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3.64 AVERAGE
3.64 AVERAGE
A solid read, and this is coming from someone who struggles with urban fantasy. Far from perfect, but an enjoyable read.
Closer to a 3.5.
Closer to a 3.5.
The plot was exciting and gripping and I loved getting a sense of the day to day life as a Sweeper. I am a little uncomfortable with the way the indigenous people in this fantasy world are portrayed considering they get colonized but then end up being the cause of the bad magic stuff. I'm interested to see if there ends up being any clarity on that in the sequels. Overall a fun read with a great main character.
I hoped to like this book more than I did but I just couldn't get into it. It was really slow and I was wondering what the actual plot was. From the summary I knew it was about magic and the (deadly) infections it could create, with sweepers, the only one who could do something against it. But also from the summary, I thought Laura, our main character, was the only one left when she actually wasn't. She is only an apprentice for the moment and we follow her and her boss, Clae, plus another apprentice joining them later for the story.
I really liked the relationships between these three characters, to be honest it's the only thing that helped me to keep reading the book. I couldn't understand a lot of the words and just the universe and there wasn't always an explanation so it was troublesome, all the while I was lost with the world and I think it's one because of that I couldn't get into the story.
The last 10-15% did leave me more interested than everything else happening before so I'm leaving the book with a slightly better opinion. And it left us with some little questions or ideas of where the plot could go next in the series.
I really liked the relationships between these three characters, to be honest it's the only thing that helped me to keep reading the book. I couldn't understand a lot of the words and just the universe and there wasn't always an explanation so it was troublesome, all the while I was lost with the world and I think it's one because of that I couldn't get into the story.
The last 10-15% did leave me more interested than everything else happening before so I'm leaving the book with a slightly better opinion. And it left us with some little questions or ideas of where the plot could go next in the series.
Decent world building and interesting premise but the mentor-as-know-it-all slowed down the plot as we never quite get to know the world since we see it through the eyes of the apprentice. The works, it’s geography, technology, and politics are still hazy to me after finishing. I’ll see what happens if a sequel comes out.
This debut fantasy novel showed a lot of promise, but by the end, I was just skimming, trying to finish the book for a review.
Laura is an apprentice Sweeper, a professional trained to deal with the magical infestations that threaten her world. Created as a weapon that then got out of control, infestations take root in magical amulets and grow until they begin devouring people. At the most extreme, out of control infestations can destroy whole cities. Sweepers are there to stop them. But Laura’s city has long been promoting the lie that they are immune to infestations, and as a result, the population is unprepared, Laura and her boss are the only Sweepers, and a powerful businessman is threatening to mess with the entire system that keeps infestations under control. Infestations have been on the rise, and Laura will need to be ready.
I really like the concept of a magical weapon gone out of control, and the infestations themselves were appropriately creepy. However, they didn’t make up for the comparatively weak plotting. Let’s be real, City of Broken Magic‘s plot was basically some strung together reasons for every increasing monster attacks. I saw another review compare it to dungeon grinding in D&D, and that feels accurate.
I did like the infestations, but… they relate to the novel’s iffy treatment of race and colonialism. Essentially, the entire continent of City of Broken magic was colonized five hundred years ago, and the native people created the infestations as a way to resist. Only, the infestations got out of control and started devouring them too. The few native people who remain alive are heavily discriminated against. Words in the native language sound similar to Japanese, but we don’t get much insight into their actual culture. So, here’s where I feel I feel iffy: the Japanese sounding language is just sort of sprinkled in for effect and by having the investigation come from the native population, it’s in a way making them responsible for their own genocide and placing the root of the continent’s problems on them, the colonized people. It’s just a lot of stuff that is having my brain go, “Erm, no this is uncomfortable and yikes.”
Onto the topic of world-building, it didn’t feel that well thought out, and many of the elements relating to gender especially seemed inconsistent. We’re told over and over again what the expectations for women are, and Laura is constantly struggling with these. Women are supposed to get married, and if they do work, they are in lower, service end jobs like secretaries and telephone operators. Only, that doesn’t match what we actually see. The head of the police is a woman. Journalists are women. An influential city council member is a woman. And the text never comments on the fact that these women are directly going against the established gender norms. Essentially, the expectations placed on Laura seem artificial and a way to generate conflict for her character without relating authentically to the wider world.
