Status
Available
Series
Publication
Ace (2021), 400 pages
Description
Dellaria Wells, petty con artist, occasional thief, and partly educated fire witch, is behind on her rent in the city of Leiscourt-again. Then she sees a "wanted" sign seeking Female Persons, of Martial or Magical ability, to guard a Lady of some Importance before the celebration of her Marriage. Delly fast-talks her way into the job and joins a team of highly peculiar women tasked with protecting their wealthy charge from unknown assassins. Delly quickly sets her sights on one of her companions, the confident and well-bred Winn Cynallum. The job looks like nothing but romance and easy money until things take a deadly turn. With the help of a bird-loving necromancer, a shapeshifting schoolgirl, and an ill-tempered reanimated mouse named Buttons, Delly and Winn are determined to get the best of an adversary who wields twisted magic and has friends in the highest of places.… (more)
User reviews
LibraryThing member kmartin802
This story takes place in the fictional city of Leiscourt and stars a youma woman named Dellaria Wells. Delly is a fire witch, a con woman, and down and out. She needs money to make her rent when she sees an ad for Female Persons of Martial or Magical Ability to guard a Lady of Some
Getting hired on seems like a way out of her current financial difficulties. She is part of a crew consisting of two ladies with magical talent, a body scientist and her daughter Ermintrude who turns into a pig, and a high class girl who is part troll and is also skilled in martial arts.
Delly takes one look at the crew and decides that Winn Cynallum, the part troll girl, is her ticket to future financial security and determines to seduce her. But her courtship is interrupted by someone actually attempting to murder the lady she's supposed to be guarding. She uses her magical ability to burn the spider-like creatures who stage numerous attacks.
The bulk of the book concerns catching the villain and bringing her to justice. She is joined by the rest of the guards since, while she missed killing the lady, she did kill Ermintrude. Delly is mostly concerned with the reward that has been offered for bringing the villain to justice. She needs the money to help her mother get off the use of the latest drug of choice - red drip. Unfortunately, in order to track down the villain they have to turn into producers of red drip themselves because the villain is an addict and involved with the production of the drug.
Despite the ample use of dialect (which I hate), I enjoyed this story which was part mystery and part romance and featured an interesting main character and the girl who falls in love with her and helps her become her best self. I liked the various kinds of magic in the story and the general world building.
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Importance.Getting hired on seems like a way out of her current financial difficulties. She is part of a crew consisting of two ladies with magical talent, a body scientist and her daughter Ermintrude who turns into a pig, and a high class girl who is part troll and is also skilled in martial arts.
Delly takes one look at the crew and decides that Winn Cynallum, the part troll girl, is her ticket to future financial security and determines to seduce her. But her courtship is interrupted by someone actually attempting to murder the lady she's supposed to be guarding. She uses her magical ability to burn the spider-like creatures who stage numerous attacks.
The bulk of the book concerns catching the villain and bringing her to justice. She is joined by the rest of the guards since, while she missed killing the lady, she did kill Ermintrude. Delly is mostly concerned with the reward that has been offered for bringing the villain to justice. She needs the money to help her mother get off the use of the latest drug of choice - red drip. Unfortunately, in order to track down the villain they have to turn into producers of red drip themselves because the villain is an addict and involved with the production of the drug.
Despite the ample use of dialect (which I hate), I enjoyed this story which was part mystery and part romance and featured an interesting main character and the girl who falls in love with her and helps her become her best self. I liked the various kinds of magic in the story and the general world building.
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LibraryThing member ZoharLaor
The Ruthless Lady’s Guide to Wizardry by C.M. Waggoner describes itself as historical fantasy taking place in the fictional city of Leiscourt, following a poor fire-witch/con artist hired to protect a noblewoman. Ms. Waggoner is an American author, this is her second novel.
Dellaria Wells, Delly,
Delly thinks that this will be an easy job, but soon her and the team of lady witches/bodyguards she’s working with realize that they might have gotten in over their heads.
This book is not up my alley, you witches, lesbians, romance, an all female cast … not things I’m interested in. maybe that’s why I sought it out – it sounded interesting even though not the typical book I’d read. Besides, I thought in need to make more of an effort to read books somewhat outside my reading likes, not much mind you – a few steps outside the periphery will do. Many times I quite enjoy them and venture even further.
The first thing that struck me when I started reading The Ruthless Lady’s Guide to Wizardry by C.M. Waggoner is how beautifully it was written. The storyline was a delight, combining comedy and action with the mundane all told by an unreliable, yet witty, narrator. I enjoyed the author’s unique and quirky style of writing, crafting her words earnestly, but never taking herself seriously and somehow always managing to get her point across.
I did feel that the last quarter of the book dragged. There wasn’t much there to keep me interested and focused mainly on the romance between Delly and her fellow witch from high-birth. Once the mystery was solved, the book launched into another, unexpected direction. The pacing was slow throughout the book, which was absolutely fine and worked for the vast majority of the narrative.
I did enjoy historical fiction paired with the fantastical. I have read several books in that vein and frankly enjoyed most of them, if not all. This is one of those genres that deserves its own category for the simple, and quite selfish, reason that it would be easier for me to find.
