Kim Harrison knows how to write urban fantasy. Three Kinds of Lucky, a book one in her newest series, has all the wonderful world building, characterization, and writing as her Hollows series. Harrison brings a whole new magic system to Three Kinds of Lucky. It's well thought out and unique.

Petra is a sweeper, finding and cleaning up the magical waste left behind by practitioners. Despite having no real magic like others, she is pulled into a waste studying research project by her sexy and smart childhood friend, Benedict. Unfortunately, he doesn't understand the waste like she does. After an accident in their research, the two search out the person who may be able to help. Along the way, Petra learns of hidden talents and must decide whether to unleash them or continue to keep them hidden.

Harrison does a wonderful job of creating this new world. The magic system is unique, the characters are engaging and relatable, and the story is full of action and intrigue. As a fan of the author, I'm excited to see where this new series leads. Needless to say, I'm hooked!

A new series from Kim Harrison? Yes, please! I absolutely adore Kim's writing, and haven't been disappointed by anything that I have read by her. So, I was excited to see a new Urban Fantasy series from her! I enjoyed the character & world building in this story, and the introduction of a new magic system. I am looking forward to reading more from this new world!

Mages split light to use magic, creating dross as an unfortunate side effect, but their magic allows them to do such glorious feats that it has to be worth the occasional pop of bad luck if a bit of dross breaks on them. And if they do not want to deal with the dross, there are always sweepers to deal with it. Petra Grady is a sweeper first-class, excellent at her job, she knows how dross works far better than most. Perhaps better than she would like when she is recruited to help a particularly oblivious mage, her former friend, Benedict Strom, with research into the nature of dross and a potential way for mages to render it inert without the need for a sweeper’s help. Research that leads to a horrific accident and Grady chasing shadows in the desperate hope of finding the only person who might be able to help set things right. The only person who might be able to explain the strange new abilities that Grady seems to be developing. The man who got her father killed during his own experiments using dross for magic.

I find Kim Harrison’s Three Kinds of Lucky entertaining and frustrating by turns. There are ideas that are fantastic and that I looked forward to seeing more of, like the whole mystery of what was going on with Petra’s power and the shadow that seemed to be following her. But then Harrison also had a habit of feeling like she got bogged down in details that did not help the book or that made the characters much more frustrating than it felt like she intended, much of Strom’s early characterization made him feel less like an oblivious mage and more like a brilliant idiot with no idea of how bad his testing process really was. There were moments when I wanted three sequels and a movie from this book and moments where I wanted to be reading literally anything else.

The pacing does the book no favors here and likely added more to my frustration than anything else. Petra being angry at and unwilling to work with Benedict while also regularly expressing attraction to parts of him, like his butt or his smell, gets really old. While she brings up reasonable issues with his methods that really should have been looked into, due to the accident being listed in the blurb, it is clear that Petra, the subject expert forcibly dragged onto the project, will not be listened to no matter what. But then, said horrible accident that kicks off the plot does not happen until something like half way through the book, leaving the lead up to feel less like Harrison setting the world up for her readers than like she was marking time. Unfortunately to my mind, the time is used driving it in that Benedict is totally the love interest and that there is something off about Petra's friend Ashley and that mages are irresponsible idiots about their use of magic and the sheer amount of dross they create. It gets old and it drags on in a bunch of little ways that left me a little worried that Three Kinds of Lucky would not actually get an ending of its own.

