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The Native Star [Mass Market Paperback]

M. K. Hobson
4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
Price: £5.31 & this item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions
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Book Description

31 Aug 2010
In the tradition of Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, this brilliant first novel fuses history, fantasy, and romance. Prepare to be enchanted by M. K. Hobson’s captivating take on the Wild, Wild West.
 
The year is 1876. In the small Sierra Nevada settlement of Lost Pine, the town witch, Emily Edwards, is being run out of business by an influx of mail-order patent magics. Attempting to solve her problem with a love spell, Emily only makes things worse. But before she can undo the damage, an enchanted artifact falls into her possession—and suddenly Emily must flee for her life, pursued by evil warlocks who want the object for themselves.

Dreadnought Stanton, a warlock from New York City whose personality is as pompous and abrasive as his name, has been exiled to Lost Pine for mysterious reasons. Now he finds himself involuntarily allied with Emily in a race against time—and across the United States by horse, train, and biomechanical flying machine—in quest of the great Professor Mirabilis, who alone can unlock the secret of the coveted artifact. But along the way, Emily and Stanton will be forced to contend with the most powerful and unpredictable magic of all—the magic of the human heart.

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Product details

  • Mass Market Paperback: 387 pages
  • Publisher: Spectra Books (31 Aug 2010)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0553592653
  • ISBN-13: 978-0553592658
  • Product Dimensions: 10.6 x 2.8 x 17.5 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 337,673 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars A romantic mix of Firefly and steampunk 16 Jun 2011
By M. K. Burton TOP 1000 REVIEWER VINE™ VOICE
Format:Mass Market Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
In 1876, fancy mail order magic is driving out homespun magic, the kind Emily Edwards practices. As her and her father's situation gets more and more desperate, she decides to snare a wealthy husband with a love spell. Her efforts, though meant well, completely backfire, and soon she finds herself racing across the country with Dreadnought Stanton, a snobbish warlock from New York City, on a frantic effort to reach the centre of the warlock's world before it's too late.

This was a great book in so many different ways. I love the setting - like other reviewers before me have said, it's that wild west meets magic that is surprisingly appealing. It reminds me of Firefly in a way, both set in a world full of cowboys but with added twists to make them fresh and new. Here we have not only magic but echoes of steampunk and a few other bits and pieces.

Hobson's ideas about magic are different from anything I've personally read, but the contrast is so apt for the time period when the mass catalogues started going out and people began to crave something other than homespun, homemade goods. This is a few years before that started to happen in real life, but it has that feel about it of the new pushing out the old, and the old struggling to survive in any way possible. The magic system develops very much along the course of the book, with new discoveries coming rapidly. It's obvious that Hobson has a lot of ideas and I'm really looking forward to her fleshing this version of our world out more. The end of the book hints at a sequel and I am crossing my fingers that this is true, because I would definitely like to spend more time here.

And then, of course, there is a fantastic romance, and I can't spoil that for anyone as it's right on the back cover.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars The Book Geek 5 July 2012
Format:Mass Market Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
The goodreads and Amazon descriptions for The Native Star promise so many elements that it's hard to believe the novel could possibly deliver them all successfully: historical fiction, fantasy and magic, steampunk, western, and romance. And yet, this book is one of the rare cases when an idea that crosses so many genres and brings in many different aspects actually works well.

Emily Edwards is the local witch in a small town in California. The year is 1876, but this isn't quite the past that history books tell us about. Instead of being false accusations, it turns out that the witch trials were actually attempts to out real witches and warlocks, but in this alternate universe witchcraft has been legalized and magic is now an important part of the United States. However, not everyone is so accepting of it, and magic is also used illegally for criminal purposes or to manipulate people. Emily starts the story by deciding that the only way to save her and her father from their financial problems is to cast a love spell on a wealthy local man. Unfortunately, things don't go quite to plan, and before Emily can put things right she finds herself with a strange magic-absorbing stone embedded in her palm that prevents her from using magic and reversing the love spell.

Reluctantly teaming up with the insufferable warlock, Dreadnought Stanton, Emily must set out across the country to have the stone removed so she can eventually put things right again. However, the stone is far more valuable than Emily could have foreseen, and it turns out that just about everyone wants to get their hands on it. As Emily and Stanton flee for their lives, their relationship goes from barely tolerating one another to a begrudging friendship to something a little deeper.
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5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic steampunk western! 14 April 2013
Format:Mass Market Paperback
This was an excellent steampunk western, and I'd fully recommend it to anyone who loves steampunk or just alternative history adventures.

M.K. Hobson blew me away with her world-building and sassy wonderful main characters. Both Emily and Stanton are a such contradiction as in they are polar opposite to each other it's pure fun to see them try and work together.

Emily is a young witch in a backwater country who can't even make a love spell without it going awry, and Dreadnaught is a stuffy young educated warlock who can't help but lament his exile away from civilised society of New York and point Emily's inadequacies to her.

Of course how it often happens, a magical mining explosion releases a horde of zombie-like creatures and unleashes a magical artifact that embeds itself in Emily's palm, and now the couple will have to travel to New York to help Emily to get rid of it.

However be wary of impending magical disaster, treachery among warlocks, a mounting movement of witch burning and political intrigues while they are at it. Add native American magic, cross-dressing, a villain with a flair, and an embarrassing growing attraction between Emily and Stanton, and you'd get an excellent, wonderful adventure!

Highly recommended.
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4.0 out of 5 stars Unusual and absorbing 11 Sep 2011
Format:Mass Market Paperback
The Native Star combines the air of the old west with some traditional fantasy tropes, resulting in a story that's about equal parts historical fiction and magic. Emily Edwards is an intriguing heroine: stubborn and prone to making mistakes, she hates women's finery and has no intention of being a proper lady. She is brave and forthright and she refuses to be cowed by pompous warlock Dreadnought Stanton. The relationship between these two is well-drawn, and their dialogue often witty and amusing.

With clandestine magical societies, chilling government agencies, peculiar love charms, Native American shamans, possessions and dangerous "aberrancies", there's a great deal going on here to keep the reader entertained. There are also hints of steampunk about this novel, namely in the shape of a fantastically weird flying machine. I'll definitely be reading the sequel.
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