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Iron & Thorns #1
Cruel Magic: A Victorian Faerie Tale
Ball Gowns. Calling Cards. Hell Hounds.
Cassandra Weaver is hiding an infirmity from a society—and a family—that demands perfection.
Henry Stewart is hiding from his former Faerie masters, trying to remember what it means to be human.
Simple enough, except that their little town of Drixton conceals a secret as old as the church bells. The Queen of the Unseelie Fay is hunting a mortal soul there, and Cassandra and Henry stand in her way. They’ll need allies to stop her, but whom can they trust? The shape-shifting Fay with his own plans? The social pariah wielding uncanny abilities? The mysterious American who carries silver bullets? The beautiful lady with a dark past? They must decide what—or who—they're willing to sacrifice to defeat the Unseelie Queen because if they fail, the dark magic of the Unseelie Fay will overpower both the mortal and Faerie worlds.
Cruel Magic is an action-packed gaslamp fantasy set in a Victorian England rife with secrets, romance, and Faerie enchantments.
Cassandra Weaver is hiding an infirmity from a society—and a family—that demands perfection.
Henry Stewart is hiding from his former Faerie masters, trying to remember what it means to be human.
Simple enough, except that their little town of Drixton conceals a secret as old as the church bells. The Queen of the Unseelie Fay is hunting a mortal soul there, and Cassandra and Henry stand in her way. They’ll need allies to stop her, but whom can they trust? The shape-shifting Fay with his own plans? The social pariah wielding uncanny abilities? The mysterious American who carries silver bullets? The beautiful lady with a dark past? They must decide what—or who—they're willing to sacrifice to defeat the Unseelie Queen because if they fail, the dark magic of the Unseelie Fay will overpower both the mortal and Faerie worlds.
Cruel Magic is an action-packed gaslamp fantasy set in a Victorian England rife with secrets, romance, and Faerie enchantments.
369 pages, Kindle Edition
First published August 23, 2022
84 people are currently reading
415 people want to read
About the author
E.B. Wheeler
39 books128 followersE.B. Wheeler attended BYU, majoring in history with an English minor, and earned graduate degrees in history and landscape architecture from Utah State University. She's the award-winning author of THE HAUNTING OF SPRINGETT HALL, BORN TO TREASON, and NO PEACE WITH THE DAWN, as well as several short stories, magazine articles, and scripts for educational software programs. She was named the 2016 Writer of the Year by the League of Utah Writers. In addition to writing, she consults about historic preservation and teaches history at USU. She lives in the mountains of Utah with her family, various pets, and as many antique roses as she can cram into her yard. If she had spare time, she would spend it playing harp and hammered dulcimer, gardening, hiking, shooting archery, knitting, and reading.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
March 16, 2023
Competently written and interesting, but it never really came together for me as a coherent story. There is the clash between magic and technology, of course, and the conflict between the supernatural and the merely human. But also conflict between human factions and between elven factions, and no one’s motivations are particularly clear. We’re told that everyone wants power, for one reason or another, and there are sketches of horrifyingly tragic backstories for all of our main characters, but it all ends up being a bit of a muddle. The author intentionally mixes mythic traditions from various cultures, and that ends up contributing to the confusion.
November 21, 2022
This was BRILLIANTLY done. I loved the supernatural combined with the Regency era, the way Faerie was presented, the found family, ALL OF IT. Highly recommend, and I can’t wait for the next book in the series.
April 16, 2023
Not as good as I hoped
I really wanted to like this book--it's got all the right elements and it started out well. And it's not bad. But somehow it didn't really find its footing as it went along.
One problem was the main female character, Cassandra, and her disability. At first this was interesting, but nothing ever came of it. Similarly, Cassandra's initial obsession with "the Rules" never really did anything except becoming an annoying obsession. A lot of guns got fired in this story, but Chekov's never did.
Then there was the fact that, despite being labeled a Victorian tale, it felt more like a Regency. The bad guys were messing around with electricity, but that was the extent of Victorian atmosphere.
On the positive side, I liked all the characters very much, especially Jairus. And there were some really fascinating concepts related to the influence of the fae on human history, although these were more a part of the background than the plot.