Similarly, the character development felt fairly strange. Bendict Strom goes from being oblivious to how dangerous his method of rendering dross inert is, and how bad an idea it would be to release it to the public at large after what seems like a bare week at most of non-lab testing, to this trusted love interest who Petra is going to do whatever she has to in order to keep him safe and who believes in her more than anything. Ashley feels so low key vicious about sweepers and having to deal with dross at home in the lead up to the plot that it feels absolutely unbelievable that she worked with Petra for two years, much less shared an apartment with her. And then we have Petra herself, I like Petra in concept, she is this magical cleaner who is excellent at her job and proud of her work. She has co-workers she likes and cares about, but is ever in a sort of haze of frustration at mages for not paying attention to how much dross they create and how snooty they are. Her anger at Strom feels, if not entirely reasonable, earned based on how he acts, how other mages treat her, and what the reader is told about their shared past. But she is a solid person at her core, so her saving Strom makes sense but the falling for him feels unpolished, like a switch was flipped. Her feelings towards her strange and changing powers feel a lot more natural, slower and more fluid with backsteps when something unexpected happened. I enjoyed seeing how Petra’s power developed and how she reacted to it.

Honestly, the whole set up of mages, sweepers, weavers, and mysterious Petra related other is pretty fascinating. There are pat bits, mages looking down on sweepers for not being able to use magic for one thing, but the ideas are at the base quite interesting. We are repeatedly reminded that much more dross is made now than has been in the past, that without dedicated sweeper organizations working pretty constantly there would be enough gathering to draw shadows in, never mind how much trouble it could cause in a modern setting. There are spinners, sweepers who have some degree of magic that makes them more capable of turning dross from a threat to something useful for gathering more dross, and I find myself feeling like going more into them would have helped somewhat in building what Petra is out a bit more, but that could also just be that they feel like a sort of odd job out that I wanted to see more of to try and figure out their niche better. If mages do not respect sweepers for not being able to use magic, then what do they feel about a spinner who can? Likewise, the shadows, dreaded beings drawn to overabundances of dross, dangerous to anyone who gets too close to them, but also more. The nature of them is forgotten by design but the design feels incomplete, too simple in some ways and too much like a commentary on the upper one percent in other ways. It is fascinating but clumsy in ways that it feels like Harrison could go further into.

Three Kinds of Lucky feels very like a book from about eight years ago when urban fantasy and supernatural romance got cross shelved quite a lot. The characters are solid enough to function, and function well in some places, but have absolutely locked in types that will be hammered in. The magic system is fascinating in concept but feels like more could be done with the workings of it on page. Likewise for the setting and magic society. Harrison is clearly a practiced and talented writer, but the book is very much the start of a series and has the stutters that can come with that. So, for all my complaints, I find myself wanting to see what comes next and feeling like the next book is likely to have a lot of the expansions I was hoping for here and that it might move a bit faster now that things are set up. Frustrating and fascinating by turns, I feel like Three Kinds of Lucky earns a three out of five and look forward to the next one.

I had such a great time with this one! Kim Harrison is fantastic with worldbuilding, which is no surprise to me since this is not the first of her books I have read. The magic system was complex but is very well explained and developed throughout the novel. I love the way the light and shadow are described in balance and the power plays from those who seek to control everything. This one kept me on my toes with the twists and turns and I can honestly say I almost never saw what was coming next! It's fun, action-filled and dramatic with some romance and heart wrenching moments. I was rooting for Petra from the start while some of the other characters caught me off guard. There are many characters but I found them easy to differentiate and each one was complex, even the ones that were introduced in this book but who didn't play a huge part. I look forward to seeing what's in store for them all in the next installment! The rival factions, double agents/spies, secrets, shadows, all of it was just fantastic. If you like urban fantasy and strong FMCs, this one is a great pick!

I voluntarily read and reviewed a digital ARC from Berkley Publishing Group, Ace via NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

A big thanks to Netgalley and Ace for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Magic based on luck? Yes please!

Three Kinds of Lucky by Kim Harrison is a fantasy novel with a magic system based on luck. Petra Grady has known since adolescence that she has no talent for magic—and that’s never going to change. But as a sweeper first-class, she’s parlayed her rare ability to handle dross—the damaging, magical waste generated by her more talented kin’s spellwork—into a decent life working at the mages’ university. Except Grady’s relatively predictable life is about to be upended. When the oblivious, sexy, and oh-so-out-of-reach Benedict Strom needs someone with her abilities for a research project studying dross and how to render it harmless, she’s stuck working on his team—whether she wants to or not. Only Benedict doesn’t understand the characteristics of dross like Grady does. After an unthinkable accident, she and Benedict are forced to go on the run to seek out the one person who might be able to help: an outcast exiled ten years ago for the crime of using dross to cast spells. Now Grady must decide whether to stick with the magical status quo or embrace her own hidden talents . . . and risk shattering their entire world.

