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marmoo's review against another edition
4.0
What a fun alternate history-meets-fantasy-meets-Western this was! It offers a well constructed magical system, a fun protagonist, and some intriguing plot threads to tie up in the sequels. I’m glad to have read it.
sherwoodreads's review against another edition
I ripped through this novel in a day, sneaking back to it every chance I could get.
Emily Edwards is a Witch, actually pretty much of a hedge witch, in a just-past-Civil War frontier town of Lone Pine, one universe over from our own. Desperate to save her old Pap and herself from starvation, she overcomes her better judgment to cast a love spell on a man who is decent, kind, successful, and strong.
But . . . right after she does it, an irritating Warlock named Dreadnought Stanton appears and scolds her. They are interrupted by news of zombies at the local mine, which Emily goes to investigate, and (unwanted) Stanton follows her. She ends up with a magic-sucking stone embedded in her hand, throwing her and Stanton on a wild cross-country trip to get rid of the thing before it can explode and turn her into a zombie, uncovering layers of secrets along the way--not only about how magic works, but about each other.
Hobson calls this "bustlepunk." What she gives the reader is a vivid, wisecracking style full of curiously nineteenth-century theory behind the magic, only it works. Further, there are ties to world mythologies, making it far more interesting.
I loved the period sense, and characters like Miss Pendennis, who ends up as Emily's union rep, in effect. I think the only moment I had trouble with was an exclamation by Emily that seemed wildly out of character for the period, but a one word bobble is not exactly a big problem.
There is a satisfactory resolution to this story, with threads firmly embedded for further adventures--making me glad, because I really want to read more about this world, and these characters, and this magic.
Emily Edwards is a Witch, actually pretty much of a hedge witch, in a just-past-Civil War frontier town of Lone Pine, one universe over from our own. Desperate to save her old Pap and herself from starvation, she overcomes her better judgment to cast a love spell on a man who is decent, kind, successful, and strong.
But . . . right after she does it, an irritating Warlock named Dreadnought Stanton appears and scolds her. They are interrupted by news of zombies at the local mine, which Emily goes to investigate, and (unwanted) Stanton follows her. She ends up with a magic-sucking stone embedded in her hand, throwing her and Stanton on a wild cross-country trip to get rid of the thing before it can explode and turn her into a zombie, uncovering layers of secrets along the way--not only about how magic works, but about each other.
Hobson calls this "bustlepunk." What she gives the reader is a vivid, wisecracking style full of curiously nineteenth-century theory behind the magic, only it works. Further, there are ties to world mythologies, making it far more interesting.
I loved the period sense, and characters like Miss Pendennis, who ends up as Emily's union rep, in effect. I think the only moment I had trouble with was an exclamation by Emily that seemed wildly out of character for the period, but a one word bobble is not exactly a big problem.
There is a satisfactory resolution to this story, with threads firmly embedded for further adventures--making me glad, because I really want to read more about this world, and these characters, and this magic.
emleemay's review against another edition
4.0
The goodreads and Amazon descriptions for [b:The Native Star|7236997|The Native Star (Veneficas Americana, #1)|M.K. Hobson|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1320391438s/7236997.jpg|8154069] promise so many elements that it's hard to believe the novel could possibly deliver them all successfully: historical fiction, fantasy and magic, steampunk, western, and romance. And yet, this book is one of the rare cases when an idea that crosses so many genres and brings in many different aspects actually works well.
Emily Edwards is the local witch in a small town in California. The year is 1876, but this isn't quite the past that history books tell us about. Instead of being false accusations, it turns out that the witch trials were actually attempts to out real witches and warlocks, but in this alternate universe witchcraft has been legalized and magic is now an important part of the United States. However, not everyone is so accepting of it, and magic is also used illegally for criminal purposes or to manipulate people. Emily starts the story by deciding that the only way to save her and her father from their financial problems is to cast a love spell on a wealthy local man. Unfortunately, things don't go quite to plan, and before Emily can put things right she finds herself with a strange magic-absorbing stone embedded in her palm that prevents her from using magic and reversing the love spell.
