The Ruthless Lady's Guide to Wizardry

By: C. M. Waggoner

Narrated by: Ava Lucas

Length: 13 hrs and 32 mins

Publisher's summary

Dellaria Wells, petty con artist, occasional thief, and partly educated fire witch, is behind on her rent in the city of Leiscourt - again. Then she sees a “wanted” sign seeking Female Persons, of Martial or Magical ability, to guard a Lady of some Importance prior to the celebration of her Marriage. Delly fast-talks her way into the job and joins a team of highly peculiar women tasked with protecting their wealthy charge from unknown assassins.

Delly quickly sets her sights on one of her companions, the confident and well-bred Winn Cynallum. The job looks like nothing but romance and easy money until things take a deadly (and undead) turn. With the help of a bird-loving necromancer, a shapeshifting schoolgirl, and an ill-tempered reanimated mouse named Buttons, Delly and Winn are determined to get the best of an adversary who wields a twisted magic and has friends in the highest of places.

©2021 C. M. Waggoner (P)2021 Dreamscape Media, LLC

Wonderful Adventure

What a great fantasy romp! Loved this low stakes adventure with some lovely romance woven through. And the performance is absolutely captivating!

Delightful writing, excellent story

A prime example of characterization through narrative voice. I actually laughed out loud once or twice a chapter just at the phrasing choices of the narration. It perfectly represented the absolute chaotic disaster that is the main character, and I loved every moment of it. The story is also really quite good, and pretty well defied my expectations.

If the weird, prosaic writing is throwing you off, just give it a chance to grow on you. It's worth it.

A somewhat unclear beginning.

I've only gotten an hour in so far. The story here seeks promising, and the narrator does a great job. But I have the distinct feeling that I'm missing information about the world. There was no indication that this book was part of a series. However, I'm tempted to see if the other book by this author might have been the first, and they just haven't been categorized as such.

Entrancing romance & adventure

Loved the characters, narrator, and class distinctions in the fantasy world. Absolutely engaging & I felt so connected with the hopes and trials of the main character. When I finish this review going to buy another book by CM Waggoner! So good.

LOVED IT!!

Absolutely involved in this plot and these characters. couldn't have been more pleased. reader did an excellent job with varying the accents and attitudes of characters.

YA fantasy with lgtb main protagonists

This book kicks off 18 years later on the timeline after the end of the first book (Unnatural Magic). Where the first book needed 30 pages before gaining some steam, this one plunges straight into the action. The protagonists of the first book only appear as secondary characters. While this book can be read as a standalone, the reading pleasure will be increased if you read also the first book because you'll have a deeper understanding of the world building and some of the allusions one of the main protagonists makes about her parents and home country. The romantic subplot of the first book had a multiracial angle, that of the second book an LGTB accent. Well developed characters and plotlines.

Read Unnatural Magic first. It really should be considered a prequel.

I really enjoyed the world building and I thought the characters were well rounded and relatable.
The narrator does a great job voicing characters, though Winn’s parents sound different from Unnatural Magic. Altogether I really enjoyed both books and would happily read more if they take place in this world and involve these characters.

Cute idea but nothing special.

It starts out fun and is a cute idea but goes flat very quickly as the writing is very two dimensional. It also drags really bad in the middle. Narrator was solid but nothing amazing.

Its alright

Kinda boring and a hard read. Never finished it and I dont feel like im missing out on much.

A fun listen. Read "Unnatural Magic" first.

This book is standalone from the previous book in the universe, Unnatural Magic, but if you enjoy world building you'll want to check out that book first. It provides much more detail on the society, magical system and geography than Ruthless does. In fact, this book feels like a time skipped epilogue for the prior novel with mostly new characters.