There’s so much to love about this book. The characters are fun. The story is interesting and mostly well plotted. The fox sidekick is awesome, and some of the writing is lovely. The Edinburgh setting is great. The diversity is perfect.

But for me it’s just a bit ruined by the slang writing for the main character. It’s so over the top that it’s jarring and really off-putting. And some of the prose where she’s thinking or talking about magic is lovely and eloquent and then it flips back, and that’s really confusing.

(It’s not that I mind Scottish slang, huge Christopher Brookmyre fan for instance, but it’s so OTT it feels forced and the flip back and forth feels schizophrenic. Every time the character talked about cheddar I winced).

The hints about the magic are good and I think the magical theory behind it looks really interesting - but I want a LOAD more of that. More of the science and more of the geekery.

I also want slightly less time with Ropa banging on about money and more focus on the mystery (I like the depth of her needing to support her family and those conflicting interests, but there was so much of it in this book) . I want to see her practicing and improving her magical skills.

And I want a little bit more development of all the sidekicks. They’re all great and I need more background and time with them.

I also felt like the conclusion is slightly rushed in this one, probably because the mystery of itself was a bit of an afterthought to everything else going on.

I love the world and I want more of it. So that’s great. But to enjoy more of it, the accent / slang needs to be more consistent, and taken down a notch.

Ropa is clearly really intelligent, but sometimes she’s written as if she’s not and that’s a shame.

After reading the first one, I was really looking forward to this one. It didn't disappoint. It was great to visit with many of the same characters. I enjoy reading the Scottish slang and the flawed main character. Looking forward to the next.

Our Lady of Mysterious Ailments is the second book in T.L. Huchu's new urban fantasy noir series, Edinburgh Nights, which began with last year's "The Library of the Dead" (my review is here). I very much liked the first book in this series, which featured an alternate/slightly-futuristic Scotland, where there's an undercurrent of magic (regulated and unregulated), and some dystopian elements in a land ruled by a King whose reign is openly praised by all. Into this world came a remarkable heroine - teenage Zimbabwean-Scottish dropout Ropa, who tries to earn money passing on messages of the dead to their loved ones via her ghosttalking magic, only to get roped up in more regulated and "proper" European magic as well as a street-level mystery of missing children. It was an easy book to enjoy, even as it was at times clearly setting up a larger plot, so I was excited to try out the second book in the series.

Our Lady of Mysterious Ailments is very similar to the first book, with a street-level adventure forcing Ropa again between various needs and forces - her need to earn money for the sake of her grandma and sister, her want to learn proper magic and to prove herself to the magician who has trusted her (and the ones who discriminate against her for her background), the street gangs who she owes debts to, and more. There's some strong themes here to go with a mystery that works generally pretty well, although the solution comes a bit out of thin air, but still - it's highly enjoyable all the way thanks to Ropa's narration and viewpoint, even as it hits serious themes. Again there's a lot of building of a longer myth-arc going on here, which prevents this from hitting a really big high, but I remain very curious where it's all going.


------------------------------------------------Plot Summary-----------------------------------------------------
Ropa's ghosttalking business may have fallen apart, but to her mind things seem to be looking up - after all, Sir Ian Callander, Scotland's leading magician and Secretary of the Society of Sceptical Enquirers, has taken her under his wing and seems about ready to give her an apprenticeship, which will surely give her enough money to support her grandma and sister.

But when a stuck up politician in the Society ensures that her apprenticeship is instead an unpaid internship, Ropa once again finds herself needing a source of cash. And so when her friend Priya, a wheelchair bound girl who works at a magical hospital, asks her to come to said hospital to investigate a strange illness afflicting a comatose boy from a prestigious all-boy magic school, Ropa reluctantly takes the job.

Ropa's investigation leads her to a secret society at the school, which seemed to have been investigating forbidden magics. And at the same time, she's approached by a Canadian man searching for a fortune stolen from his family generations ago by the society, which could solve all her problems....or get her banned from the Society and ruin her chance of solving the mystery all for nothing if she's not careful.....
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Our Lady of Mysterious Ailments is carried once again by the narration of Ropa, which is just delightful. This is a poor black girl who faces a classist/racist/sexist society and reacts to the latest discriminatory disappointment with another scheme to get what she needs, who genuinely cares for her family and friends (a subplot in this book of Ropa trying to help a neighbor who's interested in dating her grandma is an absolute delight), and who is aware a good deal of how shitty the world is and how to react, and yet at the same time is overly eager when she does get scraps of the white/proper man's magic - after all, she could never quite figure out how to make her grandmother's traditional magic work, and her intelligence has always been drawn to books and formulas, so why shouldn't she jump full on into that type of magic when she somehow gets the opportunity. It's a combination of experience and yet-still-naivete that feels very real and makes Ropa just so easy to care for. Of course it helps that she's sardonic and hilarious in how she reacts to certain things.

