This book was fine. I just couldn't get myself to care about any of the characters. I thin I will have to try again at a later date because on the surface this book is in my wheel house. I just wasn't feeling it.

This one caught my eye because I love stories with interesting magic systems. It didn’t disappoint.

I enjoyed Laura, the main character, who is rather all in with regard to her chosen profession. She’s been in awe of sweepers since childhood, even though her own town has been downplaying their need and importance for years. Despite this, she lands an apprenticeship with the rather moody and unpleasant Clae, the head sweeper, and earns her chops on the job. I kept looking for a romance to pop up. There were some hints in certain scenes where perhaps an interest was sparked, but the book ended up being all about the magic and the team of sweepers protecting the city from the infestations. It never went anywhere romantic, not really.

The battle scenes in this story are fantastic. The infestations are amorphous, flowing and solid, adaptable, voracious. Each encounter with them highlights just how horrifying they are. Hiding in plain sight in broken amulets. Biding their time until strong enough to feed, on everything. Even the small ones are daunting. There are just enough encounters to really give you a feel for how the sweepers and their gear work against them.

One thing I thought missed the mark were the pronunciation hints. The first was for Clae and the second was for Amicae. In the first case, Clae, the correct pronunciation was explained too late for it to stick for me, even though it wasn’t all that far into the book. I kept self-correcting after that point, and it was distracting. For the second, Amicae, a person’s technically correct pronunciation was called out, but it was revealed at the same time that none of the citizens of the city said it that way. That left me in a bind since I had been using the “correct” pronunciation to that point, and the citizens’ pronunciation wasn’t explained. At that point, it was too late to adjust, even had I figured out how Laura would have pronounced it.

Finally, the story seems to resolve in a way that might indicate future installments, which I think might be good, but I was left unsure whether this actually would be a first in a series or a straight up standalone. Still, the finale was absolutely gripping, heartbreaking, and eye-widening. It came to life for me. I had a little trouble sleeping that night, and that is a good thing. Fantastic.

Overall, I loved this book. I think fans of fantasy and magic will dig it. There are some glimmers of romantic interest, but they flutter away without a second thought.

I received an ARC of this book from the publisher via NetGalley.

I had a hard time with this book: the premise sounded interesting and there are a lot of interesting concepts, but the writing was highly problematic. Even considering that my source is an advance reader copy without full editing, I cannot help but feel that this book would need a complete rewrite to really work. Segues are non existent, the milieu ill-defined and a bit too 'easy', the vernacular far too au current for a sci fi, and the characters were very disaffecting. Action scenes felt far too passive and admittedly I've read this character interaction set up (quirky boss with secrets and naive but capable assistant) several times recently: Lockwood and Co, the Faraday Files, Jackaby, etc. etc.

Story: In a world (likely) on a far planet, an Edwardian-type of society grapples with the magic created from stones dug deep from the ground. The magic can be contained and utilized in amulets - but if the magic runs out, something dark and ugly grows in the 'broken' amulet and consumes anything it comes across, including people. Clae is from a long line of "Sweepers" - those who take care of and dispose of amulet infestations. Laura is his new assistant - a girl from the lower classes. Together, they fight the monsters that no one in their City will admit actually are a problem.

The premise of the book is that a group of magic users corrupted magic centuries ago in order to prevent annihilation by an enemy country. The result was that their entire island of small cities was quarantined to control the spread of the dark magic. One of these cities has convinced its population over time that their walled city is protected against the dark magic infestations. Except that isn't true and it is only through the dwindling number of Sweepers that the city is not wiped out. There are hints that these are transplanted humans and they are not native to the world.

Our two main characters, the rather blandly named Laura and her new and very blunt/aggressive boss Clae are the last of the two sweepers in their City. As Laura comes to learn, Clae has quite an unhappy history. As Laura learns about infestations so do we - we follow on assignments and then the 'big battle' at the end. Along the way, there is a train trip to another City through the 'wilds' - the places between cities with highly dangerous wild creatures. It sounds like an interesting world and I can't help but feel that at the hands of a more experienced writer, it would indeed have been very good.

