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The Magpie Lord cover art

The Magpie Lord

By: KJ Charles
Narrated by: Cornell Collins
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Summary

A lord in danger. A magician in turmoil. A snowball in hell.

Exiled to China for 20 years, Lucien Vaudrey never planned to return to England. But with the mysterious deaths of his father and brother, it seems the new Lord Crane has inherited an earldom. He's also inherited his family's enemies. He needs magical assistance, fast. He doesn't expect it to turn up angry.

Magician Stephen Day has good reason to hate Crane's family. Unfortunately, it's his job to deal with supernatural threats. Besides, the earl is unlike any aristocrat he's ever met, with the tattoos, the attitude...and the way Crane seems determined to get him into bed. That's definitely unusual.

Soon Stephen is falling hard for the worst possible man, at the worst possible time. But Crane's dangerous appeal isn't the only thing rendering Stephen powerless. Evil pervades the house, a web of plots is closing round Crane, and if Stephen can't find a way through it - they're both going to die.

Warning: Contains hot M/M sex between a deeply inappropriate earl and a very confused magician, dark plots in a magical version of Victorian England, family values (not the good kind), and a lot of swearing.

A Charm of Magpies, Book 1

©2013 K. J. Charles (P)2017 Audible, Inc.

What listeners say about The Magpie Lord

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Enjoyable story. Far better in audio

I tried to read this book several years ago but there was something about the first chapter that didn't work for me. I'm happy to say that in audio I got past that and am glad I did. The narration was superb and the story itself, highly enjoyable.

I do have one serious gripe though. The book is listed as being 6hrs 27mins long. However, the book is actually less than 6hrs long. I was really annoyed to hear that the first chapters of the next book had been tagged on to the end of the story. Adding chapters of the next book is common in print and ebook, but out of the thousands of audiobooks I've listened to this is the first time I've heard it used. I did not like it at all. It is highly annoying for audio. Audible prices books on length, and the longer a book, the higher the price. This book-length was artificially inflated by adding on chapters of book 2. Also, if I listened to the additional 30 minutes, when purchasing the next book its then a pain to find my place in the story as my MP3 player doesn't play by chapter. I do hope this does not become a trend. It feels like a bit of a con.

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4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Magpies, gay sex and mystery

Bloody good book and gay as all hell. 10/10 from the queer trans guy ;)

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Superb audio

What made the experience of listening to The Magpie Lord the most enjoyable?

The whole series is wonderful, fresh, finely crafted, but the audio is great the narrator does a fantastic job of briniging the characters to life.

What other book might you compare The Magpie Lord to, and why?

Difficult to say as the series is so unique, but in terms of a book I enjoyed as much...umm, probably Hell and High Water, this impressed me in the same way.

Which scene did you most enjoy?

The dramatic ending, wow. You can feel the tension.

Any additional comments?

Give this a listen, I highly recommend it. Bought the second in the series halfway through this first, but I have been listening to the first pretty much on a loop it’s so good.

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

I love this book

I can't wait to get on to the next book in the series. The characters are a joy and I can't compliment the narrator enough. Brilliant.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Somewhat fast, but lovely

The narration is a bit fast-paced—had to set it to x0.9 for a more comfortable listen—but Collins for the most part does an admirable job. There are a few places where his character voice slips a bit (particularly with the ladies), but not so much that it gets confusing.

Was pleasantly surprised that this book also contained the extra (free) short story "an interlude with tattoos".

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Brilliant narration

The story itself is fine, and a great setting and characters. But its full of tropes seen before, and the story really is nothing new. A few times I felt myself tuning out, and the climax sort of confused me. But, the redeeming factor was definitely the narration, the way the narrator constructed characters was fantastic. Would recommend for those interested in gay magical Victorian tales.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Great narration and entertaining dialogues

I liked this book more than I expected.

It took me a while to get into it, I couldn’t initially work out who is who but when I eventually did, I enjoyed the magical element to a historical romance type story.

Lord Crane and Stephen Day are enjoyable characters, I particularly liked the snarky dialogues. Well written.

I am a bit torn on the plot was but it is original enough that kept me listening.

All in all, an enjoyable read.

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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

Sadly boring

The worldbuilding and plot are minimal and predictable, and the characters are flat and kind of annoying. At least the main pov is biting his lips too much and there's the misogynist "like an idiot girl" to top the funerary cake of the characterization. And the back stories and the shape of the plot are nearly identical with KJ Charles' A Thief in the Night, including the bit with the fathers of the characters and the derelict manor. It's like reading the same story again with insufficient changes in worldbuilding to qualify as anything but self plagiarism. Also it's not a mystery, or magic/fantasy, or detective but a romance (pretty boring one at that) with a side of fantasy detective elements so thin as to be window dressing. Otherwise the flow of the words it's fine, which is probably why reviewers go on about how well KJ writes. But it's not good, it's just functional.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

Good story but book not for everyone

Plot and execution are great. If you also want graphic sex you will love it. Personally I just wanted to get on with the plot.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Brilliant

Clever, spine chilling plot and beautifully written and narrated. I loved the repartee. K J Charles never disappoints.

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