Experimental Magics

Thank you to Netgalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

When I saw this book cover I thought it was beautiful and I needed to get my hands on a copy. I imagine the real book with be something else, especially if the colours are metallic.

It was a really enjoyable read, a little bit fantastical filled with magic and a steampunk science twist. The author describes and creates the world brilliantly and had me hooked from the first page. It is quite a slow build but there is so much going on and to take in that I kind of liked this, it gave me time to digest what was happening and to familiarise yourself with the characters and their names.

A really great book and I look forwards to reading more books in the series or written by the author.

Thank you to Netgalley and the author for allowing me to read this!

I was instantly intrigued by the synopsis of this book. This book instantly drew me in, I got to explore through the eyes of our main character and this is always my favorite way to discover these details of the story and, it was done very well in this book. I really enjoyed this book and the plot. This author did amazing. I loved the writing style.

The first thing about this book that caught my eye was the cover, it’s gorgeous. Then, the synopsis sucked me in. I am always looking for a good steam punk good. Prior to this book, I had yet to find one.

This book should be the standards for which to judge steam punk books in the future. It was phenomenal and I’m looking forward to the next book.

Things I loved about the book:
I loved the tone and the first person narrator. Our narrator is is a strong woman? Yet she also has vulnerabilities and a lot of struggles. I really enjoyed her personality and watching her brown and make decisions.

I also loved the magic and science and the way they interacted in this world. You learn about the magic and science from context and dialogue vs large amounts of info dumps which can be very boring.

There is a lot of politics, and it’s important to the story but sometimes I zone out a bit with those details.

Overall, this is the best steam punk book I have read and I highly recommend it.

5 star story, but it has some translation issues. 4 star book overall. I absolutely love this book even though it reads very much like a translated work. I eagerly await a sequel!

THE PROTAGONIST
The best thing about this book was the protagonist: Adrienne Imlay. She’s a scientist in a world where men dominate the sciences. She seeks to understand magic using scientific method, but isn’t blind to the aspects of magic that can’t be explained rationally. She actually thinks and acts like a scientist (unlike many characters in fiction which are labeled as scientists but never think or act like scientists). She’s curious, inquisitive, and methodical. And it shows in her actions. She also has a magical aptitude herself and is very aware that not all of magic can be explained with science.

She’s impressive and likable, but not unrealistically flawless. She’s formidable and a little scary, but not cold or unkind. She’s quick on her feet and sometimes impulsive, but not reckless. She’s believably intelligent, shrewd, and cunning, but she has her blindspots. She’s brave, ambitious, and defiant. She’s also pragmatic and practical enough to know when not to show her cards (like hiding her magical aptitude in a society hostile to magical people), when to adopt her go-to cranky researcher persona, when to play dumb, when to dress in rags to avoid being mugged, when to be cautious, and when it’s safer to take a calculated risk. She’s confident in her abilities, but not arrogant.

She’s independent and no social butterfly, but she’s loyal, cares deeply about the few friends she does have, and will take risks to protect those she cares for. She can be diabolical, ruthless, protective, and not averse to killing or hurting dangerous people when necessary. For example, when someone wronged her friend, Adrienne covered the offender's room with beef blood to make them think a vampire was hunting them.

Finally, she delivers lovable snark and wisdom. Examples:
“the human mind has never been short of paradoxes”
“‘Is there a Party for Common Sense and a Better Life for Everyone?’ ‘Are you joking?’ ‘Of course.’”

WORLD-BUILDING
This book has excellent, extensive, and realistically complicated world building. It covers the political landscape, competing religious philosophies, history, the nature of magic, and theories of creation of this rich new universe. This includes flashbacks to Addrienne’s childhood. This does slow down the pace of the book sometimes, especially early in the story. A lot of this world-building details, particularly the flashbacks and politics of an upcoming election, seem unnecessary at first. If you stick it out, it all turns out to be relevant. All these unrelated world-building details are weaved together as clues and context crucial to the mystery plot in this book. With it, there comes some entertaining and memorable nuggets of wisdom on politics. Examples: When Addreine attempts to apply logic to politics, her wonderful politic-savvy friend tells her: “In terms of common sense, you are right. But this is not about common sense, Adrienne. This is about emotions.”

PLOT
Adrienne has made a name for herself in the scientific study of magic. While preparing to travel to speak at a prestigious academic conference and working with a new foreign magical researcher, Adrienne gets caught up in all sorts of trouble. She gets caught up in the political intrigue of an upcoming election where magic and religion are the key issues (and the results could affect the field of magical research. She investigates a series of thefts of magical artifacts (some of them from her lab). She finds a friend’s soul stuck in a piece of paper and sets out to find a way to return his soul to his currently missing body. To add to all that, a god is showing interest in her, someone’s making werewolves, and everyone seems to want to interrogate her or hire her as a spy. These seemingly scattered plots all prove related and interconnected.

