L.R. LAM's Micah Grey series: SHADOWPLAY, & PANTOMIME

SHADOWPLAY (Micah Grey #2)
L.R. LAM
DAW Books (non-affiliate Bookshop.org link)
$15.99 ebook, preorder for delivery tomorrow

Rating: 4* of five

The Publisher Says: In the second installment of the Micah Grey Trilogy from the award-winning, USA Today-bestselling author of Dragonfall, Micah must learn two types of magic—one for the stage, and one with deadlier consequences—while navigating a tender new love.

Old magics are waking. Will the world survive their return?

Micah Grey almost died when he fled the circus with Drystan. Now he and the ex-clown must use Glamours to disguise themselves and hide in the once-grand Kymri Theatre, run by a once-renowned magician, Jasper Maske. Drystan claims Maske’s stage magic is all smoke and mirrors, but where’s the line between trickery and real power?

Micah and Drystan will soon learn the answer, when Maske's arch-nemesis challenges them all to a duel that will seal all their fates.

Meanwhile, the Shadow still haunts Micah’s steps, and as the duel draws near, Micah increasingly suffers from dark visions. Events that destroyed the ancient world are being replayed. Can Micah's latent powers break this deadly pattern?

In this rich and evocative second novel of the Micah Grey series, L.R. Lam blends a coming-of-age story, queer romance, and magical powers into a charming and original fantasy world, inspired by Victorian Scotland.

I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA NETGALLEY. THANK YOU.

My Review: Second book in a trilogy about Gene/Micah and his path to fully inhabiting an intersex identity, this YA novel, as revised, comes out tomorrow.

Much interesting information about Micah's heritage, intersex being, and magical ability is revealed in this story. While I was often reminded forcefully of Erin Morgenstern's The Night Circus, I was more than ever pleased by the exploration beyond heteronormative boundaries as Micah, Drystan (I always read this as Dristan, an old allergy medication).

We're out of the circus now for Reasons (read the first one!), and into a theater where Drystan's old...connection Jasper takes the two in, agrees to educate them in magic, and...well...the story takes off. I confess I'd've liked staying in the circus permaybehaps a bit more, but the change allows the story's stakes to change in some fun ways. Restricting the secondary characters was a help to my focus, I quit wondering about people we hadn't seen in a while, but conversely I felt like Micah was flatter now that the high-wire was replaced by seances and illusions. I get it...I am not unclear on what's being said, down off the wire and in people's faces it takes more than physical skill it takes training and planning and cunning to achieve the goal of getting along as an Other.

Because we're in a less hectic setting we also get to hear and think more about the world outside. That bonus comes with some unpleasant realizations. It's never very nice to learn that humans are rotten, but it comes at quite a cost this time. I further confess I was a little worried that there would be a love triangle when a new character, Cyan, showed up; happily there is no sign of that yet.

I would've become the biggest Potterhead-level stan of these stories as a teen! They're aimed right at the sweet spot of self-discovery, self-acceptance, and learning to form deep bonds. I'll hope to get volume three, Masquerade, before it comes out in March 2026.

Four more solid stars!

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

PANTOMIME (Micah Grey #1)
L.R. LAM
DAW Books (non-affiliate Bookshop.org link)
$15.99 ebook, available now

Rating: 4* of five

The Publisher Says: From the USA Today-bestselling author of Dragonfall comes a fantasy trilogy about a circus aerialist's quest to escape his past and decipher the magical prophecy that will shape his future

In a land of lost wonders, the past is stirring once more . . .

Micah runs away from a debutante’s life at home and joins the circus, harboring two secrets–one: he was born between male and female, and two: he may have powers last seen in mysterious beings from an almost-forgotten age. Micah discovers the joy of flight as an aerialist, courting his trapeze partner, Aenea, and confiding in the mysterious white clown, Drystan. He finally feels free. But the circus has a dark side, and Micah’s past isn’t done with him.

Meanwhile, the strange 'ghost' of a woman with damselfly wings whispers to Micah that only he can help magic return to the realm, and he fears she may be right...Micah has much to learn, and he must do it quickly—before his past and future collide, with catastrophic consequences.

Pantomime is a gorgeous and inventive fantasy with queer elements, inspired by Victorian Scotland. L.R. Lam weaves a coming-of-age tale, stirrings of first love, and prophetic whispers into this unforgettable first installment of the Micah Grey series.

I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA NETGALLEY. THANK YOU.

My Review: Raised female as Iphiginia Laurus, PoV character Micah is always aware that the life of a privileged debutante is not just uninteresting to contemplate, it's also a violation of the essential self...recreated as Micah, then adds another identity called Gene...that's never going to fit into a world of binaries.

Major spoiler? When the publisher markets these revised and rereleased stories as "the Micah Grey series," I don't think it applies. Intersex people presenting themselves openly are vanishingly rare in both literary and real-life culture. Micah moving from female-presenting to male-presenting might not be ideal, but considering we live in an obsessed-by-binaries culture, it's honest.

Coming to terms with one's essential being's Otherness, coming of age in a world with Procrustean expectations and draconian penalties for failing to meet them, and falling in love while not falling off the highwire, as Micah navigates...enough for ten volumes of story. Author Lam packs a lot into a modest page count.

Revised (I am reliably informed extensively) more than a decade after bowing as an indie-published title, the DAW Books edition was my introduction to the circus world and its denizens. I like stories set in circuses, while disliking circuses themselves. (I will not knowingly go to a place where there are clowns and/or mimes.) The opportunities for honest exploration of self, of identities that make the normies cringe (like I do around clowns/mimes) are perfection for addressing YA audiences who are in their questing and questioning years. In this case, the protagonist knows, has powerful physical evidence for knowing, that the world demands too much when it insists there is no fluidity in our gender presentation. The protagonist falls in love, for the first time, and realizes that's really what matters...connection, caring, the desire to know and be known...all presented as worthy, ordinary quests for one to engage in. All this is set in a fantasy secondary world, one base on Scotland it would seem; one that's got elements of urban fantasy, steampunk-lite, and high fantasy.

Why choose is Author Lam's message as well as praxis. Much is discovered about this world, despite very little being directly said. It becomes a bit troublesome. While Micah's flashbacks to the past as Iphiginia are crystal-clear, with very sharp lines of conflict, the present-day Micah/Gene is not clearly in conflict with the circus's other oddballs and misfits yet lives in fear of being "outed" as intersex to them. Why? Never explained.

A few other things felt odd, like Aenea's oddly-pitched response to Micah's evident falling in love. So the read isn't perfect, but honestly I'm not mad about it. I'm happy to see someone making real and substantive excursions from the tediously heteronormative blob of YA publishing's masses of pages.

A solid four stars for the 2025 revisions!