, Zacharias also has problems that would challenge any Sorcerer Royal. The Fairy Court has imposed a ban on summoning new familiars, and a familiar is essential for making the jump from thaumaturge to sorcerer. And England's levels of atmospheric magic are declining, while France and other rivals suffer under no such handicap.

Meanwhile, Prunella Gentleman, age nineteen, is finding her time at Mrs. Daubeney's school for young gentlewitches increasingly untenable. She knows nothing of her mother, except the very evident fact that she was not a European, and her father committed suicide when she was very young, leaving her in the care of Mrs. Daubeney, with money to cover her education through age eighteen. She has begun teaching the younger classes of students at the school, but she has considerable magical talent and skill, and the main purpose of this school is to teach girls not to do the magic that is considered far too dangerous for the delicate constitutions of mere females. When Prunella finds her father's valise, containing a diary, a silver orb, and most startlingly, what her cautious studies have taught her are familiars' eggs, she glimpses a way out of her constrained future.

I enjoyed both the character development and the world building here. There are holes, but overall I found the world building very satisfying. It's not a small thing that Cho recognizes that all this magic would make the world different than the one we know, and doesn't try to shoehorn in recognizable historical figures. Both Zacharias's and Prunella's problems are complex, challenging, and entertaining, and none of conflicts are created by plot-driven stupidity. When characters don't share information, it's because they have real reasons not to, and it's not at all clear they've made the wrong decision.

This is a fun, engaging, thoroughly enjoyable fantasy from a writer I've only recently discovered.

Recommended.

I received a free electronic galley from the publisher via Penguin's First to Read program.

[geoffhabiger · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This was a thoroughly fun and entertaining book to read. At first, the story started rather slow and it took me a while to get to know and like the main character of Zacharias Wythe, the Sorcerer Royal. As I continued reading I found that I liked the character of Prunella so much better, maybe because Zen Cho wrote her as such a stark opposite to Zacharias. But what I most loved about the story was Zen's dedication to crafting a world built on magic, with defined rules for how the magic was used and woven into the world. I highly recommend this book for anybody who not only has a love for the Regency Period of England - with all the ways of gentlemen and ladies - but for anybody who has a love for "urban" fantasy, though between Sorcerer to the Crown and Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, maybe the term Regency Fantasy should be used.

[macthekat82 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Updated: I have just upped my star rating from 4 to 5 because every time I think of this book (which has been suprisingly often) I have wanted more of it and to read it again. So apparently it has grown on me and I do think that I will end up rereading it when the next book is out.yeah more regency fantasy, great book. highly entertaining

[zeborah · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Similar in tone and creepy-magic-ness to Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrill but... also quite different in character and world-building. Much enjoyed.