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"What would you do if you lost everything that mattered to you, as well as all means to protect yourself and others, but still had to save the day? Conrad Brent is about to find out. Conrad Brent protects the people of Brooklyn from monsters and magical threats. The snarky, wisecracking guardian also has a dangerous secret: he's one in a million - literally. Magical ability comes to about one in every 30,000 and can manifest at any age. Conrad is rarer than this, however. He's a middling, show more one of the half-gifted and totally despised. Most of the gifted community feels that middlings should be instantly killed. The few who don't flat out hate them still aren't excited to be around middlings. Meaning Conrad can't tell anyone, not even his best friends, what he really is. Conrad hides in plain sight by being a part of the volunteer Watch, those magically gifted who protect their cities from dangerous, arcane threats. And, to pay the bills, Conrad moonlights as a private detective and monster hunter for the gifted community. Which helps him keep up his personal fiction - that he's a magical version of Batman. Conrad does both jobs thanks to charms, artifacts, and his wits, along with copious amounts of coffee. But little does he know that events are about to change his life...forever. When Conrad discovers the Traveling Fair auction house has another middling who's just manifested her so-called powers on the auction block, he's determined to save her, regardless of risk. But what he finds out while doing so is even worse - the winning bidder works for a company that's just created the most dangerous chemical weapon to ever hit the magical community. Before Conrad can convince anyone at the Watch of the danger, he's exposed for what he really is. Now, stripped of rank, magical objects, friends and allies, Conrad has to try to save the world with only his wits. Thankfully though, no one's taken away his coffee."--Provided by publisher. show lessTags
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The Middling Affliction is set in a world where some people can manipulate magic (the "gifted"), and others can't (the "mundanes"). A dedicated group of Gifted, human and other, takes responsibility for protecting mundanes from monsters and certain Gifteds who might persecute them. The Watch is a volunteer group, and Conrad Brent's assignment is to protect the "normal" folks in Brooklyn.
However, Conrad is only impersonating being gifted; he uses magical charms and objects, which he can perceive, but he can't create spells or imbue objects with magic. Technically,
Conrad is a Middling, something anathema to the Gifted, which is the reason he is dissembling. His true outsider status may have given rise to his snarky retorts and all-around show more "grumpy" (his own word) nature.
Conrad's character can seem bad-tempered, but I found the resemblance to Harry Dresden, a protector with a pure heart, to be closer to his real personality. The inevitable happens in this urban fantasy when Conrad's true status is revealed, but before this he has successfully overpowered supernatural beings and brokered a truce between a rich land developer and Druids who have a sacred place on the property destined to become a theme park.
He also saves another Middling who was going to be sold at an auction -- thus a nod to the oppression facing those seen as "not us." Together, they flee from the close-minded Cabal, which takes pleasure in killing Middlings, in a fast-paced series of chases, battles, betrayals, reversals and rescues.
As the first in a series, author Alex Shvartsman has created a world with much potential -- and a second installment is now available. This first installment has its own rapid momentum leading to closure while nimbly keeping around certain malevolent dangers.
I received a free copy of this book from CAEZIK SF & Fantasy via BookSirens. This is an honest review. show less
However, Conrad is only impersonating being gifted; he uses magical charms and objects, which he can perceive, but he can't create spells or imbue objects with magic. Technically,
Conrad is a Middling, something anathema to the Gifted, which is the reason he is dissembling. His true outsider status may have given rise to his snarky retorts and all-around show more "grumpy" (his own word) nature.
Conrad's character can seem bad-tempered, but I found the resemblance to Harry Dresden, a protector with a pure heart, to be closer to his real personality. The inevitable happens in this urban fantasy when Conrad's true status is revealed, but before this he has successfully overpowered supernatural beings and brokered a truce between a rich land developer and Druids who have a sacred place on the property destined to become a theme park.
He also saves another Middling who was going to be sold at an auction -- thus a nod to the oppression facing those seen as "not us." Together, they flee from the close-minded Cabal, which takes pleasure in killing Middlings, in a fast-paced series of chases, battles, betrayals, reversals and rescues.
As the first in a series, author Alex Shvartsman has created a world with much potential -- and a second installment is now available. This first installment has its own rapid momentum leading to closure while nimbly keeping around certain malevolent dangers.
I received a free copy of this book from CAEZIK SF & Fantasy via BookSirens. This is an honest review. show less
In a secret world filled with superheroes and supervillains, I was the magical Batman: a grumpy and possibly somewhat unhinged vigilante with no special powers, who relied on his gadgets to keep up with the super-Joneses.
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2023 Hugo Awards -- Eligible Works -- Novels
70 works; 21 members
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- The Middling Affliction
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