The Native Star is M. K. Hobson‘s first novel, and the first in a series.
Plot:
Emily Edwards is a witch in a version of the late 19th century USA that is full with magic and warlocks. She has spent her life in a small town, practicing her spells and healing, when Dreadnought Stanton comes along – a studied warlock who wants to educate her and her father on the theory of magic. Emily is less than overjoyed but when there’s a problem with the zombies in the close-by mine, she accepts Dreadnought’s help. Unfortunately things go a bit wrong and Emily ends up with a huge rock in her hand – a rock that absorbs all magic. For a lack of better options, she decides to go to San Francisco with Dreadnought, in the hopes that the university of magic there can help her remove the rock.
I enjoyed The Native Star. The world building is nice, it’s an interesting new genre – Hobson calls it bustlepunk (because everything’s punk) and Emily is a good heroine. But her romance with Dreadnought left me completely cold and I generally never got really emotionally invested.