But the writing is very hard to follow, lacking nuance and depth, and without transitions to tie in paragraphs to each other. Add in cliche sentence structures and very modern 2018 speech, and it becomes a very frustrating read. Imagine if characters said, "Groovy, hep cat, that's one foxy lady!" if the book was written in the 1960s and you'd get an idea here. Fortunately, the author resisted the temptation to say that enemies were 'casting shade.' But still, the writing does not feel like a different country/time/world. In between the anachronisms were a lot of sudden info dumps that immediately pulled you out of the story.

The pacing is also very off, making it hard to really enjoy the book as a result. It's all so passively written, things happen, there's a big battle that everyone saw coming, but I feel like I was reading a novelization of Big Brother but with boring people rather doing bland everyday things. And yes, I couldn't help but feel that taking an Edwardian type of society nearly wholesale and giving it a little bit of magic felt like lazy writing. The world really needed to be more distinct and unique to make me believe.

City of Broken Magic is an odd duck - it's something that you really feel when reading that you should be fascinated and yet you aren't. There aren't glaring issues but there are a whole lot of little things that, when piled on top of each other, really ruin the read and the experience. I do not envy the editor who gets this book but at the same time really hope that a very good one does a thorough rewrite to make it much more interesting. Reviewed from an advance reader copy provided by the publisher.

The City of Broken Magic is a rather unique story. I enjoy the fantasy genre but I wasn't quite sure if this was early day earth or a different world similar to earth. I was able to overlook that confusion and had a good time reading about Sweepers, infestations and magic filled amulets.

Clae is the only Sweeper left in Amicae. He is the perfect curmudgeon even though he's only a few years shy of thirty. He takes on Laura as an apprentice because she was the only person who answered his ad and she's willing to do whatever it takes to be successful.

I liked the main characters, even Clae. When a secret was revealed, it was easy to understand his abrasiveness. Laura was a strong female character and I was rooting for her to succeed. The infestations Sweepers fought were formidable. The thought of fighting such a strong, unpredictable and gross opponent made battles exciting. This was a fun read.

Thank you Macmillan Tor/Forge and NetGalley for for the Advanced Reader's Copy. The opinions expressed are completely my own.
#TheCityOfBrokenMagic #NetGalley

This book was lacking for me! I'm finding myself steer away from sci fi! There's nothing new anymore! Predictable book! Thank you netgalley for the free arc in exchange for an honest review!

Marah Bolender’s debut novel City of Broken Magic is built on an unusual magic system and world. The city Amicae is built to contain and ward off infestations of magic monsters that spontaneously form in broken amulets. The city designers did too good of a job and now the civic leaders and almost all citizens do not believe that monsters exist, and that’s a problem because amulets do wear out and break. Sweepers are responsible to remove any monsters that form, a terribly dangerous job.

Our heroine Laura is a Sweeper training under the only other surviving Sweeper, Clae. I kept expecting some romantic sparks between Laura and Clae, or between Laura and the new apprentice Okane but neither happened. Laura is determined to learn as much as possible and develop her skills just to survive, while she dissembles about her job to her aunt and cousin to avoid worrying them.

The plot felt contrived and had a few holes. Clae takes Laura to another city to present her to the sweepers from other cities, yet when they arrive they and their hosts are the only ones there, no one from the other cities, and many of their hosts are too busy insulting Clae to take more than a glance at Laura.

I’m not sure why City of Broken Magic feels flat, bland to me. The action felt 3rd hand, almost impersonal. The two main characters are decent, with Laura a strong-willed determined young lady who wasn’t going to die fighting monsters if she could help it. Somehow the book just doesn’t connect with me.

I think the biggest problem is the secondary characters seem taken right out of central casting: The greedy, foolish businessman, downtrodden almost-enslaved native, chauvinistic wanna-be boyfriend, matchmaking aunt. These characters never read like real people, they are 2-dimensional. There is also no true villain. A few characters get in Clae’s and Laura’s way, but they are minor problems, not over-the-top threats. Overall the poor secondary characters weaken the rest of the novel.



Several reviewers were not happy with how Bolender introduced terms that one had to infer from context, but I didn’t find this a problem. We learn about the world the say way a visitor would, in bits and pieces. I thought the author left several trails unexplored, ideas and situations that she could build upon in future novels, such as the intriguing city of tiers. The novel felt as though the author had a start and an end and took the shortest path from one to the other without looking at the scenery.

Overall City of Broken Magic was a decent read, not one I can rate as high as I would like to given the imaginative world building, but certainly worth reading if one enjoys fantasy.