I can't help wondering if this universe would have been better employed for a different story. Anyway, I can't rate this higher than 3, maybe 3 and half stars. But that may be more a reflection of my own expectations.
I really wanted to like this book--it's got all the right elements and it started out well. And it's not bad. But somehow it didn't really find its footing as it went along.
One problem was the main female character, Cassandra, and her disability. At first this was interesting, but nothing ever came of it. Similarly, Cassandra's initial obsession with "the Rules" never really did anything except becoming an annoying obsession. A lot of guns got fired in this story, but Chekov's never did.
Then there was the fact that, despite being labeled a Victorian tale, it felt more like a Regency. The bad guys were messing around with electricity, but that was the extent of Victorian atmosphere.
On the positive side, I liked all the characters very much, especially Jairus. And there were some really fascinating concepts related to the influence of the fae on human history, although these were more a part of the background than the plot.
I can't help wondering if this universe would have been better employed for a different story. Anyway, I can't rate this higher than 3, maybe 3 and half stars. But that may be more a reflection of my own expectations.
January 2, 2025
⭐️⭐️⭐️ 3 stars
If you pretend to be something long enough, it’s hard not to lose yourself in the pretense.
While this wasn’t exactly groundbreaking it still was a solid start into a series about a group of humans, Fay, a daemon and changelings caught between the Seelie and the Unseelie court.
It’s a fast read and nothing I will remember but it was a nice start into the reading year. I’ll definitely check out the rest of the series.
First sentence(s):
Smile.
Never contradict your betters.
Move gracefully.
Do not draw attention to yourself.
Cassandra repeated The Rules to herself as she finished her last letter.
Book 1 read in 2025
If you pretend to be something long enough, it’s hard not to lose yourself in the pretense.
While this wasn’t exactly groundbreaking it still was a solid start into a series about a group of humans, Fay, a daemon and changelings caught between the Seelie and the Unseelie court.
It’s a fast read and nothing I will remember but it was a nice start into the reading year. I’ll definitely check out the rest of the series.
First sentence(s):
Smile.
Never contradict your betters.
Move gracefully.
Do not draw attention to yourself.
Cassandra repeated The Rules to herself as she finished her last letter.
Book 1 read in 2025
August 27, 2023
loved this
I read E. B. Wheeler's Jane Austin + dragons series and enjoyed it excessively, so I downloaded this one, then had a hard time starting it. In time, it got hidden until I learned that the second book had become available. I found it and read it and loved it even more than pepper dragons! The pacing of the book enabled me to get into the story and like the characters, then close the book for a night's sleep and devour the rest on day 2.
Great mythology, interesting characters and back stories. I'm ready for book 2!
I read E. B. Wheeler's Jane Austin + dragons series and enjoyed it excessively, so I downloaded this one, then had a hard time starting it. In time, it got hidden until I learned that the second book had become available. I found it and read it and loved it even more than pepper dragons! The pacing of the book enabled me to get into the story and like the characters, then close the book for a night's sleep and devour the rest on day 2.
Great mythology, interesting characters and back stories. I'm ready for book 2!
December 29, 2022
Seeing the synopsis of this book mention “gas lamp fantasy” reminds me that 1- I forget what the names of my favorite genres even are and 2- that’s a rather cool way to even describe this particular genre. Regency era, fae, magic, bit of romance- if it’s your cup of tea (yeah, sorry, had to) this is a pretty great example of it. Also, it had the right amount of…well - weird - I wanted for my holiday escapism.
Read
February 4, 2023Idk. This was just kind of a mess and I didn't really care for the POV-switches. Also, got some weird vibes about how the only(?) character of color was depicted in the book.
April 7, 2023
Nice enough book, forgettable. Disabled protagonist. Dysfunctional family.
June 3, 2025
Fast Paced
Lots of new characters and adventures. Going to head right into “Wild Magic” to continue the journeys of Charlotte and assembly.
Lots of new characters and adventures. Going to head right into “Wild Magic” to continue the journeys of Charlotte and assembly.
August 9, 2023
Probably more like a 4 or a 4.5, but I rounded up since it's so freaking hard to find novels that dive into actual faerie lore!
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews