Magic and Motor-Cars, or How a Fairy Moved Up in the World by Galadriel Coffeen

This means we are immediately tipped into the story and learn about our protagonists and the world as the story moves along in Agent Finley’s first-person viewpoint. One of Coffeen’s superpowers is that she keeps the story moving along, without resorting to info-dumps that silt up the narrative. They are both interesting characters with fascinating backstories. For humans all too often regard fairy magic with suspicion and dismiss them as being stupid and sub-human.Įnter our plucky investigators, Agent Beka Finley, the only woman to date who has succeeded in becoming one of the elite Royal Investigators, and her partner Agent Lester Donovan. So we have fairies working long hours for low pay, often being exploited and they are becoming increasingly resentful and angry, which is beginning to lead to inter-species conflict. However they require fairies to drive these vehicles as the inherent magic within the dragon bones needs to be controlled by someone with magical ability – and other than a handful of noble families, most humans don’t possess magic. The setting is a fantasy world where the industrial revolution is taking off – there are steam-powered trains and cars, but they are being superseded by the new dragon-bone engines. But that truth might lead to more questions than answers. Determined to protect more lives from the growing unrest between humans and fairies, Beka puts her own life and reputation on the line to find the truth. Just like the crash that killed her father six years ago. But everyone seems bent on persuading her it was an accident. As she and her partner investigate the devastating train crash, she’s convinced the train was sabotaged. It must be something worse, Agent Beka Finley is sure of it. So when I saw this offering on Netgalley, I was delighted to be approved for it, even though it is already published.īLURB: Dynamite couldn’t cause such a big explosion. I’ve been reading a lot of murder mysteries recently – particularly those with an SFF element.

Magic and Motor-Cars, or How a Fairy Moved Up in the World by Galadriel Coffeen