2010 urban fantasy. Nola O'Grady works for a government agency that
doesn't exist, to preserve Harmony in the face of Order and Chaos.
Back in her home town of San Francisco, she's looking into portents of
doom. She tries to keep this separate from her family, but, well, many
of them have magic talents too…
I should say first that I have a long relationship with Kerr's
writing. I first met her work when she was writing RPG material for
Dragon in the 1980s, and very much liked it; then she started the
Deverry series with Daggerspell in 1986, and I read them for a while
because I'd liked the gaming stuff, but three or four books in I lost
heart. (They're up to sixteen now.) I enjoyed Polar City Blues, and
I think I enjoyed Polar City Nightmare, but I remember almost
nothing about them. So when I think of Kerr I have good memories, but
a hazy recollection that the detail wasn't all that great.
Recently I found this urban fantasy series, and… my reaction continues
to be mixed.
There's good stuff. Order and Chaos and trying to find a balance may
not be anything very new, and we don't explore them in much detail,
but we do get an investigative story with magical assistance, working
for an agency that gives very little material support but can provide
administrative help. The female lead has significant competence and
largely drives the investigation. This isn't standard urban fantasy
sexy werewolves and vampires (though the werewolves are here and the
"alpha" nonsense is perpetuated).
But Nola also has what seems at first to be the standard stereotyped
Western female obsession with being thin, and nobody tries to call her
on it except the hunky Israeli undercover cop who turns up to be the
romantic hero… and then all of a sudden everyone regards it as an
actual eating disorder. She remakes herself to be what he finds
attractive, and doesn't even seem to realise she's doing it. (Given
where Kerr went with some of the Deverry material she could be playing
a long and dark game here, but I suspect that would really annoy the
urban fantasy fans.) There's a lot of very dull family drama which
isn't made more interesting by Aunt Eileen learning everybody's
secrets in her dreams (but we all love her, because, er, because,
cornfield?). The introduction of pointless acronyms for Nola's various
psychic techniques starts off being done to show her impatience with
them, but by the end of the book they're being used in all
seriousness. When Nola first meets Ari her magic goes wonky because of
the sexual charge between them, but once they've slept together
everything's fine. (Magic is interfered with by unresolved sexual
tension?)
Also, Ari is the sort of character to whom Noam Chomsky is an
Unmentionable Person because "he defends the PLO and Hamas. Drums up a
lot of support for them in America".
Really, this isn't particularly good in any respect except the basic
technical business of writing, but it does have an odd fascination,
and I'll probably read at least one more of the things.
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