I absolutely loved the ending. A little bit of chaos, a few just desserts, and a lot of answers. No cliffhangers here, but there is a clear setup for a sequel. The major mysteries and conflicts are resolved in a satisfying way that makes sense. The scattered clues were woven together in a subtle, yet coherent, manner. The book arrives at a resolution, but there are still some mysteries left to be solved, adventures to be had, and plot lines to be continued in one or more sequels. There’s even a hint of a possible developing romance to be explored. The election results are yet to come and Adrienne is set to embark on a journey to an academic conference about magic with her new visiting researcher.

TRANSLATION
5 star content, but the book was translated to English by an author whose primary language is French. The translation isn’t the best, but it never kept me from understanding the content of the story. For example, there are occasional instances of mixing up tenses or conflating the singular and plural forms of words. It’s also a more literal translation, which I personally prefer because it gives you a clearer sense of the author’s original story, even though literal translations sometimes seem a bit unpolished. If this keeps you from enjoying this fantastic story, you’re missing out on a unique world, an enthralling story, and a fantastic strong female protagonist. With some more editing and an improved translation, this could be brought up to a 5 star read.

First of all, thank you to Netgalley for providing me with an eArc in exchange for an honest review.

This is such an entertaining and fun read. The premise and the book cover are what attracted me to the book in the first place. The idea and execution are well written with the protagonist being one of the most prominent character in the story. The translation can be done better but overall, an entertaining read.

Experimental Magic is an interesting book. The background, lore and atmosphere are beautifully crafted. The characters and the adventure/mystery lack a little spark, for my personal taste. 

The story:
Magic is back in the world, after having disappeared for centuries, and now researchers world-wide study it along with physics, chemistry and the likes. Prof. Adrienne Imlay is one of those researchers, but her life is turned upside down by a series of unexpected events and her past --she so desperately wants to leave behind-- seems to be deeply connected with her role in determining the future of the world as she knows it. In a society where women and outsiders have little relevance, especially after the tragic conflicts of the mechanical war that have grinded the relationship between the countries, Prof. Imlay, a Gandaran woman in Deshwan, has to be strong yet discreet. She cannot certainly let everyone know that not only she studies magic, called Power in the book, but she has the capacity to feel and control it -- the remnants of a fanatic religion called the Way still demonizes Power and its uses even in modern Deshwan. This is life for Prof. Imlay when everything gets complicated by the death of one of her friend and colleague and the mystery surrounding it; the arrival of  a visiting researcher from Meral (a far away region that was once at war with Deshwan but it is much more sophisticated and open in the use of Power); the invitation to the most prestigious congress in the science of Power (aka the opportunity of a lifetime for her career); the unexpected attentions she receives all of a sudden from press, politicians, other famous researchers, government ministries and even religious enforcers of the Way (the lictors); and whimsical encounters with a mysterious woman offering gambling games while claiming to know her. All happening in the midst of the intense political climate preceding the upcoming elections, which supposedly might change the course of Deshwan, determining whether it will embrace the new coming of Power going back to the country pre-Way or if Power will be banned once and for all even if it is back into the world. Will Prof. Imlay be able to de-tangle the net of events unfolding in her life? Will she be able to solve the mystery of her supposedly dead friend?

Background, setting and lore:
I absolutely love the setting of the book. Everything is coated in a delightful steampunk atmosphere, that the author successfully brings to life with detailed descriptions of the rooms, the clothing, the objects. Steampunk/Gas Light are some of my favorite aesthetics and the book hits the mark and embrace them fully. The lore is very believable. The reader really gets the feeling of a rich and complex history. There is a past in this world, there are different customs and cultures, there are historical and mythological figures, dead languages, culinary traditions, different religions, different music. I think this is the strongest point of the book.

The characters and dialogues:
Characters, instead, is where the book could have used a little bit more spark. Take the protagonist. She is this super-hero style protagonist. She is intelligent, people think she is prettier than she thinks of herself, she is agile and street-smart thanks to her past lived in poverty. Yet I found her boring in a sense. I did not relate. The story is written in first person, and one thing that bothered me is that she almost always sounds annoyed from whatever is around her. She is almost always critical of herself (although sometimes it feels she is listing qualities camouflaged as defects), she is not interested in politics, she hates to travel, she does not want any romance, she thinks her research is the only thing that matter, yet even there she does not seem extremely curious and excited about it. Overall, it feels like a very annoyed person that wants to do one thing --that is to live a very normal life-- but everything gets in the way; and yet she is able to overcome every single obstacle with a surprising easiness, that does not justify the annoyance she is actually sharing in the written page. The dialogues also fell flat, and sometimes they dragged for longer or getting into topics that had no actual relevance in the story. Finally, the first person narration left little room for "show-don't tell": everything from Adrienne's perspective is spelled out, so there is no space for the reader to see her reaction and extrapolate/empathize. And the same goes for other characters. Adrienne's narration describes everything, but it is all very dry, and very little space is given to facial expressions and other body movements that would be more a "show" than a dry "tell" 

