Right Hand Magic
Golgotham #1
Written: Nancy A. Collins
Published: December 7, 2010
Publisher: Roc
ISBN: 0451463668
Obtained via: Purchase (e-book)
Blurb:
Like most Manhattanites, aspiring artist Tate can’t resist a good rental deal-even if it’s in the city’s strangest neighborhood, Golgotham, where for centuries werewolves, centaurs, and countless other creatures have roamed the streets.
Her new landlord is a sorcerer name Hexe, who is determined to build his reputation without using dark, left-hand magic. As Tate is drawn into Hexe’s fascinating world, they both find that the right hand does not always know what the left hand is doing-and avoiding darkness is no easy trick…
My Review:
This book was the first one I bought after I received my NookColor. I think it was a great candidate for that, because, while I enjoyed Collins’ Sonja Blue stories, they were very much on the dark side and I wasn’t sure about this new one. I’m thrilled to say that this series is much lighter than Sonja Blue, and that I really enjoyed the world and the city-within-a-city feel of Golgotham. The story doesn’t have a ton of depth, but it’s a perfect cotton-candy piece.
Tate is a little on the annoying side, as a trust-fund baby with a fairly large chip on her shoulder. Her parents suck and would rather she hang out at the country club and work on an eating disorder than get an art showing for her very large junkyard-reject metal sculptures. She does come off a bit juvenile, and she’s OBVIOUSLY out of her depth after she moves into Golgotham, but the setting is so complex and fascinating that I’m willing to forgive that for a book or two. After all, if the main character was perfect in the very first book there wouldn’t be much room for the character to grow.
I will say that I’m VERY tired of the rote romance elements in a lot of urban fantasy novels. Yes, Tate’s new landlord Hexe is a sorcerer-with-a-heart-of-gold and extremely hot, even with his funny hair and six-fingered hands. But c’mon, authors, do we have to be SO predictable? With maddened werewolf attacks, giant shapeshifting cat-dragons, a wicked uncle, and a world so fully realized that a reader could actually step into it, do we HAVE to have that old, tired, “he-helped-her-out-so-of-course-she-falls-in-love-with-him” plot point?
Despite its flaws, I genuinely liked this book. I think it’s a great start to a new series and I’m looking forward to future installments. This book is an absolute perfect, lazy weekend read. It’s a little cheesy in places, but every diet needs a bit of cheese – and the world-building is worth any price.
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