The Stariel series by AJ Lancaster has been my new obsession this past couple of weeks, occupying far too much of my brain space and keeping me up way past my bedtime. It’s secondary world fantasy romance/fantasy of manners series, with faeries, set in a time period similar to the begining of the 20th century. It’s absolutely charming and engaging, with most people caring about each other and a lot of great family relationships, while also having serious stakes and danger.

These 4 books complete the series, but there is a spin-off standalone planned for next year, that I’m very excited for.

I’ll try and give my thoughts for each book in the series separately, so the short review for book 2 will probably spoil book 1 and so on, read as far as you’re ok with. If you haven’t read the books at all I’d rec stopping with this post after the review of book 1, since even the blurbs give out info. I also have some hidden full-series squeeing thoughts at the very end

• Genre: Fantasy Romance
• Age group: Adult
• Pub. date: 2018 – 2021
• Format: Ebook
• Pages: around 1500 if you end up binging the whole series
• Goodreads link

The Lord of Stariel

The Lord of Stariel is dead. Long live the Lord of Stariel. Whoever that is.

Everyone knows who the magical estate will choose for its next ruler. Or do they?

Will it be the lord’s eldest son, who he despised?

His favourite nephew, with the strongest magical land-sense?

His scandalous daughter, who ran away from home years ago to study illusion?

Hetta knows it won’t be her, and she’s glad of it. Returning home for her father’s funeral, all Hetta has to do is survive the family drama and avoid entanglements with irritatingly attractive local men until the Choosing. Then she can leave.

But whoever Stariel chooses will have bigger problems than eccentric relatives to deal with.

Winged, beautifully deadly problems.

For the first time in centuries, the fae are returning to the Mortal Realm, and only the Lord of Stariel can keep the estate safe.

In theory.

Book 1 is sort of an inheritance story, as Hetta has to come home from her fun job and independent life in the city for her father’s funeral and the ceremony that decides the new Lord of Stariel. We don’t learn a lot about how Stariel is magical but it’s still very intriguing to have a magical estate.

I love Hetta right from the start, and I think she’s pretty atypical for a historical romance protagonist because rather than being dependant on her family or making a match, she’s gotten out already. She’s been living by herself in the city for years, supporting herself, and scandal of scandals having a good time. She knows her worth and doesn’t really take people’s bullshit.

The family is great, there are some of the stuffy relatives that dissapprove of Hetta’s modern ways, but there are also cool family members, and deep down you can tell everyone cares. I particularly loved the good relationship with her step mom, and the fact that the frustrating oppresive father is, well, dead from the start. There’s a good deal about how that affects Hetta’s relationship with the land and the rest of the family.

The romance is lots of fun. There is a love triangle trope in book 1, that I thought was resolved very well. Gotta say I would not mind being in Hetta’s shoes. I love how both these relationships and the ones with the other characters flow and grow with every book. Also because Hetta is coming home, most of the stuff is not new, but building on existing friendships and fondness, or rivalries in some cases.

Another great aspect of this series is all the stuff to do with the running of Stariel, finding money for repairs and modernisations, managing sheep breeding stock, talking to the farmers. It’s a really important part that sort of grounds everything.

Like the whole entire series I found it a very quick read, and impossible to put down.

Ok if you haven’t read the first book probably best to stop here

The Prince of Secrets

Well-bred women should not be seen kissing their butlers. Even when the butler in question is secretly a fae prince.

Wyn knows falling for Hetta Valstar is a bad idea. She’s not only human but the new magically bonded ruler of Stariel Estate. If their relationship gets out, it’ll cause a scandal that could ruin their attempts to sort out the estate’s crumbling finances.

And it doesn’t help that Stariel has decided it doesn’t like him.

But more than jealous sentient estates and Hetta’s good name are at stake. Wyn’s past is coming back to bite him. Ten years ago, he broke an oath and shattered the power of his home court, and the fae have been hunting him ever since. Now they’ve found his hiding place, they won’t rest until he’s dead or the debt is repaid–and they don’t play nicely.

