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The Almosts #1
The Almosts
A Snowverse Novella
A real job? In this economy? Maybe robbing banks isn’t such a terrible idea after all…
Kara had always been good with computers. She was autistic. Go figure. But when she finds herself caught in the middle of a bank heist and able to see impossible things, she starts to figure that there might be more to it than that.
After losing her job, she’s out of options, so when a woman appears in her house claiming to be some kind of witch, telling Kara that she has the ability to magically control machines, and offering her a job with her heist crew, Kara hesitates before throwing her out.
Maybe there are worse places for a quasi-magical autistic woman to be than on the wrong side of the law…
THE ALMOSTS is the first book in The Almosts Trilogy, a series of paranormal heist novellas set within L.C. Mawson’s urban fantasy Snowverse.
Content warning: This book deals with graphic violence, including sexual violence. Readers of other Snowverse series will find darker content that isn't present in most of the Snowverse.
A real job? In this economy? Maybe robbing banks isn’t such a terrible idea after all…
Kara had always been good with computers. She was autistic. Go figure. But when she finds herself caught in the middle of a bank heist and able to see impossible things, she starts to figure that there might be more to it than that.
After losing her job, she’s out of options, so when a woman appears in her house claiming to be some kind of witch, telling Kara that she has the ability to magically control machines, and offering her a job with her heist crew, Kara hesitates before throwing her out.
Maybe there are worse places for a quasi-magical autistic woman to be than on the wrong side of the law…
THE ALMOSTS is the first book in The Almosts Trilogy, a series of paranormal heist novellas set within L.C. Mawson’s urban fantasy Snowverse.
Content warning: This book deals with graphic violence, including sexual violence. Readers of other Snowverse series will find darker content that isn't present in most of the Snowverse.
- GenresFantasyParanormalLGBT
112 pages, ebook
First published August 1, 2017
6 people are currently reading
68 people want to read
About the author
L.C. Mawson
100 books246 followersSome say she's an ancient creature of nightmare that was unleashed from beneath the ocean, come to devour the souls of men. Others say that she's a cosmic being from the beyond the stars that has taken corporeal form to learn our ways for some unknown end...
In truth, L.C. Mawson lives in a tower in the middle of a haunted forest, far from civilisation and is definitely not a witch who curses those who trespass upon her land. And she definitely cannot turn into a dragon that flies over cities in the dead of night and whose cries are often mistaken for an approaching storm. Where did you hear that? That's absurd...
The only contact she has with humanity is publishing books every so often, which is definitely just for fun and not part of an ancient contract with a trickster god.
In truth, L.C. Mawson lives in a tower in the middle of a haunted forest, far from civilisation and is definitely not a witch who curses those who trespass upon her land. And she definitely cannot turn into a dragon that flies over cities in the dead of night and whose cries are often mistaken for an approaching storm. Where did you hear that? That's absurd...
The only contact she has with humanity is publishing books every so often, which is definitely just for fun and not part of an ancient contract with a trickster god.
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
August 20, 2018
Totally kickarse characters but the book "almost" tries too hard. I can get with the main character having Autism but the author looks to be trying to jam the whole LGBT+ field into the remaining characters.
July 28, 2018
As I am waiting patiently for the next Freya Snow book to come out, I am going to take some time to review a few of the novellas in the universe and read a few of L.C. Mawson's other books.
Kara was autistic and good with computers. She is caught at a bank heist and is able to unlock the keypad without even thinking about it. Then, she is randomly fired from her job due to her past as a hacktivist in college. As she is trying to find a job, a woman comes to her house, admits that she was the one to leak the information about her past, and offers her the chance to have a more unconventional job. She will join the woman's heist crew and go on adventures beyond her wildest dreams.
Even though it took me a bit of time to actually like Kara, I ended up wanting her and her team to succeed. I really thought that some important issues were discussed in this book. For one, it discussed the lack of women in the computer science field, and it even touched on the fact that even though autistic people may be hired for a job, they may never be truly accepted by their bosses and coworkers. Thirdly, it even touched on how the "magical seduction" sex scenes should not be glorified in books but treated as rape. If the character didn't truly have control over themselves when they slept with them but were drawn to a character for magical reasons, they did not fully consent to the act. I wish more female authors would touch on this!