3 Stars

I hate giving bad reviews, but I just could not finish this book. I picked it up and put it back down three times before giving up.

The writing was fine, but the story was very slow moving and not very interesting to me.

It could very well be that this book was not my cup of tea, but I normally really like these world building magic based stories.

It was a awesome fantasy/action read! The main character is a strong young woman who is focused on her job and staying alive. I love the head sweepers attitude of ‘it’s better to be a pain’ and how rude he is to everyone. The was actually a fair amount of humour in this book.

I kept expecting a bit of romance in the book, but the story sticks straight with the fantasy genre.

The main characters had a lot of personal growth through the book. When the book finished I couldn’t wait to find out how they got over the next personal and professional hurdles they had. At the end of the book, you could almost see quite a few people plotting things that would get in the way of the main charcter in the next book.

I love the premise of this book, that there is a small group of “sweepers” who fight monster infestations that the city in a realistic fantasy world is loathe to acknowledge.
The main character, Laura, is engaging. We immediately want to root for her and for her to become the sweeper she has always dreamed of becoming. I love strong female protagonists, and Laura certainly is one.
The world building is great as well, with the setting being something I was immediately drawn into — I wanted to learn more about how this society worked and how the magic had influenced it.
However, I found the book dragged a bit, especially in the middle. Maybe I didn’t find the antagonist strong enough or there wasn’t enough of a big conflict, just lots of little ones.

Bolender premiers with a adventure fantasy that is both innovative and fast-paced. Worth the read! Look forward to reading more from this author.

I don't think I've read any other book that has this style and system of magic and it's interaction with the society built around it. Truly novel and incredibly entertaining, the story builds to a truly engrossing pace full of action and a brilliant strong female character that is strong and resilient and independent. I love so many things about this story and it was one of the most unique and engrossing books I've read in a while.

City of Magic is Mirah Bolender’s debut fantasy novel. If you’re looking for a new fantasy author to follow, you might seriously want to consider her. As for City of Broken Magic, think magic meets tech, but in a steampunk world, and you’ve got the core idea. In my mind I was picturing the setting as being sort of 1920s-esque, which felt right, considering some of the circumstances and the way they reacted to certain characters.
I should tell you that I actually ended up reading City of Broken Magic twice before I actually sat down to write this review. I read it the first time so quickly I basically inhaled it, so I had to go back for a second round, you know, to be sure I got all the details.
It probably goes without saying that I got immediately wrapped up into the plot of this story. I love the world that Bolender has built us. It’s beautiful, dark, and enchanting. I had no problems visualizing the city or the little details she mentions throughout.
Likewise I loved all the characters. Laura is the main perspective, and being that she’s new to the job of being a sweeper, she’s the excuse for explaining basic parts of the city and magic to us. It worked really well. More than that though, Laura is a driven woman. She’s come up against great odds to get the job she wanted, but she never once hesitated, and I respect that. I feel like if more of us had a drive like hers we’d be hunting down the jobs we love with everything we have. More than that though, she’s compassionate. She sees the city at its worst, and yet for her it’s never ‘just another Tuesday.’ You can tell that she sincerely feels pain anytime there’s loss of life. But it won’t drown her, not Laura. If anything it’ll just motivate her to work harder. Actually, there’s quite a lot that motivates her to work harder. No wonder she’s so good at her job.
Clae is the opposite of Laura. He’s gruff, stubborn (okay, that they have in common) and he’s experienced in the job. He pretends that nothing gets to him anymore, but Laura was pretty sure that’s a façade, and I tend to agree with her on this one. I really do believe he was the best instructor for Laura though. His lack of praise drove her to try even harder, and her skills quickly became vital to the story and city.
Both characters were dramatically different from one another, but Bolender successfully used the situations they were up against to make us care about them, and the situations they were in, that much more. The introduction of a third character only enhanced that effect. It was wonderfully done.
As for the magic system itself…I love it. It’s a unique way of looking at it. All magic is based off of items, but those items are exceptionally vulnerable to attack and corruption. It’s elegant, really. It’s a power source and a threat all in one. Talk about efficient writing! Seriously though, the system fascinated me, and I really hope there’s a sequel in this series so I can learn more about it.
There were so many iconic moments during City of Broken Magic. I have no doubt that I’ll be remembering them for quite some time. I actually couldn’t tell you which part was my favorite. Though obviously there were a few scenes towards the end that were particularly striking. And emotional. I’m still reeling from a couple of those parts. I may just never recover (okay, that’s a slight exaggeration).
I haven’t heard anything about a sequel yet, but I’ll be eagerly awaiting any news on that front. I need to find out what happens next! I can’t wait to see what Bolender comes up with next. Truth be told, as much as I’d like to see a sequel, I don’t think I’d complain if she wrote something else instead. I love her writing style enough to take what she writes without complaint.

