Longshadow

'Longshadow' is the eagerly awaited third book in the 'Regency Faerie Tales' series by Olivia Atwater, an author who very quickly became a favorite of mine last year. While everyone else is off writing historical fiction steeped in dark academia aesthetics, Atwater is quietly coining her own distinctive style for others to follow.. something I like to think of as dark whimsy. Utterly unabashed, within her regency fantasy world.. she's never afraid to deal with the extremely dark themes that were real problems for people in her chosen era. Managing to discuss things like workhouses from a point of truth in a historical fantasy novel without either minimizing their awful effects on the lives of those who passed through them or bringing down the entire mood of the story.. is no easy task, but she does it so eloquently that she makes it look easy. Each book has had a special place in my heart for different reasons. The female protagonists emotional make-up and psychology vary dramatically due to some very specific background and I adore every one of them. Watching Abigail slowly discover who she is.. as a young woman and as a magician.. is such a pleasure. As always, the magical structure is interesting and as diverse as the series' characters. The fae are not one size fits all, but rather distinctively textured and Mr Jubilee remains an absolute joy, even in brief appearances. I love the way Atwater takes ideas of the supernatural we've known for generations and turns them into inherent biases reflective of those with real world connotations, then smashes them to bits.. as if to say.. 'look.. things are not always as they seem!' This is a wonderfully, whimsically dark fantasy tale you won't want to miss.