Reluctantly teaming up with the insufferable warlock, Dreadnought Stanton, Emily must set out across the country to have the stone removed so she can eventually put things right again. However, the stone is far more valuable than Emily could have foreseen, and it turns out that just about everyone wants to get their hands on it. As Emily and Stanton flee for their lives, their relationship goes from barely tolerating one another to a begrudging friendship to something a little deeper. It's the kind of romance I enjoy reading, the kind that is built up slowly and steadily and had me caring about the characters first.
This is a really good fantasy historical steampunk western romance. The world Ms Hobson has created is vivid and easily imaginable. I like how she has cleverly woven magic into history and mixed it up with a touch of real life events and people - like President Grant - but kept it very fresh and exciting at the same time. The tone is mostly light-hearted and the pacing felt just right, I'm really really glad that I already have [b:The Hidden Goddess|9515638|The Hidden Goddess (Veneficas Americana, #2)|M.K. Hobson|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1320472504s/9515638.jpg|14401470] waiting for me.
no_good_wyfe's review against another edition
3.0
The general storyline and romance here failed to impress me, but I have to say this is absolutely worth reading if you are a central or northern Californian. The setting was wonderfully rendered.
timinbc's review against another edition
3.0
Didn't work for me. I've read too many same-only-better.
Drippy heroine, cartoonish male lead.
Some nice turns of phrase and attitude, shows a lot of promise there.
Too many "what?" distractions. A few examples:
* Dag is just a bit, no, no, he's a LOT too much "Aw, gawrsh, Miss Mam'selle Emily, I'm just a salt-of-the-earth guy what ain't never had no schoolin'" (scuffs toe in dirt and blushes). If he'd been any less capable he'd have been Mickey Mouse's friend Goofy. Ah-HYUK!
* As others have mentioned, "oh, look, there's a magic stone in my hand. What's for lunch?"
* Wildly implausible flying machine, and a completely ridiculous scene in which (character X) uses it for a rescue that simply made me laugh.
* A sangrimantic force in which promotion through the ranks makes you the guy who gets to stand next to the boss and be killed to fuel a spell. I reckon that army's gonna have a desertion problem, and a lot of guys avoiding promotion.
* OK, I can accept a magical battle where one character claims all the power. But a few pages later, What is this, "you forgot to say 'Simon says'?"
Then there's the tired old 300-page quest built on "everything's going to be fine as soon as we get to (The Golden City / Dreamy McHero / Genius McBoffin). It never is, it never has been, and it never will be. Pair that with an "I hate you/I don't care about you" relationship which is utterly predictable, and we just don't have enough new ground being broken here.
This book feels like an exercise, where the class was told to write a steampunk magic western.
And gosh, it doesn't even have a dirigible.
Drippy heroine, cartoonish male lead.
Some nice turns of phrase and attitude, shows a lot of promise there.
Too many "what?" distractions. A few examples:
* Dag is just a bit, no, no, he's a LOT too much "Aw, gawrsh, Miss Mam'selle Emily, I'm just a salt-of-the-earth guy what ain't never had no schoolin'" (scuffs toe in dirt and blushes). If he'd been any less capable he'd have been Mickey Mouse's friend Goofy. Ah-HYUK!
* As others have mentioned, "oh, look, there's a magic stone in my hand. What's for lunch?"
* Wildly implausible flying machine, and a completely ridiculous scene in which (character X) uses it for a rescue that simply made me laugh.
* A sangrimantic force in which promotion through the ranks makes you the guy who gets to stand next to the boss and be killed to fuel a spell. I reckon that army's gonna have a desertion problem, and a lot of guys avoiding promotion.
* OK, I can accept a magical battle where one character claims all the power. But a few pages later,
Spoiler
Stanton gets to do an Undo?Then there's the tired old 300-page quest built on "everything's going to be fine as soon as we get to (The Golden City / Dreamy McHero / Genius McBoffin). It never is, it never has been, and it never will be. Pair that with an "I hate you/I don't care about you" relationship which is utterly predictable, and we just don't have enough new ground being broken here.
