Light reading, but a wonderful example for how queer characters can be successfully integrated into an established genre. Unlike Rainbow Rowell's queer magical-fantasy fiction, A Marvellous Light crafts an engaging magical system and world without sacrificing the humanity of its characters. That's written with acknowledgement that Carry On and its sequels are YA, but manage to feel oddly sanitized compared to "straight" YA fiction.

In THIS novel, there's acknowledgement of the queer person's danger in simply existing, along with the reality of gay men's sexuality and desire. The reader experiences two men getting to know each other, both as friends and intimately, in a way that feels refreshingly natural. In another word, human.

This is definitely an adult read due to violent and sexual content, but none of it feels gratuitous. It's simply the realities of being a human being, but with the added charm of magic in Victorian England.