The only thing that I didn't quite agree with was the end. I can't really say anything because it includes major spoilers, of course. I will just say that I thought Kara was far harsher than she had to be. I hope that she won't be like this in the other books, because I don't like her that much now and I would hate to have to really dislike anyone in Snowverse.
The flow of this story was really smooth, and the setting was unique. I think that there could have been a little more description in certain scenes as I struggled to visualize the scenery. Nevertheless, this is a novella so I will expect some of these kinks to work themselves out once I get further into the trilogy.
I would recommend this book to anyone looking for a fantasy-action-thriller with diverse characters and a fast-paced storyline.
I received a copy of this book and this is my voluntary review.
Kara was autistic and good with computers. She is caught at a bank heist and is able to unlock the keypad without even thinking about it. Then, she is randomly fired from her job due to her past as a hacktivist in college. As she is trying to find a job, a woman comes to her house, admits that she was the one to leak the information about her past, and offers her the chance to have a more unconventional job. She will join the woman's heist crew and go on adventures beyond her wildest dreams.
Even though it took me a bit of time to actually like Kara, I ended up wanting her and her team to succeed. I really thought that some important issues were discussed in this book. For one, it discussed the lack of women in the computer science field, and it even touched on the fact that even though autistic people may be hired for a job, they may never be truly accepted by their bosses and coworkers. Thirdly, it even touched on how the "magical seduction" sex scenes should not be glorified in books but treated as rape. If the character didn't truly have control over themselves when they slept with them but were drawn to a character for magical reasons, they did not fully consent to the act. I wish more female authors would touch on this!
The only thing that I didn't quite agree with was the end. I can't really say anything because it includes major spoilers, of course. I will just say that I thought Kara was far harsher than she had to be. I hope that she won't be like this in the other books, because I don't like her that much now and I would hate to have to really dislike anyone in Snowverse.
The flow of this story was really smooth, and the setting was unique. I think that there could have been a little more description in certain scenes as I struggled to visualize the scenery. Nevertheless, this is a novella so I will expect some of these kinks to work themselves out once I get further into the trilogy.
I would recommend this book to anyone looking for a fantasy-action-thriller with diverse characters and a fast-paced storyline.
I received a copy of this book and this is my voluntary review.
August 14, 2017
Not kindle unlimited so freebie day. No idea why the sorta sex scene was even in the book, and not clear about the rope and truck either just totally confusing, so is the whole guard and driver thing and hovering truck and did Kara say or not say to save them when it was going on, makes no sense. And going in to the next job still confusing. The flip in scenes and action is also confusing. What lights, what type, where? Got what, when, when standing near the princess? Reread these areas SEVERAL times, still don't make sense.Why's she holding a bat on cover? 3 1/2
A real job? In this economy? Maybe robbing banks isn’t such a terrible idea after all…Kara had always been good with computers. She was autistic. Go figure. But when she finds herself caught in the middle of a bank heist and able to see impossible things, she starts to figure that there might be more to it than that.After losing her job, she’s out of options, so when a woman appears in her house claiming to be some kind of witch, telling Kara that she has the ability to magically control machines, and offering her a job with her heist crew, Kara hesitates before throwing her out. Maybe there are worse places for a quasi-magical autistic woman to be than on the wrong side of the law…
The Almosts Trilogy:
The Almosts
The Damned
The Redeemed
see amazon writer list, does Frey Snow books, Lady Ruth Constance series, and others
A real job? In this economy? Maybe robbing banks isn’t such a terrible idea after all…Kara had always been good with computers. She was autistic. Go figure. But when she finds herself caught in the middle of a bank heist and able to see impossible things, she starts to figure that there might be more to it than that.After losing her job, she’s out of options, so when a woman appears in her house claiming to be some kind of witch, telling Kara that she has the ability to magically control machines, and offering her a job with her heist crew, Kara hesitates before throwing her out. Maybe there are worse places for a quasi-magical autistic woman to be than on the wrong side of the law…
The Almosts Trilogy:
The Almosts
The Damned
The Redeemed
see amazon writer list, does Frey Snow books, Lady Ruth Constance series, and others
August 1, 2017
This book was promoted to me as "Buffy meets Saints Row" and it definitely lives up to that. This is set in an established universe but you don't need to have read any of the other books to understand it, as the protagonist is inducted into the magical world in the book so a lot of the stuff about the world and how magic works and such is explained.
