Oh, how I loved returning to this version of Edinburgh and to the snarky Ropa Moyo! Part Two of Edinburgh Nights is everything I hoped it to be. A fantastic and thrilling mystery steeped in magic and twisted politics. So much more is revealed about The Library of the Dead, as well as a bunch of other new places and people. But, once again, my favorite part is Ropa. What a character she is. I totally believe in her and also love her friends Priya and Jomo, her magical scarf Cruickshank and trusted vulpine friend, River. Her gran and sister Izwi are truly the heart of Ropa, and they play an important role in her journey as well. I don't think I'll ever tire of her! Can't wait for the next one. ( )

Originally posted on Just Geeking by.

Content warnings:
There are ongoing themes of racism, prejudice, death and grief throughout the novel. There is a scene with drug use. There are scenes of violence and several scenes that are particularly gory, including one where a body is pinned to a ceiling. A lot of people are suffer burns in this book, many of which are fatal which may be triggering. As the book synopsis suggests the topic of illness is present throughout, and patients are comatose. While there are some medical scenes they are mixed with magical practices rather than being akin to those you would see in a medical drama, for example. The attitudes of doctors, however, do not change regardless of magic being introduced.

Returning to the Edinburgh Nights series was a joy, Ropa’s unique dialogue and infectious thirst for knowledge a breath of fresh air as it was the first time I cracked open The Library of the Dead. I always feel at home when reading in Ropa’s voice. As a 30 something Londoner living in Glasgow her dialogue reminds me of the late 90s and 00s because she’s picked up bits from TV and other pop culture sources that have survived from before the catastrophe. She sits down with her family to watch Diagnosis: Murder, something I used to do when I was her age (albeit, minus the family).

The way she blends words is reminiscent of that time in my life too, of slang from high school and college where we were all making up our own words to express ourselves. This was especially noticeable to me growing up in south-east London where so many young people from different cultures were merging together, everyone trying to understand each other and themselves. I remember one day in religious studies when a group of girls came in and started loudly talking about “The Power”. “Have you got The Power?” they asked me, like it was some huge secret, and no they weren’t talking She-Ra. This was their secret code for a woman’s period. Funny enough it didn’t catch on. I remember shaking my head because we were sixteen at that point, and I’d started mine at age ten, way before most of my classmates. By that point it had long ago lost its mystery to me.

So the way that Ropa and her pals talk, creating new language on the spot is wonderfully familiar. The way that Jomo always has a new “Ropa-” name for her every time he greets her always makes me smile. I get the feeling that he doesn’t know what he’s going to say until she appears and that’s a feeling that Huchu conveys throughout the dialogue in Our Lady of Mysterious Ailments. He’s very good at making it feel natural, of making his character’s responses feel just like something you, or I would do rather than something constructed which is a danger when they’re quite literally created characters.

As to be expected in the second book a lot of things progress in terms of overall story and character development. We start to find out more details about individual characters. The Library of the Dead was primarily focused on Ropa and introducing us to her and her world, Our Lady of Mysterious Ailments is more about introducing Ropa to the world of magic and in doing so we learn more about her friends and associates. Naturally, this means Priya and Jomo. Priya is hell on wheels again, and Huchu doesn’t hold back with the realistic wheelchair representation. We learn more about Priya’s past and present, where she went to school and where she works. I appreciated that Huchu was candid with the animosity between Edinburgh and Glasgow, and funnelled it into the magical academic institutes in the Edinburgh Nights series. With Pryia representing Glasgow as a graduate of the Lord Kelvin Institute in Glasgow, we learn via her about that school and during Ropa’s investigation of Max Wu, Priya’s patient, we learn about the Edinburgh Ordinary School for boys. Additionally, we learn that there are two other schools; St Andrews College in St Andrews and the Aberdeen School of Magic and Esoterica.

In the first book Jomo felt quite underused, and in this one we see a lot more of him, and learn more about what he does in the Library. Huchu is peeling back the layers slowly, throwing us bones of information here and there which feeds our thirst for knowledge but also conjures so many more questions. We get to see more of what Jomo does inside the Library, and what his career as a librarian is going to lead to eventually. It’s both fascinating and creepy as hell, in the same way that Huchu served up in book one. It’s morbidly interesting, despite the way your mind is telling you that you shouldn’t be that interested in it. That something about this situation isn’t quite right. It’s a hugely morally grey area that you just know wouldn’t and shouldn’t be allowed to happen, except, you know; secret world of magic.

If you’re familiar with the first book in the series you’ll recall a rather dramatic chase across the city, and if you enjoyed that I’m happy to tell you there’s another fabulous chaotic scene in this book involving Priya and Ropa. It’s as wild as their first adventure, but in a totally different way, and it’s magnificent. Jomo fans, don’t worry; he and Ropa have one of their own too although in a much more Jomo-like fashion.

It’s not just Ropa’s relationship with her pals that are developing in this book, it’s their relationships with each other and growth isn’t always sunshine and roses. While their friendships are strong, they’re still in the early stages and it was so nice to see an author realise this. Too often I see characters become besties and then never disagree, or they have huge bust ups and melodramatics over trivial things. In Ropa’s world there’s no time for that, and when there’s a disagreement it’s over something important, two people just seeing things from a different perspective. Additionally, we see some other relationships happening, some that are sweet and some that are a wee bit of a shock that you’re going to need to read the book to find out about. Huhcu is making us work for every scrap of information, every secret, just like Ropa has to. This isn’t a book where we, the reader, know things. We’re on an equal playing field with Ropa when it comes to the secrets that people are hiding.