This book feels like an exercise, where the class was told to write a steampunk magic western.
And gosh, it doesn't even have a dirigible.
illusie's review against another edition
I couldn't get into the book and stopped since I didn't like the main character
aceinit's review against another edition
3.0
I found this book after stumbling upon its sequel. Overall, it was a delightful and quick read.
I found the world wonderfully crafted and realized, and it was the world building and Stanton, more than anything, that kept me reading. The magic system is intriguing, though sometimes too bogged down in its own scientific language to be enjoyable.
The novel's unfortunate weak spot is it's protagonist. Emily Edwards is a Witch, a small-town girl and the sole provider for her blind, adoptive father. And, like many female protagonists, her role is that of the Fiesty, Independent, Strong-Willed woman. Unfortunately, these traits are painted too strongly in the opening third of the novel. Instead of adorable and adventurous, Em struck me as immature, loud, bratty and highly abrasive—traits I found hard to reconcile with a young woman used to shouldering enormous personal and professional responsibility, including keeping herself and her “Pap” from starving to death during a particularly harsh winter.
I am still undecided on whether or not the author realizes exactly how annoying she made her heroine in the opening chapters. There are times when Emily’s flaws seem quite deliberate, and other when the author doesn’t seem to realize quite how far Emily’s ridiculous behavior is trying the reader’s patience with her.
As a narrator, I found her insufferable, a word she uses quite frequently about the novel’s co-star, Dreadnought Stanton. There were times when Emily grated me so much that the only reason I kept reading was for Stanton, a man whose secrets are slowly unraveled as the story progresses. Thankfully, as Emily’s situation grows more dire she matures and becomes far more bearable, though she never became a sympathetic character to me.
The only other real rough spot in the narrative comes as we are approaching the climax of the story. Emily and Stanton have arrived in New York after many near-death experiences, double-crosses and other adventures, and it is obvious by this time that Emily’s life in grave danger due to the stone embedded in her hand. However, instead of barreling ahead with the narrative to a thrilling conclusion, the author chooses to abruptly half the narrative flow and spend much time talking of ballgowns, corsets and other matters while the characters prepare for a thrilling and climactic…conference.
Though the conference does turn out to be more than just another boring meeting of the minds (so much more), the sudden switch from all the building action to a slower, largely insignificant narrative flow is jarring.
Still, I am looking forward to the next installment in the series, The Hidden Goddess. This is a fun and promising series, and I hope Emily and Dreadnought have many more adventures.
I found the world wonderfully crafted and realized, and it was the world building and Stanton, more than anything, that kept me reading. The magic system is intriguing, though sometimes too bogged down in its own scientific language to be enjoyable.
The novel's unfortunate weak spot is it's protagonist. Emily Edwards is a Witch, a small-town girl and the sole provider for her blind, adoptive father. And, like many female protagonists, her role is that of the Fiesty, Independent, Strong-Willed woman. Unfortunately, these traits are painted too strongly in the opening third of the novel. Instead of adorable and adventurous, Em struck me as immature, loud, bratty and highly abrasive—traits I found hard to reconcile with a young woman used to shouldering enormous personal and professional responsibility, including keeping herself and her “Pap” from starving to death during a particularly harsh winter.
I am still undecided on whether or not the author realizes exactly how annoying she made her heroine in the opening chapters. There are times when Emily’s flaws seem quite deliberate, and other when the author doesn’t seem to realize quite how far Emily’s ridiculous behavior is trying the reader’s patience with her.
As a narrator, I found her insufferable, a word she uses quite frequently about the novel’s co-star, Dreadnought Stanton. There were times when Emily grated me so much that the only reason I kept reading was for Stanton, a man whose secrets are slowly unraveled as the story progresses. Thankfully, as Emily’s situation grows more dire she matures and becomes far more bearable, though she never became a sympathetic character to me.
The only other real rough spot in the narrative comes as we are approaching the climax of the story. Emily and Stanton have arrived in New York after many near-death experiences, double-crosses and other adventures, and it is obvious by this time that Emily’s life in grave danger due to the stone embedded in her hand. However, instead of barreling ahead with the narrative to a thrilling conclusion, the author chooses to abruptly half the narrative flow and spend much time talking of ballgowns, corsets and other matters while the characters prepare for a thrilling and climactic…conference.
