It is summer reading! Look at how many books I am getting through. So, this latest book was urban fantasy rather than scifi. This is book 1 in Lindsay Buroker’s new series, Death Before Dragons. The title Sinister Magic. Beware of spoilers. 

First, to be upfront and honest, I like Buroker’s writing. I don’t love all her series and I haven’t read all her books – though I have read quite a few. This is still good writing. The characters are engaging. There are a range of personalities and viewpoints. There are also a range of races in this particular novel. 

For one of the first times I do not love her female protagonist. I certainly want to love Val (Valmeyjar). She has obvious issues: inflammation of the lungs possibly related to stress that is certainly a problem when slaying evil monsters. She has relationship problems, mostly because everyone she knows has their life in danger by proximity – including an ex-husband and daughter. Though, I do like that she has family. A mother she struggles to relate to along with her own ex and daughter. But few other friends, mostly a tiger from another dimension. She is also a half-elf. And who doesn’t remember being a child and wanting to be a half-elf? 

I love Val’s let’s get this done attitude. She is confident, snarky and stubborn. All excellent traits in a storybook heroine. I love that she has a moral outlook, a challenge when she is essentially an assassin against magical beings. What I don’t love about Val is her approach to killing everything. She is off to save her friend, but in doing so causes a great deal of damage. While this is pretty standard fare in action films, it does question how morally sound is Val’s decision to kill things for a living. Especially when the Dragon appears and offers a different system. Granted we don’t know the details about the Dragon Courts Justice system, but mass slaughter is not the primary method. 

I do like how there is some effort put into questioning Val’s methods for dealing with rogue magical creatures. I am not suggesting they should be ignored, but is killing them without trial or effort at rehabilitation really the best option? The fact that Val appears to be so narrow minded in her dealings with magical creatures (amusing because she is half magical herself) is my biggest problem with the story. 

This is not a reflection on the writing. Rather, Buroker’s portrayal of Val left me thinking poorly of the main character. And while I agree you can have great stories with unlikeable protagonists, these are not usually the stories I read. While on one hand I admire Val for her ability to defend herself and friends while taking down large and scary monsters. I find Val’s use of weapons heavy handed when dealing with problems. I prefer characters that solve problems cleverly with words (and occasionally swords), like Amaranth in the Emperor’s Edge series. Though, Sinister Magic is at least aware of all the collateral damage Val causes.

Conclusion: Sinister Magic is a good book, but I don’t particularly like the main character. Still, I am interested to see where the series goes next. I would give this book 4 out of 5 stars.