Unless I’m misremebering this is the first book we get Wyn’s PoV. Also all the fairy stuff is out in the open, mysterious, dangerous and omnious. I loved all the extra fae stuff, their mix of danger of allure is exactly the way I like to see them protrayed. The contrast between Wyn’s family and Hetta’s is stark and often heartbreaking as he yearns for the relationship Hetta has with her siblings.

Most of the romance in this book is about keeping it a secret from the world and the family, and trying to get a moment alone without Stariel interfering. Politics starts to be a bit of an issue, as we leave Stariel for a bit and are reminded that the greater world exists.

I’ve read this one so quick it’s sort of blended in with the others.

The Court of Mortals

Marrying your fae prince shouldn’t be this hard.

Hetta’s family now know Wyn’s true identity, but that doesn’t mean they approve of their relationship. Princes are all very well – but Wyn’s not human, for all he’s spent ten years pretending to be.

With gossip spreading like wildfire, Hetta and Wyn receive a royal summons. The Queen of Prydein has heard the rumours of fae intruders, and she’s not letting Wyn go until she’s satisfied he and his people aren’t a threat. Convincing her would be a lot easier if someone wasn’t trying to blacken Wyn’s name – and if his sister wasn’t trying to kill him.

For mortal politics aren’t the only problem the pair have to face. The Court of Ten Thousand Spires is still without a ruler, and the only way out may be for Wyn to assume the throne himself – meaning he and Hetta can never be together.

In a way this is where the story really gets rolling, in the sense that the world gets bigger, the cat’s out of the bag, and it becomes more than just a romance between two people. With The Court of Mortals I felt like the series started veering into epic(er) fantasy.

We dig deeper into the mysteries of Wyn’s family and the secrets of Stariel, and really book 3 and 4 felt like two halves of a whole. Wyn’s past is back with a vengence. Stuff is truly dangerous in a way it hasn’t been before and our protagonists are constantly torn between wanting to do anything for their love and thinking of how that affects the realms and people around them. I loved how this theme of desire vs responsability kept coming up in the series, and how people are really trying to do the right thing.

In the mortal realm we go to the capital and meet the Queen! That’s fun but also an awful lot of trouble, with more schemes on the horizon.

We also start getting a lot more of the side characters, and the page count starts making its way towards chonk.

This book kind of ends of a cliffanger, so I was very glad to have read it after all the books were published.

The King of Faerie

The fae are real, and Hetta Valstar is trying her best to marry one.

If Hetta and Wyn ever manage to marry, it will be the first union between Faerie and Mortal since the Iron Law was revoked. The mortal Queen has given them her blessing—sort of. Now, Wyn needs permission from the fae High King. There’s an intensely personal reason why they need to tie the knot as soon as possible, and time is not on their side.

The clock is ticking. Except in Wyn’s home court, which is trapped under magical stasis. To break the spell will mean venturing into the deepest realms of Faerie, where even fae princes—and definitely human lords—fear to tread.

Unfortunately, the fae problems aren’t limited to Faerie.

Public tension is rising, and the reveal of Wyn’s true identity makes him and Hetta the centre of the storm. On top of this, Stariel’s magic is going haywire, and Hetta is struggling with her intensifying powers—and she might not be the only one affected.

The High King might be the only one who can help, since he’s responsible for the fae returning to the Mortal Realm in the first place.

If only they knew where he was.

You know that feeling when a series has a perfect ending that ties everything together and pays everything off and just works amazingly well? It this! Stuff I’d been wondering about came to pass, stuff I’d forgotten about came to bite us in the ass.

We get to see a lot more of Fairie, that’s again, exactly how I like my fairies and fae lands. The entire book is working against the clock to complete a quest, so there’s a constant sense of urgency. It becomes clear that the more fairies take an interest in the mortal realm the more important it is to get the help and approval of the High King to prevent future disasters.

All the books in the series were hard to put down, this one was impossible to. Even at night I just dreamt of the book the whole entire time.

I’m generally pretty pregnancy averse, so I was surprised how much I ended up liking that aspect of the book. What I loved most was how both Hetta and Wyn want to do right and how Hetta’s still forging ahead through everything, just with extra worries and morning sickness.

Really excellent ending and I couldn’t recommend this series more.

Spoiler squee