This is all just *chef's kiss*. The world is amazing. The magic system is cool. I would love to live in this world forever.

I really enjoyed this book. I've read Kim Harrison before so I had expectations and she did not disappoint. Grady is a sassy, strong, likable character. The side characters are good and the world building was fantastic without dragging the story down. I look forward to more in this series

*Thank you so much to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for the chance to review an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.*

The nitty-gritty: A fast-paced series opener with a great hook, Three Kinds of Lucky excels with fascinating world-building and a lovable heroine.

Have I ever read a Kim Harrison book before? I’m not sure, but I’m so glad I read Three Kinds of Lucky, which is such a fun opening book in her new series. This is an urban fantasy tale about a group of people who are able to use magic, but instead of focusing on the magic itself, Harrison’s story deals with the waste that is created from using magic. I thought it was a really cool idea, and bonus, I loved the characters as well.

We follow Petra Grady, who is a sweeper at St. Unoc University, someone who picks up and disposes of dross, the waste left behind after magic is performed. Sweepers are looked down upon in general, because they don’t have the ability to do magic themselves, but Petra just happens to be one of the best sweepers in Tucson, Arizona, where the story takes place, and although she’d prefer to be a mage, she’s content with her life in general.

Dr. Benedict Strom is a mage with an idea, and he’s also a friend from Petra’s childhood. He’s  come up with an idea to make dross inert, basically rendering sweepers irrelevant. When Petra hears his idea, she’s horrified, since she doesn’t believe it will work. And then, the unthinkable happens: a terrible accident destroys parts of the university and kills dozens of people, when Benny’s ill-fated idea proves to be dangerous. Petra and Benny find themselves on the run after Petra receives a strange message from her benefactor, a disgraced mage named Herm Ivaros who has something important to tell Petra. With a group of separatist mages on their trail, Petra and Benny are about to learn the truth about the dangerous magical element called shadow.

Harrison’s ideas are a lot of fun, and you can tell she had fun herself figuring out this world, which is intricately developed and explained. I loved the idea of dross as a bit of “bad luck” floating around until a sweeper is able to pick it up. It’s usually only sweepers who can even see dross, which I picture as strands of light that resemble cotton candy, so people can step on dross and it “breaks,” which causes something bad to happen to that person, like tripping or spilling coffee on themselves. I also got the feeling that Harrison was trying to make a point about environmental waste, as there are so many mages making dross every time they do magic, but no good system in place to eliminate it completely.

I was a little surprised that the author didn’t go into much explanation about the magic itself. The story is mostly about the aftermath of magic and dealing with dross, and we only see mages do smaller things like use magic to heat up their coffee. This is a complex magic system, with mages, sweepers, spinners and weavers all part of the magical world, and I’m excited to learn more about it in future books.

I thought all of the characters were really well done. Petra is a hard worker and does her job well, even though she’d rather not be a sweeper. Her father died ten years before the story begins, in an accident caused by Herm Ivaros, at least that’s what Petra believes. Unbeknownst to her friends and colleagues, Herm has been sending Petra money each month, perhaps out of guilt at what he did. Herm is sort of a mystery in the story, and we  eventually get to meet him, but I’m hoping we learn more about him in the next book, since I think his character has a lot of potential. Petra ends up finding all sorts of interesting things out about herself as the story progresses, and I liked her story arc a lot, although there is a bit of “special snowflake” to her character since she seems poised to save everyone at the end of the story.

Benedict is the potential love interest for Petra, but to be honest I wasn’t that impressed with him as a character. He’s convinced that his theories about dross are correct and he refuses to listen to anything that Petra says (Petra is clearly smarter than him, even though he is a mage). Time will tell whether I grow to like Benny more, but right now I’m sort of on the fence.

I did love most of the side characters, like Darrell, a Spinner with the talent to weave dross, and of course Petra’s dog Pluck, her loyal companion. And because I always disclose the dog’s fate in my reviews, I must tell dog lovers that something bad happens to Pluck, although there is a glimmer of hope later in the story that Pluck isn’t perhaps completely gone? In any case, do be aware if you’re a dog person and you plan on reading this book.

Harrison’s pacing is fast and furious, as Petra and Benny find themselves trying to stay one step ahead of the bad guys while trying to track down Herm to help them. Not all of the characters are telling the truth about who they are, which added lots of intrigue to the story. My only complaint is that I thought the story went on a little too long, especially the last hundred pages where the action seemed a bit drawn out.

But by the end, I was fully invested in the story, and Harrison wraps things up nicely but also sets the characters up for the sequel. Urban fantasy fans will have a blast with Three Kinds of Lucky, and I can’t wait for the next book.

Big thanks to the publisher for providing a review copy.

Latest #Netgalley Read:
Three Kinds of Lucky (bk 1 The Shadow Age) by Kim Harrison

💜 Fantastical World Building
🖤 Creative Magical System
💜 Slow moving plot but still full of action
🖤 Don’t trust anyone!
💜 Betrayal for days!
🖤 Death of Supporting Characters 💀
💜 Separatists who want to kill everyone but Mages
🖤 No romance for those who love romantic fantasy

Overall, this was a good start for a fresh perspective on a magical system and urban type paranormal / fantasy series. During certain spots where the plot was sort of thickening, I became a tad bit bored with how slow things were moving but it never lasted long. Although there’s no underlying romance trope going on here, she definitely set the foundation for that trope to pickup in the next book. It’ll be interesting to see if that happens.

There’s a moment in this one where I absolutely loathed one of the characters who continues on and survives until the end…. Loathed him. Without having to provide a warning for spoilers, let’s just say that certain areas of the story should’ve ended certain characters for good. Being scared should not have been the excuse for killing in this one specific instance. No way would I have been able to just move on from that like it’s all good later in the story. Nope. No way. Now, I love the shadow. I love the potential that the relationship with the shadow has to continue moving on in the series. Such a fun, creative twist.

Again, overall, good start to an action packed series. Now that so much groundwork has been laid, I figure the others in the series will move a little more quickly.

🏷️ #netgalleyreads #netgalleyreviewer #netgalleyreview #bookreview #fantasybook #paranormalbook #newseries

This was a decent opener for a new urban fantasy. It would have been 4 stars, but for a few things that bothered me that I'll get into in a moment.

Thank you Ace and NetGalley for the digital ARC!

My rating: 3.5 stars.

This book hit the right notes for a successful urban fantasy:
- Unique magic system? Check.
- Betrayal? Check.
- Heroine discovers secrets about family? Check.
- Heroine starts story underpowered, grows skills to become a serious player? Check.
- Found family? Check.

I like Grady! Oh, it's so refreshing to have a protagonist I really like. One of my biggest peeves is when an adult character acts immature or illogically just so that miscommunication can be a plot driver. If I'm screaming at the characters to just "TALK TO EACH OTHER, OMG" then I'm not going to enjoy the book. Thankfully Grady doesn't fall into that trap. Her relationships and reactions come across sincere and realistic. (for the most part - one caveat - we'll get to that) I will say that I didn't really buy the burgeoning romance between her and Benedict. His inability to even consider he might be wrong seems like something her no-nonsense character just wouldn't tolerate. I think if this had been a more slow-burn thing where we see his character development over a couple of books, and THEN she gets the feels, I would have felt it was more earned and satisfying.

The biggest draw for me is the world building. I'm a sucker for new and unique magic systems, and I thought this was a really fresh idea. We always get the stories about the fancy magicians... but what about the people cleaning up after then? Stories where we delve into the class hierarchy of magical societies are really interesting to me. And I LOVE the trope of familiar/bonded entity and developing that deep and rich connection, so that part of the plot strongly appealed to me as well.

I did have some significant issues with this story (see below) but the positives were enough for me to really enjoy the story and give it a strong 3 stars. I think Harrison has laid down a really good foundation for a new series and I'm putting this series on my watch list to see what direction she takes in the second book; I think this could easily become a favorite with a little bit of polishing.

SPOILER WARNING!---------------- DON'T READ FURTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT SPOILERS!-------------
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SERIOUSLY. I WARNED YOU.
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Alright, here we go.
Look, I'm a dog person. I love my dogs, they are my children. So I'm already a bit peeved that the author killed Pluck. That in and of itself isn't a dealbreaker though, I've loved other books where beloved pets die, and it can be huge in terms of emotional stakes if it's written well. But Grady seems to have a brief moment of anger/grief about it and then... on she goes. Her character is written as though she loves this dog, so it falls completely flat for me that she replaces him so easily. And then names the Shadow the same name! No way. When my dog Zoe died a year ago, the last thing I wanted was another dog. Because I didn't want another dog, I wanted ZOE. Getting a new dog and then giving it the same name? Even if it looked just like her? Would have felt like such disrespect. On top of that, Grady is briefly angry with Lev for killing her dog because she asserts she could have saved him. But then she very quickly seems to get over it. Let me tell you, if someone killed my dog, I would never forgive them. If they killed my dog, when I knew if they had waiting 5 minutes I could have saved the dog, I would murder them. MAYBE I would grudgingly work with them to save the world if there was no other choice, but afterwards I would murder them.

Also, her roommate who betrays her is... what? Important? Not important? According to Sikes she was merely there to spy on Petra. And yet she keeps being front and center, making demands of Sikes, and throwing a literal temper tantrum because she wants to *checks notes* COMMIT GENOCIDE. Why does the man in charge indulge her? Why does he keep her around? I feel like, if she's an unimportant grunt, he would have dismissed her the first time she acted ridiculous. He certainly spoke to her like she was a peon, and yet she keeps being allowed at the grownups table. This rang REALLY false to me.

Those are my primary gripes with this story, but otherwise I think it's a really strong first book in a new series.

I was so happy when I saw Kim Harrison had a new series coming out. I first discovered her when I read The Hollows, and this book just confirmed her place as one of the great Urban Fantasy authors in my mind. I love her world building and this was the first in a new world that I already can't wait to go back to. There is a smidge of romance in here, but it is mostly straight up fantasy: magic, shadow, and the always present power struggle. I friggin loved it.

Petra Grady has never been able to do magic. She does have an ability to handle dross, the waste that is made when mages use magic. If they cleaned up after themselves it wouldn't be so bad, but they treat her like a glorified trashman. While she loves what she does, she's tired of being treated like a lower class citizen. She didn't envision being voluntold to be on Benedict Storm's research team. In fact, she tried to say no. Nevermind the facts that she thinks his research is dangerous and that her roommate wanted the job they are forcing on her. He snubbed her in school when they were growing up after she thought they were friends. This job is going to be terrible.

Will I read anything Kim Harrison writes? Yes. Was this an excellent new addition to her writing? 100% This is a really fun new series, and an incredibly strong first installment. The worldbuilding and characters are excellent, it's fresh and exciting and it keeps everything I love about Harrison's writing there. Very much excited to see where this series goes!

If you are searching for the first in a brand new series than you've gotten lucky with Three Kinds of Lucky by Kim Harrison, the first in the new Shadow Age Series. Harrison previously authored the long running Hollows series about a post apocalyptic society where vampires, witches, pixies and other magical creatures revealed themselves when humanity is almost wiped out. Three Kinds of Lucky also merges the magical with the mundane, but in this case not everyone is aware; in this world a certain percentage of people are able to work magic of different kinds, but keep their magic hidden from those that cannot.

