Blood Engines

by T.A. Pratt

Spectra paperback $6.99

This is a departure for Hugo-winner Tim Pratt. It’s the first in a new series about sorceress Marla Mason, who rules the city of Felport. Marla and her helper Rondeau have come to San Francisco to hunt for an artifact called The Cornerstone, which Marla needs to help in her battle with a sorceress who is looking to take over her job. While in San Francisco, she becomes entangled with a mystery and gets on the wrong side of the local council.

Urban fantasy of this kind is a hot thing right now - Jim Butcher, Kim Harrison, Laurell K. Hamilton, etc. However, most of the things that make those books work are not present here. First is the sheer clunkiness of the writing. As we are pitchforked headlong into the story, which in and of itself is not a bad thing, there is not much room for world building and character background. Instead, we get choppy paragraphs of “As you know, Bob…” style exposition tacked on to characters’ thoughts interrupting the story flow. The other thing that makes these type of books work is the likeability of the characters, and here is another place where Blood Engines falls down. Marla is abrasive, impatient, classless and worst of all, uninteresting. We are told about many horrible things she’s done to get and secure power but never really a cogent reason as to why. It isn’t as though she’s gotten rich, or that control over Felport does anything for her other than “she loves it”, which is far too vague an explanation. All we know is that sorcerers are all power-hungry and awful people. Why? No explanation. All of them? Really? Kim Harrison’s Rachel, Harry Dresden, even Anita Blake are entertaining characters with good qualities as well as bad - and the reader enjoys spending time with them. Marla, on the other hand has no interests, no friends, isn’t particularly witty or charming or even exceptionally smart - just determined and power hungry. She isn’t even interestingly evil. The secondary characters come off even worse. Rondeau is a psychic creature who took over the body of a young human boy, and is loyal to Marla for no reason ever explained - we do know she removed his jawbone once - all we really see is that he’s fussy about clothes and reads guidebooks. The others fare even less well. The plot is okay - Aztec gods come into it, as does Marla’s battle to retain control, but the poor writing and uninteresting characters more than take away any points gained by the plot.

If you’re looking for a fun urban fantasy read, avoid this. Stick with Kim Harrison, Carrie Vaughn or Laura Anne Gilman. - Nadine Armstrong