There are no trains but quite a few deaths in this story, just an fyi. Diving into a grungy NYC with an under layer of magic is an aesthetic I can get behind. It’s told from multiple perspectives and provides these in earnest ways that really help to flesh out the world, however this structure did make me lose track of what was going on with the main character sometimes. I enjoyed hating some of them and relating to others, but I think the pacing could have been better here.

Julie is our protagonist here and she’s a rough gal. She does copious amounts of drugs and drinks to mentally get by. Her jobs come to her through various sources and are usually magical in nature. Many people don’t respect her or her work, but she still does it because someone has to. Julie is the type of character that acts like she doesn’t care, but she does and her crude facade does wear off a bit by the end. She still jokes throughout but we see who she really is when her life-long friend shows up. This friend is one that Julie has loved since forever and she shows up having issues with her husband. Oh to be “friends” in this situation… Though it’s very storyesque, the presentation here really makes it feel valid. The relationship between these two does become the main focus, so I’m glad it was well thought out. 

Other than Julie and her friend’s perspectives, the others feel like a waste. Some recurring characters do have their moments and it does make more of Julie’s actions feel like they’re making a difference, however there are way too many of them. I felt like I was too distant from Julie sometimes and missed something important. There are some points where it’s used well, but I think less viewpoints would have made the story more coherent.

Much of the plot is about the relationship between Julie and Sarah (her friend). They mostly have things happen to them and react accordingly. The pair do start to make plans about halfway through, but since they waited so long to do anything, there is not a real sense of urgency. There is a sort of “big bad” for them to take down and though it is related to the climax of the story, it didn’t do much for me. The authors do a great job of making this villain hateable, but the writing around the finale fell flat. The climax of the story wasn’t very impactful and it’s related to the overall lack of cohesion. Not much of how the word works is explained enough to where it makes sense. Let me illustrate. 

There’s a character named Tyler, who works at a “law firm.” The company is separated into various departments like Excision, Security, HR and Upper Management. Their boss is called the Proctor and is a tentacled creature that they have to summon, wearing protective gear, into a glass tank for instruction. It gives them assignments to protect its investments, but those consist of dealing with magical creatures across the city. From what I understand, the ultimate goal of the firm is to summon The Mother Who Eats. Once summoned she will devour everyone at the firm, except Upper Management, and then the world. Why do people work here? They offer competitive pay I guess. How did this place even start? No idea. Do they practice law? I don’t have any idea and this is just a side story. Tyler does cause a lot of trouble for Julie, but what he does on a day-to-day basis defies logical explanation. Maybe this was intentional; unfortunately, it did not work for me.

Let me touch on an aspect of the writing that was really well done and that was the descriptions. This story is gory. I’m not the kind of person who enjoys excessive gore for no reason. I abhor it. The way things are described here is so grotesque at times that I got nauseous. It was truly a feat, because imagining some of the things they wrote got to me in a way that I didn’t think was possible through written word. Also, the characters have a good amount of depth to them, without unveiling all their secrets. Julie’s friends are hinted at being supernatural throughout the story and once more is unveiled about them it feels earned. I thought every character’s motivations (minus Tyler working at a literal dead-end job) were easily understood, despite some of the world mechanics not being explained well.

I enjoyed reading this at first, until I got lost when they jumped around between characters too much. I get wanting to flesh out the world, but when you’re nearing the climax, it’s best to focus on that. Because of these pacing issues, I started to feel like I was missing part of the story. I was initially invested in Julie’s story so much, however that investment didn’t return much. The characterization and depictions were so well done that I really wanted to understand what was going on, but wasn’t quite able to grasp the concept of this world. I just saw that there’s going to be a sequel, so maybe they’ll find their stride with the next one. Sadly, I’ll probably skip it because this one just didn’t grasp me due to a lack of focus.