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A Designer Magick: An Art Deco Fantasy
An Art Deco fantasy where fashion is the highest form of power and mages rule the roost.
Vlyn Adare is an illegal magick user hiding in plain sight, a seamstress going nowhere fast.
When she’s not dreaming of being Vlyn’s beau, socialite Shirley Hollister fantasises about being a fashion designer but is stuck in a rut as a receptionist.
To escape his fundamentalist family, Ellory Miller begrudgingly becomes a mage, even if he only wants to make magickal couture.
Rejected by both the mages and gender critical witches, Niven is forced to become a freelancer, hunting rogue magickal users to avoid arrest themself.
Lien Bassett, a trans journalist living stealth, has been trying for decades in vain to hold the mage Tower to account.
All five are brought together after Ellory blows the whistle on the Head Mage’s criminal activity. Hidden prisons, protests, dramatic magick battles, and plenty of fabulous fashion await them.
Unashamedly queer – and built around a slow burn F/F romance – A Designer Magick investigates mental health, gender, and freedom of speech in an evocative 1920s style setting.
For fans of V.E. Schwab and C.L. Polk.
Vlyn Adare is an illegal magick user hiding in plain sight, a seamstress going nowhere fast.
When she’s not dreaming of being Vlyn’s beau, socialite Shirley Hollister fantasises about being a fashion designer but is stuck in a rut as a receptionist.
To escape his fundamentalist family, Ellory Miller begrudgingly becomes a mage, even if he only wants to make magickal couture.
Rejected by both the mages and gender critical witches, Niven is forced to become a freelancer, hunting rogue magickal users to avoid arrest themself.
Lien Bassett, a trans journalist living stealth, has been trying for decades in vain to hold the mage Tower to account.
All five are brought together after Ellory blows the whistle on the Head Mage’s criminal activity. Hidden prisons, protests, dramatic magick battles, and plenty of fabulous fashion await them.
Unashamedly queer – and built around a slow burn F/F romance – A Designer Magick investigates mental health, gender, and freedom of speech in an evocative 1920s style setting.
For fans of V.E. Schwab and C.L. Polk.
465 pages, Kindle Edition
Published June 19, 2024
1 person is currently reading
17 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
July 28, 2024
Absolutely loved this! Couldn’t help but fall in the love with the characters and setting. Such a unique and fresh story that made me cry and smile several times. Highly recommend
Did not finish
February 3, 2026DNF 40%. Not in the mood.
February 8, 2025
Lots happening in this story. Fashion, politics, magic, more fashion. Very queer. Part of me would have liked the political drama to have been fleshed out more. But also, I liked so much of the story, that I feel like I would have liked more of everything. More magic, more fashion, more drama. But even so, flew through this. Very much enjoyed.
June 20, 2024
As a queer person, I cannot get enough of literature that has heroes who are heroes and people first, and sundry characteristics after.
This novel is unashamedly queer, but the characters are so, so human that it's impossible to not endear to them.
The magic system is original and fantastic, and made me think very often of a very power Devil Wears Prada. The prose it lyrical, and it puts you in the roaring 20s immediately. it's foreign and familiar at the same time, so much so as to get lost in it! The action, the politics, the drama is so multifaceted, so utterly intriguing, even as a thicker book it'll take you only a day or two to read it. The story demands to be read, as its command of narrative is amazing. Handling all those characters without ONE losing their voice... Fox N Lock is one of the best storytellers in this current time period.
I recommend this to literally everybody.
This novel is unashamedly queer, but the characters are so, so human that it's impossible to not endear to them.
The magic system is original and fantastic, and made me think very often of a very power Devil Wears Prada. The prose it lyrical, and it puts you in the roaring 20s immediately. it's foreign and familiar at the same time, so much so as to get lost in it! The action, the politics, the drama is so multifaceted, so utterly intriguing, even as a thicker book it'll take you only a day or two to read it. The story demands to be read, as its command of narrative is amazing. Handling all those characters without ONE losing their voice... Fox N Lock is one of the best storytellers in this current time period.
I recommend this to literally everybody.
June 5, 2024
Fox’s queer/trans characters mixed with queer/trans allegory in a 1920s-esque setting are a powerful vehicle for representing the current climate around LGBTQIA+ rights, particularly in the US and UK.
The power of community, intersectionality and peacefully smashing the patriarchy is all here, in set pieces that light a spark even in the darkest times.
Plus fashion and glamour! Drag and burlesque! Rogue mages! Runes and elemental magic!
So much to love, and for this trans masc reader, an elder trans guy in Lien who’s my personal hero of the book.
(As a disclaimer, I beta read this ahead of publication.)
The power of community, intersectionality and peacefully smashing the patriarchy is all here, in set pieces that light a spark even in the darkest times.
Plus fashion and glamour! Drag and burlesque! Rogue mages! Runes and elemental magic!
So much to love, and for this trans masc reader, an elder trans guy in Lien who’s my personal hero of the book.
(As a disclaimer, I beta read this ahead of publication.)
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews