SPELLBREAKER

A plucky young woman with the ability to unknot and dispel magical runes finds herself in the middle of a trans-Atlantic conspiracy in this fantasy-mystery adventure.

By day, Elsie Camden works a mundane job in a stonemason's office, but by night, she carries out missions from the Cowls: the secret order that once came to her rescue and now calls on her to use her anti-magic abilities in service of the greater good. As an unregistered spellbreaker, a person born with the power to unmake magic, Elsie lives her life in fear. Spellmaker Bacchus Kelsey has traveled from Barbados to London to be named a master of his craft, for which he will receive one spell of his choice as a reward. When the powers that be deny Bacchus his prize spell because of his Caribbean origins, he begins searching for an opus—the unique spellbook each magician leaves behind upon their death—containing the spell. After a mission from the Cowls lands Elsie in Bacchus' debt, the winner of a recently auctioned opus becomes the latest target in a string of robberies and murders, all of which leaves Elsie to wonder whether her work for the Cowls is truly a social boon. Timely discussions of race, class, disability, and gender turn up throughout Holmberg's magic-infused version of Victorian England. Although it's not immediately clear how the various plot elements will connect, readers will have trouble stepping away once the game's afoot.

Powerful magic, indulgent Victoriana, and a slow-burn romance make this genre-bending romp utterly delightful.