And so it shouldn't be a surprise that Ropa once again finds herself caught between multiple forces, peoples and magic-wielders as she winds up involved in multiple mysteries that only she can solve - in this case, student-age boys going comatose with a strange malady that is causing them to burn up, eventually fatally. Then she also winds up trying to help a Canadian man hunt down a historical fortune, which leads her to conflicting feelings - after all she's got loyalty to Sir Ian for taking her under his wing and giving her opportunities, and this would seem to sabotage that...on the other hand she really needs the money. And then there's the chance for her sister to go off to magical boarding school again thanks to Sir Ian, which Ropa knows would be great for her but would force her to go away, and well, Ropa finds herself torn in all directions (and I haven't even gotten into the Street Gang which says she owes a debt and wants her to stay out of town till she pays it)!

And again this story is very fun, especially as Ropa deals with more and more people and crazy situations. Priya, Ropa's Indian wheelchair-bound friend (who has slightly different perspectives from Ropa because she grew up more well off and properly schooled, if at the lowest-considered in prestige school) is again a ton of fun, especially as she throws herself into adventure at times to the point even Ropa notices her recklessness. And then there's Ropa's best friend Jomo, whose father is the head Librarian and who just wants to prove himself to his dad as well. Again the plot and narrative is wildly creative and fun, even as Ropa winds up dealing with so much bullshit along the way.

It doesn't all fully work - again the final antagonist seems to come from nowhere (or I missed the clues), and again this book is very much setting up longer plot arcs involving Ropa's gran having a connection to the Society's magical world, as well as bigger bads who are involved behind the scene who are hinted at here but don't come fully into play. But everything else is so fun that it's hard to complain, so I will be back to see if Huchu can make those payoff.

In short, if you're looking for urban fantasy, this is definitely proving to be a series worth checking out, in case you were having any doubts after seeing the reviews for book 1. Give it a try.

I love this new series so much! Sometimes the second book in a series disappoints, but I liked this book even better than the first!
Huchu has created a magical world that I love to spend time in, and I also love his descriptions of Edinburgh! It is just the right blend of fantasy and realism.
The cast of characters are amazing. I love Ropa's feisty confidence, and her determination to take care of her family no matter what may come. There isn't one character I dislike in the series.

In this book we get more details about Ropa's past, the magical history of Edinburgh, and the elite magic schools and their rivalries. The plot was well paced, and I couldn't put the book down. While the main mystery is nicely resolved, readers will have questions about what comes next for Ropa!
I have already begun handing this series to many readers at the library. It is great for fantasy fans, mystery readers, or anyone looking for something with a great sense of place or strong characters.
I cannot wait for the next installment!

First, a huge thank you to NetGalley and Tor Books for an early copy of this book for my honest review!

Second, the cover, the title, and the synopsis were enough for me to hit the request button that I didn't do any more research. I was a solid hundred pages in when telling my roommate about the book, realizing that this was the second book in the Edinburgh Night series, and I haven't read The Library of the Dead yet. However, the great thing about this book is I didn't need to read it. T.L Huchu includes an index of characters and places at the start of the book, and I didn't feel lost on the magic side of things, or world-building since this series takes place in an alternate Edinburgh.

The author also didn't spoil the first book, so I still don't know what happened, which I'm grateful for because I liked the second book, and would love to jump into the first book. I missed a lot of the introduction to Ropa's heritage and I'd love to dive into that part of her story.

I think my favorite thing about Our Lady of Mysterious Ailments is the magic. I'm a sucker for science-based magic, and I could read about Ropa nerding out theories behind this world's magic all day. I love the weave of science fiction into fantasy, and I adored how T.L Huchu weaved into this story. A little bit of science fact mixed with science fiction. Loved it!

