Locus: Petra Grady has the kind of dirty magical job that no one ever talks about when crafting big novels about monsters and mayhem and magic. As a sweeper, she cleans up the ‘‘dross’’ or magic detritus that is created when powerful folks (mages) cast spells. In Kim Harrison’s urban fantasy THREE KINDS OF LUCKY, Petra is eighteen, working hard for a living at a magic university outside of Tucson, Arizona, and trying not to get overly annoyed at the obnoxious mages who treat her like a janitor. She knows, and they know, that if sweepers don’t do their job the dross will become malevolent, shadows will be created and all sorts of chaos will ensue. (I am hugely simplifying the situation but you get the drift.)
What keeps Petra going while surrounded by some first class academic snobs is her colleagues, her nice-enough roommate, and her dog, Pluck. (As someone who survived watching Old Yeller on Wonderful World of Disney, I am honor bound to advise that you do not bond strongly with Pluck. This is a spoiler that I will not apologize for.) But Petra’s old friend, now professor, Benedict Storm has been trying to figure out a way for spells to be cast that mitigates the dross problem, thus negating the need for sweepers. As much as Petra isn’t happy about the ramifications of such research, (primarily because she doesn’t think they know enough about what they are doing to be tampering with powerful magic, but when has that ever stopped a determined bunch of scientists?), she grudgingly agrees to work with Benedict. It all seems academic until an explosion that might involve Petra and then a lot (A LOT) of magical waste erupts from the campus. (There’s a storage facility. Picture Ghostbusters and you get the idea of how badly this can go.) Folks are killed, the existence of magic might be revealed to the non-magic world, a lot of people in authority-type positions want Petra dead or imprisoned. Ditto Benedict. Ditto other folks they care about. Who do you trust? Where do you run? And what in the world does Petra have to do with the explosion? Well, buckle up as Harrison answers all these questions and more while taking her characters through an onslaught of tough situations (both physical and emotional) until they get to the truth and save the world. (Or at least save Tucson.)
THREE KINDS OF LUCKY is the first in Harrison’s new Shadow Age series and she sets things up very nicely for sequels. The core group, good and bad, is established, the worldbuilding is fantastic, and Petra is more than capable of anchoring a long run of books. I saw the villain coming a bit but enjoyed the ride to get to that first confrontation (and all those that followed) way too much to complain. This is solid urban fantasy and a fun read (mostly – remember Pluck!). Harrison fans will be delighted.
Booklist: In a spiraling saga of obituaries, sixty deaths slowly unravel the fate of Poppy and her AI mother, Peregrine. It is no surprise, then, that this grand scheme begins with grief: when “Computer Doctor” Matth Fletcher’s old friend dies, he decides to create a program with their messages. This leads to creating a humanoid body for the messages, crafted with the help of his sculptor husband, whom he eventually divorces to marry the AI. Even after Matth dies, the questions surrounding this controversy fail to disappear: How did Peregrine have the child, and where did they go? Separated by the occasional etymology guide, poem, or letter, the newspaper articles construct a timeline that jumps from the 1700s to the 2100s. Readers must repeatedly sift through the lives of scientists, artists, and actors, laid out in such detail that the pieces of the overarching puzzle can get lost. Provocative but at times meandering, author Robins’ second novel (after When Franny Stands Up, 2022) examines what remains after death: technology, art, and nature. An intriguing read for those who enjoy sf and innovative storytelling.
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