Category Archives: Urban fantasy

books, Fantasy, Reviews, Urban fantasy

The Hanged Man (The Tarot Sequence 2) by K.D. Edwards

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Stars: 5 out of 5

The biggest strength of this series is the characters. Yes, the worldbuilding is phenomenal – complex, but plausible, with rules that make sense and breaking which has real consequences. I enjoy discovering more facets of that layered world with each new book. But the characters, oh the characters… they make the story better in every sense of the way.

I love Rune and Brand and their bond. Yes, they are Scion and Companion, but they are also so much more than that – brothers, best friends, the two last shards of a shattered throne standing back to back against the rest of the world. Heck, they are almost two pieces of the same soul. I love their bickering, because it never feels malicious, and their love for each other shines through every action they take, even if sometimes those actions are ill-advised. 

But it’s not just Rune and Brand, I love Addam and his unwavering support of Rune, as well as his love for his younger brother Quinn. and Quinn, oh Quinn… such an adorable little Prophet who still perfectly encapsulates what it means to be a teenager. 

And we get a few other additions to Rune’s found little family, and they are just as fantastic. I love Corrine, and I’m glad she didn’t have to sacrifice herself. And Ana will be a force to reckon with when she grows up. It will be rather hilarious to see Rune try to navigate the choppy waters of parenthood with this one. He will have to grow a spine and learn to put his foot down, otherwise she will run circles around him. And Ciarran was back, so that is always a plus because I love him to pieces.

This book is also much darker than the first one. I mean OMG, the scenes on the Declaration are nightmare fuel. No, I’m serious, I had nightmares about that battleship after I finished this book. I am glad that the man (if you can call that monster that) has been dealt with. His death wasn’t even close to the torment he deserved for what he put all those souls through for decades. 

I am glad that Rune finally claimed his seat at the Arcanum because he realized that he is not just Rune Saint John, he is Lord Sun, and people depend on him now other than Brand.  People who will need the protection of his house and name, which means he needs to reclaim that house. Of course, this comes with a lot more problems – they are an official house now, so they can be officially attacked and raided. They need to build a compound, they will need to create alliances, they will need funds, they will need to play politics. In other words, everything Brand hates, and Rune has been avoiding until now.

I am looking forward, to and also dreading the next book in the series because things will get darker as Rune comes closer and closer to discovering who ordered the massacre of his family all those years ago. I am just hoping that in the end, all of them will still be alive and standing, but most importantly, happy, because they deserve it.

Onwards to the next book in the series!

books, Fantasy, Reviews, Urban fantasy

Stone Cold Magic (Ella Grey 1) by Jayne Faith

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Stars: 2 out of 5

This was a promising start, and I enjoyed the first three-quarters of the book, but it went downhill after that for a few reasons.

I think first and foremost, at least for me, is that I grew to despise the protagonist. She was mildly irritating at first, but I chalked it off to her upbringing and a recent traumatic experience she went through. The longer I read though, the more I understood that no, this was just how Ella truly was. 

She is extremely selfish, and she is very passive-aggressive when she wants others to do something for her, which is… all the time. She never pauses to think about the consequences of her actions to herself or anyone else she drags into the messes she creates. And, as I said, she gets passive-aggressive when they try to say no, or just brushes off their concerns like they are not important or valid. Because they aren’t to her, either important or valid, because nothing is more important to Ella than Ella. 

Case in point, when Damien, a guy who she met barely a few days ago, tells her that he is not comfortable breaking into a highly fortified compound on a pretend inspection because he doesn’t want word of this to get to his very influential family, she just… brushes this off? And the weird part is that he still goes with her. Why? Why is she portrayed as this special snowflake that all men (even gay men) fall over themselves to help and coddle? 

She also suffers from the TSTL (too stupid to live) syndrome, because she thinks with her hormones, not her brain. Like the decision to keep the reaper’s soul, even though it’s devouring her, just because she saw a vision of someone who might or might not have been her missing brother. Now she is persuaded that this soul is the only way she’ll find him. Erm, why? Did she exhaust any other means of searching for him? Because it doesn’t look to me like she tried all that hard. She even flat-out refused help from a licensed private investigator. Really? 