The world-building in this was also first class in my opinion. Huchu takes a world a lot of people know and turns into a war zone. I liked seeing it from Ropa's point of view, and you get a real look at the Edinburgh of this reality.

And then there is our cast of characters. I would follow Ropa anywhere. You see the whole story through her first-person point of view, and honestly you forget how young she is. Ropa has had to grow very quickly to help keep her Grandmother and sister afloat during these hard times, and I too keep reminding myself that she wasn't an adult. She was a teenager, but she has just a strong narrative, and she has such a big heart. And, her sass! I adore her, and I think without her all-around demeanor this book would have fallen a little flat for me. There are so many things happening at once, build up to a bigger plot, and so much on Ropas plate, that having her narrator makes a lot of things a lot more visceral.

I'm also in love with Priya and Jomo, the latter I just want to wrap up on bubble wrap to keep him safe. He's too precious for this world! I also really like Ropa's Grandmother, there's a story there that was hinted out a few times through the book that I hope we get soon. Because I think her Grandmother is more badass than we know. Also, I'm not sure how much I trust Callander. While I don't think he's a bad guy, he's not a good one either. I also don't have enough space to talk about how much I dislike Cockburn. Like I get it things are changing and that's hard, but like give Ropa a freaking break you classist snob. If something could eat her in the future that would be a win for me.

All of the issues I had with this book were my own and not worth bringing up. I liked this book and I'm eager to get my hand on the first book to dive back into this world.

Welcome back, Ropa Moyo. I’ve missed you.

In this second installment of the Edinburgh Nights series by T.L. Huchu, Ropa Moyo, ghostalker and magical protégé returns to solve another mystery, this time involving a comatose magical student, money from an old Scottish venture, and an enigmatic king. We meet a few new friends along the way with some old, familiar faces.

Unlike many sequels, Our Lady of Mysterious Ailments picks up exactly where The Library if the Dead left off and takes off running from the first page. No momentum is lost and the witty banter that streams from Ropa is even more delightful this time around. As a reader, we get thrust back into the magical underground of Edinburgh against a backdrop of a post-catastrophe Scotland.

Honestly, it doesn’t matter what she does or what mysteries she solves, Miss Moyo is the breath of fresh air that we all need and deserve and I feel privileged to be able to go along for the ride. The colorful cast of characters that also accompany Ropa are an added bonus.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this advanced readers copy in exchange for an honest review.

This wild and wooly journey of a book is pleasantly buzzy with scrappy magic and old families, and old families with magic. I enjoyed this one almost as much as the first, and look forward to more adventures with Ropa Moyo and her mangy crew of survivors. I think it was a little rough, which gives it charm but sometimes drags just a bit.

Thanks to NetGalley for the advanced read.

Im not sure exactly what I love about this book and this series, but something about it just sucks me in. Ropa is a ghosttalker, and at the moment she is hard up for money. After the events in the last book, her ghosttalking business has dried up, so now she is hoping to get an internship with Sir. Callendar. She also decideds to take on a case her friend Priya asks her to consult on.. A case involving a sick boy at Our Lady of Mysterious Ailments. She needs to finds out what happened to him before he got sick to figure out what exactly is wrong with him.

We follow Ropa and her friends as they try and unravel this mystery. I love Ropa, she is a streetwise kid who is doing the best she can to provide for her little sister and grandma. She is also very very smart. She loves learning reading/ listening to everything she can get her hands on. I love that we are learning right along with her. I also love that we get Ropa and her friends have become more of a team in this one. They work so well together, and get themselves into all kinds of trouble.

The first half of the book is mostly following Ropa in her day to day life, as she is investigating, asking questions, and doing her best in her first few days of internship. Ropa does a little bit of her side gig helping a ghost pass along a message to his family, and I do hope we get lots more of that in the future. Everytime she sees a ghost trying to talk to her, and say "Booga Wooga" it makes me laugh out loud..
Most of the action happens toward the end when all the pieces start coming together, then its nonstop until the very end. I also had no idea how this story was going to end until it was revealed. I mean none..
The way Ropa talks does take some getting used to, but if you can make it through all her slang and street talk the story, plot and characters are really great.

I am loving this series so far, and can't wait to see what crazy mystery Ropa and her friends are going to be investigating next..

