If you recall, in my last TBR post I shared I had started The Wizard’s Butler (The Wizard’s Butler #1) by Nathan Lowell. I listened to this book for hours at a time over the past week, while doing errands, working on my ongoing, lifelong cross stitch project, and I really enjoyed it!
The premise of the book is simple: man trying to figure out his life takes a contract to be the butler to a wealthy old man, falling into dementia, with a giant pay-day if he keeps the old guy alive for a year. There are a few catches, though.
First, he has no experience being a butler. We’re talking real on-the-job-figuring-it-out kind of work, here. Second, the old man is a wizard – if Roger can bring himself to believe that kind of insanity. Third, the shady niece who’s after the old guy’s house and fortune is technically Roger’s employer, and he finds that he really, really likes Mr. Shackleford and that could make things even more interesting.
This book is exactly my cup of tea. It’s a character-driven book with some magic and legal hoop-jumping. You find yourself going, “Come on, Roger – who’s cleaning those other rooms if it’s not you??” and rooting for Mr. Shackleford to figure out how to get himself un-cursed.
For all that it’s about an old wizard and there are pixies tending house, the book is actually pretty light on the magic, and would probably be excellent for someone who isn’t sure that fantasy is their thing. It’s set in the present day (laptops, cell phones) but there’s a lot of intrigue around a magical amulet and the pixies don’t take to Roger’s critique of their dusting skills very well… And so much of the story is about the people and their relationships, and how one man is meant to manage an entire house while having really no idea how to buttle. 😉
It’s so hard to pin down the “why” of my enjoyment of this book but I found myself really invested in Roger and Mr. Shackleford really early on, and I’m glad that the author is planning to make this a series because I’m really looking forward to finding out what happens next for these characters.
If you’ve read this one and can help me verbalize what it is that made me like this one so much, tell us about it in the comments, below!