I'm currently perversely transfixed by something called Dirty Magic. I figured it would be along the lines of the Dresden Files (urban crime fantasy), but I didn't expect it to be a straight up mashup of 40% Dresden Files, 40% the 6th season of Buffy and 19% every cop show trope played straight as an arrow (with 1% of other random ideas ripped in their entirety from various sources). I actually got out of bed last night just to make sure I got my refund from kindle before the time limit runs out when I noticed that the neighbor is straight up Nanny Ogg from Discworld transported into a 21st century setting. It's literally a collage of these influences, there isn't an original idea in the entire book.
Imagine if Karrin Murphy from Dresden Files was given Harry's magic and character background (and his broken down POS car he's emotionally attached to), dropped into Season 6 of Buffy (the one where magic = drugs and they had wizards "dealing" and "magic dens" and shit), she's transferred from her boys club local police department where she spends her day on the beat arresting "street potion dealers," run by a gruff but good hearted commander (or whatever they're called) into a special unit with an acronym which is basically made up of that quirky chick from NCIS (I think? the goth lab chick), a male version of that quirky chick from NCIS, the scruffy, dark-and-brooding but talented detective and the no-nonsense pantsuit wearing team leader, all working to try and shut down the "War on Dirty Magic" for good.
That's the book. That's it. The magic itself is like those ridiculous old stories from the 80's about how crack/PCP would turn people into superstrong rampaging maniacs, the whole thing is painfully lacking in self awareness (if you're going to make your book a Frankenstein's monster of other books/TV shows, at least have the decency to do it with a wink and crack a joke or two at yourself) and given the fact that the whole thing is a direct parallel to the War on Drugs, she's obviously done absolutely zero research on the fact that it's been a total and complete failure.
In short - it sucks, and if you ever see it and think it might make a good time killer till the next Dresden book comes out, remember this warning. I'm not sure why I'm reading it - either I'm really really bored, feeling masochistic or I'm waiting to see if a scrap of originality turns up.
