Right Hand Magic by Nancy A. Collins

Tate, a young New York artist, needs a new apartment right away. She makes metal sculptures out of car parts and other odds and ends, and it seems her landlord isn’t too happy with the noise level. Tate discovers an available room at a reasonable price and jumps at the chance, even though the building is in Golgotham, New York’s magical neighborhood.

Golgotham itself is a fantastically intriguing setting and the best part of Right Hand Magic. It inspires a sense of wonder akin to what you might have felt when first discovering J.K. Rowling’s Diagon Alley. Nancy A. Collins stocks Golgotham with a wealth of detail, from leprechaun pubs to secret subway tunnels to huldra strip clubs to Tate’s n... Read More

Left Hand Magic by Nancy A. Collins

In Left Hand Magic, Nancy A. Collins delivers a satisfying follow-up to last year’s Right Hand Magic. Tate Eresby, a trust-fund baby turned avant-garde sculptor, is still living in the rich setting of Golgotham with her Kymeran lover, Hexe. But new troubles are brewing in Golgotham. A magazine spread has made Golgotham a hip hot spot for human tourists, and racial tensions are growing between these tourists and Golgotham’s magical natives.

The racism that Collins depicts is, sadly, all too realistic and plausible. It threatens to tear apart the relationship between Tate and Hexe, as both are seen as race traitors. But it’s far worse than that too: bullying, then rioting, then murder take their toll on the neighborhood. Some of the victims are characters we’ve already met and liked, making their fates hit harder.
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