Sorcerer to the Crown, by Zen Cho

Zacharias Wythe is Sorcerer Royal in a version of Regency England. A former slave, he has inherited his role from his late mentor and is a fish out of water among his aristocratic peers. Miss Prunella Gentleman has a natural talent for magic and an inheritance that could be very dangerous in a world that denies and suppresses female magic users. Together, the two must overcome their outsider status and battle enemies in both England and the Fairy Kingdom to save the future of magic. There is a lot going on in this novel, which starts very slowly but gathers life when magical women enter the picture. The tone is not quite right, drawing too heavily on the likes of Georgette Heyer, with awkward dialogue that strives too hard for period accuracy and loses something in translation. It is not as good as Black Water Sister, but it was her debut novel so it will be interesting to see if the sequel is better.