Reviewed by Carissa
TITLE: Jackdaw
SERIES: A Charm of Magpies Universe
AUTHOR: K.J. Charles
PUBLISHER: Samhain Publishing
LENGTH: 189 pages
BLURB:
If you stop running, you fall.
Jonah Pastern is a magician, a liar, a windwalker, a professional thief…and for six months, he was the love of police constable Ben Spenser’s life. Until his betrayal left Ben jailed, ruined, alone, and looking for revenge.
Ben is determined to make Jonah pay. But he can’t seem to forget what they once shared, and Jonah refuses to let him. Soon Ben is entangled in Jonah’s chaotic existence all over again, and they’re running together—from the police, the justiciary, and some dangerous people with a lethal grudge against them.
Threatened on all sides by betrayals, secrets, and the laws of the land, can they find a way to live and love before the past catches up with them?
This story is set in the world of the Charm of Magpies series.
Warning: Contains a policeman who should know better, a thief who may never learn, Victorian morals, heated encounters, and a very annoyed Stephen Day.
REVIEW:
Of course Jonah was not callous or uncaring. He never had been. Ben had made him into a monster in his mind, because it had kept him sane to do so, but this was the reality: a deeply flawed man, a thief, a coward who ran away. He had saved Ben this evening because he could, but he had left him when he could not, and Ben knew, with a sullen weight on his heart, that the explanation Jonah promised would be no more than that bare, sad truth of self-preservation at all costs, dressed in fine words. A jackdaw in peacock’s feathers.
Once upon a time, Ben Spenser loved Jonah Pastern. Their love might not have been conventional, but it was true and it was honest. Or so Ben wished to believe. But when Ben, a copper in his village, finds out that his lover was a thief, a liar, and–even more astonishingly–a magician, Ben is crushed. That is nothing however to what he feels when the man he thought he loved runs away, leaving him facing a jail sentence and the loss of their once fairy-tale life together.
Now, free from jail, but even more lost than ever, Ben is making it his life’s mission to find Jonah and drag him back to justice if it is the last thing he does. Except…justice seems to have painful way of being incredibly unjust. And even if he hates Jonah, he doesn’t know if he can betray him to mutilation, a cell, or death. Neither of them may still be those fairy-tale princes, and their dream life probably isn’t even possible in dreams any more, but once upon a time Ben Spenser loved Jonah Pastern…and he doesn’t know if he’ll ever figure out how to stop.
I kinda feel odd saying this, but Stephen Day is a wanker and Jonah Pastern is bloody brilliant.
No, I have not been abducted by aliens, brainwashed by the mere-people, or finally drunk so much coffee my brain has bounced out of my head and rolled to Rio. I promise. (Also Zzzerrrt, Lord Controller and Almighty King of All Beings of Httrgho, bids thee welcome!). No, none of that has happened. What has happened is I read this fucking awesome book and now I am totally in love with Jonah Pastern and his conscience, Ben Spenser. If you didn’t see that coming, well I don’t blame you. I didn’t either.
This story is told thru Ben’s pov, which is probably best since he humanized Jonah in a way I don’t think we could trust from Jonah’s pov. Jonah is a liar, and who is to say that he would not lie to us? Or himself. But thru Ben was are able to see both the good and the bad of Jonah, and we quickly go from hating the man, to forgiving him, to hurting for him, and finally wanting nothing more than to punch Stephen Day in the face so we can protect him. And since my reaction in Flight of Magpies was the exact opposite reaction, I was thrilled.
There is nothing I love more than finding myself thrown for a lope, and twisted around till everything is different, but still as true as when I first started. Plus now I know why everyone was saying Day was such a bloody wanker.
Jackdaw is by far my favorite of the Magpie Universe stories. There was something about the other three that was fun, and hot, and pleasant…but I don’t think I was ever as emotionally invested with Day and Crane as I was with Ben and Jonah. Day and Crane never seemed like they had much to lose. Crane was bloody rich and ready to flee the country at a moments notice. Day was some freaking super-powered magic man. Even in the face of death they seemed to always hold the upper hand.
But…Jonah and Ben? They had the whole world against them, and they only had themselves to hold what little hope they had together. And half the time they didn’t have that. Even if they did everything right, you couldn’t escape the feeling that it wasn’t going to be enough. They were not strong enough, fast enough, smart enough. They had the Justiciary, the Met, Day, Crane, Merrick, and Saint after them. They were screwed, and they knew it. Every scrap of hope or peace they could find was treasured…and you ended up treasuring it as well. You felt for these guys so much, wanted so much for them, that you kinda ended up thinking you wouldn’t mind them shading their morals for a bit…if only so they could have a happy ending.
You really do have to have read at least Flight of Magpies before you read this, but after you have done that, I can’t recommend enough that you pick this book up. Seriously, this is probably going to easily be in my top five at the end of the year. This is KJ Charles at the top of her game…and me, right in my happy place.
RATING:
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