Where It Wasn't My Thing

Unnatural Magic by C.M. Waggoner
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

There were certain things I liked about this book--thus 3 stars instead of DNF--but on the whole I didn't like it. I was disappointed in too much.

The things I liked include smooth prose, successful world building, and a couple of fine characters. Onna and Loga are sympathetic and interesting, and both would be fun to read about again.

However, I didn't like the parts with Jeck, the army officer, and Tsiri, the half-troll. Some of it was cool, but their main contribution to the novel was a certain sexy vibe emerging from the dynamics of their relationship. Their frank language and overtly sex-positive scenes start to feel weird, though, and gratuitous; almost none of their story leads anywhere in terms of the murder mystery plot. And in a novel that is largely Victorian in sensibility, it is jarring.

All would have been forgiven in an awesome story, but the plot went nowhere for 300+ pages before getting all tied up in about 20.

So--pretty good, especially in parts, but not a favorite. Maybe the next one. We'll see.

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