Dellaria Wells, Delly,
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is a hard-drinking thief, about to be evicted from her apartment in Leiscourt. Delly is also a talented fire-witch, but has no idea how to hone her skills. Delly fast-talks herself into a good paying job, protecting a young rich lady from assassination.Delly thinks that this will be an easy job, but soon her and the team of lady witches/bodyguards she’s working with realize that they might have gotten in over their heads.
This book is not up my alley, you witches, lesbians, romance, an all female cast … not things I’m interested in. maybe that’s why I sought it out – it sounded interesting even though not the typical book I’d read. Besides, I thought in need to make more of an effort to read books somewhat outside my reading likes, not much mind you – a few steps outside the periphery will do. Many times I quite enjoy them and venture even further.
The first thing that struck me when I started reading The Ruthless Lady’s Guide to Wizardry by C.M. Waggoner is how beautifully it was written. The storyline was a delight, combining comedy and action with the mundane all told by an unreliable, yet witty, narrator. I enjoyed the author’s unique and quirky style of writing, crafting her words earnestly, but never taking herself seriously and somehow always managing to get her point across.
I did feel that the last quarter of the book dragged. There wasn’t much there to keep me interested and focused mainly on the romance between Delly and her fellow witch from high-birth. Once the mystery was solved, the book launched into another, unexpected direction. The pacing was slow throughout the book, which was absolutely fine and worked for the vast majority of the narrative.
I did enjoy historical fiction paired with the fantastical. I have read several books in that vein and frankly enjoyed most of them, if not all. This is one of those genres that deserves its own category for the simple, and quite selfish, reason that it would be easier for me to find.
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LibraryThing member TheDivineOomba
A wonderfully written romance novel set in a world where people can do magic. When I picked this up, I was thinking its going to be a typical Victorian story with magic. And it started that way, but it quickly became something else completely. It also manages to comment on class, education, love,
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and social roles, all without being over the top and being written in a heist type story. The story was fun, went places that I wasn't expecting, and it manages to take a stereotype and turn it 90 degrees to make it something else. I especially liked the way the romance was written. It wasn't hot and steamy, but was written in a way that manages to be both be sexy, and wholesome. Show Less
LibraryThing member kevn57
4 1/2 stars
Wow this is one of the best books I've read this year, I love the setting, the characters and the writing. I'm a sucker for a
redemption story and this one is a great one. Delly is dead broke and will do anything for money, until she won't.
Winn was good and kind and clever, and probably
I love the ending as well, instead of heading out to the country to live her peaceful dream life, Delly and Winn opt for another adventure.
This may be the best historical fiction that I've ever read.
Wow this is one of the best books I've read this year, I love the setting, the characters and the writing. I'm a sucker for a
redemption story and this one is a great one. Delly is dead broke and will do anything for money, until she won't.
Winn was good and kind and clever, and probably
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the handsomest gull that Delly had ever successfully engaged in conversation. The only reason that anyone could possibly object to their union was if they thought Delly wasn’t good enough for Winn. This was, Delly thought, undeniably true. Delly was an ill-mannered, ill-tempered, money-hungry slattern with a decidedly potato-like aspect to her personal appearance. Her having swindled Winn into proposing by pretending to be a better person than she was in actuality was nothing short of fraud. Delly could readily admit to all of this. The concern wasn’t that Delly had committed a fraud—she’d done that plenty of times. It was that she was currently lying awake at night in their nice respectable hotel feeling sick to her stomach over it.I love the ending as well, instead of heading out to the country to live her peaceful dream life, Delly and Winn opt for another adventure.
This may be the best historical fiction that I've ever read.
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LibraryThing member rivkat
Fantasy starring a gutter firewitch who’s a bit too fond of gin. In an attempt to make the rent, she joins a crew of witches protecting a fine young lady before her marriage, one of whom is a respectable clanner who might be a great meal ticket for her. But things get complicated, both
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murderously and romantically, and she has to somehow infiltrate a drugmaking operation and make the very stuff that her mother is addicted to, in hopes of being able to save those she loves (and some she’s not so fond of). It’s a lot of fun, and includes a skeletal mouse named Buttons who is both cuter and more horrifying than he sounds like. Show Less
LibraryThing member London_StJ
More than anything I find myself describing The Ruthless Lady's Guide to Wizardry as "comfortable" and "charming." It is an adventure without real fear, and a romance that makes me smile quietly to myself. It's wonderful escapist fiction that asks little of its readers, but provides great
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entertainment - and offers queer romance without trauma or othering. Oof, I needed this one. Show Less
LibraryThing member zjakkelien
Some of this was really quite nice, lots of women with talents and agency, friendships, and an absolutely wonderful mouse.
So maybe I should give it 4 stars, but at some point it really dragged. I finished it because I had come so far, and I'm glad I did, but I was really bored and fed up with it
And I was not always enamoured with Delly. It took her a good while to stop seeing Wynn as a prospect.
So maybe I should give it 4 stars, but at some point it really dragged. I finished it because I had come so far, and I'm glad I did, but I was really bored and fed up with it
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for a little while. And I was not always enamoured with Delly. It took her a good while to stop seeing Wynn as a prospect.
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Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
2021-01-12
Physical description
400 p.; 8.26 inches
ISBN
198480586X / 9781984805867