City of broken magic /

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

Mirah Bolender's fast-paced, adventure fantasy debut, City of Broken Magic , features a bomb squad that defuses magic weapons.

Five hundred years ago, magi created a weapon they couldn't control. An infestation that ate magic--and anything else it came into contact with. Enemies and allies were equally filling.

Only an elite team of non-magical humans, known as sweepers, can defuse and dispose of infestations before they spread. Most die before they finish training.

Laura, a new team member, has stayed alive longer than most. Now, she's the last--and only--sweeper standing between the city and a massive infestation.

Chronicles of Amicae
City of Broken Magic / The Monstrous Citadel / Fortress of Magi

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Library Journal Review

DEBUT At 20 years old, Laura Kramer takes on the unconventional job of apprentice sweeper. Trained by surly and mysterious head sweeper Clae Sinclair, Laura's new role is to act as monster control for her home city of Amicae. Like all cities in this world, Amicae relies on amulets to help its citizens in day-to-day life. However, if one of these amulets is broken and not cleansed immediately, it can act as host to people-eating monsters. Clae and Laura are the sole guardians of Amicae, trained in magic weapons to control the infestations that begin occurring more frequently and with more force. Along the way, the pair is joined by another apprentice, Okane, a direct descendent of the magi who created the creatures as a weapon, before losing control of them. As Laura learns the history of the city, the mistreatment of magi, how it was conquered, and what was lost, a final battle ensues in which the sweepers must save the city, or watch it fall to oblivion. VERDICT Described as The Hurt Locker with magic, this fascinating debut includes a handful of battles, and in between depicts the strange land and way of life Laura faces in Amicae. Readers will be antsy for the next installment.-Brooke Bolton, Boonville-Warrick Cty. P.L., IN © Copyright 2018. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Publishers Weekly Review

Bolender's debut secondary-world fantasy comes to life thanks to a no-frills, working-class point of view that immerses readers in the world of the Sweepers. Monsters are threatening to take over the city of Amicae. The government has convinced residents that the monsters can't get in, but Clae and Laura know that isn't true. They are Sweepers, the only people in the city qualified to fight the monsters and make sure they can't return-and narrator Laura has only been an apprentice for three months. The duo takes on mobsters, corrupt businessmen, and a deliberately skewed cultural narrative, culminating in a fight to protect their city from its own refusal to accept reality. Amicae's strict caste system is expertly woven into the fast-paced plot that will keep readers turning pages until the very end. This debut builds a fascinating setting that readers will want to keep coming back to. (Nov.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

Booklist Review

In the city of Amicae, infestations lurk in unassuming amulets hidden among its innocent (or not-so-innocent) citizens. If an infestation spreads, it can devour a whole household. To prevent this atrocity, the police of Amicae call on the city's ragtag team of sweepers for help. A sort of unofficial bomb squad, the sweepers go in and capture the infestation, later disposing of it deep beneath the city to prevent its spreading. Clae Sinclair comes from a long line of sweepers, but Laura Kramer is new to the job. Wanting to do more than be somebody's wife, Laura approaches Clae and becomes his apprentice. Now, having outlasted his other apprentices, Laura must use everything Clae taught her to prevent an infestation from devouring the whole city. With complex characters, political intrigue, and discussion of feminism and the caste system, debut author Bolender has written a novel that could translate easily to the screen. Readers will enjoy City of Broken Magic and its fresh spin on the fantasy genre.--LynnDee Wathen Copyright 2018 Booklist

Kirkus Book Review

In this debut novel, specially trained operatives called Sweepers are the only thing standing in the way of creatures that devour magicand humans.Twenty-year-old Laura Kramer is the frequently exasperated apprentice (of only a few months) to the perennially cranky Clae Sinclair, one of the few Sweepers left on the island city of Amicae in the Orien Territories. Their job is to eradicate the infestations of monsters that result from broken magic amulets, which are used for many things, including electricity among the city's elite, and require regular upkeep. The city's propaganda campaign has convinced its populace that infestations are (mostly) a thing of the past, but Clae and Laura know better, and it's up to them to keep people safe from the slimy creatures that propagate from broken magic, because once an infestation grows out of control, it's a nasty business indeed. Laura, Clae, and a newly added apprentice, Okane, a shy Magi they liberate as "payment" from a wealthy and haughty businessman and his wife, must not only wrangle with monsters of the supernatural kind, but also mobsters and rival Sweepers. The magic system is fascinating, but the worldbuilding can be confusing: a mix of seemingly late-19th or early-20th-century industrialization with a fashion sense right out of the late 1800s ("bloomer dresses" for women are all the rage, and " 'lady trousers' weren't extremely popular"), while there are cable cars and vehicles suited to the 1930s. But, luckily, a lengthy history lesson at the midpoint will answer many readers' questions. Citizens are divided into Quarters based on social class, and it's pretty faithfully adhered to, although Laura, who lives with her aunt Morgan and Morgan's young daughter, Cheryl, takes great pride in bucking the system in not only how she dresses, but also in her delightful refusal to present herself as purely marriageable property. Bolender has plenty of opportunity to put a romantic interest in Laura's path but resists this and instead lets the inquisitive Laura find her own way; Laura and Clae provide plenty of chemistry of the nonromantic kind, and there's even humor, such as Laura's fruitless efforts to suss out Clae's true age.Overlong and rough around the edges but still promising. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Author notes provided by Syndetics

MIRAH BOLENDER graduated with majors in creative writing and art in May 2014. A lifelong traveler, she has traveled and studied overseas, most notably in Japan, and these experiences leak into her work. City of Broken Magic is her debut fantasy novel. She currently lives in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.