ARC Review--Three Kinds of Lucky by Kim Harrison

 

Luck is its own kind of magic, in this first book in an electrifying new contemporary fantasy series from the author of the #1 New York Times bestselling Hollows novels.

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.

 

I received this ARC from the publisher in exchange for an honest and voluntary review. I was in no way compensated for this review.

 

Kim Harrison starts off with a brand new series with Three Kinds of Lucky and we enter a whole new world of magic! This is a world with magic and shadows and all the complications that come from their uses and Petra is the one who comes in to clean up the messes.

I will admit, that things started off a little rocky in this one. It can be hard sometimes entering a new world with new rules and the way magic works. I think what threw me in this one was being introduced to new magical terms and never really getting a definition for them. You kind of had to work out what was going on with that term by context and its surrounding words. Which, is not always easy, let me tell you! But I love Kim's books so I was determined to see it through!

In this world we follow Petra Grady who is considered a sweeper, as she is the one to come in and clean up after magical occurrences. When magic is used, it leaves behind something called dross. If left unchecked, dross becomes dangerous and uncontrollable, so it's vital that it gets "cleaned up" asap.

Petra is given a new assignment though that will involve being the dross cleaner for her old friend, Benedict. She and Benedict have a complicated history. It seems they were friends once before in school, but then Benedict turned his back on her (though there's more to it than that of course) and thus their friendship fizzled. But when Benedict's projects leave the university in disastrous results, she and Benedict must flee.

While I did find the concept of magic and dross to be a bit complicated in this one, I did find I enjoyed the story with the characters. The characters were what kept me going for sure! I just wish the world-building could've been better explained. I know I was reading an ARC, but I feel like this book could have benefits from a glossary to explain what some of these terms that Harrison created were. If I had had a better insight to what they meant, it might have made it easier to understand this new world we were in.

But needless to say, there is magic in this world and it can be dangerous. There are some groups within this world, some who want to keep using magic, heedless of the dross that can be created from it, and others who want to contain magic and limit the use.

The characters were very deep in this one! It seems everyone was harboring a secret of some kind in this one and it lead to yet another explosive ending! There was a bit of romance brewing in this one. Petra and Benedict have history, so naturally, that history is coming roaring forward. It's a subtle kind of attraction as I will say this book has next to no heat when it comes to romance. Which is fine in of itself, as romance doesn't really fit into the story at large. But things are definitely be built up for the future.

All in all, I did like this one. I can't say it's a new favorite series, but it's interesting for sure. Perhaps I find myself in yet another case where it's best not to read a new series on my Kindle as things just don't mesh right. But that's a me issue, lol. This is an interesting new world Harrison has set up and within time I look forward to learning more about it.

Overall Rating 3/5 stars