The story centers on Petra Grady who though she cannot do magic herself is skilled with dealing with dross, the byproduct created when magic is done and can cause damage to the world in the form of materials breakdown and cause unlucky accidents for those that encounter it. The story starts off quickly with Petra cleaning up a dross spill that doesn't quite goes as plan and then continues at a brisk pace as we meet a cast of interesting and compelling characters and learn more about the world and its secrets. The ending brought in some elements of horror and I was surprised by one particular death, which I have a feeling may not be popular with some readers, but I could see how it worked well in the weave of the story as a whole. Comparisons to our own world's environmental issues and racism, which although at times felt slightly heavy handed, give the book a feeling of timeliness and relevancy beyond its supernatural premises.

I usually get sucked into a Kim Harrison book and can't put it down. Unfortunately something about this novel did not work for me because it took me entirely too long to get through it. It was well written and I'm sure there are many who will enjoy reading this book but this particular did not get me the normal excitement I get when reading the first book in a series.

However, just because I did not find my joy in reading this book I do encourage everyone to give it a chance!!!!

If you loved Rachel Morgan, you're going to love Petra Grady! Wow, talk about a magical rollercoaster!

Petra Grady's life as a sweeper at a mage's university gets turned upside down when she teams up with the too-hot-to-handle Benedict Strom. This book is a goldmine if you love the "magic in the mundane" vibe, complete with an underdog protagonist with a hidden talent and a hint of forbidden romance.

Hidden powers meets enemies to lovers with a sprinkle of "on the run". If you're itching for a contemporary fantasy that mixes everyday magic, unexpected alliances, and a journey of self-discovery, this is your next read. Plus, who can resist the tension of working closely with someone who knows you better than anyone else.

Three Kinds of Lucy, by Kim Harrison, is the first installment in the author's The Shadow Age series. The story is told in the first-person narration by Petra Grady. The story is set in a place called the City of St. Unoc where St. Unoc University has the highest percentage of magic users anywhere. 10-years ago, Petra Grady's father was killed in what's being called the Shadow Break of 2014. Petra is a sweeper first-class whose job it is to be the frontline defense against deadly shadows created by mages.

In this world, there are sweepers, spinners, and weavers who apparently are all but extinct. Sweepers aren't exactly famous, but they are necessary. Petra has known since adolescence that she has no talent for magic—and that’s never going to change. Or will it? But as a sweeper first-class, she’s parlayed her rare ability to handle dross—the damaging, magical waste generated by her more talented kin’s spellwork—into a decent life working at the mages’ university. She's also known to do things that make others question whether she really does have magical abilities that she's just ignored.

Petra's relatively predictable life is about to be upended. When Benedict Strom needs someone with her abilities for a research project studying dross and how to render it harmless, she’s stuck working on his team—whether she wants to or not. Only Benedict doesn’t understand the characteristics of dross like Grady does. After an unthinkable accident hours after she tender's her resignation, she and Benedict are forced to go on the run to seek out the one person who might be able to help: an outcast named Herm Ivaros who was exiled ten years ago for the crime of using dross to cast spells.

Now Grady must decide whether to stick with the magical status quo or embrace her own hidden talents . . . and risk shattering their entire world. She quickly ends in a battle between her own roommate who is working with the separatists, as well as her neighbor who apparently belongs to the militia. One wants to destroy spinners and sweepers, and the other believes that Petra is someone who may have the answers to controlling the rampaging shadows.

*Thoughts* Like the author's Hollows series, this story takes place in an alternative city where something major happened to change the world. What makes Petra different from Rachel, is that Petra can see the magical waste that is left behind by mages like Rachel who seemingly don't care about the waste they leave behind. Part of this book was a see-saw ride between Petra being caught between two factions, and the fact that Petra learns more about her own father, and her own abilities than she has in the 10 years he's been gone. In many ways, this story is unique in its magical world, and its characters, so, I do intend to continue if I am able.

