The Fossil Door (Mysterious Powers #2)
by Celia Lake
My Rating: 4 stars
Genre: Cozy Historical Fantasy Romance
Age Category: Adult
Type of romance: m/f
Blurb:
Enjoy this kind and gentle historical fantasy romance set in the magical community of Great Britain after the Great War.Rathna has a gift for doorways.
When a portal in the Scottish Highlands stops working, she is one of the only Portal Keepers able to travel to investigate. On the other hand, the location presents some challenges. As a London-born Bengali woman, she’s nothing like the villagers.
And of course, there’s the worrying question: why did this portal stop working? It shouldn’t have done that.
Gabe was born to fling himself at a challenge.
Gabe was born into an aristocratic family, and he’s used to everything coming easily. Everything, that is, but recovery from a life-changing injury in 1918. Fortunately, he’s recently finished training as one of Albion’s investigators, and he can throw himself entirely into his work. He has a new landscape to explore, wildlife to see, ponies to ride, and magic to untangle. There’s plenty to keep his quicksilver mind busy.
Perhaps there are a few too many problems. Rathna is prickly, giving him little to work with. There are threatening noises from the mountaintop nearby. Rathna is even more distant when she gets news from home of a mysterious man asking about her.
Somehow they must learn to work together, understand the local needs, and repair the portal, all while avoiding the wrath of the legendary beithir.
The Fossil Door is the second book of the Mysterious Powers series, exploring the institutions of Albion during and after the Great War. All of Celia Lake’s Albion books exploring the magical community of the British Isles can be read in any order. It is full of geology, folklore, an ADHD hero, family of choice, and a multicultural romance between characters from very different backgrounds. Enjoy this charming romantic fantasy with a swirl of sex set in 1920 with a happily ever after ending!
My Review
I’ve been really enjoying this author’s books and as I had read Carry On, the first book in this series, I decided to read The Fossil Door next. This is not only the next book in the series but it features Gabe who is the son of the couple in Pastiche and I was curious to read his story. And the author has mentioned Gabe’s neurodivergent and this was one of the first books I bought by this author for that reason.
The Fossil Door follows Gabe and Rathna as they have to team up to resolve an issue with a portal no longer working in Scotland. Rathna is a portal specialist and Gabe works as a Penelope for the magical guard. I really liked reading about these two and seeing them work together to figure out what is wrong with the portal. The plot was interesting and I liked seeing it develop as well as their romance along the way.
These two were so fun to read about. Rathna came across as a bit cold and standoffish at first, but she has her reasons for that and I liked seeing her slowly warm up to Gabe and eventually fall in love with him. Gabe is such a fun character to read about, knowing the author says he’s neurodivergent makes a lot of sense and I thought that was written well. I really liked getting to know more about these characters and their backstory as the story progressed.
And I just loved reading about these two and seeing them connect and talk to each other. There are some really great scenes with the two of them and I loved seeing them grow closer and really talk and confide in each other. Seeing them figure out how to be together and what the future might hold was great too. The epilogue was a nice hint to see what’s up for them next and I was sad to see this book end.
The setting in Scotland was interesting too and was a nice change of scenery from the first book which was set mostly in a magical hospital. There are horse rides and lots of time spending outdoors as well as a night they spend sleeping in a tent. I liked reading about the setting and the wildlife there.
I also liked learning more about how the portals worked. The portals have been mentioned in previous books I read, but not as much about how they all work. This book deals with that more and I liked seeing the magic and tools Gabe and Rathna used in this book. This book adds to the world building and I liked seeing more of the world and magic in this book.
Another fun part about this book was seeing some of the characters from previous books I read from a different point of view. I was glad I read Pastiche, Four Walls and a Heart, Sailor’s Jewel and Complementary first as characters form those books got mentioned here and made appearances later in the book, which was fun. The focus does stay on Gave and Rathna and even without reading those other books first you could easily read this one, just without more backstory about these side characters.
To summarize: This was a great read. I enjoyed reading about Gabe and Rathna as they team up to fix a portal in the Scottish highlands that has stopped working. I liked reading about these characters, they were both interesting characters. And I liked seeing them grow closer and interact with each other and figure things out together. They made for a great couple to read about and there are plenty of great scenes involving them. I also liked the setting in Scotland and seeing more of the world and magic. And it was fun seeing some recurring characters from previous books I read.
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