One of NPR's 50 Favorite Sci-Fi and Fantasy Books of the Past Decade
Magic and mayhem clash with the British elite in this whimsical and
sparkling debut.
The Royal Society of Unnatural Philosophers maintains the magic within
His Majesty's lands. But lately, the once proper institute has fallen
into disgrace, naming an altogether unsuitable gentleman as their
Sorcerer Royal and allowing England's stores of magic to bleed dry. At
least they haven't stooped so low as to allow women to practice what is
obviously a man's profession...
At his wit's end, Zacharias Wythe, Sorcerer Royal of the Unnatural
Philosophers, ventures to the border of Fairyland to discover why
England's magical stocks are drying up, an adventure that brings him in
contact with Prunella Gentlewoman, a woman with immense power and an
unfathomable gift, and sets him on a path which will alter the nature of
sorcery in all of Britain--and the world at large...