The Ruthless Lady's Guide to Wizardry (Unnatural Magic, #2) in Do Better: SFF without Sexual Violence

Mar 23, 2021 ♥Xeni♥ rated it really liked it

Shelves: ebook, romance, mystery, magic, fantasy, urban-fantasy, lgbtq, 2021-books-read, bingo-20-21, protag-female

I am left a bit annoyed at this book. The ending felt very rushed. And I still have so many questions. That might be because this is supposedly the second book in a series? It's not marked anywhere, and yet I get the suspicion if I had read Unnatural Magic first, I would understand things better.

Confusion aside, there is a lot I did like about this book. Waggoner is not afraid to have her characters talk with strong accents, going so far as to create a strong street cant that takes a lot of puz I am left a bit annoyed at this book. The ending felt very rushed. And I still have so many questions. That might be because this is supposedly the second book in a series? It's not marked anywhere, and yet I get the suspicion if I had read Unnatural Magic first, I would understand things better.

Confusion aside, there is a lot I did like about this book. Waggoner is not afraid to have her characters talk with strong accents, going so far as to create a strong street cant that takes a lot of puzzling out to determine what was said. But the upper crust folks also have odd turns of phrase, and for the most part they talk nothing at all like a Western earthen culture. It's refreshing, if at times difficult to understand.

I liked the characters. I wish there had been more time to explore their lives, however. Most of the focus in this story is on Delly (Delleria Wells), so we get to hear about her, her mother, and her love interest (Winn), but not much more. Delly is a bit of an odd ball. I want to like her, but so many elements of her personality are grating, most likely due to her traumatic upbringing. And in turn I like that she isn't a perfect victim of her childhood. She suffered and it's clear. It makes it so much better when she does strive to be a better person to impress Winn, to try to be better. Sometimes not with the purest of intentions, but like Winn says, "Bit ginny of you. I mean, that’s what all of the balls and coming-outs and visits to Lord Wotsisname’s country estates are about, eh? The gulls I met there weren’t on the hunt for impoverished chaps who they could canoodle with in a drafty garret, either." Wanting security is not a bad thing.

I felt like this book switched on and off between the focus being on the plot or the focus being on the relationship, with both of them not really shining. I think having a bit more consistent emphasis on one or the other would have made me love the book. And potentially had the ending feel less rushed and a bit thrown together.

Also, what was up with Buttons? That character felt so weird, superfluous and annoying. I don't know why they were put into the book? I suppose for a reason for Mrs Trotham to exist?

I think I will go back and read Unnatural Magic, however, and see if that doesn't clear up a lot of the questions and issues I have with the world, with how things work in general. I'll be curious to see how the stories differ as well. ...more

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