Book Review: Hired Luck

Title: Hired Luck 

Author: Melisa Todd

Date: 2020

Publisher: Bad Ash

Quote: "Why don't I see your stomach contents anywhere?"

In the first volume of her adventures, when she became an emergency medical technician, Cori saw a lot of gore. In the first scene of volume two, what she sees is worse. The policemen to whom she reports the scene think it's suspicious that even an EMT as young and nice as Cori seems to be can bear the sight of what she's reported. The body has been killed in a ritualistic way. In a world where some people have magical powers, some use them in unacceptable ways. Death is the only way to stop them. The murderer of this body will kill again. Cori will have to help hunt him down. 

The reversal-of-fortune for which we've been set up takes place in this volume. Cori never noticed when she developed magic powers, we're told, because it happened just after her brother died and she instinctively "cloaked" her powers. Her dandruff and brittle hair were evidence of her unconscious use of her magic. When she's taken in for testing she's pronounced one of the strongest magicians on Earth.

Which is what it takes to stop the murderer. Even untalented people, Cori learns, can do ritual magic if they know the right procedures. Ritual magic can take a lot of energy. This rogue mage's plan is to kill first one person, then 27, then 81, then 243...

In this parallel world, the most powerful magicians acquire "familiars" from other dimensions. Nobody has ever survived a trip to one of these dimensions. "Familiars" choose their human friends, and in this volume Cori finds a creature like a kitten, only with long fingers, opposable thumbs, and a fully prehensile tail, sitting on her chest projecting the thought "Mine." His name is Carelian and his power seems benign. The murderer's spells are intended to draw magical creatures through what appear as rips in the planes of interdimensional reality. They're less benign. 

This fantasy is more adventure and comedy than horror, but the gross-out level is still fairly high. Sex and profanity levels are low. We know Cori's roommate and "best friend forever" is a lesbian without a steady girlfriend; we still don't know whether, when Cori finishes "gaining weight" as a college student, she'll ever feel attracted to anybody.