My rating is for this book only but the review is for the first 4 volumes.

My biggest problem was how erratic the quality in the series is especially because of the naive black and white views we are presented with sometimes.
Particularly in later books, the series proves that it very much understands shades of grey and nuance but throughout all the books there are these heavy-handed and preachy sections that seem totally out of place.
Almost as if the author believed it necessary to insert these shallow pseudo-wise interpersonal relationship advice lessons at regular intervals. I already find those in themselves pretty irritating but on top of that, common sense and plot get completely compromised sometimes in these sections just to force some contrived set up to teach lessons by example.
It's not so much the cringe and cheese in heart to hearts which is usually a sore point with me but the way many of those conflicts arise and the mental gymnastics necessary to keep them alive until the lesson section.

One other flaw worth mentioning was the lack of research in places.
There are lots of immersion breakers that could've been avoided with a quick google search which makes me a bit sad. For example, hardened veteran cops worriedly watch an injured person with a gunshot wound go paler and paler and no one in the entire series ever tries to stop bleedings. It's just a nitpick but there are so many of them it becomes irritating.

There are countless well-known writing sins in this series.
From convenient IQ changes to suddenly tripping in battle, from completely flawed logic that nonetheless leads to the correct conclusion to stupid villain masterplans, you probably can find most of them.
Too many to list them all with my lack of patience.

I think many of these problems could've been easily resolved with another revision and/or an intrusive editor but then I have no idea through how many revisions the books already went so it is hard to judge.

None of the issues were bad enough to push me over the edge to drop the series even though I am usually quick to dnf.

On the positive side, surprisingly, there are a lot of examples of well-done long-term planning with well-placed clues and hints in the series which usually is one of the biggest weaknesses in the genre.

This, and the probably slowest burning romance I've ever read, kept me engaged despite the many shortcomings.

Sadly the series isn't complete and probably won't ever be, judging by the release dates of the existing volumes. ( )

Engaging world and good characters -- I will read more in this series! ( )

Dirty Magic by Jaye Wells
1st book in the Prospero’s War series. Urban fantasy cop with magic.
Kate Prospero is a new member of the Magic Enforcement Agency task force. Her job gets more complicated when her brother wants to learn to “cook” dirty magic and he calls Kate’s ex.

Engrossing cop procedural with magic and family issues. Kate is raising her brother the best she can with ethical issues she still has to work out. The tension between Kate and her ex is tense and rich with feelings neither want to revisit. And poor Danny feeling like an outcast and just trying to survive high school is so dramatic and such a teenager.
The Magic investigation and Kate’s desperately trying to do the right thing carries a bit of angst but it’s so real and powerful, it makes the story that much more compelling to finish.

I will be reading more of this series. ( )

I was debating whether to rate this as a 3 or 3.5 then when I looked it up on LT I had already read it. And forgotten it 100%. It is a perfectly fine take on the heroine with something extra in a dark urban fantasy world, a bit different than the usual werewolfs, vampires, and other strange critters, with Adepts being both the monsters and among those fighting the monsters, and the take on magic is not the most common, and the pacing and plotting are better than average, just, well I totally forgot it. Totally. ( )

I enjoyed reading this, and it gave something different in the urban fantasy department - alchemy and policework, rather than creatures and lone-wolfing. Our heroine is interesting and layered with the regrets that adulthood accumulates, without offering any easy answers about those regrets or living with / moving on from them. So all in all, this is a good little book, so I'm not quite sure why I didn't enjoy it more. But I remain unmoved.

Perhaps it's that there were some complexities - or maybe glitches - in the storytelling that never quite panned out. (e.g. Kate is guardian of her younger brother, but keeps saying "my mother", which made me assume that younger brother was actually her youthful-indiscretion son, but that never came up and seems impossible.) Maybe it's that it's laying groundwork for a whole network of interesting elements and so never quite digs in deep on any of them. Maybe it's just plain that urban fantasy isn't my preferred marmalade.

But it just never quite sank its hooks into me. So this is more like three-and-a-half, rounded up. ( )