Reviews - Unnatural Magic | The StoryGraph

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839 reviews for:

Unnatural Magic

C.M. Waggoner

3.87 AVERAGE

halforq's review

4.5

adventurous dark lighthearted tense medium-paced

valentinaburbank's review against another edition

3.5

adventurous dark mysterious sad tense 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: Complicated

I expected to love this book since the last one by this author I read was a five star read for me. This one was just not what I was looking for. I liked each character individually, but the relationships were not fully realized or explored. Ok, so the main couple is “f*#$” ing constantly - but the tenderness and sweetness I expect from a real relationship just wasn’t there. Some of it was the language - which didn’t offend me, but also didn’t make me feel the affection growing between them. It isn’t my favorite in a romance - makes it more porny than romantic for me. There were some more playful moments, and I enjoyed those. It made the relationship feel stronger.
The secondary love story just seemed tacked on. I wanted more of Onna in general because I found her story interesting. I wish all the characters had gotten together earlier, and we saw more of how the characters interacted as they tried to solve the mystery.
The plot was well developed and I enjoyed the journey and the world building. The magic system is fascinating and I enjoy all the cultural norms that are revealed in different ways as the story unspools. This is a queer norm book with gender expansiveness, which I liked.
I guessed the mystery quickly and felt the wrap up was a little underwhelming. You do know exactly what happens to all of the characters though, which I appreciate.

fionah822's review against another edition

2.75

lighthearted mysterious medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Awesome concept, but the pacing and divided narrative weren't pulled off well enough for me. It reads like a fanfic, but not entirely in a bad way.

laughinglynx's review

4.0

I was first intrigued by the story of Onna, one of the main characters, but quickly found myself much more swept up by the story of the other two MCs. It's a really interesting romantic dynamic, with the woman being significantly more dominant than the man, and it's one I've rarely seen before outside of fanfiction. It made for a refreshing change, especially since I usually hate straight romances due to how cookie-cutter they tend to be. Because of that, their point of view and developing relationship ended up interesting me much more than the overarching plot or the other characters.

That being said, I did enjoy all of the characters, and found the plot really interesting. The book definitely favored character development over the plot for the most part, and while it did make the overarching story a bit slow, it let the characters be fleshed out to their full potential. The mystery in the plot itself was good and appropriately spooky, and the eventual culprit didn't feel too comic-book like. There were a few plot points I feel could have been tied up a bit more neatly, but over all, the story itself was interesting and fun.

In terms of world building, I think the author did a decent enough job of making a believable magical world, but there were a few points that I wish could have been further clarified, especially when it comes to the history and the different kinds of magic. However, it was mostly clear enough what was being talked about.

Over all, I really enjoyed this book, and would recommend it to friends. I probably won't be reading it again, but I will look out for more books by this author.

artanis's review

4.0

A delightful read with likeable characters and solid worldbuilding. I loved the magical aspects of it, and the human (and troll) aspects of it too. There were some pacing issues here and there but it’s a book I’d definitely recommend if you’re into fantasy, wizards, trolls, adventure, murder mystery and found family. 4.5 ⭐️

shrayirene's review against another edition

2.0

adventurous emotional lighthearted mysterious slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

I struggled to get through Unnatural Magic. It's not like the writing was terrible, I just didn't care what happened. The world building was extensive, but the author liked to throw out names and places with no context, so it was very easy to feel lost. I also didn't like the split between the two storylines, I would have preferred it be more even. However, I found it hard to engage with the storyline that I was interested in as well. I'm really regretting getting that other book by the same author, but I'll give it a try before I put Waggoner on my "don't bother" list.

Side rant - I listened to this as an audiobook, and about every tenth time my phone said one of the main character's names "Tsira"... Siri would turn on and pause the recorded. So annoying!