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amberinpieces's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
Content Warnings
Moderate: Classism, Sexual content, Violence, Pregnancy, Murder, Cursing, Injury/Injury detail, Racism, Grief, Blood, Death of parent, Sexism, Death, and Alcohol
Minor: Medical content, Suicide, Drug use, Vomit, Gun violence, and War
wilybooklover's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
mysterious
medium-paced
4.0
This was a really fun mashup of genres — part fantasy, part murder mystery, part romance, part coming-of-age. I really enjoyed the complex worldbuilding in this and how naturally it was incorporated into the story; no info-dumping or clumsy expositional dialogue here. It's a queernorm world which has some very interesting exploration of gender, sexuality, privilege, and cultural conflicts. I loved that the magical system was based on maths and all about creating logical formulae and definitions. I also enjoyed that it was a racially diverse world; Onna, one of the POV protagonists, seemed to be Black-coded, another main character was coded as East Asian, and several secondary characters were also POC/mixed race.
There were a few plotting issues. The two main plotlines were a little too disparate through most of the book and felt like they were kind of forced together towards the end rather than naturally converging. It was a bit jarring jumping straight from Onna's POV into Tsira's or Jeckran's. Some of the subplots seemed a bit pointless or didn't really make sense(e.g. Tsira's boxing matches, or the part where Mon Del Ras is killed off and an entire brothel was infiltrated, which didn't quite seem to jive with the killer's motives and methods). The villain was very predictable and easy to guess.
Overall though, this was great fun and very entertaining.
There were a few plotting issues. The two main plotlines were a little too disparate through most of the book and felt like they were kind of forced together towards the end rather than naturally converging. It was a bit jarring jumping straight from Onna's POV into Tsira's or Jeckran's. Some of the subplots seemed a bit pointless or didn't really make sense
Overall though, this was great fun and very entertaining.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Grief, Sexual content, Death of parent, Gore, Murder, Violence, and Death
Moderate: Classism, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Child death, Gun violence, Misogyny, Sexism, Xenophobia, and Hate crime
Minor: Drug abuse, Animal death, Drug use, Suicide, War, Child abuse, and Pregnancy
booksthatburn's review against another edition
adventurous
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
UNNATURAL MAGIC explores sexism and racism in a fantasy setting, following a human girl trying to learn magic when her brilliance is seen as threatening rather than extraordinary, a troll trying to figure out what she wants (given her mother's expectations) and the human man she finds in the snow and nurses back to health. Eventually, they all end up working to try and stop a series of murders of trolls by humans, which is a recently brutal escalation of long-simmering resentment between their two peoples.
Onna's storyline involves sexist expectations of her as a girl, not quite yet a woman. The whole reason she leaves her home country is because she was denied entry to a magical academy because the examiners dismissed her as a village girl. Her class was less of a factor than her gender, but the combination of the two meant they ignored her on a technicality.
This is the first book in what is thus far a set of two books in the same world. This one doesn’t seem to be specifically setting up anything to be resolved later, but I suspect that if and when I do read the next one I might realize things I didn’t notice on this read through. For now, this functions as a stand-alone book and can be treated as such. It resolves its own major plot points and while it gives an idea of what the characters may do next, it's in the broad strokes of the trajectories of their lives, not in way that specifically teases a sequel. There’s been a series of murders of trolls, spread across a pretty large area, but it seem that the humans of various regions don’t know that the problem is more widespread. While wealthy and well-connected trolls are at the highest levels of society with a great deal of control, individual trolls are being seemingly randomly murdered and their bodies mutilated for some unknown purpose. Onna becomes involved in the investigation as part of pursuing her magical studies. Tsira (who is half-troll and half-human) and the human she rescued end up working together to try and track down the murderers after someone close to Tsira is killed.
I love the relationship between Sara and her Pink (the human man she found in the snow). More than any individual facet of the dynamic between them, I like how they continually work at their relationship in a way that makes sense, but also shows that it’s some thing that takes work to maintain. They don’t always understand each other perfectly, but they end up finding a cadence that works for them and gives them the tools to deal with whatever happens.
The trolls have a system of social roles that are separate from gender in a way that doesn’t neatly map onto human conceptions of sex and gender. To them, a human system that’s based on anatomy seems completely nonsensical. I put a lot of thought into how to denote the kinds of queer rep rep contained in the book. Ultimately, I think the best analog for is Tsira as genderqueer and trans, because even though that definitely does not perfectly map onto how she would describe herself, it is the most analogous language I have to denote the kind of character she is and the way she is understood (or not) by the humans around her.