Book Review: Three Kinds of Lucky by Kim Harrison

Three Kinds of Lucky is a contemporary urban fantasy about a magical garbage collector that gets pulled into a power struggle within the mage community.

Petra Grady is an Arizona “sweeper” who is in charge of gathering and disposing of the magical castoffs called “dross” created by the local mages. It is not considered a particularly glamorous or high profile job and there is tension between the sweepers and the mages who don’t enjoy paying them to clean up after them. Petra is assigned to work on a new dross disposal technique with her former middle-school crush and mage (Professor Benedict “Benny” Stom) but she immediately has doubts about its safety. When her concerns become a reality she finds herself on the run and no one in her life is who she thought they were including herself.

I was really excited for the start of a new Kim Harrison series because I enjoyed The Hollows and The Peri Reed Chronicles. But this one was a little disappointing. The plot is so bogged down in the details and lingo around the magical system that it’s hard to just sit back and enjoy. And although there is a lot of action the endless descriptions of dross and gathering dross and what to do about dross slow the book down and make it drag. At just over 450 pages it shouldn’t have felt so long but the last fifteen percent was a total slog. I did like the main character (although she has a real “not like other girls” vibe) and some of the side characters are okay (although she never did get an explanation or an apology of why Benny was so awful to her in middle school) and the crosses and double-crosses were interesting. I am also curious going forward with the series that with all the world building out of the way if future installments will be a more enjoyable read and less of an info dump.

DNF’ed at 30%. I seriously struggled with Three Kinds of Lucky, and I’m so sad it wasn’t as good as I was expecting it to be. The author just plops you into this urban fantasy with zero world building or character development and expect you to slog through a good portion before finding any reason to keep going. After 100 pages of basically nothing and then major info dumping, I couldn’t force myself to continue. Did I find the magic system interesting? Yes, I actually think that’s the best part and including the discussion around the crappy treatment of one type of magic user over the other was an interesting plot point. The reason I decided to just leave this as a DNF is because the pacing was awful, I wasn’t drawn into the story, and I didn’t really like the characters.

Thank you to NetGalley, Berkley, and the author for providing me an early copy. I’m leaving this review voluntarily.

Thank you to NetGalley, Berkley, and Ms. Harrison for the opportunity to read an ARC of this title. An honest review was requested but not required.

I've been hit or miss on Ms. Harrison's work but overall I liked this series debut. It had a completely fresh and original take on the paranormal world, which seems rarer than ever these days. Basically, the use of magic leaves a residue (dross) which, as it accumulates, causes bad luck. If it gets "big" enough (I pictured a giant malevolent dust bunny) it can be lethal. Sweepers are magical "trash collectors" who are uniquely able to spot and gather the dross and dispose of it. Petra, a strong sweeper, is tasked to a scientific research group headed by a childhood frenemy who is experimenting on fueling magic with dross. Coincidentally (or not), this is the exact sort of experiment that killed Petra's father.

I see some complaints that the magic system was too scientific but I actually appreciated all the information about how it works. It's very frustrating for me when magic systems that seem complex are treated as nebulous mysteries and the rules have a strong "because I said so" flavor. As a series starter I think it makes sense that a significant portion is dedicated to explaining how things work. The world building and magic were more resonant for me than the relationship, but hopefully that will grow over time. Unfortunately one of the plot turns was very upsetting (RIP) which hindered my full enjoyment of the story.

Looking forward to seeing where Ms. Harrison takes these characters.

This is a great new series by Kim Harrison. It is a really interesting world she has built for us. This is unlike any other Urban Fantasy book I have read before, it is such a unique magic system. I like the main character Petra and the side characters. I can’t wait to see where this series goes. I would definitely recommend this new series to anyone who likes Urban Fantasy.