I love The Magpie Lord! The only complaint I have is that it's too short. That's partly just wanting More Now, and partly wishing that the author had expanded on some of the backstory. For example, there's a scene where Crane tells Stephen why he got his tattoos. The author drops some hints about it earlier in the book, leads up to it nicely, then just says that Crane told Stephen without actually telling the reader. Sigh.

Overall, though, the writing is very good. I particularly like KJ Charles' sense of humor. The scene where Crane shows Stephen around the ancestral pile had me giggling all through lunch.