The heists are all fast-paced and fun, and I love how they're written out like a movie montage. The magical system is neat and feels original, and Kara's power is interesting. The protagonist is vibrant and has a lot of depth but I don't really feel like I've gotten to know a lot about the other characters yet.
One of the reasons I didn't rate this higher are that the characters make a LOT of references, which can be fun but if you don't get them they aren't really explained and some of them seem to be necessary to understanding the context of certain scenes. There's also one scene of sexual assault that I felt was really poorly handled and kind of unnecessary.
Still, it was definitely a good start to the series and I'm looking forward to the next book.
The heists are all fast-paced and fun, and I love how they're written out like a movie montage. The magical system is neat and feels original, and Kara's power is interesting. The protagonist is vibrant and has a lot of depth but I don't really feel like I've gotten to know a lot about the other characters yet.
One of the reasons I didn't rate this higher are that the characters make a LOT of references, which can be fun but if you don't get them they aren't really explained and some of them seem to be necessary to understanding the context of certain scenes. There's also one scene of sexual assault that I felt was really poorly handled and kind of unnecessary.
Still, it was definitely a good start to the series and I'm looking forward to the next book.
September 5, 2017
This novel was alright. Overall, it was well written, but I didn't really like any of the characters. For example, the main character, Kara, is extremely hesitant to join the Almosts because they were committing illegal activities and seemed willing to kill. She started off extremely uncomfortable with the team's moral ambiguity. However, as soon as she joined the team, she was all for killing in every case that a human go even a little bit in the way. I found this sudden 180 very off-putting
The other characters did not seem very well-developed, at least not until the very end. This wasn't completely unreasonable given Kara's autism and general lack of desire to understand people around her. But it doesn't make for a great story when the reader only gets to understand one character.
The plot was alright, but there I never felt that urgent need to keep going or the inability to put it down. I wouldn't turn someone away from this book, but I also wouldn't go out of my way to recommend it.
The other characters did not seem very well-developed, at least not until the very end. This wasn't completely unreasonable given Kara's autism and general lack of desire to understand people around her. But it doesn't make for a great story when the reader only gets to understand one character.
The plot was alright, but there I never felt that urgent need to keep going or the inability to put it down. I wouldn't turn someone away from this book, but I also wouldn't go out of my way to recommend it.
July 26, 2017
Woah Nelly, this is one wild crazy fun-filled thriller of a ride! Enough superlatives there for ya? I could keep going - this book 1 deserves it. The star here, Kara, is an autistic IT pro who gets caught in the middle of a bank robbery by...wait for it...effectively a band of witches. I mean what else do you call a gang of gals who can disappear and reappear at will, punch men through walls, change clothing instantaneously, etc. Bad news is that poor Kara gets fired after this. Good news is that she discovers she has a bit of magic herself - and the witch gang does too and recruits her as it's a (really) valuable sort of magic for thieves to have (but no, I've said almost too much already, so I won't spoil this and tell you what it is). Zany, exciting (make that thrilling) adventures ensue in this very well written and well plotted story that full of well crafted and fun lead and supporting characters. Most highly recommended.
February 9, 2021
I enjoyed reading this book. I got to this a lot later than other books in the Snowverse but it's better late than never and despite getting to it late I still found it interesting to read. The characters that appear in this book appear later on in other arcs and it was enjoyable to read. The themes in this book were quite dark and I was aware of that going in, that being said it worked well with the story and wasn't just senseless violence. Kara the main character has to make some tough decisions throughout the book as she learns about her ability to control machines and also just her role in magical society as someone with very minimal magical power and the fact that it puts her between two different worlds where she never fully belongs.
August 7, 2022
It's no secret I love Mawson's work...
So it should come as no shock that this book is no different from any other of her series I've read. It packs a punch to get you started on the Almosts world of books. I think it's fantastic. What a great world to start in on. I can't wait to read more. I mean, bo surprise for me. It's been a while since I've had time to read, and while I really don't, I'm finding moments to read a chapter here abd dew chapters there. I just can't go to bed without ending my day on a high note, and the Snowverse is a wonderful place to visit before bed!
So it should come as no shock that this book is no different from any other of her series I've read. It packs a punch to get you started on the Almosts world of books. I think it's fantastic. What a great world to start in on. I can't wait to read more. I mean, bo surprise for me. It's been a while since I've had time to read, and while I really don't, I'm finding moments to read a chapter here abd dew chapters there. I just can't go to bed without ending my day on a high note, and the Snowverse is a wonderful place to visit before bed!