I couldn't put the book down. Story is about a city state and centers on two magicians, Clae and Laura. They try and control the bad magic that is in the city. The bad magic kills people and controlling it is dangerous work. I enjoyed the storyline between Clae and Laura. The characters are well developed. The plot fast paced. I am hoping there is a follow up book soon!

Disclaimer: I received an e-ARC from the publisher and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
I wanted to read this book due to the original blurb, but once I started I just couldn't stay with it. This is a DNF on my list., sorry, just too much confusion with the terminology used. If you build a world - please make sure your readers can follow the scaffolding of what you are building it on.

Laura has been apprenticed to Head Sweeper Clae for a few months now, and work hasn't stopped being dangerous and weird. Sweepers come to the rescue when citizens forget to check that their magical amulets are still full of magic and operating without damage. When amulets are empty or damaged, that's when magical monsters they call Infestations can take hold--and infestations like eating living things. Their city's Sweeper team is smaller than most, as the city of Amicae lies to it's citizens--it tells them they're free of naturally occurring monsters, and that any occurrence of Infestations are purposefully put there by vengeful members of the mob.

When Laura and Clae kick out an Infestation in the house of a rich man, they take one of his servants as payment--one with a natural aversion to Infestations, and was suffering from severe and repeated abuse from his 'master'. His name is Okane. Clae frees Okane and takes him as a second apprentice.

Okane senses something big is coming.

Bolender has created what I hope is the start of a series. The setting is rich and new--populated with some pretty great characters I'd love to see more of. I quite enjoyed the book--it's entertaining and action packed.

After reading some of the reviews on here, I admit that I was a bit confused in the beginning of the book. The introduces a number of terms that are used elsewhere in fiction like "infestation," "gin, "kin," etc. that had specific meanings attached to them in this word, but did not resemble those in our world. I do think some initial clarification could have been given to make it easier to dive right into the world.

Once I kind of figured out what was going on within the world Bolender created, I really enjoyed the book. There are a lot of interesting twists and turns that I did not expect. And even though I saw the climax of the book coming from before I finished the first 1/3 of the text (the evil rich guy does something stupid and sets the heroes up for catastrophe), I enjoyed the journey there.

I was given the opportunity to read a pre-publication version of the book, and the text still had a few awkward grammatical issues, but I'm sure that will be cleaned up before actual publication.

When it's all said and done, I'm not completely sure what I would characterize this book as. It's part urban-fantasy, part steampunk, and part supernatural, and yet it's not completely any one of those at the same time.

Overall, I definitely think this book is a good read and would encourage anyone looking for something a bit different to read it when it comes out in November 2018.

Set in 1233 in the city of Amicae, the city is broken up into Quarters," like a massive tiered cake". Job and status determine which quarter a person lives in, with First being the richest, and Fifth being the poorest. There's a Sixth Quarter which is where the army lives. Each city is isolated from the others and travel is dangerous between them. Technology is equal to the modern day. Magic is real and used for various purposed in amulets. Amulets are made by artisans in many shapes and sizes and occasionally need to have their magic refreshed.

Our heroine, Laura, is apprenticed as a Sweeper. We aren't talking literal broom sweeping. Laura is learning to clean up monsters created by broken magic. Created as an anti-magic defense system against the other kingdoms, the creators lost control of the system, were killed by the monsters and have spread. The only problem is the city has hidden the existence of the infestations creating these monsters and blames the destruction on the mob. Now you have a career that precious few know about and even fewer that choose to do it. It's a dangerous trade and none of the past apprentices have made it. Suddenly, the monsters are becoming sentient and more. They are learning as part of a hive mind. Enter Laura.

