RevIew: Hard Magic by Laura Anne Gilman

Hard Magic

Author: Laura Anne Gilman

Publication: Luna; Original edition (May 1, 2010)

Description: Welcome to P.U.P.I.—Private, Unaffiliated, Paranormal Investigations

A handpicked team trained to solve crimes the regular police can't touch—crimes of magic.

My name's Bonnie Torres. Recent college grad, magic user and severely unemployed. Until I got a call out of nowhere to interview for a job I hadn't applied for. It smelled fishy, but the brutal truth was I needed the work—so off I went.

Two days later I'm a PUPI—me and Nick, Sharon, Nifty and Pietr. Five twentysomethings, thrown into an entirely new career in forensic magic.

The first job we get is a doozy: proving that the deaths of two Talents were murder, not suicide. Worse, there are high-profile people who want us to close up shop and go away. We're sniffing out things they'd rather keep buried.

Looks as if this job is gonna get interesting. The only problem is, we're making it up as we go along….

My Thoughts: This was an entertaining start to a series. I thought the book was very readable. I liked Bonnie. She came across as a 20-something recent college graduate who really didn't know what she wanted to do for her career.  Bonnie is also a bridge between Council and lonejacks since her father was a lonejack and her mentor and Guardian is Council. I enjoyed her relationship with her Guardian J as she begins to assert her independence.

The mystery was interesting. We had a chance to follow the clues as the team worked to develop new investigatory techniques. The concept of an unaffiliated investigation organization that deals with crimes between Talents makes for an interesting story.

I would have liked to know more about each member of the team and about the two men who founded the investigative agency. I hope we get more details in further episodes. Overall this was a satisfying beginning to an interesting series.

Challenges: RYOB Reading Challenge