A review by sbbarnes
The Enchantment Emporium by Tanya Huff
3.0
So, urban fantasy sure is a thing. It's not my thing, but it's a thing. Don't really know what to say here. This is an okay book. It's not terribly good, it's not bad either. It's eminently readable and goes by fast, but I can't say I care much about it. There are a lot of characters - so many that I had a hard time telling them apart for a while, especially the allegedly rare men. I really liked that the magic system wasn't clearly explained for so long and was only fed in chunks. It's really sex-oriented, though, which is an interesting choice but sort of makes it read like a pulpier novel than I think it was intended to be.
I hate to throw the terms out there because I honestly believe strongly in the literary merit of a lot of fanfiction but parts of this just read like bad fanfiction. For one, the incessant pop culture references - especially heavily fandom-oriented pop culture, like Torchwood and Stargate. For another, the fact that the two main female characters, Allie and Charlie, really didn't have much by way of character? Allie was just kind of a blank slate. I guess she was feisty? powerful? Charlie had weird hair and music. Graham also didn't exactly have many qualities, let alone redeemable ones. Using the "power attracts Gale girls" thing means that you're left with attraction rooted in not a whole lot of substance based in character. And as for the aunties, they read like a mix between a penthouse letter and a Terry Pratchett book, which, tbh, I am so down for actually.
I hate to throw the terms out there because I honestly believe strongly in the literary merit of a lot of fanfiction but parts of this just read like bad fanfiction. For one, the incessant pop culture references - especially heavily fandom-oriented pop culture, like Torchwood and Stargate. For another, the fact that the two main female characters, Allie and Charlie, really didn't have much by way of character? Allie was just kind of a blank slate. I guess she was feisty? powerful? Charlie had weird hair and music. Graham also didn't exactly have many qualities, let alone redeemable ones. Using the "power attracts Gale girls" thing means that you're left with attraction rooted in not a whole lot of substance based in character. And as for the aunties, they read like a mix between a penthouse letter and a Terry Pratchett book, which, tbh, I am so down for actually.