Native Star (Veneficas Americana #1) by M.K. Hobson
★★★★★☆☆☆☆☆
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Native Star by M.K. Hobson[/caption]If I had been asked my opinion of Native Star at various points as I was reading it, my answers would be all over the board. At times it was interesting and intriguing – the concept of magic being integrated with geology and science. Other times, I felt that that very concept was confusing, boring and I wished they’d just get on with it.
So, here’s the gist: Emily Edwards is a Witch living in a small town in the California wilderness called Lost Pines, circa 1876. Although Emily’s witchcraft is limited to spells concocted through things like herbs and dancing naked around the moonlight, there are other levels of magical folk that can cast spells and charms simply through uttering words, such as Warlocks (and then there are many different types of them).
Emily lives with her “Pap” – not her biological father but the man who raised her since she was 5 when she and her mother showed up at his doorstep, frozen. She has no memory of her mother or anything prior to coming to Lost Pines.
Stanton Dreadnaught (no joke) is a Warlock stationed in the area. Aside from being higher than Emily on the magic totem pole (not literally – as far as I know there isn’t a magic totem pole), he’s from New York City. Basically, Emily sees him as a stuck-up snob with nothing better to do than stick his condescending nose in their business. And she’s not completely wrong.
Much to her distaste, he follows her to the local mines to check out the Zombie failsafe switch which, according to a drunken dervish’s Cassandra, has failed. Did you understand what I just said? No? I’ll get to that shortly. The zombie miners are loose and, in the escape, Emily ends up with a magical rock in her hand.
You see, the earth is made up with this liquid/gas/magma/magic fairy juice (honestlay, I can’t even remember exactly what it is) which allows magic to be practiced. Without it, magic wouldn’t exist. When too much magic is practiced, it causes the ground to spew out a black liquid called “Black Expunge.” When a living creature touches the goo, it becomes an “Aberrancy” – which means it grows to a massive size and attacks people.
What does that have to do with all the tea in China (or at least the rock in Emily’s hand)? Well, that’s what they are going to find out. Emily and Stanton set off on an adventure to San Francisco to the magic institute where they can study her hand and, importantly, get the rock out.
So, here’s my problem: while the concept was interesting, at times it felt like it was written for someone in their world instead of someone in my world. The terminology used was often obscure (if not completely made up) and the story jumped right into using it without explanation. For example, I always thought Cassandra was someone’s name, not a prophecy or vision. As much as I like expanding my vocabulary, having to stop and use a dictionary every few minutes was frustrating and impeded the flow.
And when they did stop to explain things, it wasn’t much better. The explanations, which usually came from Stanton, were drawn out and unnecessarily meticulous – and still confusing. They weren’t mentioned casually, Stanton spouted them off like an instructor – which would’ve been alright if he had started at the 101-level, but I felt like I was sitting in an advanced class for majors without having been taught the fundamentals.
To add to that, a lot of the terminology and names of characters were hard to pronounce (I’m one of those people who has to read out loud inside their head. Pretend that that makes sense). There’s one, OOohalalal, which I never could figure out. I just started calling it “Oooh-la-la”.
Maybe I’m stupid. I don’t know.
When I wasn’t feeling insecure about my vocabulary, however, I found the main characters quite enjoyable and the plot exciting (in a slow-to-medium paced way). It wasn’t something that kept me up late at night,
Emily is...a fearless female hidden under the guise of the girl next door. She’s simple. She doesn’t have a higher education or great understanding of the world outside her community, but she has common sense (somehow she can understand what Stanton says, so that’s something right there). Emily is a good person. She’s someone that you’d want as a best friend – and I have to say that I was disappointed that she didn’t have one (I thought the character of Rose, who they meet on the train, would’ve filled the role nicely).
Stanton was surprisingly likable for a pretentious yankee. He condescended when condescension was due, but didn’t seem to get joy out of finding things to nitpick about. His patronizing usually came in the form of an amused smirk rather than a reprimand. He was a little weak – don’t get me wrong, I never wanted him to save the day, but he seemed to always end up being the damsel in distress. In a few ways, he was more naïve than Emily.
As for the characters from Stanton’s magic institute in New York – they were completely unlikable. It’s one thing to reflect the social standards of the era, but the male characters from the institute in New York – the ones who were supposed to help – were so spineless and downright rude (not just to Emily, but to Stanton) that I lost respect for the main characters for even trusting them. Especially Stanton.
Instead of how many series novels end each book with a cliffhanger, Native Star does not. Aside from a few questions left unanswered (Who is Emily’s mom? Why are these people after her?), the main plot (about getting the rock out of her hand) comes to a close. This makes it nice for someone who wants to try out a new series, but doesn’t want to commit to several books just to find out the ending.
Honestly, I can see this being a totally addictive series for the right person. For me, I’m not sure yet. I liked it enough to advance on to the second book, The Hidden Goddess, but am going into it with no real opinion either way. Mostly, I’m interested in where the author will take the story and how the characters will develop. And, with any luck, when the characters will burn down the institute.
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