Welcome back to Back Shelf Saturdays, where I review backlist titles I didn’t get to read when they were first published. I do this (almost) every week to ensure I’m reading more than just newly released and forthcoming titles. For my purposes, a backlist title is at least one year past its release date.

This week’s title is The Lord of Stariel by A.J. Lancaster. The Lord of Stariel is one of those books that you constantly hear about when you start looking into indie fantasy books. I’ve been meaning to read Stariel for so long. This week felt like the perfect opportunity to get it off my TBR and feature it as a Back Shelf Book.

Amazon / Goodreads

Synopsis:

The Lord of Stariel is dead. Long live the Lord of Stariel. Whoever that is.

Everyone knows who the magical estate will choose for its next ruler. Or do they?

Will it be the lord’s eldest son, who he despised?

His favourite nephew, with the strongest magical land-sense?

His scandalous daughter, who ran away from home years ago to study illusion?

Hetta knows it won’t be her, and she’s glad of it. Returning home for her father’s funeral, all Hetta has to do is survive the family drama and avoid entanglements with irritatingly attractive local men until the Choosing. Then she can leave.

But whoever Stariel chooses will have bigger problems than eccentric relatives to deal with. Winged, beautifully deadly problems. For the first time in centuries, the fae are returning to the Mortal Realm, and only the Lord of Stariel can keep the estate safe.

The Lord of Stariel is the first book in the Stariel quartet, a romantic cozy fantasy series about fae, magical estates, and complicated families.

Review:

The Lord of Stariel is a glittering regency fantasy with illusion magic, a rebellious daughter, and an infuriatingly handsome butler. After Hetta’s father dies, his magical estate must choose an heir and lord of the estate. When Stariel chooses an unexpected heir, Hetta and her family are confused, frazzled, and completely unprepared for the fae entering the borders of their estate. Hetta must leave behind the world she has built outside of Stariel to help her family and her childhood home.

The Lord of Stariel is a gaslamp fantasy filled with sparkling banter, peculiar family members, and a friends-to-lovers romance. I loved the sibling and cousin relationships and appreciated that they were not always perfect. Friends-to-lovers is one of my favorite tropes, so I was so excited to see a delicious butler who was a childhood friend of Hetta. The romance wasn’t easy and uncomplicated, which made it feel more realistic.

My main issue with The Lord of Stariel is that much of the plot relies on misunderstandings. At one point in the book, people were just avoiding Hetta and not telling her anything. This was super frustrating for Hetta, but it was even more frustrating to read.

Final Thoughts:

While I enjoyed the world of Stariel, unfortunately this wasn’t my favorite gaslamp fantasy. I think my enjoyment of this story may have suffered from me having too many similar series in progress at the same time. After finishing Colleen Cowley’s Clandestine Magic series and Stephanie Burgis’s The Harwood Spellbook Series, I may pop back to this one.

Rating: 3.75/5 Stars