Goodness me, my second review of a Kyt Dotson work in less than a week. Another good one at that. Does that make me a fan? I guess it does.

Black Hat Magick is a contemporary fantasy mystery. The main character – Elaine – is a university student/tech support geek/paranormal detective. So often in modern fantasy magic and technology don’t mix. Not so in this universe, and that’s a refreshing change.

The story is a mystery. Elaine is hired to find out who’s fixing student elections by supernatural means, but even here there is a twist. Her employer is the beneficiary of the fraud, not the victim. The threats are smaller than your average urban fantasy, but as things develop they end up being bad enough.

It only gets better . . . 

Likes:

1. Very interesting characters. Some people may find the tech and popular culture references annoying, but they are completely in character.
2. I like the way magic and technology are not at odds.
3. Nice clean layout.

Dislikes:

1. The layout is clean, but it’s also light-on-dark which is a little annoying (and some people really don’t like it).
2. There are a few typos (but I’ve seen a lot worse in traditionally published books)
3. As with Mill Avenue Vexations I occassionally found myself skimming because nothing much was happening.

Verdict:

Yup, It’s another solid urban fantasy by Kyt Dotson. If that’s your thing go and read it now.

Unlike Vexations this one is finished. But I’m sure there’s a lot more tales could be told of Elaine and her colleagues, so I hope a sequel is planned.

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