Last year I listened to the audiobook of book one in the Edinburgh Nights series. The narrator Tinashe Warikandwa did such an outstanding job that while reading book two, Or Lady of Mysterious Ailments, I felt as though I could hear Tinashe’s voice as I was reading.

Book two starts shortly after book one has finished. I would recommend reading the first book to fully understand the magic world and what Edinburgh is like in the series. There is a lot going on in the books and with Ropa’s street slang the cadence of the narrative takes time to get used to. That said, the author nails their portrayal of Ropa as a street smart girl trying to hustle to make money for her family.

The story is full of action and Ropa takes us through her days as she is trying to unravel what is making a boy mysteriously sick. She has also started her new internship and gotten herself entwined in a plan to make money. Ropa’s friends, Priya and Jomo, are both great characters and help keep the story moving forward. Many of the other characters from the first book make appearances again, including Gran and Izwi.

I am looking forward to the next book in the series. It feels like we are building to a major event.

Thank you NetGalley and Macmillan-Tor/Forge

Thank you NetGalley and Tor Books for an eARC.

Pros:
Relatable, likable, yet flawed characters
The Scottish slang and sense of voice in the writing
No silly romances!
River

Cons:
The story wasn't as engaging as the first book
I don't know if this is how the final book is, but the single quotes made it difficult to tell what is dialogue and what is narration.

Ropa is back and this time with a sweet new gig for The Society. Okay, it's an unpaid internship, but she's got some work on the side to make ends meet. Unless those gigs become Society business and fall under her internship...

Several mysteries come together for this plot, and I just didn't enjoy it as much as the first. The initial mystery was introduced and quickly forgotten, then new aspects were added until the 50% mark where somehow everything starts coming together. I love the characters and the world but this one was got a little too deep into the politics of the world for me. It still had me reading past my bedtime and I will definitely read more.

With the end of her ghosttalking business, Roya Moyo is strapped for ways to make enough cash to support her sick grandma and young sister. When offered the chance to help treat a dying teen at her friend Priya’s clinic, she never anticipated what’s hiding around every corner waiting for her.

T. L. Huchu’s Our Lady of Mysterious Ailments is the second in the Library of the Dead series. Like the first, this book is narrated by the resourceful and witty Ropa Moyo, a young teen trying to make her way into Edinburgh’s magic scene. Full of innuendos and colorful, dynamic characters, this book was a thought-filled, adventurous read. I enjoyed seeing more of the post-apocalyptic Edinburgh, but I still would have loved a little more world building to bring it together.

The downfall of this book is there are so many entangled storylines to slog through and by the time you start to piece one together, you’re blasted over to another. That said, the way they all come together is amazing in the end, I never saw it coming. Another fault is that while the innuendos and slang keep the dialogue fun, it makes the book feel like it was written by a 14 year old girl, which has it’s faults. While it really helps to sell the narrator as she is, the can be hard to follow with SO much slang.

While I didn’t love this book nearly as much as the first, I cannot help but love the characters and setting of this series. I hope to see more of them in the future.

Ropa Moyo is uninterested in telling you the ins and outs of the catastrophe that lurks a few decades into the past of this series she's got more important things to say. The expansion of Scotland's magical landscape past the bounds of the Library of the Dead, for one.

The place of magicians in society is further outlined, though it seems depressingly focused on posh schools and grand institutions, with busigicians pushed to the side, left to practice more "mundane" things without fanfare or recompense. They've even got their own version of Kiyosaki to educate them on the ins and outs of the grind, through the clever and somewhat disgusting mechanism of the earworm.

In between it all is woven a case, a mystery, a reason to have Ropa bopping around town, doing this, meeting that, and seeing something else. The mystery is secondary, the culprit is the real draw, and unfortunately none of it starts to roll together into something truly gripping until the last frenetic chapters.

One final thing: For all Ropa is excited about the mathematical logic and lines of Scottish magic—Western magic?—however, it is the barest edges of Traveller magic and her Gran's Shona practices that catch the most attention. "Who's that?" I said, every time an older woman showed up whose very presence commanded respect. "I want to know more about her."

I really tried to get into this series. I mean the premise is so cool! A girl who talks to ghosts. What's not to like? Unfortunately, I can't with the way these stories are written. The prose is all over the place, which makes the story difficult to follow. Maybe others will enjoy this style of writing, but I'm afraid this is not for me.

