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nazad1th's review against another edition
3.0
I think it's interesting, with an intriguing cast of characters. My issue is, I'm about halfway through the book (185pgs) and still have no idea what the plot is meant to be. There's still exposition and characters still being themselves, but we're getting a lot of history and nothing current to relate to. It may just not be the book for me. It dipped its toe into many categories, being a detective noir steampunky fantasy book, but didn't really commit. It feels like it tried to fit too much into one book without very much to tie it together. Lots of things were unexplored, and just touched upon
theartolater's review against another edition
3.0
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.
ldushay's review against another edition
3.0
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.
astraeal's review against another edition
2.0
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.
cavetoad's review against another edition
3.0
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.
coolcurrybooks's review against another edition
3.0
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.
jackie_b's review
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
3.5
jasonswrench's review against another edition
5.0
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.
cathepsut's review against another edition
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!