• Summarise your overall thoughts about the book. (Mini Review):

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Mathew:

Imagine you are exploring the beautiful world of a Jane Austen novel; the higher classes of society are engaging in a conversation that requires wit and charisma to navigate as they approach topics of politics and socialism. Now imagine that same scene but with a dragon to your right and magic to your left. That is this novel summed up. This novel is definitely an interesting read and something you should pick up if you are fan of classics and fantasy. Zen Cho has beautifully blended two genres together and created something unique and refreshing that on the surface is a smart and fascinating book, but underneath goes a whole lot deeper.

 

I give Sorcerer To The Crown  3 Stars.

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Lauren:

In Sorcerer To The Crown, Zen Cho has created a brilliantly written historic fantasy full of witty characters who refuse to give their secrets away easily. The novel is told from an omniscient perspective with no connection to the characters, other than recording their thoughts and actions. At times this made me feel disconnected from the story, but this does not negate from Cho’s ability to weave magic and story-telling in a way that keeps you reading. Sorcerer To The Crown is an engrossing novel reminiscent of Susanna Clarke’s Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell and Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice.

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I give Sorcerer To The Crown  3.5 Stars.

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• What is the Value and Cost of having a familiar?

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Mathew:

Status, power and symbolism are at the heart of this story. A familiar is an icon of power and wealth. It is something that is desired by the characters within this world. So, how does one attain a familiar? Well, they are inherited from sorcerer to sorcerer typically; however, Prunella attains one through the use of blood magic. Familiars play an important role within this novel as unlike contemporary society wealth is not a symbol of power, rather possession of a familiar is.

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The way that society is governed within this story is an interesting concept in itself. Titles are given to characters due to their sex, status and possession, each title granting a level of authority. Patriarchy is depicted throughout the novel as there is a clear divide between men and women; this is highlighted through the use of magic or the lack of. Men are allowed to practice magic and thus are tilted as ‘Thaumaturge’; women on the other hand are not allowed/shunned for the practice of magic. 

So why is this important?

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Introducing Prunella. Her character comes into possession of three familiars. A woman comes into power, into status and throws a curve ball at the hierarchy. She has more power than the men and she uses it to her advantage, although this is just the surface of her power, by having a familiar she begins to grow stronger and rise up the ranks of society. Her opinions and views are dismissed in the beginning of the story as she is a nobody,  but by the end of the novel her voice is heard.

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Lauren:

Firstly, the value of having a familiar is extremely important in Sorcerer To The Crown. Having a familiar is a status symbol, without one a person is only a ‘thaumaturge’, but with a familiar the person becomes a sorcerer. Prunella, although she has hardly any training in magic, becomes the most powerful sorcerer in England simply because she has more than one familiar. To govern a familiar requires a tremendous amount of power and to have one means you are one of the most powerful Sorcerers in the country. But since Prunella has more than one her level of power exceeds many others. The value of a familiar reflects on one’s position in society, and they become a commodity every thaumaturge wishes they had.  

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The cost of having a familiar however, is a high price some are willing to look past in order to become a sorcerer.  In the novel it is revealed that a familiar can be attained in one of two ways. It can be hatched from an egg by its master, or the familiar is passed from sorcerer to sorcerer after death, as is Leofric, the Sorcerer Royal’s familiar. So far having a familiar sounds easy, right?

Wrong.

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Prunella’s acquisition of her familiars is not without a cost, but as Mak Genggang tells Prunella, there is something a female can do that a man cannot: Blood Magic. I’ll not say anymore in case you haven’t read that scene yet.  

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As much as I’d like a familiar of my own, I’d have to argue against having a familiar. They require a sacrifice of sorts, and I’d rather not bleed for a familiar. Unless I can have a dragon… That may be worth the sacrifice.

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• How is Prunella like a Cinderella story?

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Mathew:

Prunella starts the novel as nobody – she is a character that has no significance/importance in the world. Her voice is lost, however, by the end of the novel she is one of the most powerful characters in the novel. There are similarities between Prunella and Cinderella, the tale of coming from nothing and becoming a figure to look up to, but I feel Prunella is the story we should be telling in the future. Unlike her counterpart her salvation does not come in the form of a fairy godmother but from an inheritance. Familiars. Prunella takes action, she decides to leave the school in search of answers, and she confronts Zacharias on multiple accounts and challenges his opinions. She actively engages with the politics of the world and this ends with her having an opinion and the ability to shape how the world governs magic.

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Where their similarities lie is with the coming from nothing and making an active decision to change their lives albeit, with a nudge from a sorcerer/godmother. Another similarity is with the growth of the characters; Cinderella and Prunella both become women of power, although it is explored more within Prunella’s arc what can be done with that power. At the end of the novel Prunella’s character was surprising and taking me in a direction that I hadn’t expected. I was invested in her arc more than the main story and the other characters because it explored real growth. It looked and challenged the idea of power and began to change the society that the novel was set in.

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Prunella doesn’t allow the society she lives in to hold her back, she takes things into her own hands and decides to do something about it. She sees the change that she wants and she goes for it. This is what we should be sharing with people. Honestly, ignoring my qualm with the ending of the book and the romance subplot that I’m pretending didn’t happen and letting it slide. Prunella kicks ass.

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Lauren:

Prunella definitely goes through the rags to riches arc, I have no doubt about that. Cho handles Prunella’s arc differently, however. It is not a romance, despite a semi-romantic subplot and there is no damsel in need of being rescued  - Prunella is actually doing the rescuing instead. I found Prunella’s character to be both wonderful with so much determination and naïve. Given her age, schooling and orphan status, I can forgive her for being childish in some scenes and naïve enough to cause havoc without meaning to. Except, it was often annoying and left me closing the book for a split moment and grumbling like an old woman (or maybe that’s just me).

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By the end of the book, Prunella has grown as a character, which I find that to be the most important aspect of her ‘Cinderella’ story. Her growth is what makes this novel so empowering!

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Sorcerer to the Crown is set amongst the backdrop of the Napoleonic Wars in the early 19th century, add in the decreasing magic of England and the Society (imagine Hogwarts, but more Georgian and a magical ‘Gentleman’s Club’ equivalent), women are shunned for using magic. Casting spells is acceptable by those of the lower classes, the local hedge witch, or the milk maid to ensure the cows produce more milk – it is not the done thing for a Gentlewitch to use magic should it upset the ‘fragile’ build of a lady. *generations of women roll their eyes*  

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Prunella is a gift. She takes the Society’s rules and regulations, the arguments against her sex and says ‘watch me’, and she does not disappoint. Her stubborn determination to see women practicing magic, embracing their gifts and ultimately sticking it to the Society put her in a special place in my heart. Just when you think the worst is coming, and in some twist of fate the Society will start a witch hunt against female magic users, Prunella leaves men lost for words, and dumbfounded. They know she is more powerful than all of them, and they can do nothing about it! Prunella is the modern-day Cinderella story we should be telling girls of all ages; don’t let anyone say you can’t.

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• Discuss race and gender in the British society of this novel.

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Mathew:

We live in a world where discrimination has existed and still exits. It is horrible that people are treated differently depending on their race, their gender, their sexuality – Zen Cho has weaved a story that manages to break apart some of that stigma and discrimination through language. Literature can be an important tool and can speak volumes for people that don’t have a voice. Within the novel there is a clear divide between society and the hierarchy. The people are white men, surprising? Not really.

Well here comes Zacharias and Prunella. The main characters are of different ethnicities; Zacharias being an African sorcerer, the first of his kind and Prunella is an Anglo-Indian woman. On every page these characters are faced with discrimination due to who they are, and are constantly questioned. Zacharias’s authority and right to be a Sorcerer is something that is brought up time and time again and the novel does not shy away from showing why. It is clear that the council has an issue and even suspects him of murder because of his ethnicity.

So many times I wanted the characters to just turn around and hate everyone in this novel. I wanted them to stop helping people that clearly didn’t want their help. However, this story did something amazing. It provided characters that I wanted to help even in a society which was governed by horrible people. It showed two characters overcoming the discrimination, not magically and not overnight but showed change.

It showed that change can happen.

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Lauren:

Sorcerer to the Crown  is set during a time when unless you were white and male, you were subjected to discrimination. It’s a sad, disgusting fact of our history that people hurt people in this way – and still do. Zen Cho’s master story-telling explores both race and gender through Zacharias Wythe and Prunella Gentleman. Zacharias is England’s first African Sorcerer Royal, and many in the Royal Society of Unnatural Philosophers believe an African man incapable and undeserving of the role of Sorcerer Royal. In the same way Prunella, a biracial Indian woman, experiences discrimination during her stay at an Inn, when the hostess would rather pretend she didn’t exist than fetch her something to eat. Prunella also has the added discrimination of being a woman; the Society find it absolutely ridiculous that a woman may actually be capable of practicing magic.

Together Zacharias and Prunella join forces. Zacharias teaches Prunella magic (which I would have liked to seen explored – I want to know how magic systems work, ok) and Prunella gets to keep her familiars a secret. For Zacharias, the Society use every opportunity to get rid of him and they argue it is because of the strange circumstances of Sir Stephen’s death and Leofric’s disappearance. Except, we all know it is because they don’t like the idea of a former African slave being Sorcerer Royal.

Not only is Sorcerer to the Crown headed by these two beautiful beings, but there is a whole range of people from diverse backgrounds. Mak Genggang, who consequently reminds me a bit of my Grandma, and Mr. Hsiang Han with his cloud flying, Sultan Ahmed of Janda Baik and his wife. And of course the Fairies whom are treated respectfully out of fear, but ultimately inhuman.

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