My Rating: ★★★★★★★★☆☆
Petra Grady is a Sweeper first-class. While she doesn't have magic of her own, she has the uncanny ability to see and handle dross—the disruptive, magical waste generated by the Mages' spell work. Sweepers have always been treated as second-class citizens by the Mages—janitors put on this earth to clean up their mess. But fortunately, Petra's got a few other hidden tricks up her sleeve. Until her life is turned on its head by the sexy, exasperating Benedict Strom with his research project to render the Mages' dross inactive and innocuous, which just might make the Sweepers obsolete.
I've been a fan of Kim Harrison's books since the Hollows (Rachel Morgan) series, so I jumped on this book, hoping that some fresh blood and a new series would reignite my passion. I found there was a lot to like, along with a couple things I didn't.
Like The Hollows series, I thoroughly enjoy the complex, original magical worlds that Kim Harrison creates, even though I found this magic system a little harder to grasp. I kept mixing up the differences between the types of dross, which attracts the shadow, and how shadow comes to be in the first place. So yeah, if you're looking for complex, this is it! It wasn't as playful and fun as The Hollows—but then again, Pluck is no Jenks. But enough for comparisons... this is an entirely new series and from here on out, I plan to review it that way.
Before I go on about all the fantastic elements of this story, let me get out of the way a couple things that didn't jive with me: First was the fact that the lab was planning to test on live animals... and second,
killing off Petra's dog!! Seriously??!! 😱 Sure, he came back as Shadow, but there's a reason I don't read books like Old Yeller.
Throughout the book, I really jived with the analogy of the Mages and their discarded dross to the gravely polluted world we live in today. Oblivious people leaving behind their junk while expecting others to clean up after them. It's that same sense of superiority and entitlement where it's always someone else's problem, not theirs.
As the main character, Petra is smart and resourceful, a kickass, take-charge kind of gal. The magical world she lives in, kept hidden from the mundanes, is complex yet intriguing. Her counterpart, Benedict, sounds yummy, and while the relationship between the two was initially fraught with tension, I'm anxious to see how it plays out given that her feelings towards him see-saw quite a bit throughout the tale.
That said, I did find the writing to be a bit sloppy with some inconsistencies and contradictory info, but that's probably just because I was reading an uncorrected ARC, so I'm assuming all those will be ironed out in the final draft.
Overall, a wonderful new world from the mind of Kim Harrison, and another kickass heroine to love. Looking forward to more!
This book releases March 5, 2024, but you can
preorder it at Amazon, or
enter for a chance to win one of 50 Kindle copies at Goodreads (giveaway ends 3/3/24).
Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing Group for providing me with an advance readers copy of this book for review. While I received it free of charge, the opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own.
#ThreeKindsofLucky #NetGalley
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