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A review by blueshadow
Good Neighbors: The Full Collection by Stephanie Burgis
2.0
2.5 stars
A light fantasy rom-com.... with lots of heavy themes of fighting for your life against severe discrimination against magic users.... which didn't at all fit into what I was expecting
The first and the beginning of the third story were lots of fun. The second story was fine, just not as much to my taste.
But most of the third story and all the fourth, dealing with the "purifiers" who want to eliminate the "unnaturals".... First, the heavy themes weren't what I wanted or expected when I picked up the book. Second, it doesn't make any sense. The magic users (by definition!) had extra abilities that normal humans didn't have. The author was forced to admit this because either the magic users won the battles, or the non-magic users had to (gasp!) have magical tools to win. Does. Not. Make. Sense.
Nevermind that humans love anything that makes their lives easier. Enslaving the magic users to make devices for non-magics? Yeah, that I could see. Torture, killing, and ostracising everything magical? Mayyyyybe.... but it would require careful world-building to make it fit.
Also, excessively preachy about it's various themes.
Really, too bad. The premise was excellent, the writing was pretty good (except for the preachy bits). It was too bad the author couldn't stick with the original idea, because that's what I wanted to read.
A light fantasy rom-com.... with lots of heavy themes of fighting for your life against severe discrimination against magic users.... which didn't at all fit into what I was expecting
The first and the beginning of the third story were lots of fun. The second story was fine, just not as much to my taste.
But most of the third story and all the fourth, dealing with the "purifiers" who want to eliminate the "unnaturals".... First, the heavy themes weren't what I wanted or expected when I picked up the book. Second, it doesn't make any sense. The magic users (by definition!) had extra abilities that normal humans didn't have. The author was forced to admit this because either the magic users won the battles, or the non-magic users had to (gasp!) have magical tools to win. Does. Not. Make. Sense.
Nevermind that humans love anything that makes their lives easier. Enslaving the magic users to make devices for non-magics? Yeah, that I could see. Torture, killing, and ostracising everything magical? Mayyyyybe.... but it would require careful world-building to make it fit.
Also, excessively preachy about it's various themes.
Really, too bad. The premise was excellent, the writing was pretty good (except for the preachy bits). It was too bad the author couldn't stick with the original idea, because that's what I wanted to read.