Though the conference does turn out to be more than just another boring meeting of the minds (so much more), the sudden switch from all the building action to a slower, largely insignificant narrative flow is jarring.
Still, I am looking forward to the next installment in the series, The Hidden Goddess. This is a fun and promising series, and I hope Emily and Dreadnought have many more adventures.
shawniebooks's review against another edition
4.0
I loved this book and can't wait to start the next. I enjoyed how Stanton is not the typical hunky smooth talker. My favorite line in the book was Stanton admitting that he saw Emily's skyclad spell dance! "It was an appalling spectacle," he said. "I enjoyed it tremendously. "
katyanaish's review against another edition
3.0
This book is really tough for me to review.
Let's start with this: the world was fabulous. It was unique and fascinating. Flavors of steampunk, and the varieties of magic were cool. So this author gets an A for world-building.
Now let's chat about everything else. First and foremost:
What the fuck is going on in this book?
It is strange to reach the end of a book and feel like you understand less about what is going on than you did in the first couple of chapters. I think that the combination of the fact that this is the author's first book AND that this plot seems to have complicated, tangled layers where no one is really what they seem... it just adds up to too much. The ending was, for me anyway, a hot mess filled with "What just happened?" "What are they doing with it?" "Wait, am I supposed to know these people / that organization?" and then at the end, some big powerhouse Dude steps out of ... I don't know, a closet or something, leaving me baffled and wondering who the hell that guy is supposed to be. The world Hobson built is intricate and detailed, and there are organizations vying for power, but the lines between them (or lack of lines, or in some cases lines that turned out to not be lines at all) were confusing.
The characters
Emily Edwards, the heroine, was cool. She was smart, brave, quick on her feet and generally able to handle herself. She was pretty solid as a heroine. But she made a mistake in the very beginning - a mistake that is a tangent to the story, by the way, and has nothing to do with the overall plot - and it feels like she spent the entire rest of the book paying for it. It got tedious. But that aside, I liked Emily.
Dreadnought Stanton, the hero, was... an asshole. Sorry, but he did not impress me in any way. From his smug condescension early in the book (which, despite everything - including Emily saving his life on several occasions - he NEVER got over... he was still keeping vital things from her so she wouldn't worry her pretty little head over it, all the way at the very end of the book), to his bossy know-it-all attitude, to his refusal to share any info without having it pried from his smug face (and even then, he would only utter as little as he could manage before he changed the subject), he really really grated on me. He did the WRONG thing CONSTANTLY, whether it was his attitude towards Emily or his trust for IDIOTS, or just his stupid plan in the first place, and yet was always insisting that he knew best.
Their romance - if you can even call it that - didn't work for me. Because he's a douchebag. And because he never at any point actually indicated any real interest in her. I didn't buy it. And having Emily virtually throw herself at him in the end, to beg him to be with her, was appalling to me, and did a lot to undermine her character. He in no way deserves her, and hell, he hasn't even really expressed an interest. Fuck that guy.
The secondary cast. Here's where I feel like it got really painful. It felt like they were all uniformly villains. And hell, it still feels that way - we were treated to an epilogue of supposed allies talking trash about them as they plotted secretly. And this brings me to my final point of criticism:
Clearly, it is time for the human race to just die off.
The entire world is populated with assholes. That must be the case, because it has become constant in every book I have read lately. Is anyone else tired of this trend in books? We have some Big Apocalyptic Thing (henceforth to be called BAT) about to occur, and the h/h are racing desperately to save the world. Said world is throwing up obstacles in their path at every opportunity, and most people they run across are trying to stab them in the back. What here is worth saving? I know all my friends have heard this rant from me before, so I won't go into all the detail again here, but really. Authors: you are taking the "Us Against the World" thing too far. If the world is really so shitty, I have a hard time justifying all the effort to save it. Maybe that's just me.