I started out liking the central protagonists. Laura has pluck, and she wants to go beyond the limits of her city and see the wider world. Her boss, Clae, reminded me sort of Sherlock Holmes: an abrasive, stand-offish character who probably does care beneath everything. Probably because he was reminding me of Sherlock Holmes, I was also sort of thinking of Clae as somewhere on the asexual or aromantic spectrum, like me. Then we find out that he has an ex-girlfriend and Laura expresses surprise, saying she thought he was “romantically stunted.” Urgh. This whole thing upset me more than microaggressions in fiction usually do, probably because I was headcanoning Clae as aro ace.
My main issue with Laura is that she’s a bit “not like other girls.” There’s a number of scenes where she mocks other girls for interest in boys as a way to show she’s different and superior… all while she’s still presumably heterosexual and interested in boys. She didn’t have a romance plot in this book, but I have the feeling that the story’s building up to Laura/Clae.
Overall, City of Broken Magic had a lot of elements that I don’t think were well thought out or well handled, and it’s also very much a debut novel. The plotting was clunky, and there was a lot of info-dumping. I’m unlikely to be recommending it in the future, but I would consider reading a future novel by Bolender, once she’s matured as an author.
I received an ARC in exchange for a free and honest review.
Originally reviewed on The Illustrated Page.
Laura is an apprentice Sweeper, a professional trained to deal with the magical infestations that threaten her world. Created as a weapon that then got out of control, infestations take root in magical amulets and grow until they begin devouring people. At the most extreme, out of control infestations can destroy whole cities. Sweepers are there to stop them. But Laura’s city has long been promoting the lie that they are immune to infestations, and as a result, the population is unprepared, Laura and her boss are the only Sweepers, and a powerful businessman is threatening to mess with the entire system that keeps infestations under control. Infestations have been on the rise, and Laura will need to be ready.
I really like the concept of a magical weapon gone out of control, and the infestations themselves were appropriately creepy. However, they didn’t make up for the comparatively weak plotting. Let’s be real, City of Broken Magic‘s plot was basically some strung together reasons for every increasing monster attacks. I saw another review compare it to dungeon grinding in D&D, and that feels accurate.
I did like the infestations, but… they relate to the novel’s iffy treatment of race and colonialism. Essentially, the entire continent of City of Broken magic was colonized five hundred years ago, and the native people created the infestations as a way to resist. Only, the infestations got out of control and started devouring them too. The few native people who remain alive are heavily discriminated against. Words in the native language sound similar to Japanese, but we don’t get much insight into their actual culture. So, here’s where I feel I feel iffy: the Japanese sounding language is just sort of sprinkled in for effect and by having the investigation come from the native population, it’s in a way making them responsible for their own genocide and placing the root of the continent’s problems on them, the colonized people. It’s just a lot of stuff that is having my brain go, “Erm, no this is uncomfortable and yikes.”
Onto the topic of world-building, it didn’t feel that well thought out, and many of the elements relating to gender especially seemed inconsistent. We’re told over and over again what the expectations for women are, and Laura is constantly struggling with these. Women are supposed to get married, and if they do work, they are in lower, service end jobs like secretaries and telephone operators. Only, that doesn’t match what we actually see. The head of the police is a woman. Journalists are women. An influential city council member is a woman. And the text never comments on the fact that these women are directly going against the established gender norms. Essentially, the expectations placed on Laura seem artificial and a way to generate conflict for her character without relating authentically to the wider world.
I started out liking the central protagonists. Laura has pluck, and she wants to go beyond the limits of her city and see the wider world. Her boss, Clae, reminded me sort of Sherlock Holmes: an abrasive, stand-offish character who probably does care beneath everything. Probably because he was reminding me of Sherlock Holmes, I was also sort of thinking of Clae as somewhere on the asexual or aromantic spectrum, like me. Then we find out that he has an ex-girlfriend and Laura expresses surprise, saying she thought he was “romantically stunted.” Urgh. This whole thing upset me more than microaggressions in fiction usually do, probably because I was headcanoning Clae as aro ace.
