This lost two stars for being half a story. What was there was good, but the ending, IMO, was so abrupt that it might as well have stopped mid-sentence. Also--the book is super short. Isn't 160 pages a novella?

Don't get me wrong. As I said earlier, what is here is good. Ms. Newman knows how to tell a story. I read the book like I was watching a soap opera. I was yelling at the protagonist, knowing what was going to happen. All with the good feeling you get shoving popcorn in your mouth watching a character go into the basement in the dark where you KNOW they're going to get it.

I think I'd like to blame the publisher for what I feel are shortcomings. This should have either been serialized into short, cheaper chapter books (remember The Green Mile?) or it should have been held until all the books in the series were ready and released closer together.

So far, I've enjoyed the story, if not the delivery, enough that I'd buy audio and ebook versions, AND I plan to re-read the series in its entirety. I don't plan on buying any more books in the series until it's concluded. Then I'll get them all.

( )

This second novella in the Industrial Magic series picks up nicely where the previous leaves off... with one exception: we're left with a fairly interesting historical footnote but not much of that does our MC Charlotte much good in terms of character development or interesting plot other than something like a one-off.

I personally would have been ecstatic with a firmer grounding in the magic and the training if she's going to be bucking the Royal Society like this. Even an untraditional schooling is better than this, and just slapping the previous baddie onto this tale might work when we finally get down to it, but I thought there was enough possible growth in the world to make this tangent both unique and poignant without falling back on an already familiar plot point.

That being said, however, both the writing and story were interesting enough to negate a huge portion of my gripe and getting a heavy and oppressive feel of the Cotton Gin, even under the auspices of being a spy, was quite clever and cool.

I figure, as long as a consistent stream of new situations and chances to flex those magical UF muscles keeps coming along, I'm not going to have much of an issue.

I had fun, regardless!

Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC! ( )

While excellent it felt a little rushed.

Charlotte is learning to control her magic and finding out more about the Royal Society of Esoteric Arts. Her brother Ben is training in a mill and she discovers how hard the work is and how corrupted things can get. She's dealing with her attraction to Magus Hopkins and her fiance's plans and it's quite complicated. The mystery solving felt a little rushed but the world building is worth reading it for.

Overall I want more in this world. ( )

Charlotte's brother, Ben, is now working for the Royal Society in a mill (driven magically, naturally) and asks her to come visit him in Manchester to help him investigate the cause of some mysterious accidents at the mill. Apparently Socialists are suspected. Charlotte finds out that this is dead wrong, of course, and learns more about the Royal Society and Latents (latent magical users).

I still don't like Ben. He's very comfortable with using Charlotte, let's just say, and he always seems to get more out of her successes than she does (which she realizes as well). And even after seeing what working in those conditions does to her, he writes it off as she's just not used to hard work, not that there's something inherently unfair in the conditions at the mill. Poor Charlie.

I enjoyed this novella even more than the last, so I look forward to the next installment! ( )

This was a decent follow-up to Newman's first novella, but as before, I really wish these were full-length novels. I feel like once things get started, they're over! This world is rich and her magic system is interesting and I think it's too detailed for the shorter format.

Alas.

Charlotte's brother is seeking her help and sends her to work in a mill. Woof. The conditions are rough and when Charlie tries to explain that, Ben puts it off to her being pampered her whole life. Ben is a total dink in this novel and I hope that's intentional because I wanted to push him off a cliff.

I would love to know more about Charlie's magical education and how she's learning to master her powers, as well as the politics involved in the big magical organization whose name I've now forgotten (lol, sorry!). I'm also enjoying the potential love triangle - that's right, I SAID IT. Because it's being done right (well, as right as it can be, I suppose).

Can't wait for the third book, but of course I have to because this only just came out. Ugh. ( )