July 29, 2017
Loved this book! Loved the characters! As with other L. C. Mawson books, it was very well written as to make you believe you were right there in the story. Loved how she introduced characters and settings from the Freya Snow series but did not make it a major part of the story. A wonderful standalone story. Can't wait for the next installment.
July 26, 2017
This was an enjoyable read. The main characters were believable with their own traits. The story flowed well and didn’t require previous reading of the other Snowverse books, jump right in.
Looking forward to The Damned.
Looking forward to The Damned.
August 4, 2017
A fun and enjoyable read! Somehow with all the books I've read I've never managed to read one by L.C. Mawson. I own several of her books but had never managed to read one before. Breakneck pace, intricately and tightly woven story line.
January 18, 2020
The diversity of characters - including autistic, aromantic, lesbian, questioning bisexual, and trans - is wonderful. The magic is cute. The heists are by the book. The rape apologia and borderline fetishization tarnishes the entire thing.
July 26, 2017
I thoroughly enjoyed this book couldn't put it down can't wait for the next instalment. Awesome!
July 26, 2017
Very enjoyable read.Related to the Freya Snow books but a little different and a bit edgy.
July 30, 2017
Loved this book with all the different girls and powers they have a lot going on get this book if you want a good read
September 8, 2018
Not a bad storyline however I found it a little confusing and the tone of the book is constantly changing. So unfortunately I cannot give it more than 2 stars.
July 9, 2023
#1 the almosts ★★★★☆
#2 the damned ★☆☆☆☆
#3 the redeemed ★★★★☆
rep; kara (mc) is autistic, aromantic, and pansexual. ada (sc) is gay. rachel (sc) is queer. nyssa (sc) is transgender.
recently, i was searching for books with autistic protagonists and when i was updating my list of books with pan characters, i was reminded of this novella.
i have overall pleasant feelings about this novella. i like the characters and i enjoy their little magical world and team. i like how instead of reading the leader, moira, explain what each plan is and then seeing it happen, as she explains each step of the plan, it transitions into those steps being carried out. i felt that moved things along a bit.
this novella is super queer, which i obviously love. kara’s aromanticism is mentioned when she tells rachel that it’s probably a bad idea to ask her, an aromantic woman, for romantic advice. her pansexuality isn’t actually mentioned at all in the novella, but the author states as much on her blog, “the main character is a pansexual, aromantic, autistic programmer.” hopefully her pansexuality is mentioned in the next novella.
there’s a moment when moira is waiting for kara in her home and when kara is like, “you broke into my home, i don’t know your name, how about you leave before i call the police?” and moira just tells her her name, and kara is like, “that was literally the least important part of everything i just said.” which made me laugh, because it’s such a me thing to say.
i like the moments when someone implies something about kara because she’s autistic or makes an assumption or is ignorant and kara just immediately calls them out. kara’s previous boss makes a comment about a trained monkey could do kara’s job but it would be cheaper to higher one of the many “recently graduated, socially [r slur] computer science students” and kara is just like, “um did you just use ‘socially [r slur]’ to obliquely refer to autism?” and the asshole is like, “yeahhhhhh......i’m about to fire you for criminal conduct.....you have no place calling me out for being an offensive jackass.” i’m paraphrasing here. when kara’s mom tells her that she wished she would stop drinking because she “worries, what with her autism” and kara again is just like, “how the fuck does my drinking affect my autism?” and when her mom makes another comment, about how great it is that kara has managed to live on her own for as long as she has “given her difficulties” and kara is just like, “the fuck does losing my job have to do with my autism?”
kara also explains that she doesn’t make friends easily, that she usually hesitates before sending texts to evaluate them for tone, prolonged eye contact makes her uncomfortable, and that she values her alone time. which, all of that is me as fuck.
one thing that i really, really don’t like is when kara is “enthralled” by rachel’s brother steven. he literally rapes her. point blank. there’s no amount of ~vampyre terminology or whatever, that changes that. when moira announces that not only did she know it was going to happen, she thought it was a good thing, rachel is the only one to call it/her out:
“moira rolled her eyes. ‘this was the best way this could have gone. kara had five minutes of the best sex in her life, and now steven is several steps behind us.’