My main issue with Laura is that she’s a bit “not like other girls.” There’s a number of scenes where she mocks other girls for interest in boys as a way to show she’s different and superior… all while she’s still presumably heterosexual and interested in boys. She didn’t have a romance plot in this book, but I have the feeling that the story’s building up to Laura/Clae.
Overall, City of Broken Magic had a lot of elements that I don’t think were well thought out or well handled, and it’s also very much a debut novel. The plotting was clunky, and there was a lot of info-dumping. I’m unlikely to be recommending it in the future, but I would consider reading a future novel by Bolender, once she’s matured as an author.
I received an ARC in exchange for a free and honest review.
Originally reviewed on The Illustrated Page.
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
After reading some of the reviews on here, I admit that I was a bit confused in the beginning of the book. The introduces a number of terms that are used elsewhere in fiction like "infestation," "gin, "kin," etc. that had specific meanings attached to them in this word, but did not resemble those in our world. I do think some initial clarification could have been given to make it easier to dive right into the world.
Once I kind of figured out what was going on within the world Bolender created, I really enjoyed the book. There are a lot of interesting twists and turns that I did not expect. And even though I saw the climax of the book coming from before I finished the first 1/3 of the text (the evil rich guy does something stupid and sets the heroes up for catastrophe), I enjoyed the journey there.
I was given the opportunity to read a pre-publication version of the book, and the text still had a few awkward grammatical issues, but I'm sure that will be cleaned up before actual publication.
When it's all said and done, I'm not completely sure what I would characterize this book as. It's part urban-fantasy, part steampunk, and part supernatural, and yet it's not completely any one of those at the same time.
Overall, I definitely think this book is a good read and would encourage anyone looking for something a bit different to read it when it comes out in November 2018.
Once I kind of figured out what was going on within the world Bolender created, I really enjoyed the book. There are a lot of interesting twists and turns that I did not expect. And even though I saw the climax of the book coming from before I finished the first 1/3 of the text (the evil rich guy does something stupid and sets the heroes up for catastrophe), I enjoyed the journey there.
I was given the opportunity to read a pre-publication version of the book, and the text still had a few awkward grammatical issues, but I'm sure that will be cleaned up before actual publication.
When it's all said and done, I'm not completely sure what I would characterize this book as. It's part urban-fantasy, part steampunk, and part supernatural, and yet it's not completely any one of those at the same time.
Overall, I definitely think this book is a good read and would encourage anyone looking for something a bit different to read it when it comes out in November 2018.
Interesting set-up. There are bicycles, cars and dress styles reminiscent of the early 20th century. Steampunk, but not quite. The city itself comes across as a version of Minas Tirith, with added technology. Radios and telephones make an appearance, powered by amulets imbued with magic. The magic system is something I have not come across before, although the skills the Sweepers gain through use of the amulets made me think of Brandon Sanderson‘s Stormlight Archives and the Surgebinding used there.
Women are supposed to be wives, wear dresses and are considered whores the moment they do not comply. Nonetheless our heroine runs around in trousers and learns a trade. There is a bit of a wild mish-mash of ideas and concepts going on.
Promising start, but pretty much from the beginning there was no suspense for me. I did not dislike the writing, but it definitely did not do it for me. I had to make myself pick up the book every single time.
I started some heavy skimming about seven chapters into the book, around the time they picked up Okane. What a disappointing character. When he first showed up, I thought „Oh, interesting, some hidden plot and mysterious forces...“. However, he turned into some mopey, inarticulate teenager.
DNF at 52%. The book felt very episodic up to that point. Every other chapter or so there is a gradually worse and more powerful monster to be vanquished. I suppose in the last chapter there will be a dungeon master level infestation and—I had the odd peek at the chapters in the second half of the book—the crucial and predictable reveal. It‘s ok, I suppose, but nothing new or exciting.
