Reading: Witchmark
Jun. 26th, 2020 06:57 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
white_hartHistorical fantasy mystery LGBTQ+ romance is pretty much my absolute favourite comfort reading genre, so I'm not sure why it took me so long to get round to reading C.L. Polk's Witchmark. However, it was the perfect thing to get me through a long tough week at work three months into COVID-crisis remote working and with no end to that in sight, so I'm glad I waited.
Witchmark is set in an early 1920s-feeling fantasy world. After a long and bloody war, Aeland's soldiers are coming home, but veteran and doctor Miles Singer is concerned about the psychological impact the fighting has had on many of his patients, but when a poison victim dies on his operating table, Miles finds himself drawn into an investigation which also risks to expose his deepest secret; Miles is magically gifted, in a country where witches are committed to asylums as lunatics. There's some interesting worldbuilding and commentary on privilege, and a fast-paced plots with plenty of moments of Mild Peril that are resolved quickly enough to not take away from the overall cosiness of the novel (there's one element of the plot that reminded me a bit of the thing that made Tasha Suri's Empire of Sand almost too grim for me to cope with, but Polk resolves the situation quickly rather than dwelling on the grimness). And the romance is utterly charming. I loved this, and am quite tempted to go straight on and read the sequel.
In other reading, today is the first day of a week and a bit's leave - the first time I've had more than a long weekend off work since New Year - and I've spent the afternoon reading various Patreon-exclusive short stories from Tansy Rayner Roberts and Stephanie Burgis, which was a very good way to start of a week of relaxation, especially as sewing was clearly out given that it's far too hot to be anywhere in the vicinity of an iron.
Witchmark is set in an early 1920s-feeling fantasy world. After a long and bloody war, Aeland's soldiers are coming home, but veteran and doctor Miles Singer is concerned about the psychological impact the fighting has had on many of his patients, but when a poison victim dies on his operating table, Miles finds himself drawn into an investigation which also risks to expose his deepest secret; Miles is magically gifted, in a country where witches are committed to asylums as lunatics. There's some interesting worldbuilding and commentary on privilege, and a fast-paced plots with plenty of moments of Mild Peril that are resolved quickly enough to not take away from the overall cosiness of the novel (there's one element of the plot that reminded me a bit of the thing that made Tasha Suri's Empire of Sand almost too grim for me to cope with, but Polk resolves the situation quickly rather than dwelling on the grimness). And the romance is utterly charming. I loved this, and am quite tempted to go straight on and read the sequel.
In other reading, today is the first day of a week and a bit's leave - the first time I've had more than a long weekend off work since New Year - and I've spent the afternoon reading various Patreon-exclusive short stories from Tansy Rayner Roberts and Stephanie Burgis, which was a very good way to start of a week of relaxation, especially as sewing was clearly out given that it's far too hot to be anywhere in the vicinity of an iron.
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Date: 2020-06-26 07:02 pm (UTC)(I tend to borrow my seven year old niece Louisa's line on this: "That book is too old for me.")
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