The events [contains spoilers]:
There is a lot going on in this book. There are a lot of interesting events, that can keep the reader engaged. The action scenes are dynamic and entertaining. I loved the political subplot: it really added richness to the story. The main issue was that because so much happens, what should probably be the main plot story (which I think is the disappearance/supposed death of Adrienne's friend and colleague Nick) is almost an afterthought. Prof. Imlay is dragged from one event to the next, but there is no defined focus on any specific plot line. All those plotlines are clearly setting the scene for the rest of the series and opening threads that will surely be closed later on in other books. However, even with series, I prefer to have a strong main plot for each individual book. I am not a big fan of having the first book starting so many parallel paths. But I am not holding this against the book: I think this is more a matter of personal preference and personal experience when it comes to serial stories. For my personal taste, there was too much world-building and too many secondary plot lines starting without ending in this book that made the story drag beyond my engagement. I would have preferred a shorter book with a narrower focus. 
Finally, I really appreciated that this book did not go full into romance [spoiler ahead]. At some point, it is clear that there might be a romantic plot-line between Adrienne and the Meralese visiting researcher Hamilcar. I was so worried that love was going to become the main focus of the story. So I was positively relieved that, while the indications for a love story are there (and can develop in the future), this book did not focus on it and it kept the story as a mystery/adventure instead of a romance book masked as a fantasy. Well done!

The magic system [contains spoilers]:
The magic system was a big delusion for me. With a title like Experimental Magics, I was expecting a fully fleshed hard magic system. Instead the magic is very whimsical. Sure, they talk about it as a physical field and they do measurements with a "trispectral" index. But that's it. All the scientific part is in the jargon more than in the actual magic. The "physical" processes involved to make a spell, the fact that there is supposedly a backlash, the cause and effects are not defined. They work very well for a whimsical magic system, but it is far from a hard scientific-like one. I am a physicist myself, and I was really hoping to get a down-to-earth magical system to tinker with. 
One thing that I really liked is the "talking" train table. In fact, pretty early in the book we discover [spoiler ahead] that Nick is not dead. His soul was transferred to a train timetable, through which he can communicate with Adrienne through their adventures in trying to retrieve his physical body. I found this ingenious, funny and I just loved Nick as a character overall. 
In general, the magic is very nice to read about. But as said, it was more a matter of matching expectations. I enjoyed the system as is, but I felt a bit tricked by the title into expecting something different. 

Voice and copy line:
Alex Evans does a great job in the descriptions. Everything is very well fleshed out and it was easy to imagine the settings and the characters thanks to the author's vivid portrayals of places and peoples. The book could benefit from more editing and proofreading. One of the most common problems was the use of dialogue quotation marks. It was very common that the dialogue missed the quotation marks at the start, at the end or altogether. This makes the dialogue difficult to identify and forced me to re-read those paragraphs again once I figured out in my head what was dialogue and what was text instead. Other minor issues are that the personal pronouns are sometimes incorrect (using his when her was needed or vice versa, for example). Finally, there were some spacing issues (some words being connected with the next without space in-between) and an overuse of "But" to connect sentences even if such sentences were not in juxtaposition with the previous sentence (although this problem is less frequent toward the end of the book, maybe because of an improvement of the author themselves?). All the problems could probably be fixed by another round of proof-reading, and I really hope the author will consider revising this in the book in future editions. 

Final thoughts:
I think Experimental Magics is an interesting book that can appeal to many. I enjoyed the setting and the overall story, although I would have preferred a more focused plot line and less dwelling on starting other subplots that will be explored in other books. The book was too long to support the main story, that in turn was often left on the sidelines, to give space to worldbuilding and to anticipate events that will develop only in future books. Because of this, towards the end, I was not fully engaged with the story and the characters, despite really loving the setting. For this reason, I am not sure I will be reading the next installment in the series.
That said, I feel that this is more a personal preference issue than a problem with the book itself. And as such, I would highly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in steampunk /gas light settings and serial fantasy sagas with a complex believable world-building and somewhat-slow pace that gives space for multiple events. 

I want to thank the author Alex Evans, the publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book in ARC and give my honest opinion in return

Thanks to Netgalley and author Alex Evans for an eReader copy of Experimental Magics in exchange for an honest review.

