Erin M. Hartshorn

Originally posted on Tales to Tide You Over

This is the third Boston Technowitch novel, and with the series shaping up to be long, it falls approximately in the middle. For me, that’s where a series succeeds or fails. The first two established a distinct pattern of narrative with the unique elements being in the specifics (the way a murder mystery series is always about a different murder), but Troll Tunnels doesn’t let that pattern settle in and become stagnant at all. Sure, my favorite character to hate, Dorothy, shows up with her usual brand of mischief, but she’s not the central issue in this book, nor is her thread without new aspects.

For the first time, no one beyond Dorothy is blaming Pepper for murders she hasn’t committed or for causing the end of the world as we know it. Instead, Troll Tunnels focuses on Pepper’s life, and her own growth magically and as a person. It should not come as a surprise to learn her involvement with the trolls deepens, given the title, but there are some interesting revelations there, and a complete, satisfying main plot for the book as well.

The trolls are not the only people Pepper connects with, some a long time coming while others are a surprise. She expands her worry circle to include everyone she’s touched so far, good or bad, and actively chooses to make ties rather than pushing people away.

I enjoyed Pepper moving out of her self-hatred into creating a new vision for herself and her magic. I loved the interactions with Haris and Hsien as well as with various members of Matt’s family. But it’s the complexity of everything, the way Pepper’s life is reaching out to join with so many others like her magic does when she asks for help in solving problems, that has me hooked. It makes for a well-rounded character with a strong support system even when she feels alone. Even better, she’s fighting for those connections now, accepting she both deserves and needs them.

As usual, her relationships with her kids formed one of my favorite parts. In this book, they’re more essential to the overall plot than usual because of their father, Matt. His hatred of all things magic has gotten out of control, and the kids are suffering for it. Pepper, too. I can state without spoilers that the end brought tears to my eyes. You’ll have to read the book to learn what kind of tears.

As a middle book, we have character growth, the situation with the kids coming to a head, and feelers creeping forward into future books to come. Then we also have a magical situation for Pepper to solve with the trolls even if the witches aren’t blaming her for it. This is a solid novel with a lot going on, and a lot of reasons to expect more to come.… (mehr)

Originally posted on Tales to Tide You Over

Siren Circle is a fitting successor to Ghost Garages in that it hits many of the same notes while providing a completely different story. I enjoy the blend of real life and magic, with consequences flowing in both directions, this series displays. Nothing comes easy for Pepper, but she’s a good person who acts with compassion…most of the time. There are some disturbing moments, and I say that when often it’s Pepper who is disturbed, where her dark vision of the future feels a little too plausible. It’s her self-awareness and wry humor that make Pepper so fun to hang out with, and her thought process with regards to her magic is delightful.

I did get frustrated a time or two when Pepper was slow to connect what seemed clear to me, but I’m really good at picking up subtle hints, so that’s probably just me. Often when I felt that way, within a page or two, Pepper comes to the same realization. I also find her a little too open considering the ever-present Dorothy and what happened in the first book, but then that’s part of her nature. The only one she’s paranoid about is herself. Which, by the way, is why I both understand and am unnerved by her going it alone with the magical information hunt when she has some witches she can trust.

For those who have not read the first book, or haven’t read it in a while, there’s a good bit of catch up/introductory information provided, but it comes up in context, which is beautifully done without disrupting the flow of the story. There were also many lines I just had to mark in my notes because they resonated and were just spot on. I’ll give you one example from Pepper’s thoughts, because it comes with a chuckle: “Parenting, the ultimate in improv performance.”

Which brings me to Pepper’s relationships. I love the way her kids are not perfect and neither is she, but she’s figuring her way through a very complex situation between her children having magic like hers and her ex hating anything to do with magic. The kids are complicated and sometimes not as smart as I’d expected, but on the other hand, emotions make it hard to think straight. Emotions are probably at the heart of how Pepper interacts with their father as well. She gives Matt far too much leeway in trying not to flip him out on the magic, and while it’s hard to confront his push for legal action, the consequences of him taking two magic-filled children into an anti-magic situation makes me want her to stand up for herself. She’s letting him write the narrative, and her kids aren’t smart enough to realize they’re being manipulated. Honestly, Matt annoyed me before, but now I’m developing an active dislike for his determined blindness and the damage it can cause.

While my feelings are mixed on the family dynamics, Pepper as a manager is wonderful. It’s not easy for her, especially with Rich working against her, but managing does flow naturally from her over-developed sense of responsibility. I also enjoyed the difficulties interacting with other magical beings as well. It makes her path harder and brings the different beings to full presence rather than the trolls and others serving as NPCs (non-player characters in games) there to hand her all the answers.

Her caution about her future is annoying at times, but only because she doesn’t give herself enough credit. On the other hand, she’s right to be cautious. I don’t understand why the others, Dorothy especially, aren’t more cautious around her considering the danger they believe she poses, something evident when she gets her dander up. Nor are Dorothy’s continued tirades at the coffee shop likely to keep magic secret.