But in that same line, one thing this book did really take too far, for me, is the women-hating. Look, I know that women weren't exactly valued members of society in these historicals, but in this book, 99.999999999999999999% of the men treated all women (but Emily in particular) as if they were whores, idiots, slaves, or usually some combination of the three. It got tiresome. I can only handle the whore references (I have grown to loathe the world skycladdish) or the "don't worry your pretty little head" comments for so long. Having every male in the book utter one or both of these things makes me hate every male in the book. Please refer to the previous paragraph.
So. I am having a tough time with the review, because despite how things sound above, I didn't hate it. I liked the mythology the author was creating - I thought it was new and interesting. I liked the mesh of magic and science (reminds me quite a bit of the Blades of the Rose series, actually). But I feel like the story being told is a hot mess. I literally have no idea what the fuck is going on. And I am tired of a heroine that I like quite a bit being constantly belittled by not just the ENTIRE WORLD but also by the HERO.
I'll read the next, because I would like to see if this can actually pull together into something... but... for this one, I am going to give it:
***2.5***
Let's start with this: the world was fabulous. It was unique and fascinating. Flavors of steampunk, and the varieties of magic were cool. So this author gets an A for world-building.
Now let's chat about everything else. First and foremost:
What the fuck is going on in this book?
It is strange to reach the end of a book and feel like you understand less about what is going on than you did in the first couple of chapters. I think that the combination of the fact that this is the author's first book AND that this plot seems to have complicated, tangled layers where no one is really what they seem... it just adds up to too much. The ending was, for me anyway, a hot mess filled with "What just happened?" "What are they doing with it?" "Wait, am I supposed to know these people / that organization?" and then at the end, some big powerhouse Dude steps out of ... I don't know, a closet or something, leaving me baffled and wondering who the hell that guy is supposed to be. The world Hobson built is intricate and detailed, and there are organizations vying for power, but the lines between them (or lack of lines, or in some cases lines that turned out to not be lines at all) were confusing.
The characters
Emily Edwards, the heroine, was cool. She was smart, brave, quick on her feet and generally able to handle herself. She was pretty solid as a heroine. But she made a mistake in the very beginning - a mistake that is a tangent to the story, by the way, and has nothing to do with the overall plot - and it feels like she spent the entire rest of the book paying for it. It got tedious. But that aside, I liked Emily.
Dreadnought Stanton, the hero, was... an asshole. Sorry, but he did not impress me in any way. From his smug condescension early in the book (which, despite everything - including Emily saving his life on several occasions - he NEVER got over... he was still keeping vital things from her so she wouldn't worry her pretty little head over it, all the way at the very end of the book), to his bossy know-it-all attitude, to his refusal to share any info without having it pried from his smug face (and even then, he would only utter as little as he could manage before he changed the subject), he really really grated on me. He did the WRONG thing CONSTANTLY, whether it was his attitude towards Emily or his trust for IDIOTS, or just his stupid plan in the first place, and yet was always insisting that he knew best.
Their romance - if you can even call it that - didn't work for me. Because he's a douchebag. And because he never at any point actually indicated any real interest in her. I didn't buy it. And having Emily virtually throw herself at him in the end, to beg him to be with her, was appalling to me, and did a lot to undermine her character. He in no way deserves her, and hell, he hasn't even really expressed an interest.
Spoiler
At that point in the story, he hadn't even spoken to her in a month! Didn't visit her, didn't answer her letters, didn't give 2 craps about how she was doing.The secondary cast. Here's where I feel like it got really painful. It felt like they were all uniformly villains. And hell, it still feels that way - we were treated to an epilogue of supposed allies talking trash about them as they plotted secretly. And this brings me to my final point of criticism:
Clearly, it is time for the human race to just die off.
The entire world is populated with assholes. That must be the case, because it has become constant in every book I have read lately. Is anyone else tired of this trend in books? We have some Big Apocalyptic Thing (henceforth to be called BAT) about to occur, and the h/h are racing desperately to save the world. Said world is throwing up obstacles in their path at every opportunity, and most people they run across are trying to stab them in the back. What here is worth saving? I know all my friends have heard this rant from me before, so I won't go into all the detail again here, but really. Authors: you are taking the "Us Against the World" thing too far. If the world is really so shitty, I have a hard time justifying all the effort to save it. Maybe that's just me.
