Rag and Bone

By: KJ Charles

Narrated by: Cornell Collins

It's amazing what people throw away....

Crispin Tredarloe never meant to become a warlock. Freed from his treacherous master, he's learning how to use his magical powers the right way. But it's brutally hard work. Not everyone believes he's a reformed character, and the strain is putting unbearable pressure on his secret relationship with waste-man Ned Hall.

Ned's sick of magic. Sick of the trouble it brings, sick of its dangerous grip on Crispin and the miserable look it puts in his eyes, and sick of being afraid that a gentleman magician won't want a street paper-seller forever - or even for much longer.

But something is stirring among London's forgotten discards. An ancient evil is waking up and seeking its freedom. And when wild magic hits the rag-and-bottle shop where Ned lives, a panicking Crispin falls back onto bad habits. The embattled lovers must find a way to work together - or London could go up in flames.

This story is set in the world of the Charm of Magpies.

©2016 K. J. Charles (P)2018 Audible, Inc.

WOW!!!

Well, KJ Charles managed to make me root for a character I found hard to like at the beginning of the story!!

Crispin is not your usual hero. He’s uncertain, doubts himself, is self-interested and holds magic above all else. Magic overrides just about everything else for him except for Ned, a plain-spoken waste man.

I highly recommend reading the prequel, A Queer Trade, before tackling this one. Not only is the short story very good, it shows us how Crispin and Ned first met, and gives the isolation Crispin feels justification.

Back to this one...at the beginning, I wasn’t sure I would like the story as well as the other books in the Magpie universe. I still wasn’t sure halfway through. But somewhere in there, the mystery and Crispin began to truly grow; Ned became a solid and powerful presence that grounded the entire book for me.

I won’t go much into detail save that there is an HFN, you do meet up with other characters in the Magpie universe since this one straddles Jackadaw and the last of the Magpie books, and that there is not a lot of sex. There is a lot of crazy magic going on and this fascinated me! Much of it seemed seeped in actual magical folklore and made me wonder how much of it was “true.”

As always, Charles’ writing is stellar and the narration was SUPERB!!! Get ready to hear a smooth, rolling Cornish accent from Crispin, and a colorful cockney from Ned.

Also lovely: Ned is black and Charles touches on the idea of racism and otherness that POC experienced in historical London (not to mention in today’s time).

Best of the Magpie universe

It moves, in more ways than one. This book is less angst ridden but still has the right touch of self doubts. It lets the plot and flow move faster than the previous 4 books.

The reading order should definitely be: (1) The Magpie Lord, (2) A Case of Possession, (3) Flight of Magpies, (4) Jackdaw, and (5) Rag and Bone. Rag and Bone is definitely well built on the events of the other stories.

I wish all of KJ's Magpie world books were on audio because I think I'd like to read the interstitial stories too, but as a set of five (so far) they build a very good universe. I hope you like them as much as I do, especially Rag and Bone and Jackdaw.

Cornell Collins is the one!

KJ Charles writes really edge-of-the-chair magical mysteries. And that's saying something because I'm usually not a great fan of stories aboit magic. I've recently started reading and listening to her backlist and I haven't been disappointed yet. Cornell Collins is a brilliant narrator, who brings these books perfectly to life. You don't ever need to wonder who's talking because he gives each character their own unique sound and colour. Brilliant.

Interesting mystery

I enjoy the setting for this series and the fact that the characters generally get a happy ending after the trials of the storyline. I do dislike how regularly the main characters have to go through some kind of emotional drama and personal attacks on each other usually marked by jumping to conclusions and/or poor communication. They always resolve the problem and apologize by the end, but man do I hate slogging through that in book after book. Excellent narrator and I love the accents given to the characters.

Amazing as always!

This was so amazing! I hope the series continues!
Crispín and Ned are absolutely wonderful. They make such a great pair! We also get some Jonah and Day time which is always a treat!
The plot was entertaining and adventurous, if not a little spooky. Narration as always, SUPERB!

Love these books!!

I have one more book in the series and I am loving them more and more as the series continues!! I feel like the author is building a most colorful world where I want her to revisit as many times as she can!! I love the narrater as well he did a voice, before he announced who it was and I immediately knew who had jumped into the mix from a previous story! So much fun and so much sex and romance!!! Love it all. Thank you for sharing your art with the world!💋❤️

Lovely little standalone story w/in Magpie world

Two characters which I doubt will feature in another book but def. would be nice to appear in more of the Magpie books. I especially liked that they were part of the poorest groups of people in this society and that Ned is a minority. While characters from other books feature one certainly doesn’t have to know about them to enjoy and understand everything. Having said that, I thought the way the stories intertwine and intersect to be rather amusing and I’m sure others who have read the other books enjoy the way the other characters are perceived by these two misfits. Definitely another great book and the only part I’m sad about is that I haven’t another Magpie novel to read. ;( well I guess I’ll have to see about other.novels from the author...

Story & narration

Great story, loveable characters, great narrator.…can’t beat the combination. I really love Charles’s characters and his wonderful stories that are morality tales well told!

This is a fantastic series.

Every single one of these books in the entire series has been absolutely amazing. The story is so good the romance part is not really the central part. Its there, but the general plot is so interesting that it totally engages the mind. Hard to stop listening
in fact i find myself finding stuff to do just to continue listening.

Absolutely Astounding!

what a way to close out a series of fantastic stories. I highly recommend this to anyone who is unsure about whether they would enjoy it. During this installment of the wonderful 'A charm of magpies' series, I've laughed, felt despair for our characters and genuine fear of the new villain. I even had to pause multiple times during the climax to calm down and remind myself that it isn't real. This experience has made me an avid fan of KJ Charles and i look forward to reading more from her BRAVO!