The Native Star
| Author | M. K. Hobson |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Historical Fantasy |
| Publisher | Bantam Spectra |
Publication date | October 2010 |
| Media type | Print (Paperback) |
| ISBN | 0-7653-1708-7 |
| Followed by | The Hidden Goddess |
The Native Star is a historical fantasy novel, and the first novel from writer M. K. Hobson. It was nominated for the 2010 Nebula Award.
Plot summary
The Native Star is set in America in 1876, and follows the adventures of Emily Edwards, town witch of the tiny Sierra Nevada settlement of Lost Pine. Her business is suffering from the rise of mail-order patent magicks, and her only chance at avoiding the penury that is at her doorstep is to use a love spell to bewitch the town’s richest lumberman into marrying her.
When the love spell goes terribly wrong, Emily is forced to accept the aid of Dreadnought Stanton—a pompous and scholarly Warlock from New York — to set things right. Together, they travel from the seedy underbelly of San Francisco’s Barbary Coast, across the United States by transcontinental railroad and biomechanical flying machine, to the highest halls of American magical power only to find that love spells (and love) are more dangerous than either of them ever could have imagined.
Critical reception
The Native Star was included on Locus' Recommended Reading List for 2010[1] as well as several other "Top 10 of 2010" lists.[2][3][4] Publishers Weekly called it "Clever and original" and "[a] splendid debut." [5] It was nominated for the 2010 Nebula Award for Best Novel.[6]
Reviews
- Review by A.M. Dellamonica on Tor.com
- Review by C.N. Rivera on Beneath Ceaseless Skies
- Review by Brenda Cothern in Adventures in SciFi Publishing
External links
- M.K. Hobson's Author Page at Random House
- The Native Star pages on the author's website
- Book page on Goodreads, including reader reviews and ratings
References
- ↑ Locus, Recommended Reading List 2010 (First Novels), February 2011 (http://www.locusmag.com/Magazine/2011/Issue02_RecommendedReading.html)
- ↑ The Book Pushers, Top 10 reads of 2010 (http://thebookpushers.com/2010/12/31/our-top-reads-from-2010/)
- ↑ The Reader Eclectic, Top 10 of 2010 (http://www.thereadereclectic.com/?p=1153/)
- ↑ From the TBR Pile, Top 10 of 2010 (http://fromthetbrpile.blogspot.com/2010/12/10-on-10th.html/)
- ↑ Publishers Weekly Review (on Amazon.com page)
- ↑ http://www.sfwa.org/2011/02/2010-nebula-nominees/