But in that same line, one thing this book did really take too far, for me, is the women-hating. Look, I know that women weren't exactly valued members of society in these historicals, but in this book, 99.999999999999999999% of the men treated all women (but Emily in particular) as if they were whores, idiots, slaves, or usually some combination of the three. It got tiresome. I can only handle the whore references (I have grown to loathe the world skycladdish) or the "don't worry your pretty little head" comments for so long. Having every male in the book utter one or both of these things makes me hate every male in the book. Please refer to the previous paragraph.
So. I am having a tough time with the review, because despite how things sound above, I didn't hate it. I liked the mythology the author was creating - I thought it was new and interesting. I liked the mesh of magic and science (reminds me quite a bit of the Blades of the Rose series, actually). But I feel like the story being told is a hot mess. I literally have no idea what the fuck is going on. And I am tired of a heroine that I like quite a bit being constantly belittled by not just the ENTIRE WORLD but also by the HERO.
I'll read the next, because I would like to see if this can actually pull together into something... but... for this one, I am going to give it:
***2.5***
stephxsu's review against another edition
3.0
THE NATIVE STAR, M.K. Hobson’s debut novel, is an original blend of witchery and the Wild, Wild West. It didn’t leave a particularly long-lasting impression on me, but was definitely an enjoyable and well-written romp of a read.
For me, the strength of THE NATIVE STAR lay in its inventiveness. Just when I thought I had Emily and Stanton’s world figured out, Hobson throws in another twist and element that takes me by surprise and forces me to reorganize my thoughts about the story’s world. The book combines steampunk and magic with the post-Civil War American West, resulting in an exciting new subgenre for magic and steampunk lovers.
And yet these surprises also contributed to my slight skepticism of the story. Oftentimes, new elements were introduced with seemingly little forethought: the characters are just walking along when all of a sudden—BAM!—oh, hey, interlude while we describe this new twist to the world. This just didn’t agree with me in this book, perhaps because I wanted more of a setup of the foundations of the world at the beginning of the novel.
Furthermore, I wasn’t the biggest fan of Emily and Stanton. She gave me the impression of being one of those pinch-faced ladies who look and act older than they really are, and he was standoffish the entire time. Their romance still seemed to come out of nowhere for me, despite how much the back-cover summary pimps it. They—the book summary and tagline—set me up to expect a great, life-changing romance, but I didn’t quite get it here.
Overall, THE NATIVE STAR is a good and interesting mix of magic, steampunk, and the Wild, Wild West. If that sounds even half as intriguing to you, then I definitely recommend that you check it out!
For me, the strength of THE NATIVE STAR lay in its inventiveness. Just when I thought I had Emily and Stanton’s world figured out, Hobson throws in another twist and element that takes me by surprise and forces me to reorganize my thoughts about the story’s world. The book combines steampunk and magic with the post-Civil War American West, resulting in an exciting new subgenre for magic and steampunk lovers.
And yet these surprises also contributed to my slight skepticism of the story. Oftentimes, new elements were introduced with seemingly little forethought: the characters are just walking along when all of a sudden—BAM!—oh, hey, interlude while we describe this new twist to the world. This just didn’t agree with me in this book, perhaps because I wanted more of a setup of the foundations of the world at the beginning of the novel.
Furthermore, I wasn’t the biggest fan of Emily and Stanton. She gave me the impression of being one of those pinch-faced ladies who look and act older than they really are, and he was standoffish the entire time. Their romance still seemed to come out of nowhere for me, despite how much the back-cover summary pimps it. They—the book summary and tagline—set me up to expect a great, life-changing romance, but I didn’t quite get it here.
Overall, THE NATIVE STAR is a good and interesting mix of magic, steampunk, and the Wild, Wild West. If that sounds even half as intriguing to you, then I definitely recommend that you check it out!