There are some books that make me feel like I'm smiling from the first page to the last. I finish the book and immediately want to tell everyone about the delight I had in reading it (I think I've already mentioned it to multiple co-workers). Such was the case with A Marvellous Light, a debut queer fantasy novel full of "magic, contracts, and conspiracies".
Robin Blyth is struggling to hold things together. The death of his parents has left him and his sister financially strapped. So when he's offered a chance for a steady wage with civil service job, he jumps at it. Of course he hasn't a clue what the job actually is or why his predecessor suddenly disappeared leaving the job vacant for him. But a jobs a job? Right? Well, not so much. This job requires him to be the liaison to a hidden magical society. And the other guy who had the job? He may be dead. Oh and someone may have just laid a curse on Robin. Fortunately he has a counterpart in the magical bureaucracy, Edwin Courcey, who can help him figure out where the files are kept and how to lift the curse. Of course it's not as easy as that. Edwin is prickly and stern and has no patience for a newbie. It's only his sense of responsibility that has him helping Robin. That and the inconventient attraction he's beginning to feel for his new colleague.
A Marvellous Light combines magic and fantastical elements with political intrigue and I loved it all. This is said to be book one of The Last Binding series and that is equally marvelous.