When I finished this book I was totally not ready for it to be over yet. I need more of the story!!

The story follows Adrienne Imlay, a professor of magical scientific studies. In a steampunk inspired world where men typically rule the field of science, Adrienne just wishes to work in peace. With an ability to detect the power of magical objects, one that she keeps secret, Adrienne advances in her work and draws the attention of some powerful people; politicians, magic enforcers, werewolves, ancient gods.

When strange events begin to occur, objects from her lab disappear, and she finds the soul of a colleague trapped inside an inanimate object, Adrienne finds herself deep in the center of a dark scheme where some nefarious men are piecing together a banned machine connected to Adrienne's own unique past. But it is important to remeber the laws of magic, and that everything has a price.

Although I felt this story had a bit of a slow start, once I got into it I could not put it down. I became so engrossed in the sections involving Adrienne's childhood, I wanted there to be so much more of that. Reading about the history and magic connected to her past made her character round out in so many ways. I love feeling like I get to really know who a character is and with this book you definitely get that with Adrienne.

And with most of the setting being in a steampunk inspired new age of technology and science, what's there not to love? Fancy dresses, elaborate parties, steam cars, politics, mysterious deaths, soul transfers, shape-shifting creatures. This book hit on several interesting levels and I'm dying for more. Will definitely be continuing on with the series in the future.

This was a very enjoyable read!
A great mix of magic, steampunk and mystery.
I loved the attention to detail regarding different cultures and habits. Adrienne was a relatable, smart woman with flaws and quirks who made reasonable decisions (my pet peeve is MCs who do stupid stuff just for the sake of the story). I loved the relationship and dialogue between her and Hamilcar.
Some of the sentences were grammatically wrong, but it still made sense.
I'd love to read the second book in the series. What a refreshing new genre mix.

I can recommend this to anyone who enjoys some mystery with their steampunk. The closet this book reminds me of is the "The Brass Queen" by Elizabeth Chatsworth. If you liked that, pick this one up for sure.

Thank you Netgalley for providing me with a free eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I was absolutely delighted with this book & look forward to the next installation. Probably one of the best steampunk mysteries I have ever read. The author creates a rich multi religious multi ethnic & country background tapestry to add to the whole story of a female professors misadventures & life.

I was a little iffy going into this book, but I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed it. It was a perfect mix of mystery and magic. Throw in a dash of politics and fantasy and you have the makings of a great novel. The only flaw I found was that I felt like there was just a bit too much going on and could have been simplified down a bit so as not to throw so much at the reader all at once.

TL;DR: How to describe this book in a few words.. hmm..

Victorian era, steampunk?, intelligent female lead, magic, mysterious adventure, slow burn, talking inanimate object-oh, yes!, in-depth world and social system, first of a series.

~

This book left a smile on my face 😊
Really quite enjoyable.
Like having a cup of tea with an old friend

(Which, coincidentally there is quite a bit of in here)

Adrienne, our main character, and best friend/tea partner (and sometimes coffee).. well, she’s pretty cool, to say the least.

*Fierce
*Intelligent
*Witty
*Loner
*Both courageous and brave
*Loveable
*A breath of fresh air

Oh yeah, and she’s a Professor and a ★witch★

The other characters?.. Well, there are A LOT.. a bit too many to keep track of actually, but the main characters are so strong that I found myself surprisingly not minding that I sometimes couldn’t remember who the others were lol..

There is a HUGE social and political system with many races and many political parties.. this plays a very big part in the overall plot.

The rest of the world?

Well.. it’s a funny story that. I spent the whole first half thinking this was some sort of Victorian era steampunk mixed with space travel..

Why?

The term “airship”. What the heck is an airship, I thought.. I now know that is it not used for space travel (Thank you, Google).

The world is in fact, the lovely Victorian, olden day era, with corsets, steamcabs.. oh and magic, flying letters and a talking inanimate object.

Had me yearning for the days of old - minus the lack of hygiene and women’s rights.

And yes, you read that right.. the talking inanimate object is a BLAST! Really fun.. and good old Hamilcar (our other supporting companion) is just as dashing! I’m sure you will love them.

Overall, this was a slow burn, mysterious adventure, with pops of action here and there, set in a wonderful era with a delightful female lead and supporting companions, and some magic and politics.

The only things I didn’t LOVE were the flashbacks and the epilogue which completely rushed the ending.. but other than that - I thought it was fantastic.

I’ll end by leaving my reading notes.. as interesting as I’m sure they will be.. haha

“*Very interesting world, history and political and social structure.
*Strong, likable female lead
*easy, flowing writing
*engaging mystery
*I’m confused. So…many…things. Politics…race…
*lengthy flashbacks
*courage to keep hair colour”

🧡