Mal is a blank -- no magic works on him; not even the simplest of charms. But when his best friend, the Roe witch, betrays him, he turns his fearful ability into an asset as he joins a man named Boone and hunts for magical artifacts. Kulper's writing is excellent and her world of magic creatures laid overtop of our own history of whaling is engaging. Boone and Essie are ferocious characters, filling up whatever scene they are in. Unfortunately Mal falls short for me: all his struggles with being a blank and trying to figure himself out, and by the end of the book I felt like neither he nor the reader was any closer to understanding him.