It also follows Jeckran a down on his luck nobleman and military officer sent to stop the brewing conflict between humans and trolls. Instead he finds himself rescued by Tsira a half troll living on the outskirts of both human and troll society. Setting out to make their fortune together they do quite well for themselves until a personal tragedy drags them into the murder investigation.
My thoughts
There's a lot of lost potential in this book. The idea of a high functioning troll society side by side with a human one is interesting. But you only get to see either the poor clans at the border or the enclaves within human cities. And constantly being told their magic is a lot more advanced than humans is not the same.
I also had trouble engaging with the characters. Onna she's a bit to perfect, sure she is a prodigy but even a highschool prodigy shouldn't easily beat someone at university level.
The investigating murders plot mostly meanders around. With Onna occasionally accusing various people of murder based on mostly circumstance.
This part could be a lot better if more time had been devoted to it but unfortunately most of the book is taken up by Tsira, Jeckran and their love story. I don't like them and I certainly don't like their relationship. They feel more like two people taking advantage of each other. Jeckran for money and protection, Tsira for status. It doesn't help that Tsira almost never refers to him by his name or that Tsira is violent and willing to attack or threaten anyone who even looks at them weird. With Trolls being significantly larger and stronger than humans that is a problem.
And they don't really contribute much to the murder plot.
All in all it's not a book that I'll be reading again.
If you have read it what did you think? Leave a comment. If you haven't read it you despite this wants to try it then it can be bought here Unnatural.
