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beccastareyesAnother series book; Gunmetal Magic is a sort-of spin-off from Ilona Andrews' Kate Daniels series, basically giving the POV reins to Kate's best friend, Andrea Nash. (So, instead of all the books/short stories being Magic Verbs, we get a book called Adjective Magic.)
Protip: This is really annoying when authors do this. Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars trilogy (Red Mars, Green Mars, Blue Mars) nearly caused me to buy one book twice because I forgot the order was Red-Green-Blue. Michelle Sagara's Chronicles of Elantra makes me have to check because all of them are Cast in Noun, and remembering whether Cast in Shadow or Cast in Secret is a pain. As is remembering that there's both Magic Burns, Magic Bites and Magic Bleeds. And probably more. I don't remember if I had this problem with Jim Butcher's Codex Alera, but I think at least there it helped it was some kind of rank order.
Look, I get that you want your book titles to match, but not so much that I can't remember which ones I've read.
So, it's hard to talk about a book that's like sixth in a series without spoilers. Anyway, the whole series is set in a post-magic-came-back Atlanta, which I like: magic and technology wax and wane semi-randomly, so you get things like cars that have gasoline engines AND magic engines that need water and chanting to run. The magic is defined as a bit arbitrary, so there's presumably a reason that coal furnaces work in magic but gasoline engines don't (and that's that magic is fickle and unpredictable). (I remember reading Timothy Zahn's 'magic comes back and everything breaks' book and nitpicking his handwavey science about why gunpowder didn't work.)
The main series has a lot of were-critter info, as Kate falls for the were-lion leader of Atlanta's shapeshifters, and one thing I like about Gunmetal Magic is Andrea (a were-hyena who spent most of her life trying to hide this) emphasizes the fact that shapeshifter culture's awfulness is directly related to how awful the strongest shapeshifter is -- because they pull out the whole 'fight for dominance' thing. Andrea's backstory is almost melodramatically angsty in that respect: her mother and her were the designated omegas in a pack ruled by a power-tripping alpha hyena and her daughters. Andrea's mother only ran when it became pretty damn obvious that eventually Andrea would be killed by the level of abuse she was getting. Consequently Andrea isn't exactly eager to join Atlanta's pack, even if pack law requires that she either join or leave the city. The office intern is also the result of a problematic past, and his mother and Andrea chat about that a bit.
(Actually, that's one thing I like about Andrews' writing is an awareness that there are ways the urban fantasy were-critter tropes can get broken and creepy. Though right now it seems like most of the lead women in the series have more Issues than the lead men: that could be because we don't get POV views of Curran (Kate's husband), who does also have angst. Rafael (Andrea's guy) is portrayed as the favorite son and steeped in privilege -- there's a wonderful conversation where he tries to protest that dammit he worked hard for what he has, and Andrea points out that, compared to her, he had the advantage of a mother with actual power to let him have things like 'a loan to start a business', and general security of knowing he had a family and community outside of just his mother, while she had to find that (and then got it taken away from her).
(In the end, that's why she joins the pack (spoilers): because she wants a community and a family that will help her and support her. It's not about her 'it's complicated' boyfriend, but it's about knowing that all the other members of the pack will help her if she needs it, unlike the pack she was born into. Which I appreciate -- that it isn't just about a single all-consuming romantic relationship, but about finding a place where many relationships develop. It's the same reason I like Kate's books: she has friends, an adopted daughter, co-workers, allies and people who owe her favors, not just a sexy were-lion mate.)
There's a bit of a problem that the rank and file were-hyenas tend to be a bit 'mean girls': Aunt B, Andrea and Martina (the aforementioned intern's mom) are decent, as is the were-hyena beta that appears in one scene.
Also, there's a plot about gods and snake cults and murders.
Protip: This is really annoying when authors do this. Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars trilogy (Red Mars, Green Mars, Blue Mars) nearly caused me to buy one book twice because I forgot the order was Red-Green-Blue. Michelle Sagara's Chronicles of Elantra makes me have to check because all of them are Cast in Noun, and remembering whether Cast in Shadow or Cast in Secret is a pain. As is remembering that there's both Magic Burns, Magic Bites and Magic Bleeds. And probably more. I don't remember if I had this problem with Jim Butcher's Codex Alera, but I think at least there it helped it was some kind of rank order.
Look, I get that you want your book titles to match, but not so much that I can't remember which ones I've read.
So, it's hard to talk about a book that's like sixth in a series without spoilers. Anyway, the whole series is set in a post-magic-came-back Atlanta, which I like: magic and technology wax and wane semi-randomly, so you get things like cars that have gasoline engines AND magic engines that need water and chanting to run. The magic is defined as a bit arbitrary, so there's presumably a reason that coal furnaces work in magic but gasoline engines don't (and that's that magic is fickle and unpredictable). (I remember reading Timothy Zahn's 'magic comes back and everything breaks' book and nitpicking his handwavey science about why gunpowder didn't work.)
The main series has a lot of were-critter info, as Kate falls for the were-lion leader of Atlanta's shapeshifters, and one thing I like about Gunmetal Magic is Andrea (a were-hyena who spent most of her life trying to hide this) emphasizes the fact that shapeshifter culture's awfulness is directly related to how awful the strongest shapeshifter is -- because they pull out the whole 'fight for dominance' thing. Andrea's backstory is almost melodramatically angsty in that respect: her mother and her were the designated omegas in a pack ruled by a power-tripping alpha hyena and her daughters. Andrea's mother only ran when it became pretty damn obvious that eventually Andrea would be killed by the level of abuse she was getting. Consequently Andrea isn't exactly eager to join Atlanta's pack, even if pack law requires that she either join or leave the city. The office intern is also the result of a problematic past, and his mother and Andrea chat about that a bit.
(Actually, that's one thing I like about Andrews' writing is an awareness that there are ways the urban fantasy were-critter tropes can get broken and creepy. Though right now it seems like most of the lead women in the series have more Issues than the lead men: that could be because we don't get POV views of Curran (Kate's husband), who does also have angst. Rafael (Andrea's guy) is portrayed as the favorite son and steeped in privilege -- there's a wonderful conversation where he tries to protest that dammit he worked hard for what he has, and Andrea points out that, compared to her, he had the advantage of a mother with actual power to let him have things like 'a loan to start a business', and general security of knowing he had a family and community outside of just his mother, while she had to find that (and then got it taken away from her).
(In the end, that's why she joins the pack (spoilers): because she wants a community and a family that will help her and support her. It's not about her 'it's complicated' boyfriend, but it's about knowing that all the other members of the pack will help her if she needs it, unlike the pack she was born into. Which I appreciate -- that it isn't just about a single all-consuming romantic relationship, but about finding a place where many relationships develop. It's the same reason I like Kate's books: she has friends, an adopted daughter, co-workers, allies and people who owe her favors, not just a sexy were-lion mate.)
There's a bit of a problem that the rank and file were-hyenas tend to be a bit 'mean girls': Aunt B, Andrea and Martina (the aforementioned intern's mom) are decent, as is the were-hyena beta that appears in one scene.
Also, there's a plot about gods and snake cults and murders.