Laura is a dreamer. She learned about Sweepers from a book about the capital city and decided that one day, she would be a Sweeper too. She lives with her aunt and hides the dangerous side of her job from her aunt and cousin as part of the hush deal required by the city. Every day, she goes to the Sweeper shop to learn what she can from Clae about what it takes to be a Sweeper. Brooding and secretive, Clae doesn't make it easy for Laura. Then something happens to Clae, and it's up to Laura and the newest apprentice, Okane, to save the city from a massive infestation growing underground.

The world building is very unique and takes a bit of getting used to. If you are the type of reader that expects the technology of the time that the book is set to be identical to what it actually was during those years, you may not enjoy City of Broken Magic. If you can suspend your expectations of the time period, I think you'll really like it. It reminds me a lot of Lockwood and Co. series by Jonathan Stroud or Constable & Toop by Gareth P. Jones.

As a side note: I obviously didn't look closely at this cover when I got the ARC. I thought it was a manhole cover oozing supernatural goo. It's not. It's an amulet that's been broken. (Duh, Valerie.) That in itself gives insight into the story. Although the manhole misinterpretation would as well, now that I think about it.

This book features a determined young woman making her way in a dangerous profession - one of a bare few underresourced people fighting monsters, the existence of which the city is determined to officially deny.

That's an excellent start, and it progresses with plenty of excitement and action, and some degree of personal and interpersonal growth.

The setting was a bit lightly done; in particular, I always have a problem with an isolated island (especially one, as here, consisting of isolated cities which it's dangerous to travel between) developing high technology. That's something that arises more naturally in a continental setting where there's a lot of exchange of ideas and mobility among the population.

I read a pre-publication copy, and my enjoyment was markedly reduced by the author's lack of apparent acquaintance with the past perfect tense. A lot of authors today, when narrating in past tense, fail to go into past perfect to signal that they are talking about an event in the earlier past, which is disorienting and annoying. I hope, but don't necessarily expect, that this will be fixed by the time of publication; there are a lot of instances of it, which generally means that even a good copy editor will miss some.

Setting this aside, I found it good, though not great; a touch more depth to the characters and some more thought given to the setting would have helped.

I received a copy via Netgalley for purposes of review.

First off, I don't think they did a good job with the blurb. I don't normally summarize a book in a review, but I think this one needs it since the official one is not detailed enough, and doesn't properly fit the book. Here goes:

The story is set in a country that uses the equivelent of late 20th century technology. Women are expected to marry, but it is acceptable for them to take on secretarial type jobs. There are some rare, but amazing women working in higher tier jobs (politics, police, etc.) In addition to technology, they also use amulets for various purposes. Once those amulets run out of juice, human eating monsters come out of them.

Sweepers are trained in the job of exterminating these dangerous beings. The problem with our MC's city, is that their politicians convinced people that their city is sort of immune to monsters. Anytime there's an incident, it's blamed on the mobs. This means that Sweepers have bad press, and next to no staff.

So we have dangerous monsters, and two and a half Sweepers to clean up the problem. However, there's currently a spike in the frequency & strength of the attacks, and Laura (the MC) has to figure out how to excel at her job, work with her new fellow useless apprentice, deal with her taciturn boss, and somehow survive a sudden massive invasion, among other things.

I really enjoyed this book. It reminded me a lot of The Screaming Staircase series by Jonathan Stroud, although the characters are older (in their 20s). It's got a similar plot and vibe - quick thinking characters fighting a never-ending battle against monsters that think humans make for a good meal.

The book is well written, with a good mix between action, character development, world building, magic weapons, and an excellent plot. I liked the sparks between Laura and her boss, Clae, who pisses everyone off, because why not? I'm also happy that while there were potential moments with several characters, Laura remained focused on her job, appreciated her status as a free single woman, and didn't go running off after romantic rainbows, despite family pressure.

It ends with most of the big issues resolved, although there's lots of room for a second book, and I'm pretty sure there will be one. Scratch that, there HAS to be a continuation.

Basically, this was a great book. It kept me up late into the night. I highly recommend it.

Disclaimer: I received an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

I try to give new books a break but I couldn’t do much with this one. Between the author and the editor someone should’ve known that we didn’t have bicycles, bombs, etc. in the 13th century. I can ignore the modern language but the rest really distracts from a story that wasn’t very riveting to begin with.