Thursday, February 7, 2013

Street Magic.

Title/Author: Street Magic by Caitlin Kittredge. 

Genre: UF. 

Publisher: St. Martin's Paperbacks. &nbsp

Source: Purchased.

Favorite character: Jack.

Synopsis: Her name is Pete Caldecott.  She was just sixteen when she met Jack Winter, a gorgeous, larger-than-life mage who thrilled her with his witchcraft.  Then a spirit Jack summoned killed him before Pete's eyes - or so she thought.  Now a detective, Pete is investigating the case of a young girl kidnapped from the streets of London.  A tipster's chilling prediction has led police directly to the child...but when Pete meets the informant, she's shocked to learn he is none other than Jack.  Strung out on heroin, Jack is a shadow of his former self.  But he's able to tell Pete exactly where Bridget's kidnappers are  hiding: in the supernatural shadow-world of the fey.  Even though she's spent years disavowing the supernatural, Pete follows Jack into the invisible fey underworld, where she hopes to discover the truth about what happened to Bridget - and what happened to Jack on that dark day so long ago. ~Goodreads.com
My Thoughts:  At times this was a difficult read for me, but I liked it.  A lot.  Street Magic is a dark and gritty thriller with a lot of supernatural elements.  There is danger, death, mystery and magic.  Plus it takes place in London, a city that I love.

I thought the plot was very cool.  Children disappear and when they are found, they are blind and not really responsive to questioning.  When yet another child goes missing, main protagonist Inspector Pete Caldecott will do anything she can to find and rescue the missing child.  She is devoted to the point of stubborness and will do most anything to solve the case.  This includes working closely with someone from her past who she thought was dead.  Enter Jack.  Street Mage, bad boy, musician, Junkie.  Oh dear.  So now, while working with Jack to solve a mystery, she is also working to clean him up.  She is also dealing with nightmares that have plagued her for 12 years since the last time she had seen Jack and they attempted a magic ritual. 

Her nightmares, the case and Jack all bring her face to face with a something called The Black, an otherworld dimension within London.  It's kind of a dark, down and dirty Fairyland filled with creatures who populate it.  I loved this aspect of the book - the worldbuilding.  I really love books where reality is side by side with another world.  It felt very believable to me, so much so that I would start to get annoyed at Pete, who keeps trying to convince herself that it isn't real.  I mean, it felt real to me.  Finally she gets with the program, accepts what she can do and this in turn, helps her with her job.

I like Pete.  She is very hard, and can be quite cold and heartless, which I loooove.  She is no girly-girl.  However, she is also sensitive and caring, especially when it comes to Jack.  (Except when she's pissed at him.)  I also liked Jack.  He's damaged, defensive and self depracating.  He's also tough and can be heartless, but obviously he cares enough to help Pete.

However, just a little warning, foul language doesn't bother me in books but if it bothers you, beware.  There is a lot of the "c" word flung around in Street Magic.  Also, there is a lot of arguing between Jack and Pete before they finally hash it out.  I did wonder why they didn't get to this right away or earler than they did, but I can also see how with misunderstandings a lot of things don't get resolved right away. 

Also, while I really liked this book, there were also some things that confused me.  First of all there is the British slang, which made me feel as though I was missing a lot because I just didn't pick up on what was being said or referred to.  Also, I felt like I missed actions or sentences and I found myself asking "Wait, what happened?" pretty frequently.  I just kept reading though and basically the story plays out logically.

All in all: Dark and bad ass.

Challenges:













3 comments:

Aurian said...

Hmm this does not sound like an easy read, and I do dislike overuse of swear words. Also I have difficulty with heroines with a man's name. It keeps tripping me up. Still, this author is on my wishlist.

fakesteph said...

Sounds fun. Not sure it is for me, but I'm glad you liked it.

Midnyte Reader said...

@Aurian-I actually had trouble with Pete's name too. I kept having to remind myself she was a she. But after a chapter or two it was fine.

@Steph-No, this isn't for everyone. It was pretty dark. But it was also fun.

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