Or deciding to infiltrate a secure compound to “liberate” a gargoyle with a human stuck in it. All this with only 8 people, none of which are aware that she is planning a kidnapping instead of a simple inspection to make sure the boy is still alive. And the worst part is, there are no consequences for any of that. Ella does the most stupid and hair-brained things and the author just rewards her for this. 

In the end, I didn’t care about whether Ella and co freed Nathan from his stone prison, or whether she would survive the reaper’s soul. In fact, I was rather rooting for the reaper to win her over, so that I didn’t have to read about her anymore. Needless to say, I won’t continue with this series.

books, Fantasy, Reviews, Urban fantasy

Balancing the Scales (Twenty-Sided Sorceress 10) by Annie Bellet

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Stars: 3.5 out of 5

This was a decent final book in a series that I truly appreciated, though it feels like the series as a whole lost its focus once they defeated Samir. The confrontation with Samir was built up to and anticipated in so many previous books that it felt cathartic once it was done. I would honestly been happy if the series had just ended there. The other books before this one felt like filler or side-quests for Jade and the crew now that they had defeated the final boss. And pulling the First and the big bad for this last installment felt… rather anticlimactic, I guess? 

I mean Samir had been built up as this big bad during the course of all the books in the series, and he had done some horrible things both to Jade and to her friends. He was bad, we hated him, so we rooted for Jade to finally triumph while also keeping her freedom and saving the lives of her found family. 

The First though? We didn’t even know he existed until 3 books ago. His motivations are vague to non-existent. His powers are… rather underwhelming.  So he can control shapeshifters… But only a certain number of them at once, and he must be close enough to exert that control. So he used to be able to see the future, but he is so arrogant about it that he doesn’t even doubt the visions he had almost half a century ago. This makes him a rather laughable opponent instead of a real villain to be feared.

I also didn’t particularly appreciate the fact that they turned Alec into a damsel in distress for this book. I mean, you have a badass shapeshifter character that can compel other shapeshifters into shifting with his roar alone. Who is a strong and capable fighter… and the only use you find for him is to make him a hostage to keep Jade properly motivated? That’s wasted potential right there. 

Same with Harper and her other friends. It almost seemed like the author didn’t know what to do with them anymore, and she really wanted to have Jade be the lone hero for this final confrontation with the First, so everyone else is relegated to inconsequential tasks. Again, lost potential for collaboration, comradery, and all in all-in-all badassery during the final battle and even before. 

All in all, though, I am happy that Samir’s heart has been properly eaten and digested so that Jade’s amulet doesn’t have to be this McGaffin that everyone wants anymore. It was also fun to see the Mother of vampires, though her character was greatly underused. I don’t know if the author was planning a spin-off series or more books about Jade, but it feels like she just appeared to solve a problem, and hasn’t been heard since.

I also liked that even though the seal is broken, the world hasn’t ended. In fact, a new life started for some of the characters involved.

I am happy I happened across these books and decided to stick with them til the end.

books, Fantasy, Reviews, Urban fantasy, YA

A Tempest of Tea (Blood and Tea 1) by Hafsah Faizal

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Stars: 2.5 out of 5

I was attracted to to this book because of the gorgeous cover and a description that promised a fun heist where a group of underdogs went against a tyranical government. What I really got was… not exactly that at all. Partly, this was my fault, because when I bought this book, I didn’t realize that it was young adult. Me and YA books rarely speak the same language, probably because I’m several decades past that particular stage of my life. 

Still, I can enjoy some modern YA books, and I’ve read a couple series that I absolutely loved this year (Like the City Between Series), so my failure to mesh with this book is not just because it was YA, but because of the things the author decided to put their emphasis on instead of what I expected them to concentrate on.

I was coming for an action-filled heist capper with engaging characters and high stakes, where I could root for the good guys and rage against the villains that oppress them. And definitely cheer when they finally managed to pull victory out of the jaws of defeat and save their home and their livelihoods. Overtrowning the current government was optional but would be a cherry on top.

What I got instead was chapters and chapters of characters catching feelings for each other, and being to naive/immature/emotionally repressed/stupid (circle the word that applies) to acknowledge those feelings. Seriously, nobody in this crew is mature enough to face what they are feeling and talk about it like normal adults. Be it Arthie and Laith, or Jin and Flick, they keep putting their heads in the sand and singing “La, la, la, can’t hear you!” every time. Yes, you are attracted to each other, get over it and move on with the darn heist! Flick was especially getting on my nerves with her unwillingness to face the facts about her adoptive mother. I mean, she is so naive, I can’t believe she managed to survive on the street long enough to have a forger business.

My other problem is that the worldbuilding is lackluster at best. The author throws in some description of the world, but they are vague and don’t paint a full picture. We have a masked King that is elected by a council, but exactly how does that work? Also, is this supposed to be steampunk, gaslight mystery or what? Is this world magical, or industrial or a mixture of both? How did the vampires come about? What is their standing in the society? At the beginning of the book the author says that they are treated like parriahs, yet there is an exclusive club for vampires that seems to hold sway over the highest reaches of the government. Everything is vague and half-baked, and honestly, I started loosing interest when I realized that it won’t be explained better.

Also, I never could connect with any of the characters. Jin was okay, apart from becoming a bumbling fool every time he was with Flick, but I couldn’t stand Arthie. For someone who was supposed to be one of the good guys, she is an extremely unpleasant person. Also, I still don’t quite understand her motivation and her backstory, and I couldn’t care less.

In summary, this is a giant miss for me. I finished the book, but I was tempted to quit around 60% in, and only the fact that I was stuck in a place with no internet and this was the only book actually downloaded to the Kindle on my phone made me keep reading.

books, Fantasy, Reviews, Urban fantasy

Emerald Blaze (Hidden Legacy 5) by Ilona Andrews

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Stars: 5 out of 5.

This was a lot darker and more angsty than the other books in the series, but I can understand that. Catalina has a LOT of things to worry about, the biggest one being her horrible grandmother. She’d been literally killing herself trying to keep her family safe and solidifying the power of House Baylor. And she thought that she had to sacrifice parts of herself and her happiness to do that.

I’m glad that Catalina and Alessandro had a honest and serious talk as soon as they could and that he was very honest and upfront about what happened. I like that he acknowledged that running away and abandoning her at the end of the previous book was a horrible thing to do. I like that he didn’t try to excuse his actions, but owned them instead.

I love all the relationships Ilona Andrews writes about because they are healthy and mature, where people actually share their feelings and talk about their issues instead of just letting them fester.

I think this was a very cathartic book for Catalina. She finally mended things with Nevada, and she realized that she didn’t have to carry the burden of House Baylor on her own. And she finally found the one person that would stand by her no matter what and be her equal, ready to help or call on her bullshit if needed.

Also, the Abyss was really terrifying, though I can’t help but feel sorry for the nameless telepath that was killed to create this abomination. I’m sure that even if he was a volunteer for the serum experiment, he hadn’t chosen to die for it.

Can’t wait to read the next book in the series.

books, Fantasy, Reviews, Urban fantasy

Trail of Lightning (The Sixth World 1) by Rebecca Roanhorse

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Stars: 3.5 out of 5

I loved that we get to explore a world based on something other than the standard european mythology. Don’t get me wrong, I like my elves, werwolves, and vampires, and pseudo-medieval world, but sometimes I want something different. Adn different this is.

This world is based on native american mythology, or at least the mythology of the Dine poeple, and it’s a world completely alien to a Russian-born immigrant like me. It was fascinating and I thouroughly enjoyed exploring it, even though I had one heck of a time with the pronounciation of the names of all the different creatures. This is where I really wished I was able to enjoy audiobooks without getting sidetracked very 5 mins, because hearing how they are pronounced would have helped a lot.

The plot is tight and moving along at a steady pace. I don’t think any part of the book lagged, and there is no dreaded slump in the middle. I would even argue that the plot moved a bit too fast at times, not leaving time for the characters to deal with the aftermath of some of their actions.

My issue with this book, and the reason it’s not a 5 star review, is that Maggie started irritating me by the end of it. I get it that she is a damaged and traumatized woman who has a lot of baggage to unload and process. Problem is, she behaves like an emotionally stilled teenager at time, which grows old pretty quickly. Though I must admit that I saw some character growth in her by the end of this book, so I have hopes for the sequel.

And the fact that she was completely oblivious about the discrepancies in Kai’s behavior when they were so explicitly telegraphed to the reader makes her seem stupider than she is. I mean seriously, every time she starts asking good questions, the conversation is interrupted because plot happens, aka the author wants to keep the mystery going to get the big emotional reveal in the end. I think that did a disservice to both Kai and Maggie as characters.

Despite this, I did enjoy this story and I wil definitely pick up the next book to learn more about this world.

books, Fantasy, Reviews, Urban fantasy

Sapphire Flames (Hidden Legacy 4) by Ilona Andrews

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Stars: 5 out of 5

This is the first book about Catalina, and I loved it. I loved all of the Nevada books, so I was a bit apprehensive to switch to a different narrator, but I love Catalina too. The Baylor women are strong and badass in their own ways. And it’s a testiment to the authors’ gift with words that the protagonists don’t sound the same. Nevada has a completely different personality than Catalina, and it shows on the page. 

But when it comes to the Hidden Legacy books, I especially love the Baylor family. All of them are a hoot to read about, be it Granma Freda with her letal machines with hilarious names (seriously, who calls a tank Brick?), or  Bern and Leon. I always get this warm and fuzzy feeling when I read about that family, because they feel real, and you can see that they genuinely love and care for each other. In the world of Hidden Legacy, where alliances are made based on power, and children are made based on genetic markers they would have and powers they would inherit, seeing a family that doesnt’ care about any of that and just loves each other is a breath of fresh air.

And I think by being how they are, the Baylors attract the right sort of people to them. They help others because they feel they should, and they stick by those who hire them, so they tend to assemble friends who think and feel the same. I loved that we got to see Sergeant Teddy again. I wonder what kind of creature Shadow is… she has way too many teeth for a dog. I’m sure she will have a surprise or two for those who try to harm Catalina in the next books.

We also learned a lot more about the world of Hidden Legacy and the serum that created it by destroying the world as we know it. I can’t wait to see how Catalina’s new status plays out in the next books.

books, Fantasy, Reviews, Urban fantasy

The Graveyard Watch by R. J. Eason

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Stars: 2.5 out of 5

This book had potential, I love urban fantasy and new interesting takes that authors have on the old thrope of monsters living among us without the general public being aware of it and secret agencies in the government created to police them. So I was more than on board with this and ready to enjoy my read. Unfortunately, the execusion suffers from what I would call “the first book” syndrom. And while I am willing to forgive a lot if I like the story and the characters, the flaws outweighted the positives in this case.

My biggest issue with the book is head hopping. I HATE this. It gives me whiplash and immediately takes me out of the story, killing all enjoyment. I don’t mind having certain scenes narrated by different characters as long as there is a clear separation between them. In this case though, we have some scenes where the POV literaly changes from paragraph to paragraph in the same scene, which is really off-putting and confusing.

My second issue was the way the author chose to write the accents different characters have. Like Sebastian, the French werewolf. While that would be fantastic in an audio book, it sounds very forced and unnatural written on a page. It is honestly hard to read, because the words are writen wrong to immiate an accent, but since I am reading this, not listening to it, half the time I have to stop and re-read to even understand what the author ment. There are other ways of showing that English isn’t someone’s native language.

My other issues are related to the characters and the general worldbuilding. 

Where it comes to the worldbuilding, there isn’t enough of it. It leaves more questions than answers. Like how does the Graveyard Watch fit into the rest of Brittish law enforcement or even government? Who does the Commander answer to? Who pays the bills? What is the chain of command here? What is the scop of their powers? What is their ultimate mission? Are they judge, jury, and executionner? Are they enforcers or also councelors whom the supernatural community can turn to for help? Are there other divisions of the Graveyard Watch in other countries? A centralized authority that overseas them? Who watches the watchers? No clue, because that’s never explained. 

My other issue is with the characters. We don’t know anything about them apart from their funny accents. The only one we get a bit of a backstory about is Domingo, but even then it’s not much. The characters are just kind of there… I don’t know their motivations, I don’t know what they do in their personal lives, I don’t know what their aspirations are. They move the story forward, talk in funny accents, and (in the case of Jocasta) swoon over every hot-looking guy that happens to cross her path. 

Speaking of Jocasta, I really hated her inner monologs that were written more like dialogs. I mean does she have split personality or what? Why does it sound like another voice is answering her in her head when she is having a moment? Also, for someone who is described as an intelligent and capable medical examiner, why is she suddenly turning into a detective? Her job is not to track suspects and apprehend them. Her job is to examine a scene and a body, if there is one. The whole plot of them following Victor to his secret lair was absolutely stupid. Why would she run after a known suspect, jump into his boat, follow him into a warehouse… all that while wearing an evening dress and high heels? What is she, Super Woman?

In the end, the negatives outweighted the positives for me, hence the rather low rating I’m giving this book. I will not be continuing with this series.

PS: I received an advanced copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

books, Fantasy, Reviews, Urban fantasy

Between Kings (The City Between 10) by WR Gingell

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Stars: 4 out of 5

What a great ending to a great series. All the different threads carefully hinted at during the previous books finally come to play and are resolved in a satisfactory manner. All the friendships Pet has cultivated in the previous books come to play as well.

You can really see just how much Pet has grown up between book one and book 10. In the first book, she might as well have been a ghost. She was so afraid of loosing her house that she lived only in order to earn enough money to buy it out. Nothing existed beyond work and hiding in her own home. We watched her gain confidence, both in herself and her abilities. We watched her make friends and stick by them in difficult moments. Most importantly, we watched her open her heart to other people and actually enjoy life instead of trying to exist as a ghost in her own house.

I loved that all the friends she collected along the way came to her help in the end, even the leprechaun. This was a nice juxtaposition to the idea Behindkind has that friendship is a burden and that anyone can stab you in the back, or that there is no such thing as freely given aid. Pet helped all of those people at one point of the other, and didn’t ask for anything in return. So they all showed up to help her, and to save the other heirlings stuck in the King’s arena. Heck, even the old butler had a redeeming moment.

I was surprised by the twist in the end. Not going to mention it to avoid spoilers, but let’s just say that the new King of Behind is… an interesting fellow.

My only complaint is that this book dragged in the beginning. There is a lot of running around doing mostly nothing for the first 50% of the story. So much so that I had to put it down and walk away for a few days because I was getting bored. Once the action picks up again, it’s a fun ride to the end, with satisfactory conclusions all around. The way Pet defeated the former King is a stroke of genius.

I am glad I found this series, and I will definitely check out other books by this author.

books, Fantasy, Reviews, Urban fantasy

The Last Sun (The Taro Sequence 1) by K.D. Edwards

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Stars: 5 out of 5

I loved this book so much that I devoured it in 2 days. Also, that cover is absolutely gorgeous.

The worldbuilding is interesting and based on the taro cards and different houses and aspects those represent. Also, old Atlantis. Though I admit that I would have loved to learn more about how this world works. We get glimpses into the magical system, and mentions of some of the Houses, but less than I would have loved to. There are also mentions of the Atlantean World War, but no explanation as to when it happened, or why.  Hopefully, more of this will be explained in consecutive books of the series.

This however didn’t lessen my enjoyment of the story at all, because I absolutely loved the characters. Rune is a gem to read about, and his relationship with Brand is both funny and poignant at the same time. You really got the feel that these two went through hell and back together (and they did), so the bond they share is stronger than Scion and human Companion. They are more than friends. They are brothers who would die for each other. 

The other characters are just as fun to read about. I loved Ciaran and Addam, and OMG I loved Quinn. It’s hard to write a seer right, especially one that doesn’t just see the future, but all the probable futures at ones, and Quinn is done just right. I’m not too sure about Max right now, but that’s probably because he wasn’t the focus of this story, so we only got glimpses of this past and nothing about his motivation. I’m sure we learn more in the next books. 

The action scenes are also well-written and keep you at the edge of your seat. I loved that Rune doesn’t come off as an overpowered scion just breezing through his enemies. Oh no, he had to work and bleed for the victories he got, and a lot of people died in the process. 

I have questions at the end of this book, like who orchestrated the attack on House Sun? Who were the 9 individuals in animal masks that tortured Rune? Who are the people pulling the strings from the shadows, and what does that have to do with the prophecy about Rune? I’m sure we will get more answers in the next books, and I will be along for the ride.