This is not only an excellent m/m romance, but also an excellent fantasy novel.In a world that's like an alternate universe version of Medieval England (even down to how time is measured in 'marks', as in the old way of measuring time by candle marks), we are thrust into the lives of three couples:Sorin, a High Paladin and Koray, a NecromancerCerant, an exiled Crown Prince and his Alchemist NeikirkEmel, a Paladin, and his demon lover BrekkAll unique couples, with distinctly different voices and dynamic. I admit that I immediately fell in love with Koray and Sorin. Their bickering, mocking way of addressing each other as "My Lord High Paladin" and "My Lord High Necromancer" kept making me smile. And the unresolved sexual tension and longing before they finally got over their fool selves was exactly the kind of thing I enjoy in an m/m romance.I admit that the first time the POV shifted to the other couples that I was a bit disappointed since I wanted more of Sorin and Koray, however, that was quickly dispelled by how likable the rest of the characters were. The other two couples have a more established relationship when they're introduced, so we don't actually see how they came to be together, however, enough backstory is given and the way the characters interact with each other written so well, that you end up sympathizing and caring about them. I wasn't expecting to like the secondary couples as much as I did.While there is explicit m/m scenes in this book, they're written tastefully and are not the focus of the characters' interactions which I liked. I thought the world building was fantastic and detailed, which made it feel like a quality fantasy novel. High Paladins, Necromancers, Alchemists, High Priests, Warlocks, Demons ... Certain elements of this reminded me of the Valkyrie Profile RPGs I played in the past which contributed to my enjoyment of the story.But this doesn't just have fluffy.sweet romance. There are also nicely written battle scenes, and also some might consider bloody/gore-y scenes that wouldn't be out of place in a horror movie.The only downside are the typos/grammatical errors. While these were minor, some were a bit distracting when it came to actual words missing in a sentence, or cases where a word's homonym (e.g. "the horse he road" instead of "the horse he rode"; 'bought' instead of 'bout'). But these are things that a thorough editing job can easily fix and which didn't lessen my enjoyment of the story one bit.So, if you like fantasies set in a pseudo Medieval Europe backdrop, lovely characters, sweet romance (with a side of smut), enjoyable banter, then I think you'll enjoy this like I did. If you're looking for big drama, and intricate plot akin to Game of Thrones, I suggest you look elsewhere as this is a relatively light fantasy (despite some dark elements) which is better suited for people who just want to relax.I actually wanted it to keep going and wouldn't mind a sequel (or a trilogy). 4.5 starsMy only reason for not giving it 5 stars is that we were introduced with three important couples (all basically main characters), but we never got to really follow their developing relationships. One of the couples get more "screen time" but it was still too little for my tastes.Other than that the book is awesome: interesting magic system and world building, good plot, great characters.
What do You think about Black Magic (2012)?
3.5 starsBickering entertains me only this far.
—Soccerkid15
