The silvered

Tanya Huff's writing is very easy to read so I got through this book in two sittings. Really enjoyed the setting - a world where science with a sort of Victorian steam-punk feel coexists with real magic, and the two systems of power have not come to any kind of truce or resolution yet. The small country of Aydori sits on the edge of a large and hungry Empire which is rapidly developing its science and technology, and its Emperor has declared that the mages and werewolf packs of Aydori are "abominations", due no human rights or respect. (The magic users and werewolves within the borders of the Empire already are either in hiding or being eliminated also.) With this declaration, the Emperor now feels free to capture, experiment upon, and otherwise torture both mages and werewolves to try and learn more about them as well as to discover how to use technology to eliminate them most efficiently.

The story follows Miriam, a young student mage who isn't very good at any type of magic, and the chaos that ensues as the Empire invades Aydori and her family and the local ruling Pack have to flee. When Miriam witnesses the capture of the most powerful mages in the Pack, she gets sucked into the conflict as she has to decide who to tell or whether to try and help and how. The story alternates three main ways: following Mirim and Tomas, a young werewolf she rescues, as they try to figure out how to save the mages; the mages themselves (all women, mostly pregnant) as they try to resist their captors and escape the evil Emperor; and a captain of the Empire soldiers who is sent to capture Miriam but slowly comes to question what he's been told about the Abominations and has to choose whether to continue to support the Emperor or not. Of course, all three stories converge towards the end in a fairly satisfying resolution, although certainly leaving room open for more stories set in the same world if the author chooses.

It's not quite 5/5 stars as some of the characters' motivations seemed a bit inexplicable or overly simplistic, and there were no real surprises; it was fairly obvious all the way through what was going to happen at most major points. Still, it's an interesting world and a fun read and I'd like to read more about the particular mix of science and magic types in future sequels.

Tanya Huff is a bit hit and miss, with me. Sometimes I love them, and sometimes I bounce off of them. This one was definitely a hit.

So, Mirian is banker's daughter whose mother's main ambition for her is that she will marry into the werewolf pack who are their nation's aristocracy. This is technically possible, because Mirian is a mage, but unlikely, because she's kinda a diletante who hasn't gotten very far in any particular field, and everyone knows wolves get boners for powerful mages.

At the same time, their nation is at war. (It feels a bit Napoleanic, although all the nations and languages are made up.) Everyone is trying to pretend the battlefront will not reach the capital city, which becomes difficult when the capital city is mortared, so Mirian's mom is finally persuaded to stop shopping her daughter around, pack up, and flee.

Their evacuation is interrupted by enemy soldiers who kidnap some mages, wives of the werewolf pack (do werewolves ever marry dude-mages? It seems probable) right in front of them. Mirian sets off to try to bring word of this to the werewolves on the front lines, and falls into the company of Tomas, brother of the werewolf chief. Together they stumble around, hunted, kidnapped, pursued, etc., until finally they rescue the mages.

Also: If you are a person who enjoys reading werewolf AUs where someone says "You smell amazing" and you read f/m, you should definitely check this out. I think this story is 20% "You smell amazing!" by weight. At one point, a werewolf is so overcome by our heroine's amazing smell that he humps her leg. Or, as she delicately puts it, has 'an intimate encounter with her thigh.'