You’ve probably figured out by now that I was very much engaged by the story. I’m not thrilled by where this one ends, in part because there were many rather than one dominant plot thread and only one got resolved by the end, though that could just be me. It’s not as if there wasn’t a climactic moment with big magic and big choices. It’s just that I wanted more resolution in the family thread than I got, and darn it, I wanted Dorothy to get what’s coming to her…which she might still.

All in all, a fun read with real people, both magical and not. I accuse Pepper of being slow, but I’m finally realizing this series is a lovely blend of the author’s murder mysteries and fantastical tales. Next book I’ll expect the bodies, and I’m certainly looking forward to what new troubles (and old) Pepper will have to face.… (mehr)

I'm sorry, Erin - but this book was definitely not for me. I lasted through to the aftermath of the raid on the farm, and I had not found a single character I liked, was interested in, or had the faintest desire to root for - and I need that to make a book worth my while. Sabra presents herself as interested only in money and status; there are a few hints (as far as I got) that there's more to her, but not enough. The sudden switch from "No, not having anything to do with drugs" to "Ok, as long as I get a cut" put me off her entirely. Gareth is a child; also, apparently (I did skim to the end) there's no psychiatrists in this world to help him deal with his guilt. Leo is either really really stupid or there's a major hole in this world - in this world of regular armed assaults, there are no trained bodyguards? Or he's more interested in the status of employing a gladiator than in actually getting someone who knows how to protect a principal. Her lack of training is immediately exploited to allow conflicts with his mercs and taking him directly to the site of a raid - author fiat to drive the plot, but (if it were in the, any, real world) really dumb things to do. Casual hooking up all over the place, and once someone's decided to hook up they drive through major difficulties...despite being sure it's entirely casual. What? The world is too grim for me (yes, I'm very different in my tastes from my sister), the characters are apparently largely amoral, the plot is way too tangled (or there isn't much of one - I didn't read the whole thing so can't say if it did come together, but the coincidences of as far as I read were very conveniently inconvenient). Some people may love this - some people love Game of Thrones (entirely different in setting and story, but similar in feel, at least to me). Not for me.… (mehr)

Originally posted on Tales to Tide You Over

This is my second time reading Ghost Garages this year, an unusual event for me, but my reaction is the same in that I enjoyed the story a lot…enough to have already recommended it to my sister who loves urban fantasy. Though I knew what was coming this time, the story kept me engaged and had lovely connections to the novella Dreamwalker I received through the author’s newsletter and read more recently.

Urban fantasy has grown to be a broad genre, but this novel has some fun elements that are rare if not unique. The main character, Pepper, is a single mom of twins with a magic that functions through technology rather than despite it. I quite enjoyed the mix of magical and normalcy. In the midst of a magical crisis affecting all of Boston, she has to manage childcare, her children’s wish for a more traditional family, and her ex-boyfriend/kids’ father pressuring her for the same. That’s not even mentioning the stress of her mother feeling she’s wasting her life, or the job pressure from a competitive coworker and a flaky boss.

The contempt and suspicion of the other Boston witches she knows felt a little overblown, but more in a “get over yourselves” or “open your eyes” way than because it was unrealistic. I’ve known people who would react exactly like that, ignoring how Pepper is struggling to save the whole city by herself so they can persist in believing her the cause, and if not because of a deliberate act, then it has to be accidentally her fault.

As if that isn’t enough, she has to balance cryptic speeches from a Lung dragon who happens to be the twins’ godfather and demands from other magical creatures she didn’t even know existed until her first encounter with the ghost near her home. I loved the trolls in the T mainly because they were so very not human, and the description of how the world functioned around them in blissful ignorance despite avoiding where they stood in a crowded station felt very real.

Then there’s the muse, who isn’t her muse, but who is attracted to her in a way that sets her magic to blowing fuses and lights quite dramatically. Haris is just as uncomfortable about this situation as she is, but neither of them are willing to reject the attraction, something that does not make her family issues any easier.

The murder mystery builds nicely, with a good balance of discovery and confusion, but this is not a detective novel in any way. Pepper is going about her business trying to solve everyone’s problems without admitting to how she’d accepted the responsibility, and as she does, she learns things that point to the reasons behind the problems.

It’s evidence for how well built the story is that I’m struggling to convey what I enjoyed and what specifics drew me in without spoilers, so I’ll say only it’s a complicated world blended smoothly into the Boston I remember from previous visits. The feel of the place was very rich for me down to the buskers and how people interact differently depending on the time of day and whether they’ve got their fix (at least where the coffee shop she works in is concerned). And speaking of the coffee shop, how she blends her personal needs with the needs of the store is just one more example of her ingenuity.

The book is complete by itself, leaving nothing critical unresolved, though there are some threads left dangling and a real kicker in what is, for all practical purposes, an epilogue. Ghost Garages is a real turning point for Pepper. She begins as someone who ignores her magic in favor of keeping a low profile, and by the end, she realizes the training she’d been offered and rejected would have made all this much easier. I’m interested in finding out how she copes with the changes in her magic, her decisions regarding that magic, and the looming family crises as well. Luckily, book 2 is already available.… (mehr)