There's a lot of excellent worldbuilding. There’s little things like how those who do know of Onna's home, as she gets further away, know of it because it has a pencil eraser factory. Eventually, they only know about the factory and haven't heard of her village at all. I found that to be a fun detail, and her reaction to each new mention changes throughout the book as she hears it over and over. As for the broader worldbuilding, the more foundational element is the way that the magic is done through a form of advanced mathematics involving specify parameters for what will be affected by the spell. It’s a bit like making calculus magic, and the book never attempts to teach any particular magical equation because the process is the point, not the details. It means that in practical terms, the role that magic can play in the book is extremely flexible, able to be adapted for the needs of the plot, but also having limitations in a way that never feel contrived. I also noticed the while way the humans have sexism is a manner that I find broadly familiar, there are a little things that make it clear that it’s not meant to be a direct copy of the way the problems would play out in the real world. One of these little ways is that the human men are frequently described as wearing skirts. It's a little way of making it clear that this isn't just Earth with magic added, but a wholly different place which has broadly similar problems that play out in its own particular ways. It’s nearly the end of the book before the two main plot threads converge. It lends some sense of scale how wide flung the troll murders are, spanning countries and at least one sea voyage.
I thoroughly enjoyed this and will likely pick up the other book set in this world. This seems like a hidden gem, and I hope more people try it.
Onna's storyline involves sexist expectations of her as a girl, not quite yet a woman. The whole reason she leaves her home country is because she was denied entry to a magical academy because the examiners dismissed her as a village girl. Her class was less of a factor than her gender, but the combination of the two meant they ignored her on a technicality.
This is the first book in what is thus far a set of two books in the same world. This one doesn’t seem to be specifically setting up anything to be resolved later, but I suspect that if and when I do read the next one I might realize things I didn’t notice on this read through. For now, this functions as a stand-alone book and can be treated as such. It resolves its own major plot points and while it gives an idea of what the characters may do next, it's in the broad strokes of the trajectories of their lives, not in way that specifically teases a sequel. There’s been a series of murders of trolls, spread across a pretty large area, but it seem that the humans of various regions don’t know that the problem is more widespread. While wealthy and well-connected trolls are at the highest levels of society with a great deal of control, individual trolls are being seemingly randomly murdered and their bodies mutilated for some unknown purpose. Onna becomes involved in the investigation as part of pursuing her magical studies. Tsira (who is half-troll and half-human) and the human she rescued end up working together to try and track down the murderers after someone close to Tsira is killed.
I love the relationship between Sara and her Pink (the human man she found in the snow). More than any individual facet of the dynamic between them, I like how they continually work at their relationship in a way that makes sense, but also shows that it’s some thing that takes work to maintain. They don’t always understand each other perfectly, but they end up finding a cadence that works for them and gives them the tools to deal with whatever happens.
The trolls have a system of social roles that are separate from gender in a way that doesn’t neatly map onto human conceptions of sex and gender. To them, a human system that’s based on anatomy seems completely nonsensical. I put a lot of thought into how to denote the kinds of queer rep rep contained in the book. Ultimately, I think the best analog for is Tsira as genderqueer and trans, because even though that definitely does not perfectly map onto how she would describe herself, it is the most analogous language I have to denote the kind of character she is and the way she is understood (or not) by the humans around her.
There's a lot of excellent worldbuilding. There’s little things like how those who do know of Onna's home, as she gets further away, know of it because it has a pencil eraser factory. Eventually, they only know about the factory and haven't heard of her village at all. I found that to be a fun detail, and her reaction to each new mention changes throughout the book as she hears it over and over. As for the broader worldbuilding, the more foundational element is the way that the magic is done through a form of advanced mathematics involving specify parameters for what will be affected by the spell. It’s a bit like making calculus magic, and the book never attempts to teach any particular magical equation because the process is the point, not the details. It means that in practical terms, the role that magic can play in the book is extremely flexible, able to be adapted for the needs of the plot, but also having limitations in a way that never feel contrived. I also noticed the while way the humans have sexism is a manner that I find broadly familiar, there are a little things that make it clear that it’s not meant to be a direct copy of the way the problems would play out in the real world. One of these little ways is that the human men are frequently described as wearing skirts. It's a little way of making it clear that this isn't just Earth with magic added, but a wholly different place which has broadly similar problems that play out in its own particular ways. It’s nearly the end of the book before the two main plot threads converge. It lends some sense of scale how wide flung the troll murders are, spanning countries and at least one sea voyage.