I received this free e-copy from Macmillan-Tor/Forge via NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review, thank you!
Women are supposed to be wives, wear dresses and are considered whores the moment they do not comply. Nonetheless our heroine runs around in trousers and learns a trade. There is a bit of a wild mish-mash of ideas and concepts going on.
Promising start, but pretty much from the beginning there was no suspense for me. I did not dislike the writing, but it definitely did not do it for me. I had to make myself pick up the book every single time.
I started some heavy skimming about seven chapters into the book, around the time they picked up Okane. What a disappointing character. When he first showed up, I thought „Oh, interesting, some hidden plot and mysterious forces...“. However, he turned into some mopey, inarticulate teenager.
DNF at 52%. The book felt very episodic up to that point. Every other chapter or so there is a gradually worse and more powerful monster to be vanquished. I suppose in the last chapter there will be a dungeon master level infestation and—I had the odd peek at the chapters in the second half of the book—the crucial and predictable reveal. It‘s ok, I suppose, but nothing new or exciting.
I received this free e-copy from Macmillan-Tor/Forge via NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review, thank you!
Dnf. This was an ARC and I try really hard to always read ARCs I’m given, but I just couldn’t plow through.
You can read the whole nonsensical review on my ridiculous blog here. It has gifs!
So the city of Amicae is built with a Minas Tirith-like tier system and exists in a world that seems an awful lot like Studio Ghibli’s Howl’s Moving Castle, complete with blob-slime-monsters called “infestations” that happen if you don’t keep your amulet plugged in or…something. I’m not 100% certain how the whole magic-infestation-system works here, but, to be fair, neither do any of the characters, so there’s that.
Anyway, it’s hard to pinpoint the time period Amicae is supposed to be reminiscent of - the city has trolleys, phones, radios, but is also very down with enforcing traditional gender roles for men and women. Also, there’s the foxtrot, a dance that came about in the 1910s, so…anyway I just started imagining Amicae as being if Studio Ghibli made Howl’s Moving Castle but with Minas Tirith.
Anyway. So, our heroine, Laura Kramer, is a “sweeper” in Amicae: a person who deals with infestations of these magical blob Studio Ghibli monsters. Laura is one of only two sweepers in the whole of Amicae - it’s just her, and her prickliest of the prickly pears, Clae Sinclair. Clae (pronounced Cly, and not Clay like I assumed for the first 20 or so pages) was once part of a whole family of sweepers - only, being a sweeper is a dangerous job, most of Clae’s apprentices have been killed on the job, and the higher-ups of Amicae are so desperate to avoid acknowledging the magic-blob-monster infestations that they’ve provided the sweeper department with almost no support. As a result, the sweepers have dwindled to literally just Clae and Laura. While dealing with a magical infestation at the mansion of a rich douchebag, Clae liberates one of the household servants, Okane, who, as it turns out, is a magi - no, he didn’t sell his watch to get a comb for his wife and his wife didn’t sell her hair to get him a watch chain, coordinate your Christmas gift-giving, people - a magi is someone who has more magic to them than normal people. Magi have, of course, been treated like shit throughout history, so most of them hide who they are, and sometimes rich douchebags will keep them in their houses as slaves, because they’re rich douchebags.
Anyway, Okane has the ability to sense infestations, but so far as sweeper training goes, he’s really, really bad at it.
So while Amicae is hell-bent on avoiding the infestation problem, Clae has been fighting to get more recognition for his department, Laura is stuck between societal expectations from her as a woman vs what Clae says is a natural talent for sweeping, and Okane is slowly but surely overcoming a lifetime of enslavement and abuse to become a somewhat adequate sweeper.
But while all this is going down, there’s a massive infestation taking root in Amicae. Like, supermassive. Like, No-Face from Spirited Away after he ate all that food levels of massive. So massive that it could destroy the whole city and kill everyone in it.
And the only people left to deal with it are Clae, Laura and Okane.
