Three Kinds of Lucky by Kim Harrison – Review

Published: March 5, 2024

Publisher: Ace

Series: The Shadow Age #1

Genre: Fantasy

Pages: 464 (Hardcover)

My Rating: 4 Stars

A copy of this book was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Synopsis:
Luck is its own kind of magic, in this first book in an electrifying new contemporary fantasy series from the author of the #1 New York Times bestselling Hollows novels.

Petra Grady has known since adolescence that she has no talent for magic—and that’s never going to change. But as a sweeper first-class, she’s parlayed her rare ability to handle dross—the damaging, magical waste generated by her more talented kin’s spellwork—into a decent life working at the mages’ university.

Except Grady’s relatively predictable life is about to be upended. When the oblivious, sexy, and oh-so-out-of-reach Benedict Strom needs someone with her abilities for a research project studying dross and how to render it harmless, she’s stuck working on his team—whether she wants to or not.

Only Benedict doesn’t understand the characteristics of dross like Grady does. After an unthinkable accident, she and Benedict are forced to go on the run to seek out the one person who might be able to help: an outcast exiled ten years ago for the crime of using dross to cast spells. Now Grady must decide whether to stick with the magical status quo or embrace her own hidden talents . . . and risk shattering their entire world.

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This is my first Kim Harrison novel and it certainly won’t be the last. Three Kinds of Lucky was an exciting fantasy set in Tucson, Arizona which in this story is home to a mage college hidden in plain sight. In fact, mages themselves are often working mundane jobs as a sort of cover for their magical skills.

Three Kinds of Lucky introduces us to Petra Grady, a sweeper, whose task is to contain and clean up dross, the byproduct of magic. Sweepers are often disparagingly referred to as magical trashmen, but uncontained dross causes bad luck – tripping, spilled coffee, fenders benders or worse depending on the size of the dross “drift”. When we’re first introduced to her, Petra is cleaning up a dross spill at an office that was left too long and she also encounters a shadow. Shadows are darkness in form and can easily kill a mage if they get shadow touched. Petra has been told to join the research team of Dr. Benedict Strom, a childhood acquaintance who’s made a breakthrough on the process of making dross inert without attracting shadows. It’s controversial and Petra is vehemently against it due to the lack of testing and her own years of experience. Not to mention, if it goes wrong, the project could create or attract a powerful shadow like the one that killed her father a decade prior.

If this sounds like a lot that’s because it is. Three Kinds of Lucky has one of the more complex and detailed magic systems I’ve come across and I loved it. I do think it could have used a bit more repetition on terms and how things work because I found myself forgetting or confusing small details for probably half the book. While I didn’t mind this much, I could see this driving away some who might be newer fantasy readers or who prefer a more whimsical magic in their stories.

Petra herself is a likable character who seems to take the tragic events of her past in stride without being numb to them. She misses her father, resents the man who is said to have killed him, and cares deeply for her coworkers, friends, and her sweet lab, Pluck. The crew of sweepers and spinners she works with are an eclectic group and it’s easy to like most of them despite the sparse details on them. Her roommate Ashley is one of the few mages Petra really associates with thanks to a lot of long held prejudices, but Ashley is most certainly a flawed character. She’s kind of awful actually. Benedict Strom, Petra’s unlucky boss gives mixed vibes thanks to his stubborn insistence that his potentially dangerous project works but he’s also clearly got a thing for Petra.

Overall, I had a great time with this book and can’t wait to check out the sequel,  which promises a whole new adventure in a new location. This series has tons of potential and I hope it continues on its current path!