T;LDR: A fun romp with romance, a mystery and an optimistic Troll, The Ruthless Lady’s Guide to Wizardry is a fun way to spend an afternoon or two.
My rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 1/2
Dellaria Wells is in dire need of funds to pay back her landlady before the hard promise (curse) she agreed to hits her with pustules to the face. She signs on to guard a Lady prior to her marriage to make some quick coin and potentially play a longer con. Things turn deadly and Delly finds herself grouping up with the rest of the protection crew to hunt down their adversary.
I loved the plot, the character arc, and the characters within it. The world building was unique, but the slang and way of speaking was a bit tricky to follow, which is why I gave it 4.5 stars.
The Plot
Dellaria Wells is a Fire Witch with a small problem: her mam (mother) and her landlady. After realizing she can’t pay her already behind rent and finding her mam doing a drug that was not good for her, she gets desperate and signs on for some protection duty.
The two-week gig will net her enough to pay her rent for at least half a year and do something for her mam. But it’s not long into their first day when the Lady is attacked by a giant mechanical spider and Delly realizes it’s not going to be as simple as it seems. What she thought would be an easy two weeks with a potential romance with Winn, the female half-Troll also assigned to protection duty, quickly turns complicated when one of their own dies.
The gang groups together to hunt down the killer and get justice for their slain member. Can Delly survive the gig long enough to pay her rent and put her mam somewhere safe? And will the group be successful in finding and bringing to justice the adversary, who is more twisted and protected than they expected?
What I liked & liked less
This book was recommended in the /r/fantasy reddit thread for the Fantasy Bingo challenge of 2021 for the Book Club square and boy am I glad I picked it up.
But first, it took me a bit of time to get into it because of the slang and language spoken by all of them, but specifically by Delly. It almost felt piratical, but it’s not. It’s turn of the century England gutter slang plus, the plus being specific world-building terms and slang. To be honest, I’m still confused by some of it and what it means to be householded, but that’s alright. I’m pretty sure I got the gist of it.
I hope.
Moving on, though, I really liked this book. Delly is a flawed, fabulous, mess who has some major character growing to do and achieves quite a bit of it. She’s not had it easy and her self-esteem about her gutter beginnings hamper her progress, which is awesome. Her growth doesn’t happen overnight; she moves forward and slides back. She’s unaware at times that she’s acting like a decent human being because she hides it behind her con long game she’s working.
Her romance with Winn, the clanner (high society) half-Troll who is a diehard optimist, but equally skilled in pistols and self-defense, is really nice. Because Winn wants to woo her and follow the engagement (householding) protocols of being proper ladies, their romance is very slow burn and slides in between the adventures the gang has while searching for their adversary.
Winn has her back, but also has her own wobbles throughout, so she’s well-rounded as a character. In fact, all of the secondary characters, with the exception of the little-seen Totham daughters, are fully fleshed out, with challenges, flaws, and oddities that they bring to the party.
And Buttons. You can’t forget the undead mouse in all of this either.
The mystery, while present, isn’t as much of a feature as the relationships between the group, or the plan they hatch to catch their adversary, so that’s a bit of a disappointment. They stumble on the master villain early on and while there is a twist, it’s not as devious as I would’ve liked. But, it’s still an entertaining read; one that keeps the world of Delly firmly in mind, down to how the police dismiss her.
With all that, plus a few points I didn’t share due to their spoiler nature, I can honestly say I recommend this book.
To Sum Up (Too Late!)
A delightful fantasy novel with romance, necromancy, character growth, a reanimated mouse, and a fun group of adventurers out for revenge, The Ruthless Lady’s Guide to Wizardry by C.M. Waggoner is one I’d highly recommend. I didn’t give it 5 stars because I’m not sure if I’d read it again and I had an issue with the world-building not being clear enough to me to understand it based on context. For that, and the lighter mystery element, I rated it 4.5 stars.
About the Author
C.M. Waggoner grew up in rural upstate New York, where she spent a lot of time reading fantasy novels in a swamp. She studied creative writing at SUNY Purchase and lived in China for eight years before moving with her husband to Albany, NY. In her spare time, she volunteers, performs kitchen experiments, asks if she can pet your dog, and gardens badly. You can voice your complaints to the management (or sign up for her mailing list) at cmwaggoner.com.
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Originally published on Feedium.