Zacharias, freed slave, reviled by his fellow thaumaturges, is the reluctant head of English magic, the Sorcerer Royal of the Unnatural Philosophers. And he needs to find out why English magic is drying up, why no more flows from faerie
But his path crosses with the intriguing Prunella Gentlewoman, an immensely powerful witch (despite all of the claims that women cannot use magic) and between them they shake the foundations of English magic to its core
There are a lot of books in the genre set in the Victorian era, after all, the whole Steampunk genre pretty much relies on it. All too commonly, these books highly sanitise what this era was like for marginalised people. While we have seen several female protagonists challenging this narrative and overcoming the patriarchy they have to live under, but we rarely see this with other marginalised people. In fact, POC are nearly always erased which doesn’t touch on the actual diversity of the era and both ignores the diversity of the British Empire – and all of the oppressive problems of colonialism
So here we have a paranormal Victorian story where the protagonists are a Black man and a woman of South Asian descent. Both of their stories are constantly informed by their experiences. Zacharias is the Sorcerer to the Crown, technically the most powerful magician in the country but constantly faces derision, rebellion and open attacks against him because he is Black. The other wizards, despite his obvious skill and patience and impeccable manners, constantly regard him as less than them, as little more than an animal and wholly unworthy of his position. They scapegoat him for any and all problems they’re facing (including England’s declining magic).
Zacharias constantly shows how wrong they are with endless patience and restraint and skill. While his rivals constantly seek their own power and advancement, it’s Zacharias who worries about the actual future of English magic, how their infighting may turn the country against them and how their infighting may jeopardise the treaty they have with the French Sorcières. Even though he doesn’t want the job he performs better than his predecessor and certainly better than any of his competitors. At every stage and at every moment it’s clear that his racist detractors are beyond wrong and clearly Zacharias’s inferiors.
