A Tor.com Reviewers’ Choice Best Book of the YearSparks fly in this enchanting fantasy novel from the author of Unnatural Magic when a down-and-out fire witch and a young gentlewoman join forces against a deadly conspiracy. Dellaria Wells, petty con artist, occasional thief, and partly educated fire witch, is behind on her rent in the city of Leiscourt—again. Then she sees the “wanted” sign, … Leiscourt—again. Then she sees the “wanted” sign, seeking Female Persons, of Martial or Magical ability, to guard a Lady of some Importance, prior to the celebration of her Marriage. Delly fast-talks her way into the job and joins a team of highly peculiar women tasked with protecting their wealthy charge from unknown assassins.
Delly quickly sets her sights on one of her companions, the confident and well-bred Winn Cynallum. The job looks like nothing but romance and easy money until things take a deadly (and undead) turn. With the help of a bird-loving necromancer, a shapeshifting schoolgirl, and an ill-tempered reanimated mouse named Buttons, Delly and Winn are determined to get the best of an adversary who wields a twisted magic and has friends in the highest of places.
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Like a few other books I’ve tried lately, this one takes a chapter or two to fall into because of very distinct language and jargon. But once you get there, whoooooo are you in for a hilarious ride! The protagonist is so not what readers are used to in either fantasy OR fantasy romance (this is a little of both) OR alternate historicals…really, in anything. The worldbuilding and magic are a little “jump in slap dash” but it works for the protagonist’s voice…you definitely have to suspend disbelief and just go with it and wait for more info to come out. But I have been picking some gems lately, and this is one of them. Light, floofy, hilarious, but also snarky and salty.
This book has everything – witches, trolls, necromancers, drugs, homelessness, bisexual, lesbians, murder, and hard times. With the exception of Buttons, I needed more character description and prefer books around 300 pages. This book is 372 pages long.
I would read more by this author.
Delly is FUN. This is a great assemble-the-gang-together and adventure ensues novel, with class divides, trickery, toppling power structures, hijinks, queer love, and, of course, magic!
I wanted to scroll through a bunch of reviews before I wrote my own because I wanted to see why people weren’t hugging this book to their chest and spinning in circles in a Julie Andrews-esque fashion.
I think historical fantasy is probably one of my weaker genres, and I was incredibly pleased to get sucked into this one. While I feel the world-building is great, this one was definitely more character-driven. So many varying characters and so many females getting along! *swoon* And that they get to perform magic? Eek!
Aside from the “what” at the end of a lot of Winn’s sentences, which occasionally slowed me down, I was pleasantly pleased that it was a historical book written in modern language that made this a smooth read.
I loved watching Delly’s evolution throughout the book and all the ladies that brought that to fruition, mainly Winn. And for some reason, when I was reading Winn, I was picturing Brienne of Tarth, and I was more than happy with that image in my head. Buttons was the icing on the cake. This was a fantastically quirky book that is fun and clever. Because I’m not one for half stars, I’m rounding up to five. Super fun read!
Thank you, Ace and Netgalley for giving me an ARC copy of this book for an honest review. All thoughts and feelings expressed are my own.
I found myself struggling to get through this one. I loved this book in the beginning it was a Victorianesque story with magic. However, the pacing was super slow and it took forever for anything to happen. Maybe I just expected it to move at a faster pace because of how it is described but I think there was more about them eating than action.
I am a character-driven reader so I have to be able to at least tolerate the characters. Delly our main character evolution is like a rollercoaster. Every time I started to like her she would do something that made me just not be able to stand her again. Winn is wonderful but there comes a point where I just wanted to shake her and say open your eyes. Then you have Abstentia Dok who in the beginning I never would have thought I would like her and at some point (around 70%) I realized she was the only one that I really liked.
The story isn’t bad it just did not jive with me. If you like slow-paced stories I say go for it.