Unnatural Magic | 
Doing some coffee shop reading for the first time in a long time! I‘m taking a long time to get through because school has been demanding, but I‘m loving this book whenever I have the mental energy. Queer characters? Gender feels?? Intriguing mystery that I think I have figured out but could be completely wrong about??? I‘m into it!
Finally bouncing back from a bit of a a reading slump. A friend recommended this series, and I was sold after the first few pages. I like all three of the main characters, and I‘m really enjoying how the author is playing with gender/gender roles via the troll society. I‘m only a 100 pages in, but hoping to make progress today. We lost power for about 24 hrs in the ice storm this week, and reading with a hot drink has never felt more luxurious!
pan2.5⭐️ I really struggled to get through this book. A large reason was that I didn‘t understand what was going on in the last half of the book and felt that the chapters were a little too long and that the longer chapters could have been a little shorter. #2022 #fiction #bookreview #bookstagram #fantasy
Sending out to @zenwldflwr this afternoon for #lmpbc
pickI loved this. There are two storylines, and I was a little lost right at the beginning, but it wasn‘t long before I was all in. Trolls, humans, magicians, murders, a mystery, and possible romance. Really great.
@TheKidUpstairs the book is on its way! Sorry about sending it late.
#LMBC
How do I mark up this book? Someone said just to highlight parts that stand out to me. Is that right? Sorry, I've never done this.
I'm going to choose Unnatural Magic for my #LMPBC! Does that work for everyone else?
Also, I will mark in purple 💜
@melissajayne @zenwldflwr @TheKidUpstairs
so-soThe last quarter of this book is good, but I did not particularly enjoy the rest of the book. It got really bogged down in over describing somethings and barely described others.
Trolls are being murdered and a genius magic user and a half-human, half-troll, with her human companion, decide to put a stop to the murders and eventually end up working together.
2/5 stars. Read for an interesting world, but not for super engaging characters.
pickReally unique and rather enjoyable. Looking forward to reading more by this author
#bookspinbingo @TheAromaofBooks
pickI thoroughly enjoyed Unnatural Magic: a mystery & adventure set in a place with magic & where there are humans, trolls & fairies. Not too much with the fairies in this book: perhaps Waggoner will explore their culture in other books? Kind of a 19th centuryesque world where magic is studied at university, human women live a life full of restrictions but troll women have power & responsibility. Really fast paced & fun.
Defining characteristics of trolls include earthy and matter of fact.
pickAs a fantasty, I loved it. The world building is tricky and takes patience.There's references to languages/ religions that you just have to figure out. I loved the characters.There were some laugh outloud moments. As a radical look at gender, ugh. Tsira/Jeckran's relationship, while sweet, was creepy. The traditional gender roles were switched but the 'fem' character was treated as cute and viewed in a weird submissive sexual condescending way.
Welp, I honestly kinda thought about putting this aside for now....but things have definitely picked up a bit😂
so-soI am not sure why but this book didn't ckick for me. Perhaps i am not in a mood for fantasy but I felt it had too many expected tropes. Not bad but not exciting either. The picture is one of our family cuarentine projets to try and limit screen time a bit😷
pickReally liked the way the writer just put the reader inside the world, no exposition, no infodumps. Just the reader walking next to the characters and excerpts of books, media from the world to set up each chapters, these give a hint of how the world works in an interesting form. Trolls, humans, wizards, fay all live together but apart. Trolls are being murdered and taken apart for something.
Tonight's plan. Finish Unnatural Magic, watch xmas eve classic Die Hard (it's tradition) then take a peak at my #jolabokaflod book. Food is in the oven, fire is ready to be lit. Die Hard viewing delayed but baby Toews, baby Tanger and baby Malkin playing at World Junior 2006 playing now as preview for the up coming World Junior starting on the 26th.
Happy #jolabokaflod to you all.
Two short books ✅ this week. One amazing one not so much. The one in progress is quite good. The author has succeeded in creating a world that as a reader we learn about as the story unfolds without all the often boring exposition info dumps.
#bookreport @Cinfhen
It's 🏒 night in 🇨🇦. Habs in Edmonton, 🍁 at home and the late game 🐧 in Vancouver. I'm gonna try to get to 50% tonight in this one. #readingandwatchinghockey
Also, I miss my 🐧 captain. 😊
Tristan Jarry is again in the net. 🐧 in McDavid country.
#readingandwatchinghockey
I love reading in front of the Christmas tree. 🎄📚 It's one if my favorite delights of the season! 🎅💕 Trying to finish up these two books since today is the last day of my vacation!
#weeklyforecast. We got ice rain last night. It‘s iced snow everywhere. We will get some ☀️ later on. Might melt everything. I might read a really big bite of the current book because it's really interesting and well written. I'm determined to knock off another two ARC from the list this week despite the full work week. @Cinfhen
Progress in knocking off titles from my ARC list. This week‘s ARC is surprisingly what I need. YA fantasy trolls, humans magic... so far it‘s good.
#bookreport
@Cinfhen
The #weeklyforecast is rain, sun and snow. Knocking off another ARC and two more days off, devoted to rest, knitting, books and hockey. Ain't days off grand. 😁
“I thought of not coming,” Finnbair said “Out of spite.”
“I would have deserved it,” Loga told him. “I‘ve been an absolute beast”
“You have,” Finnbair agreed. “You looked fine while you did it, though. You‘ve got great style while you‘re being a bastard.”
“I despise you both,” Jeckran said. “Why is it my fate to be tormented by terrifying women?”
“Behaved well in your last reliving,” said Tsira.
“My last reliving? You‘re an atheist! Why am I being lectured on Elgarite theology by an atheist?”
“Didn‘t behave that well in your last reliving.”
“You‘re mercenaries!” Loga said. “How wonderfully romantic. I suppose you must be the brawn, Tsira, and I daresay you provide the majority of the brains as well. What exactly is your partner‘s role?”
“Mostly talking posh and looking pretty” said Miss Tsira.
pickThis had an interesting take on gender dynamics. It was kind of uncomfortable for me. Not bad, just uncomfortable. But it also had two (two!) fashionable fops, swanning around. I love a good swanning fop, I was exposed to Diane Wynn Jones at an impressionable age.
pickUNNATURAL MAGIC by @CMWaggoner2
🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
A pleasure to read and outstanding debut novel.
#bookreview #reading #fantasybooks #epicfantasy #NetGalley #bookbloggers
Full review at: https://lostnagoodbook.wordpress.com/2019/11/07/unnatural-magic-c-m-waggoner/
Okay, Tor. I see we are back to prying open my wallet.
https://www.tor.com/2019/11/04/read-an-excerpt-from-unnatural-magic
(Releases tomorrow, Nov. 5.)
