Dirty Magic

Disclaimer: I received an eARC from netgalley.com.

Dirty Magic by Jaye Wells kept me up all night long. This is the story of Katie Prospero (more commonly referred by her last name) and her attempt to prove her worth. The story opens up with her walking a night beat in Babylon City when she comes into contact with a murder involving the latest designer “drug”. In Babylon, potions and magic are the drug of choice and it seems that everyone wants some.

I loved the magical system Wells created. Technically this book can be classified as an alternative history where magic comes out in the world and asserts it's worth as a technology. There are two classifications of magic, clean and dirty and the dirty magic is the stuff junkies are hooked on. Magic has a physical bond in this story, where the more you use it or imbibe, the more it changes you.

The world feels alive because of this history, sprinkled in amongst the main story line. Wells brings Prospero's world alive with real-life dialog and action and police knowledge.

Bottom line: If you like your urban fantasy a little bit dark and dirty with an edge of realism then you'd love this book. I'm already looking forward to where this series goes.

Kate Prospero is a tough cop, scraping by, raising her kid brother with the help of her best bud and a kindly senior citizen neighbor. Her troubled past has so far blocked her from progressing out of uniform and the detective ranks – but she's got grit, determination, and hope – not to mention an unreliable automobile and a healthy tuition bill for her brother's private high school.

I know I've read and/or seen this a couple dozen times. So does Jaye Wells do something to freshen this up? And does her take on this work? Yes, and pretty much.

Wells' twist on this is introducing magic into the mix. It's our world, but instead of Big Tobacco and the Pharmaceutical Industry exploding in the last few decades, while their less than legal counterparts were finding similar success – “clean” (read: legal) and “dirty” (read: illegal) magic came into economic ascendancy. There's a Magic Enforcement Agency running the war on dirty drugs on the federal level, while Prospero and her brethren in blue take the battle to the streets.

That pretty much tells you all you need to know. The book plays out pretty much how you'd imagine it would. Well-told and decently-paced, there's nothing to object to here (well, some of Prospero's emotional reactions seem a bit over-wrought, though your results may vary) – but there's nothing to get terribly excited about either.

It's an entertaining enough read, and I'm curious about where Wells will take things. But I don't know that I'll run for the bookstore come August when the sequel, Cursed Moon comes out.