Street Magic: A Black London Novel by Caitlin Kittredge
Published June 2, 2009 by St. Martin's Press
My Rating: @.5

Disappointing. And such a shame.

As you may have noticed from reading elsewhere on this blog, I've become a fan of Caitlin Kittredge. Her Luna Wilder series really sucked me in.

Unfortunately, Street Magic: A Black London Novel -- the first in a new series by the same author -- did not.

First off, it's implausible -- which is a strange thing to notice in an urban fantasy novel. Magic = implausible. Duh! But in this case, the weak points connecting everything together in this novel really was ... improbable and incongruent.

The main character's accent is the first thing to hit you. Kittredge is American, and she credits someone in the opening with helping her with a proper accent and slang in this book. Unfortunately, the author's lack of native familiarity with the dialect she is trying to use in the story shows -- the conversation seems stilted, without the kind of undercurrent of passion that came through in her other books (written, notably, in "American" English).

The next thing that bothered me was the lead character's working arrangement. She is on the police force and is tracking down who (or what) is taking children. Ok, so far so good. But when she hooks up with a person from her past, Jack, she essentially vanishes from the office while investigating the case. Injures herself. Ends up on desk duty. But ... um ... I don't know of any job out there where you can vanish for days on end, not really check in with your manager, and still have a job to come back to. And yet? She has a job to come back to, and it seems as though no hard questions were asked. It's just too easy.

There seems to be an underlying hint that there is or will be some romantic tension between Pete Caldecott, the lead character, and the mage from her past, Jack. But again, the interactions between these two somehow manage to be both superficial and attemptedly complex at the same time.

Even the cover art. Jack, the mage, is an emaciated junkie when Pete first tracks him down (no pun intended!). The picture on the cover? A very buff guy who is far from the barely skeletal form Kittredge describes in her pages.

Will I buy the next book in the series? Maybe. Depends on how desperate I am for something new to read at the time. Realistically? I'll probably hold out for the next book in the Luna Wilder series instead.

Still want to buy this book? Then please consider dropping by Amazon.ca for it.