I thoroughly enjoyed this and will likely pick up the other book set in this world. This seems like a hidden gem, and I hope more people try it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Hate crime, Racism, Sexism, Death, Gore, Grief, Blood, Classism, and Violence
Moderate: Pregnancy, Racial slurs, Sexual content, Alcohol, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Medical content, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Religious bigotry, and Vomit
Minor: Drug abuse, Infertility, Physical abuse, Suicide, War, Drug use, and Excrement
ridesthesun's review
adventurous
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.5
I really am fascinated by the world built here; it was a very "show don't tell" style of worldbuilding, so while I felt a little lost at times in the beginning, my understanding of the world/magic/creatures grew very organically.
(New genders just dropped; female and male are out, dom and sub are in. It's actually fantastic and brilliant and so perfect for a fantasy world where you can do whatever you want, so why not broaden the gender world????)
This style of writing was so fun, and had a very subtle, dry humor that I really jivved with. And some unexpectedly *raw* lines that jumped out so well 🙌🏻🙌🏻
While the plot lines and the main mystery had some gaps and pacing issues, it worked out alright for the story, which overall felt more character focused than plot focused. The incomplete plot work is really the only thing that keeps this from being a 5 star for me.
AND THE CHARACTERS!!! lil Onna, brilliant angel baby. Jeckran, wonderful ridiculous scoundrel. Tsira, UTTER QUEEN AND LEGEND. They were so much fun. Their dynamics, especially Jeckran and Tsira's growing relationship, absolutely had me by the throat. I love me some mixed POVs, and this book handled that so well.
Also. The smut is hot as fuck. Cheers friends 👌🏻
(New genders just dropped; female and male are out, dom and sub are in. It's actually fantastic and brilliant and so perfect for a fantasy world where you can do whatever you want, so why not broaden the gender world????)
This style of writing was so fun, and had a very subtle, dry humor that I really jivved with. And some unexpectedly *raw* lines that jumped out so well 🙌🏻🙌🏻
While the plot lines and the main mystery had some gaps and pacing issues, it worked out alright for the story, which overall felt more character focused than plot focused. The incomplete plot work is really the only thing that keeps this from being a 5 star for me.
AND THE CHARACTERS!!! lil Onna, brilliant angel baby. Jeckran, wonderful ridiculous scoundrel. Tsira, UTTER QUEEN AND LEGEND. They were so much fun. Their dynamics, especially Jeckran and Tsira's growing relationship, absolutely had me by the throat. I love me some mixed POVs, and this book handled that so well.
Also. The smut is hot as fuck. Cheers friends 👌🏻
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cursing and Sexual content
Moderate: Blood, Death of parent, Death, Gun violence, Infertility, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, and Violence
Minor: Alcohol, Animal death, Drug use, and Pregnancy
quasinaut's review
adventurous
emotional
funny
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
This novel contains two vastly different, alternating stories, which I'm not sure quite worked for me, even when I could see how they would intersect later in the book. I greatly enjoyed following Tsira and Jeckran's travels; it's always nice when an author can make a cross-country trek actually engaging, and seeing the pair interact with each other (and perpetually miscommunicate) was rather endearing.
I was a bit less intrigued by Onna's journey. I appreciate that the author didn't try to explain the magic system more -- that likely would have been overwhelming, boring, or both -- but I think it resulted in Onna seeming just too magically gifted, while also being unavoidably beautiful (did she ever meet a guy who didn't flirt with her?)
Overall, fantastic world building and fun character interactions. I'm looking forward to reading more by C. M. Waggoner.
Note: I alternated between the print book and the audiobook for the first half, but got pulled in by the print book and finished with that. The audio was very useful for hearing how names and places were pronounced!
I was a bit less intrigued by Onna's journey. I appreciate that the author didn't try to explain the magic system more -- that likely would have been overwhelming, boring, or both -- but I think it resulted in Onna seeming just too magically gifted, while also being unavoidably beautiful (did she ever meet a guy who didn't flirt with her?)
Overall, fantastic world building and fun character interactions. I'm looking forward to reading more by C. M. Waggoner.
Note: I alternated between the print book and the audiobook for the first half, but got pulled in by the print book and finished with that. The audio was very useful for hearing how names and places were pronounced!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent and Murder
Moderate: Alcohol, Grief, Infertility, and Sexual content
Minor: Drug use and Pregnancy
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