Review: The Lord of Stariel by A.J. Lancaster

 


The Lord of Stariel is a slow paced, almost slice of life, fantasy story with a period drama feel to it. I flew through this short, cozy tale of a young woman going back home after six years away to attend her father's funeral. She slowly gets accustomed to her old home and deals with her feelings towards her family and the lands of her estate. 

I absolutely loved how slow paced it was. If you're looking for action or a fast-paced plot you might find yourself bored, but I personally loved how easy and comfortable it was for me to slowly sink into the Stariel Estate along with Hetta. Eventually dangers do intrude on this quiet world and the plot picks up the pace, but this doesn't happen until closer to the end so don't read this book expecting world-ending dangers or anything. 

There is magic and it's almost steampunk-ish in the way it's embedded into this world, but there is also a kind of magic present within the land of Stariel itself and there's also an other-wordly magic of the fae that comes in later in the story. At the heart of it, though, this story is more about the main character Hetta and her connections to all the other characters and her working through her feelings and her dreams and plans for her future and how those fit with the developments that happen around her. I also really loved the land-sense concept. 

There's also romance in this tale, but it's not too overwhelming and didn't get in the way of my enjoyment of the tale. It seemed realistic in a way, especially in a period-drama like story, that as Hetta worked through her feelings around her future she would work through her feelings for some of the potential love interests in her life. 

I saw the ending coming a long time before it happened, but this didn't really affect my enjoyment of it. It's more about the journey with this kind of story and it was a nice, comfortable journey to take along with this protagonist in an interesting world. 

I probably would have given it five stars if the book dealt with the whole class structure at all, but it didn't really do that. Hetta was a nice person and she treated the butler, Wyn, as a friend, but other than that she was completely oblivious to the servants and farmers and other normal people around her and didn't really question her role as as part of the aristocracy in any way - even though she had lived alone in the city without the titles for quite a few years. The story wasn't really about that, and it works alright as its own thing without addressing it, but... I don't know that I can necessarily give it five stars without a bit of an acknowledgement of the unfairness of that class system that allowed Hetta to have her cozy comfortable life, you know? 


Overall, I'd highly recommend this story for lovers of period drama and anyone looking for an easy to read, cozy story. I flew through it and really enjoyed the slow, gentle way the world-building was revealed. A good read for those burnt out from world-ending plots or extremely grim tales and just looking for a more slice of life fantasy story! 

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