The Midnight Queen by Sylvia Izzo Hunter

This book felt more geared towards younger readers, like maybe mid-teens and I found some of the prose a little stilted but I appreciated the new mythology very much.

After an unfortunate magical incident at college, Gray finds himself the virtual prisoner of his professor, Appius Callender, with his only friends the professor's two daughters, Sophie and Joanna. Sophie in particular is very interested in learning magic, partly because she has been forbidden by her father, and partly because of an innate longing. Gray suspects Professor Callender of plotting some nefarious deed against the headmaster of Merlin College but as he and Sophie soon learn, the conspiracy has a much loftier target in mind.

Much like Masks & Shadows, I found the love story here to not be to my taste. Overall, this was a harder book to read because I kept finding myself thrown off by the focus on Gray and Sophie ending up together. It reminded me of Regency romances, which I hate, in their very formal, awkwardly mannered addresses to each other. The rest of the book I liked a lot, however, especially the way magic use was described and explained. The setting, an alternate history of England, was nicely realized and I especially liked the backstory of the Midnight Queen, even if parts felt exposition heavy. If I were maybe fifteen years younger, I bet this would be one of my favorite books.

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