Scan barcode
bree_h_reads's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
WOW! Like, this was actually so amazing.
The writing style reminded me of older books while still suiting the modern reader. It was charming and enchanting and really stands out against the other books I’ve read. It really leant to the feel of the book and was just detailed enough to paint a picture while clearly showing off all the character’s emotions.
All the characters also felt so alive and complex. They were well rounded and had flaws, but were still likeable despite them. You could really tell WHY they were the way they were and could really see how they grew and influenced each other. This also REALLY helped the main romance. There’s something so endearing and sweet and cute about watching two well rounded characters try to navigate their flaws and awkwardness and miscommunications to come together. And it takes a lot of skill to not make the miscommunication obnoxious.
The world building was also WILDLY fascinating. It left me really looking forward to reading book two with the world this book established. It felt real and you could see where the real world influenced some of the culture. I would happily sit and read a book sharing all sorts of facts on the world building. It always felt like it was delivered naturally and didn’t info dump or become annoying to hear about.
Honestly with a bit more work on the foreshadowing and a better handling of some of the more questionable thoughts/opinions had in the main romance I’d call it near perfect.
Overall a great read.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Gun violence, Murder, Grief, Sexual content, Death, Death of parent, Cursing, and Violence
Moderate: Classism, Hate crime, Xenophobia, Alcohol, Sexism, and Misogyny
Minor: Cancer, Child death, Hate crime, Miscarriage, Religious bigotry, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Chronic illness, Homophobia, and Infertility
ruth_a's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent, Alcohol, Murder, and Blood
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Gun violence, Violence, and Sexual content
Minor: Pregnancy, Sexism, Child abuse, Infertility, Violence, Religious bigotry, Vomit, and Misogyny
craftysnailtail's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
relaxing
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.0
I found this book easy and rather relaxing to read, even though it was decently violent at parts. The world and characters were fun and interesting, but I'm not sure if it's the sort of book I would recommend, especially with such a predictable ending. I found the sexual tension entirely over the top and thus mildly hilarious, but I'm sure that's partially due to my own orientation. Overall, I'm not upset I read it, but I also wasn't blown away.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Blood, Gore, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, and Sexual content
Moderate: Mental illness, Xenophobia, Chronic illness, Death of parent, War, Grief, Misogyny, Murder, Infertility, and Sexism
Minor: Hate crime, Alcohol, and Pregnancy
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
audbaum's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
I loved this book! My only qualm was that I guessed the person responsible for the murders fairly early on in the book. That did not ruin my enjoyment, and does point to the fact that the author did a good job of foreshadowing. I also loved how queer the world seems to be. Like, being attracted to whoever is normal. Also, the primary romance that happens in the book, despite being ostensibly between a male character and a female character (I use male and female because I’m not entirely sure how gender works in this society) feels super queer or at the very least transgressive of our societal norms regarding relationships. I would recommend reading this book and I enjoyed myself the whole way through. It felt like a breath of fresh air. I loved the magic system, as a nerd who loves math it really seemed like the creation of magic was often about good formal definitions and rigorous connections between them and etc, which really makes me happy. I also loved the world building we saw in this book and I would love the author to return to this world for a different story, potentially something in a far flung part of the world or a different time period.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Body horror, Sexual content, Alcohol, Blood, and Sexism
It talked about sex a good deal without really describing sexual acts in detail.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
More...