This was an intriguing premise. However I think paranormal fantasy is just not for me anymore. Ideal for someone looking for a quick read. The writing style fell flat for me and I was a bit confused in certain places. A DNF for me.

For some reason this one didn't capture my attention like the first one did (actually I'm being disingenuous because I know the reason - it was an e-book and not a physical copy), but still a fun read! I am growing more and more concerned that a certain someone is secretly evil The Whole Time but I suppose time will tell! Excited for the next installment.

A huge leap from the first book (which was a solid but world-building-heavy introduction to Huchu's future Edinburgh), stronger in every respect. Ropa is a delightful narrator, the scientific-magic of the book has really landed now, and I loved getting to see the world-building now that I'm settled into the characters/universe. Looking forward to the rest of the series!

My deepest thanks to Netgalley and Tor for the ARC of this book. Many sequels flounder, but not so with Our Lady of Mysterious Ailments; if anything, this instalment is even better than the original.
I absolutely love Ropa Moyo. Huchu has created one of the most memorable fantasy characters in years with his depiction of this feisty and intelligent young woman, struggling to advance herself, and care for her family, in a post-apocalyptic Edinburgh.
Now an unpaid intern to one of the most important magicians in Scotland, she is supposed to be teaching herself magical theory on the side, and she has also gotten an apprenticeship at the Society of Sceptical Enquirers. As neither of these bring in money, she takes on a job for the titular hospital, trying to cure a student from the Edinburgh Ordinary School for Boys and, as if this weren’t enough, another side-gig helping a stranger reclaim his lost inheritance from the Royal Bank of Scotland.
Needless to say, a few of the storylines eventually intersect, but poor Ropa is run ragged trying to resolve all the puzzles, which range from tolerably mundane to convoluted political and economic machinations, including the second Restoration of England as rulers of Scotland.
One of the very few flaws in this book is that the magic can sometimes come across as a bit superficial but, then, Ropa and her friends are only teenagers, learning as they go, and it is more than apt that they would occasionally bite off more than they can chew. And it is directly related to the highly irritating way that Callander and Ropa’s grandmother do not give her half enough information about either the past, the wider picture that she herself is now part of, or of their own advanced - and opposing - magics.
But Huchu is a great tease, giving us tiny references, spotted here and there throughout the main narrative, about the unnamed “catastrophe” (which, incidentally, has happened in living memory), the charged political situation, and about how people live post-calamity (some things remain the same, but some things have become rare resources) – this is both frustrating but also an accurate reflection of real life, because nobody would include a major info dump in their personal journal.
I love the way Huchu shows the different strata in society and emphasises the great gulf between the haves and the have-nots; again, a realistic and convincing comment on society that one does not usually get in a mere fantasy novel.
Ropa’s character is, as in the previous book, what elevates this way above and beyond most fantasy novels. Her language is an eclectic mix of vulgar street slang and highly intellectual book savvy; from her you can learn about philosophy, the teachings of ancient samurai, how to survive street gangs and how to skin a rabbit – and all not just well-researched by the author but delivered with an air of experience.
I cannot enthuse enough about this series, and am badgering everyone I know, even those that never touch fantasy, to read it, and I can’t wait (already!) for the next book to come out.

Well that was pretty fun. I need to go back and read the first of the series. There were a lot of references to it but nothing that kept me from enjoying this where it started but I definitely want to know more. Great characters, crisp pacing, some reveals, some more unknowns, and tons of pop culture references peppered throughout that I really enjoyed. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC!

This is a voice you will not soon forget., Ropa Mayo, the hero of this adventure fantasy novel, is bursting with colorful personality exploding out in her every words. It's rare to get fantasy with such strong voice and I loved it. The novel transports you directly, like the best of books, and drops you into Ropa's post-apocalyptical world of low means, scientific magic, alternative finance history and big dreams. I did not read the first book of the series but it didn't feel like I had to, all made sense and was a lot of fun. I do intend to read the first installment now! If you like fast paced mystery, smart girls scrambling with time, a bad hand and enemies always a step ahead, then leap on this one. One added bonus, the story all takes place in Edinburgh. Highly recommended!

I was so looking forward to reading this as I loved the first one! This was a great follow up and I love Ropa, Priya and Jomo and was happy to follow along on more adventures. This book moved quickly which I also liked. I loved the addition of a character and place list in the beginning of this. It was a great refresher.