Review: Servant Sovereign: the Complete Collection by Michael G. Williams

Title: Servant Sovereign: The Complete Collection

Author: Michael G. Williams

Length: 484 Pages

Category: Urban Fantasy, Time Travel

Rating: 4 Stars

At a Glance: The Servant Sovereign series is, plainly, an homage to the city of San Francisco. It’s a time-travel adventure, from the city’s gold rush beginnings to its modern day beauty. Madge, Iria, and Emperor Norton didn’t solve the problem they set out to solve, but the friendship they built along the way was a lovely payoff.

Reviewed By: Lisa

Blurb: REAL ESTATE IS HELL – SOMETIMES LITERALLY

Wedged between real estate speculators, startup bros, and gentrified neighborhoods, it’s gotten hard to get by in San Francisco and it’s getting harder all the time. Now two witches have decided the time has come to do something about it.

Using all their arcane skills, Iria – tall, dark, and genderqueer – and their partner and mentor, Madge – the granddaughter of Chinese immigrants and a powerful magician – have summoned back to the world of the living one of San Francisco’s greatest eccentric heroes: Joshua Norton, self-declared Emperor of the United States and Protector of Mexico. Binding him to themselves and to the city, Iria and Madge need Norton’s charisma and tireless dedication to the city to help them save San Francisco from a demon of greed.

With an exciting combination of spell-slinging and derring-do, Norton and his modern-day patrons embark on a series of adventures across San Francisco’s past and present to save the city’s soul!

Review: “Every time a queer person greets another day, we win.” – Michael G. Williams

The Servant Sovereign series is, plainly, an homage to the city of San Francisco. It’s a love letter to its long, rich history, celebrates its vibrant LGBTQ+ community, and honors many of the prominent people who figured into its metamorphosis from a frontier backwater to the cosmopolitan city it is today. One of those figures was Joshua Norton, the self-proclaimed Emperor of the United States and Protector of Mexico.

In a mix of magic, time travel, and a fight against greed and corruption, Michael G. Williams introduces two witches, Madge and her pupil/lover Iria, who bring Norton to modern San Francisco from the 19th century to help fight a demon. His Majesty, as Norton was addressed in his time, was a real person, and while the author fictionalizes Norton’s life for the sake of the fantasy, by all accounts, he was revered by his city and its people.

The version of Joshua Norton in this series is kind, gentle, virtuous, honest, and compassionate, much as it’s said he was in real life. His eccentricities are a great part of his charm, and I liked his place in the story along with the means he is given to show people small kindnesses across decades, without corrupting the flow of time or imparting disastrous ramifications. His friendship with Madge and Iria is a warm result of their magic bond, but also exceeds it.

This was fun reading despite history and historical figures not always being uncomplicated. While Madge, Iria, and Norton may not have solved the problems they set out to fix—greed has always been and always will be as long as there are humans—basking in the warmth of their friendship was worth learning a thing or two along the way. San Francisco is a resilient city that has been out, but has never stayed down.