Review: Hammered

Hammered by Lindsay Buroker
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Lindsay Buroker hovers right on the cusp between formulaic and fresh. If you've read very many of her books, you know exactly what to expect from a new one, which is both their strength and their flaw. You'll seldom be disappointed, but you'll seldom be particularly surprised.

Having said that, she doesn't just write the same book over and over again, and certainly doesn't just rewrite other authors' successful books like so many indie authors do (her formula is, at least, her own); and although her characters' voices end up sounding very similar, their situations, backgrounds, and worlds bring the freshness they need to stay interesting. The books are well edited, with just a few minor glitches; the pacing propels the reader through the plot but leaves enough time for a few fun character moments; and in general they are, as I've observed before, the Subway of fast-food fiction.

This is the start of a new series in the same urban-fantasy world as Death Before Dragons. With the amount of mayhem involving supernaturals, and the number of people walking round with some non-human ancestry, it's increasingly implausible that the existence of magic, non-human sentients, and other worlds isn't generally known, but apart from that the worldbuilding is enough for its purpose. The protagonist, born on Earth to a dwarf mother and human father, doesn't know much about the magical side of her heritage, which means the author can be vague about how everything works and it doesn't seem too much like scenery flats. It helps that it's firmly anchored in Seattle, Washington as its main location.

Of all the familiar Buroker elements, I've always been least enthusiastic about the laconic, arrogant, violent, emotionally inaccessible slow-burn love interests (see The Emperor's Edge and Death Before Dragons for other examples), and I think I probably like this one least of all. I prefer a more even match of partners, as in the Dragon's Blood series, where both men and women are equally capable and equally insecure, and we get viewpoints from both of them.

Other than that, though, I did enjoy this series starter, and I'll probably pick up the others in the series at some point.

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