Whisper of Magic

July 11, 2016
The second volume of Rice's Unexpected Magic series (after Magic in the Stars) cannot be accused of lacking scope. Colonialism, slavery, capitalist oppression, and even the vagaries of 1830s Chancery Court are bested by the intermarried clans of magical Malcolms and scientific Iveses. Lord Erran Ives, tinkerer and aspiring lawyer, adopts the cause of three siblings from Jamaica who have rented his family's townhouse. He wants them to yield the lease to his brother but hesitates when he learns their plantation inheritance has been seized by a usurper. Not only that: the eldest, Celeste, has, like Erran, a magical giftâa voice that can compel obedience. The trick is handy for thwarting quickly escalating threats from the usurping nobleman. But the thrills are tainted by troubling race dynamics between Erran and Celeste. His first observation is that she has "brown skin," and he dismisses her as a servant. That description evolves to "sun-browned" and then her assertion that "my ancestors had Spanish blood."Only after "her lovely complexion had grown pale" can Erran treat her as a romantic partner. This blatant colorism makes it very difficult to enjoy the rest of the book.