There are a lot of different perspectives in Our Lady of Mysterious Ailments. As Ropa steps into the magic world she’s prepared to do what it takes to make a good impression, and it quickly becomes evident that there will always be people who don’t care what she can do, just who she is and where she’s from. She’s constantly made to feel as though she isn’t good enough, doesn’t know enough and is taking up a spot as Sir Callander’s apprentice that should have gone to a more experienced magician. Ropa takes it on the nose, shrugs it off and dazzles them with a smile that often terrifies them because they don’t know what to make of her. Now that Ropa is “in” their world we get to learn alongside her and I adored the way Huchu tied in Scottish history.

Ropa continues to talk about the catastrophe that happened as known fact, and I’m even more convinced that Huchu has chosen not to give the reader details about what happened as a way to keep the reader focused on the here and now. The past isn’t important, it’s Ropa’s life and the present that matters. Huchu is gradually giving us more information about the King, a terrifying figure who rules from London (the parallel between this and modern day Westminster is neatly done) and I think in the next book we’ll find out even more especially as dark events have been foretold.

In Our Lady of Mysterious Ailments we see more of the world post-catastophe, and it was chilling to find out that that so many people live as we do now with all the mod-cons. The focus of the first book was much smaller, character wise and geographically, and in book two the full reality of life after the catastrophe becomes clear. Namely, that the majority of people have just gone on with their lives and turn their backs on the people and families struggling to survive in the slums, like Ropa and her family. It reminded me of how people are just moving on from the pandemic and how so many of us do it with disasters worldwide. We don’t see it, so it’s not our problem. It was a very humbling reminder that we all need to be more aware.

For me, Our Lady of Mysterious Ailments was a four-star read compared to The Library of the Dead being a very clear five stars. It is difficult to compare the two books as they feel very different to me, and that’s not a bad thing. Book one was very dark with a horror flick essence at points, while this second outing with Ropa is about her starting her journey. At one point during Our Lady of Mysterious Ailments she says to her gran that she can’t stay in the caravan doing the same thing all her life. That is what this book is about. Yet at the heart of it, it’s still Ropa being Ropa and making her own reputation despite people pulling her down. As she battles racism and classism, sometimes casual and other times without shame, Ropa is doing what she does best and that is solving a mystery that no one else can solve. While the overall storyline is very different from The Library of the Dead all the same elements I love from book one are here. Ropa with a mystery, following clues while trying to make ends meet, doing her own thing and finding her place in the world.

Library of the Dead was about Ropa’s journey to the magic world, whereas Our Lady of Mysterious Ailments is the start of Ropa’s journey within it. We walk alongside her as she’s opening her eyes to the magic world and the idea that the grass isn’t always greener on the other side. It’s just as messy and complicated, with bad stuff as the world she has come from, just people think they’re better. But there are some good apples too, and even as people try to keep her down there are people looking to give her a helping hand. The way Huchu chooses to end this one is a reminder that there’s always a way to triumph over people who stand in the way; sometimes you just have to be a bit sneaky about it ;)

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Compared to the first book, this installment goes much deeper into the underbelly of magic in Edinburgh. While I liked book one, this book had a much stronger plot pulling me through.

The world building is fantastic! Like seriously well laid out, to the point that I'm guessing the series bible is a full book on it's own. I love the scientific / mathematical methods they give to magic. The world alone is reason to read the series. It's a unique take on magic laced into the normal society, and based on the ending of this book I can only imagine we are diving deeper into the heart of just how intertwined everything really is.

While in the first book it didn't really seem like any of the cast grew as people, even though a life altering moment occurred, this book is the opposite. Many of the characters have growth arcs, and secrets that are coming to the surface.

We get to see more of the various economic differences between classes, and this time it ties more into the mystery which just doubles down on the world building. The author does a great job at solving this case but setting up the next book with plenty of problems.

You'll enjoy this series if you like heavy world building, and seeing the eyes of a city through the younger occupants. ( )

Ropa Moyo is back in T. L. Huchu’s newest urban mystery “Our Lady of Mysterious Ailments.” Ropa is still struggling to get her ghost whispering business back up and running, while also juggling magician apprenticeship, raising her younger sister, and solving crime. It builds upon the world of “The Library for the Dead,” but does not retread ground.

The world-building that Huchu does is astounding. This is not just an Urban Fantasy setting, the normal world plus magic. No, instead this is sort of post-apocalyptic in nature. There was a war, the world is now rebuilding, but is still broken. Also, magic is real. Huchu does a wonderful job just dropping background hints that expand the world.

A must-read for anyone who wants an interesting world and lead character. I received an ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review, but I am definitely buying myself a physical copy to display on my shelf. ( )

I thoroughly enjoyed Our Lady of Mysterious Ailments, book #2 in the Edinburgh Nights series by T.L. Huchu.

This book moved at a much quicker pace than the first half of book #1 (The Library of the Dead) and I believe that is because T.L. Huchu did the majority of the world building in the first book. I love that Ropa is now known as the detective thanks to her help in solving the mystery in The Library of the Dead. I really hope that things turn around for her and her family in book #3, currently titled The Mystery at Dunvegan Castle.

I will definitely be looking for this book in the spring 2023 when it is set to release. ( )