Book Reviews

Jackdaw by K.J. Charles

Jackdaw by K.J. CharlesJackdaw by K.J. Charles (A Charm of Magpies #4)
Published: Samhain Publishing on 2015, eBook, 239 pages
Genres: Fiction, Fantasy
Add to: Goodreads

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 is set in the same world as The Magpie Lord, but stars two different characters! And it’s so great, because Jonah and Ben could not be further from Stephen and Crane, both personality and relationship-wise. Which is great! It’s nice seeing the different kinds of people who populate a favorite series.
Plus, I really enjoyed seeing how KJC dealt with Jonah and Ben’s tragic history and its repercussions within the larger Magpie Lord context. Turns out she’s super good at constructing characters who make me both want to cry from empathy and also bash their heads together because they just need to KISS already sheesh.
Jonah is a criminal, but a sympathetic one, if only because he’s so darn charming. Ben is his police officer boyfriend, and he has been betrayed. BETRAYED. I am a sucker for betrayal when it’s done for a noble cause– or what SEEMS like a noble cause, anyway– and when they betrayer and betrayed work things out. (Was that a spoiler? It might’ve been, though it should’ve been obvious they’d work things out because this is a romance, not a tragedy.)
The betrayal is directly related to events in Flight of Magpies (so I’d recommend reading that one at LEAST), but I think, in general, it’s a bad idea to commit crimes your loved one will have to arrest you for. And then get fired over. And then get disinherited and thrown in jail when your illegal relationship comes to light.
Jackdaw is not a HAPPY romance, y’all. It’s so tense and painful and ouch! I wasn’t sure if I actually liked the book or not until almost the end. I was having such a hard time getting through Ben and Jonah’s slow reconciliation because it made my frickin’ heart hurt. But they work things out, mostly through being pig-headed, and the ending was so sweet I teared up a little. And now I want to read the whole series all over again.
Read: May 27, 2015

0 Comments

  • Jenny @ Reading the End

    I liked Jackdaw but maybe a scootch less than the previous books in the series. I loved Ben and Jonah, but I was sad that there wasn’t more of the cool, creepy magic that we saw in the books with Stephen and Crane. I am excited for the new series, though — it sounds like they’re going to get a lot into the danger of being gay in that time period, which I always think is so interesting in her other books.

    • Anastasia

      You mean the Society of Gentlemen series? I just KNOW I’ll be in agonies the whole time wondering what bad things are going to happen to them, but I trust it’ll have a happy ending so hopefully I’ll be able to make it through the emotional turmoil. Also I just noticed the pre-order price for the first book is only $2.99! Pre-order here I come.

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