Dellaria Wells is a gutter witch, a street rat with a decent amount of fire magic. She's not thrilled with her lot, but she's content enough scamming the rich during the day and drinking her worries away at night. But money is tight. When the opportunity to play bodyguard for an Important Young Lady on retreat appears, she can't afford to pass it up. Why a proper young lady should need to be protected, Dellaria has no idea, but it pays well.
On the job, she's introduced to her charge as well as the rest of the bodyguards who have been chosen. It's a particularly threatening group of women, each chosen for her skill in a field of magic. And it includes Winn, an adventurous woman with respectable roots, who immediately takes a liking to Dellaria. The gutter witch realizes that cultivating a relationship with Winn won't just make this job more fun, it could get her out of the gutter for good.
Ruthless Lady's Guide to Wizardry is a fantasy set in an alternate world. Readers familiar with C.M. Waggoner may recognize the world and mechanics from the author's previous novel, but Ruthless is a standalone story.
Though I did enjoy this novel, it was difficult for me to get through the first chapter. The narration and dialogue here suffer from a common problem that I see in steampunk, Victorian settings, and other historical fiction. In order to convey to readers that we are in an older time, the author adds extra clauses to every sentence. It's very hit or miss for me, so it took some getting used to in this novel.
Added to that, we see Dellaria frequently make up or misuse words so we can see that she's poor and uneducated. And so we can see her more privileged companions constantly correct her.
It get's...a little old.
Aside from my complaints with the writing style, my experience with this book was mostly positive. The main quest did not go as planned, and I was pleasantly surprised with how the plot evolved. I think the twists and turns were clever and well-thought out. And though Dellaria herself is a bit unlikeable, each member of the bodyguard group was interesting. It was rough being introduced to some seven characters in the span of a few pages, but the author accounted for this. By their next meeting Dellaria had forgotten their names, so the reader doesn't feel left behind.
There was one plot point which I think could have been left out entirely. Without spoiling it, I felt it was applied too late in the story and it only caused me confusion and anxiety.
Overall, this was an enjoyable novel. It doesn't seem to be setting up for future works, so if you're looking for a standalone fantasy, this may be for you.
Ruthless Lady's Guide to Wizardry is a brand new novel, published on January, 12, 2021.