I struggled with City of Broken Magic - I really liked the characters, especially prickly-pear Clae, but the worldbuilding seemed a bit shaky - as City is first in an intended series, we may have more to learn about the world around it, but much of this first book felt like the world was being built as the story was written. I could get over that, though, because I wanted to know more about Laura, Okane and Clae. To add more to the Ghibli-esque feel of the story, there are a lot of Japanese-inspired terms for the monsters. Okane’s name is mentioned, in-story, to mean “money” - which is does in Japanese (お金 , it’s considered the more polite form for “money” - for someone who spent four years learning Japanese, I’ve retained…uh…practically none of it).
So, to make a long story short: I really liked the characters. I want to know what happens to them. I can ignore some of the glitches in worldbuilding because I actually do want to know what will happen next to the Amicae Sweepers.
So the city of Amicae is built with a Minas Tirith-like tier system and exists in a world that seems an awful lot like Studio Ghibli’s Howl’s Moving Castle, complete with blob-slime-monsters called “infestations” that happen if you don’t keep your amulet plugged in or…something. I’m not 100% certain how the whole magic-infestation-system works here, but, to be fair, neither do any of the characters, so there’s that.
Anyway, it’s hard to pinpoint the time period Amicae is supposed to be reminiscent of - the city has trolleys, phones, radios, but is also very down with enforcing traditional gender roles for men and women. Also, there’s the foxtrot, a dance that came about in the 1910s, so…anyway I just started imagining Amicae as being if Studio Ghibli made Howl’s Moving Castle but with Minas Tirith.
Anyway. So, our heroine, Laura Kramer, is a “sweeper” in Amicae: a person who deals with infestations of these magical blob Studio Ghibli monsters. Laura is one of only two sweepers in the whole of Amicae - it’s just her, and her prickliest of the prickly pears, Clae Sinclair. Clae (pronounced Cly, and not Clay like I assumed for the first 20 or so pages) was once part of a whole family of sweepers - only, being a sweeper is a dangerous job, most of Clae’s apprentices have been killed on the job, and the higher-ups of Amicae are so desperate to avoid acknowledging the magic-blob-monster infestations that they’ve provided the sweeper department with almost no support. As a result, the sweepers have dwindled to literally just Clae and Laura. While dealing with a magical infestation at the mansion of a rich douchebag, Clae liberates one of the household servants, Okane, who, as it turns out, is a magi - no, he didn’t sell his watch to get a comb for his wife and his wife didn’t sell her hair to get him a watch chain, coordinate your Christmas gift-giving, people - a magi is someone who has more magic to them than normal people. Magi have, of course, been treated like shit throughout history, so most of them hide who they are, and sometimes rich douchebags will keep them in their houses as slaves, because they’re rich douchebags.
Anyway, Okane has the ability to sense infestations, but so far as sweeper training goes, he’s really, really bad at it.
So while Amicae is hell-bent on avoiding the infestation problem, Clae has been fighting to get more recognition for his department, Laura is stuck between societal expectations from her as a woman vs what Clae says is a natural talent for sweeping, and Okane is slowly but surely overcoming a lifetime of enslavement and abuse to become a somewhat adequate sweeper.
But while all this is going down, there’s a massive infestation taking root in Amicae. Like, supermassive. Like, No-Face from Spirited Away after he ate all that food levels of massive. So massive that it could destroy the whole city and kill everyone in it.
And the only people left to deal with it are Clae, Laura and Okane.
I struggled with City of Broken Magic - I really liked the characters, especially prickly-pear Clae, but the worldbuilding seemed a bit shaky - as City is first in an intended series, we may have more to learn about the world around it, but much of this first book felt like the world was being built as the story was written. I could get over that, though, because I wanted to know more about Laura, Okane and Clae. To add more to the Ghibli-esque feel of the story, there are a lot of Japanese-inspired terms for the monsters. Okane’s name is mentioned, in-story, to mean “money” - which is does in Japanese (お金 , it’s considered the more polite form for “money” - for someone who spent four years learning Japanese, I’ve retained…uh…practically none of it).
So, to make a long story short: I really liked the characters. I want to know what happens to them. I can ignore some of the glitches in worldbuilding because I actually do want to know what will happen next to the Amicae Sweepers.