Haruspex

Marla Mason #0.2

by T.A. Pratt, Tim Pratt

Before she was the witch queen of Felport, Marla Mason was just a freelance mercenary sorcerer with a knack for doing nasty jobs exceedingly well. This gritty novelette pits Marla and her magical cloak against a supernaturally-powerful serial killer targeting the city's magical elite, in an early tale featuring the heroine of the novel series that began with Blood Engines and continued with Poison Sleep, Dead Reign, Spell Games, Broken Mirrors, and Bone Shop.

This also includes an afterword by the author about the evolution of the series and the character.

Genres: Urban Fantasy, Fantasy, Magic, Witches, Paranormal

24 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 19, 2011

About the author

T.A. Pratt is the pseudonym of Tim Pratt, under which he penned the Marla Mason books.

I've crowdfunded seven projects (four through Kickstarter) successfully in the past few years, and I don't foresee any problems with this one, either. I write novels for a living, and this is a book I'm excited to do. It's always possible there will be bumps and delays on the production process, or an unforeseen illness or other disaster, but if so, I'll keep everyone posted, and we'll get there in the end.

Reviews

[ᴥ Irena ᴥ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Haruspex is not something new. It is one of the situations from Bone Shop Marla got into.
However, it was written first. I am glad the author changed a couple of things in Bone Shop. It is still fun to read a darker take on that particular issue.
The differences are obvious: Marla's jaw, Rondeau can't get out of Juliana's to name a few, the chief sorcerer doesn't recognize her when she picks him up, she can fly/see through someone else's eyes/be invisible without problems to name a few.

Overall, a great way to see the way the story could have gone.

[Netanella · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this introduction to the Marla Mason urban fantasy series, which I've never read before (or even heard of, shame on me!). My interest was piqued by the purple cloaked figure on the cover, and the title "Haruspex," which any decent student of Roman history could tell you is a diviner of the auspices, or omens, by reading entrails. Intrigued, I pressed on.

And got a neat, early story of Marla Mason, before she became famous apparently, when she was a freelancing sorcerer. The author states that this story was the first he wrote, before Marla's world was fully realized, and that the tale here was later retold in a later book in the series. And of course, since I haven't read any of the other books, I couldn't tell the difference.

Lots of elements I liked here - the two-sided cloak, the truth-telling jaw as a favorite body part to steal from others, the sorcerous bar as a favorite hang out spot for the local paranormals that reminded me a lot of a similar establishment in Dresden's world. In fact, many parts of the feel of this story reminded me of the Dresden books. I read here that the author claims inspiration from Nancy A. Collins' Sonja Blue series, of which I've only read one book. Perhaps I need to pursue that series as well....

[Baal Of · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an early version of events from the Bone Shop prequel, and as such, it is of interest mainly for giving insights into how Pratt's writing has changed and improved over time. The version in Bone Shop has better detail, and tighter plotting.

[Maggie Freeman · Rating 4 out of 5]

A different telling of the belly killer. I liked the version in Bone Shop more.

[Jim Mcvay · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good start to the series. Feels like a sketch of a large world, joining many events already in progress.