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A review by lostinagoodbook
City of Broken Magic by Mirah Bolender
4.0
Disclaimer: I received this book free from Netgalley in return for an unbiased review.
This book was a surprise to me. I was interested because I’d heard it described as being about magical bomb sweepers. What the heck does that even mean?? Turns out that is a pretty accurate description though.
Laura is a bomb “Sweeper” in training. She looks for amulets, objects that are imbued with magic that can suddenly turn foul, and erupt in destructive ways, ruining property and killing people. Her city has claimed to be free from all of these bad amulets, but in truth the devices are not only prolific but are also being used by unscrupulous individuals to manipulate and murder.
The book is not just a murder/mystery-gotta-catch-’em-all adventure story though. The action itself is spaced out through the book and not very concentrated. As a result, I have noticed that the book has widely varying reviews. This is one of those things you either latch on to or just isn’t for you. Luckily, this book is for me. To my mind it is a book about the far reaching effects of colonization and the subjugation of native people. This magic gone awry is part and parcel of the civilization’s past atrocities. Any colonizing civilization must reckon with the harm it has done sooner or later. This lends a substance to the book which I enjoyed but doesn’t weight it down.
I also really enjoyed the characters. Laura is still a bit of an enigma to me. She is a tough young woman for sure, and very driven. It’s an odd society where she is allowed a career but still expected to give it all up when she has a chance to marry a good man, which she has absolutely no intention of doing believe me! Her co-workers are complicated and the world of the Sweepers is interesting. The setting is a sort of Edwardian, turn of the century, sorta steam-punk world, which I always love. It gave me some Witchmark flavor, which was another book I loved this year.
I enjoyed this book and there is a cliff hanger that will make hanging on for the next volume a must. Here’s another author I put into my Netgalley auto search rotation! You have to love finding a new favorite!
Song for this book: While My Guitar Gently Weeps – Regina Spektor
This book was a surprise to me. I was interested because I’d heard it described as being about magical bomb sweepers. What the heck does that even mean?? Turns out that is a pretty accurate description though.
Laura is a bomb “Sweeper” in training. She looks for amulets, objects that are imbued with magic that can suddenly turn foul, and erupt in destructive ways, ruining property and killing people. Her city has claimed to be free from all of these bad amulets, but in truth the devices are not only prolific but are also being used by unscrupulous individuals to manipulate and murder.
The book is not just a murder/mystery-gotta-catch-’em-all adventure story though. The action itself is spaced out through the book and not very concentrated. As a result, I have noticed that the book has widely varying reviews. This is one of those things you either latch on to or just isn’t for you. Luckily, this book is for me. To my mind it is a book about the far reaching effects of colonization and the subjugation of native people. This magic gone awry is part and parcel of the civilization’s past atrocities. Any colonizing civilization must reckon with the harm it has done sooner or later. This lends a substance to the book which I enjoyed but doesn’t weight it down.
I also really enjoyed the characters. Laura is still a bit of an enigma to me. She is a tough young woman for sure, and very driven. It’s an odd society where she is allowed a career but still expected to give it all up when she has a chance to marry a good man, which she has absolutely no intention of doing believe me! Her co-workers are complicated and the world of the Sweepers is interesting. The setting is a sort of Edwardian, turn of the century, sorta steam-punk world, which I always love. It gave me some Witchmark flavor, which was another book I loved this year.
I enjoyed this book and there is a cliff hanger that will make hanging on for the next volume a must. Here’s another author I put into my Netgalley auto search rotation! You have to love finding a new favorite!
Song for this book: While My Guitar Gently Weeps – Regina Spektor