Look, I'm on a Lackey kick, what can I say?
TW: for this book- racism (both overt in text and by the author), sexual assault, mention of torture and abuse. Oh also a good bit of fatphobia to start the book out with.
One of the primary issues that this book talks about is race. The hero, Dr. Maya Witherspoon, is a young woman of mixed heritage (Indian and British) and it's often a factor. I honestly don't know that there's a good way to handle this. I admire the attempt to use a young WOC, and the strong feminist message that is an attempted here. But the other side of it is that it is a send up of Snow White, and so the villain is a fully Indian relation of the main character. It can be read as a 'the proper White magic versus the evil Dark magic' though Lackey does try to indicate that even the dark goddess the Thuggee worship turns away from the Big Bad.
It's an attempt, and worth trying, but imperfect and so worth mentioning.
There is a attempt at handling racism in a nuanced way. She talks about the disregard from her peers (she's a Doctor of Medicine) and how troubling it is. One of her potential allies balks because of her heritage- later declares himself to have been wrong and all. Like it's not just 'all the bad guys are racists all the good guys are not, they're also feminists' that you sometimes see. But the book and story- the whole series of books- is so simplistic in the way it handles other morals that it fails to be as nuanced as it could.
The main plot is this: Dr. Witherspoon flees India after the death of her father, her mother having died of illness some time prior to that, afraid of some nebulous enemy she doesn't entirely know. She is a fish out of water in England, dealing with the double prejudice of being a woman and not fully English, working as a doctor under adverse circumstances, she works in charity clinics as well as working for the mistresses and women of the stage- she spreads information about how to prevent births, among other things, and while it's not openly stated it's hinted that she provides abortions. She is struggling to learn magic and has nobody to teach her, until Peter Scott is sent (by the White Lodge, a collective body of the Good Magicians in London) to investigate the hints of magic they've seen of hers. He elects to teach her as her wicked aunt follows her to London, with two goals: conquer England, and steal Maya's power for herself.
There's something about Lackey's writing that's immediately immersive, at least to me. And I find myself falling inside the text often- even if the flaws jerk me out, sometimes. It's probably her strongest quality, as a writer, to make something touch and taste and feel real. The London in her writing is probably not the real London of the time period, but if feels like it could be.
Maya is a great character. She is compassionate without reserve, her driving goal is to fix all the problems within her reach. She heals the rich women who can afford to pay her well, and she heals the sick street thief who cannot afford to pay her at all. She is often angry, something that is nice to see in regards to someone being so compassionate- her anger is sometimes a motivating force. Too often we see anger and it's usefulness downplayed.
Peter Scott is an interesting character, a new member of the White Lodge, he wants to challenge the way things are done there. When Lord Alderscroft refuses to bring Maya in and instruct her, he undertakes to instruct Maya himself, as well as he can. He's a water mage, whereas Maya is an Earth mage, and the two are described as complimentary.
One of the two great failings of this book (the other is the racism), that always makes me shake my head as I read it, is Peter's character indulging in 'not like the other girls' about Maya. About how much smarter and more interesting she is than any other woman he's ever met, about how frivolous and silly most women are. If this had ever been addressed in text- Maya pointing out that she knows a great number of women who are just as intelligent and serious as she is, and that he's being ridiculous, of course she loves him but he's neither any more nor any less intelligent and kind than his 'twin' Lord Peter Almsey. If it were addressed in text, it would be a forgivable breach of a man who tries not to be sexist but sometimes indulges in it because society. Instead, it's just a hurtful trope, used to justify a romance that, in my view, doesn't need it.
The ending to this book does not feel nearly as pat as the previous entry in the series. I mean, they're based in fairy tales, and instead of going down the grim route they have a tendency to end happily. But there's a real feeling of danger towards the end, and there's some fascinating stuff about the gods siding with Maya. The epilogue is very sweet and amusing, I think, and whilst the book is far from perfect, I find it very enjoyable. I have a tendency to pick this one up when I'm feeling really down in the dumps.
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