Doctor D'Arco, Sorcerer of London

By: Kathryn Colvin

Narrated by: Elizabeth Callens

A dark sorcerer. His widowed apprentice. A Victorian gothic romance for all time.

In the midnight fog of Victorian London, the young widow Elizabeth Buckingham was destitute and alone, sustained only by her vow of revenge against whoever—or whatever—caused her Egyptologist husband’s uncanny demise.

Everything changes when a mysterious encounter at a fortuneteller shop leads Elizabeth to join the Esoteric Order of Magisophists, a secret society and college of magic. But with her new life comes new peril, and even the occultists of the Order dread the infamous Doctor D’Arco: a grim, brooding, demon-summoning professor of sorcery, his imposing presence intensified by his black cloak, steel mask, and the unsettling sensation of darkness that emanates from him like a deep shadow.

Now the sorcerer Doctor D’Arco seeks an apprentice to join him in banishing a ghastly rival—and Elizabeth proves to have precisely the talent he requires.

Inspired in part by vintage gothic, romantic, and Victorian literature and written in compelling, sensual prose, Doctor D’Arco: Sorcerer of London is a tale of mystery, adventure, supernatural thrills, eerie suspense… and most of all, of a young widow’s secret, longing love for the dark sorcery professor to whom she is apprenticed, her fear of him slowly smoldering into a dangerous desire.

©2024 Kathryn Colvin (P)2025 Kathryn Colvin

I Really Wanted to Like This

I started reading this on Kindle Unlimited at the beginning of fall and figured it would be a great spooky season read. The first couple of chapters were fantastic so I bought the Audible version to immersive read to add to the ambience. Big mistake. It is now mid-January and I still have not finished this. The narrator’s tone throughout became constantly indignant like she was constantly in shock, and it wasn’t even at appropriate times. Also, don’t get me wrong - I love detail, prose, and atmosphere but this was just way too verbose and listening to the narrator in that whiny (for lack or a better word) tone made it unbearable to continue.

This book is amazing!

This is one of my favorite gothic fantasy romances! The story is so wonderfully written and the audiobook is performed so well & brings to life the characters in such a magical way. I will be recommending this book to everyone!

Narrator ends every sentence with a question!!!

This was a great book that I've been excited to read for a while. When it finally showed up on Audible I was exstatic. That said, it's completely unlistenable. The narrator ends almost every single sentence with a vocal uptick that makes everything sound like a question and it is driving me BANANAS!

Probably better in print, Narrator was very whiny

It was not a bad story but the narrator read the entire book like she was whining and the author badly needed an editor. Lots of questions left unanswered, underdeveloped characters, and rehashing of the main characters repetitive thoughts. If it was half as long (just cut down the ruminating) with some feedback it would have been 5 stars. Otherwise, the idea of the story was great and unique.

Good start but the book missed the mark

I actually didn't like the spice in this story. It didn't fit the characters personas and the time period she was trying to write in. There was a lot of repetition. I agree with several other reviews online that the writer needs a good editor. I got tired of Elizabeth's inner monologuing that detracted from the story instead of moving it forward. I ended up not finishing it in the last two hours. The spice was not fitting for this story and characters that I skipped through portions of it. I typically like this type of writing but I think it fell flat in this case. The narrator was not terrible but was not particularly good either. I feel that Elizabeth's character sounded surprised all the time in her voice. It was sometimes difficult to detect when other characters were speaking.