‘she got five minutes of rape, and it wasn’t worth it to mislead him,’ rachel corrected with a glare.”
moira quite literally does not care that kara was raped and that she could have prevented it. and her speech to kara about making the hard choices for the sake of the job makes kara deny how affected she is by it. in later scenes, when steven is mentioned, kara has a negative response.
“kara shrugged, not wanting to talk about it. just thinking of steven made her muscles tense.”
“‘your brother?’ kara repeated, her blood chilling at the thought of encountering him again.”
the rape scene is very uncomfortable to read. it is just entirely unnecessary. steven thinking he knew their plan doesn’t even come up again, it affects the story in no way whatsoever. they literally could have just never introduced him and had them just carry out their plan and the outcome would have literally been the same. steven literally had zero affect on the story. i just don’t get why that was added. plus, the way it was handled was super gross and dismissive.
overall, i liked this, even though there was some ableist language.
#2 the damned ★☆☆☆☆
#3 the redeemed ★★★★☆
rep; kara (mc) is autistic, aromantic, and pansexual. ada (sc) is gay. rachel (sc) is queer. nyssa (sc) is transgender.
recently, i was searching for books with autistic protagonists and when i was updating my list of books with pan characters, i was reminded of this novella.
i have overall pleasant feelings about this novella. i like the characters and i enjoy their little magical world and team. i like how instead of reading the leader, moira, explain what each plan is and then seeing it happen, as she explains each step of the plan, it transitions into those steps being carried out. i felt that moved things along a bit.
this novella is super queer, which i obviously love. kara’s aromanticism is mentioned when she tells rachel that it’s probably a bad idea to ask her, an aromantic woman, for romantic advice. her pansexuality isn’t actually mentioned at all in the novella, but the author states as much on her blog, “the main character is a pansexual, aromantic, autistic programmer.” hopefully her pansexuality is mentioned in the next novella.
there’s a moment when moira is waiting for kara in her home and when kara is like, “you broke into my home, i don’t know your name, how about you leave before i call the police?” and moira just tells her her name, and kara is like, “that was literally the least important part of everything i just said.” which made me laugh, because it’s such a me thing to say.
i like the moments when someone implies something about kara because she’s autistic or makes an assumption or is ignorant and kara just immediately calls them out. kara’s previous boss makes a comment about a trained monkey could do kara’s job but it would be cheaper to higher one of the many “recently graduated, socially [r slur] computer science students” and kara is just like, “um did you just use ‘socially [r slur]’ to obliquely refer to autism?” and the asshole is like, “yeahhhhhh......i’m about to fire you for criminal conduct.....you have no place calling me out for being an offensive jackass.” i’m paraphrasing here. when kara’s mom tells her that she wished she would stop drinking because she “worries, what with her autism” and kara again is just like, “how the fuck does my drinking affect my autism?” and when her mom makes another comment, about how great it is that kara has managed to live on her own for as long as she has “given her difficulties” and kara is just like, “the fuck does losing my job have to do with my autism?”
kara also explains that she doesn’t make friends easily, that she usually hesitates before sending texts to evaluate them for tone, prolonged eye contact makes her uncomfortable, and that she values her alone time. which, all of that is me as fuck.
one thing that i really, really don’t like is when kara is “enthralled” by rachel’s brother steven. he literally rapes her. point blank. there’s no amount of ~vampyre terminology or whatever, that changes that. when moira announces that not only did she know it was going to happen, she thought it was a good thing, rachel is the only one to call it/her out:
“moira rolled her eyes. ‘this was the best way this could have gone. kara had five minutes of the best sex in her life, and now steven is several steps behind us.’
‘she got five minutes of rape, and it wasn’t worth it to mislead him,’ rachel corrected with a glare.”
moira quite literally does not care that kara was raped and that she could have prevented it. and her speech to kara about making the hard choices for the sake of the job makes kara deny how affected she is by it. in later scenes, when steven is mentioned, kara has a negative response.
“kara shrugged, not wanting to talk about it. just thinking of steven made her muscles tense.”
“‘your brother?’ kara repeated, her blood chilling at the thought of encountering him again.”
the rape scene is very uncomfortable to read. it is just entirely unnecessary. steven thinking he knew their plan doesn’t even come up again, it affects the story in no way whatsoever. they literally could have just never introduced him and had them just carry out their plan and the outcome would have literally been the same. steven literally had zero affect on the story. i just don’t get why that was added. plus, the way it was handled was super gross and dismissive.
overall, i liked this, even though there was some ableist language.
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews