C. M. Waggoner

The book description for The Village Library Demon-Hunting Society by C.M. Waggoner had me eager to dive into the story. Unfortunately, the final product does not match the blurb. The writing makes it difficult to get through the story along with the meandering plot. The author tried to create well-rounded characters by giving them a mixture of traits (I envisioned the author with a bag filled with various traits on slips of paper and she would reach to pick out a selection of traits for each person whether they made sense or not). Of course, later in the story, a character may no longer possess one or several of those traits (it was odd). Despite the author’s attempts, the characters were flat (pancakes are fluffier). I found Sherry to be an enigma. I did not enjoy the silly talk about her hair at the beginning (it did not make me eager to continue reading the book). Sherry is supposed to be smart and observant, who has used her skills to solve other murders that have occurred in the town (this town is going to get a bad reputation). The way this information was written made it seem like there was a book prior to this one. The story was all over the place. It seemed like the author could not decide which genre she wanted for this story (is it a paranormal mystery, cozy mystery, or a thriller—maybe a combination), so she tried to combine several into one (which did not work). The plot dragged on and on (the snails in my garden move faster). The pop culture references along with the supernatural bits were not needed. The Village Library Demon-Hunting Society is a story that I struggled to finish (I admit to skimming here and there to get to the end). After I finished The Village Library Demon-Hunting Society, I could picture the author with a big pot tossing in various characters, traits, supernatural elements, and genres, giving it a big stir, putting the mixture into the oven, and the final result is her book. As you can tell, The Village Library Demon-Hunting Society was not for me.… (more)

‘She contemplated murder all of the time.’

A bored demon takes over the town of Winesap and choses the head librarian to star in her own version of Murder She Wrote in this interesting cozy mystery. All seems normal in the town of Winesap for almost a quarter of the story, a picture perfect small town full of interesting, if eccentric characters...and then the fun begins when Lord Thomas Cromwell makes an appearance via Sherry’s cat (maybe) and the sheriff shows some unhealthy flexibility in his neck. Throw in some Hercules Poirot and a little explaining away demonic activity ala the Vampire Diaries and you’ve got satisfying and interesting take on a cozy mystery.… (more)

Listened to on audio book, the reader did fine but nothing special.
Unnatural magic is a fairly solid fantasy mystery story with decent world building and decently complex characters. It's stronger at the start before the mystery really takes primary focus because the mystery element of the story is probably its weakest with a fairly predictable murderer and a heavy reliance on a blatant red herring to drum up drama between characters.
The relationship between Tsira and "Pink" is well paced in its progression and in its various tribulations. Tsira is likable for the vast majority of the story, but suffers towards the end as she becomes more temperamental and violent. Not without cause due to stress, but it still made her less rootable.
Oona is a bit weird, feeling distinctly human while also feeling like the unsanitised version of a young woman. She likes pretty things that make her look pretty, she rejoices in the attention of men, she attaches to the most attractive of those men, only to grow disinterested in him as she moves away and meets other people, only to contemplate taunting him with the men she meets. None of these feel inauthentic in the course of the narrative, but it feels messy and many of the actions she contemplates of emotional response the narrative recounts are unbecoming to her. The result is a character that isn't easily likable, despite having many good traits from industriousness, politeness, to nobility etc. The inner complexities of her character aside, Oona wasn't particularly interesting of a character, being regulated to the fairly tired trope of hyper-competent woman restricted by men in the first half of the narrative to an unfortunate patsy to the plot in the second half. (She is the main driving force behind the red herring, which wouldn't be bad in the narrative, but suffers from the reader being outside of the narrative and capable of seeing the author's strings.)… (more)

oops i am reading too many books again.

i'm out of the habit of reading fantasy so it took me a while to get into this, but the plot was strong enough to carry me through. doing that thing that's all the rage in sf&f right now where you propose alternate arbitrary kyriarchies (about immigration history, species, race/national origin, gender, class, religion) and play around with them, which i rarely object to. it's done pretty well here.

tsira and jeckran being implausibly bad at communication is more of the romantic tension than i would prefer. cut more of that and spend more time on the mystery, thank you. also, what happened to the gay half-troll poet who almost got murdered?? i was very invested in him and i don't think we even know whether he survived.… (more)