Unnatural Magic

By: C.M. Waggoner

Narrated by: Shiromi Arserio

An enchanting debut historical fantasy starring a young woman with an incredible natural talent for sorcery.

Onna Gebowa is determined to become a great wizard. She can write the parameters of a spell faster than any of the young men in her village school. But despite her incredible abilities, she’s denied a place at the nation’s premier arcane academy. Undaunted, she sails to the bustling city-state of Hexos, hoping to find a place at a university where they don’t think there’s anything untoward about providing a woman with a magical education...

Tsira is a troll who never quite fit into her clan, despite being the leader’s daughter. She decides to strike out on her own and look for work in a human city, but on her way she stumbles upon a body of a half-dead human soldier in the snow. As she slowly nurses him back to health, an unlikely bond forms between them, one that is soon tested when an unknown mage makes an attempt on Tsira’s life.

Far away in Hexos, the newly arrived Onna is also drawn into a mysterious, magical attack on a troll. Trolls have lived alongside - and been revered by - humans for generations, but now it appears they’re being targeted by a sinister sorcery. And Onna and Tsira both begin to devote their considerable abilities into figuring out how to stop the deaths before their homeland is torn apart....

©2019 C.M. Waggoner (P)2019 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Fun listen

Nice story,good presentation, enjoyable. Very little depth of character or culture. Missed opportunity for excellence.

Fantastic book

Great world building, delightful characters, enough pathos to give weight to a story that could otherwise feel fluffy. I always appreciate a story where the characters subvert expectations.

Good

This book was awfully strange. I felt like I was listening to two different stories in one book. I figured that these two different stories were going to intertwine eventually, but it sure took quite a while. I thought the story between the troll and the human was very interesting. The way the troll treated the human made me think of the way women were treated long ago. I really liked Onna and how she ended up working for the head mage.

Need more

I hope there will be a part 2. It’s a little slow to start but it’s so worth hanging on until the end.

Decent listen, don't let the narrator put you off

This book was a bit slow going at first, as many books are. But once it was all tied in, it was put together quite nicely. It was a fun little fantasy mystery. I'm terrible at describing things, but I wanted to leave a review to highlight the fact that I did enjoy this listen.
I also enjoyed The Ruthless Lady's Guide to Wizardry, by the same author, with a different narrator. Both books are wonderfully non-binary and LGBTQ+ friendly.
I have seen some reviews about the narrator's "baby voice". They may have a speech impediment that makes it tough for them to say "r" fully and maybe a lisp? You can tell she's worked/works really hard to correct it, but it can be noticable. Still, some might not be able to tolerate listening to it. I was fine with it myself.