Here we are at the end of June, one-third of the way through the summer, and I’m roughly one-third of the way through the challenge. That worked out nicely. I’ve made one substitute because I had some trouble getting my hands on the one non-fiction book that was on the list. And, hey, I just read a non-fiction book, so might as well put that one in. Otherwise, I’m on track for finishing the list as originally conceived.
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Burn Me Deadlyby Alex Bledsoe, Stefan Rudnicki (Narrator) Unabridged Audiobook, 8 hrs., 36 min. Read: June 1-2, 2020 |
One night, riding outside of town on a routine job Eddie LaCrosse comes across a woman in pretty rough shape. She’s naked, bruised, cut and burned—many of the burns look skillfully inflicted, as are all the rest of her injuries. Whoever worked her over knew what he was doing. A damsel in a lot of distress and after a brief conversation, Eddie offers to help her get away from whoever did this and protect her.
Then he’s struck from behind and wakes up as someone’s captive—she’s there, too. Not long after that, he wakes up again, at the bottom of a cliff, barely alive. The damsel didn’t fare that well. Once he’s patched up well enough to move and think, Eddie sets out to find out who she was, who killed her—and nearly him—and get a little revenge.
His search puts him in the way of one of the strongest criminal figures in his neck of the woods (a man that Eddie would’ve been happy never to have crossed paths with) and a government official trying to stop his investigation. Then an old friend of Eddie’s is killed, and that may be related to his case. Which sends him off into several other directions—including a new dragon-worshiping cult that’s somehow tied to the crime boss.
Eddie scoffs at the idea behind this cult—who, in his enlightened age, still believes in dragons? Eddie’s skepticism (that word’s too mild, but I can’t come up with a better one) seems out of place for someone reader know has known both a deity and a man who has lived centuries. Whether or not he’s right to disbelieve, the worshipers seem more than a little out to lunch, and are clearly easily manipulated.
There are a few good fight scenes, some good character growth and development since the last book (noteworthy because Eddie seemed to be dead-set against growth and development at the beginning of that novel). Liz, the courier we met at the very end of the first novel, is still around and is a huge part of Eddie’s life. We get a taste of that, but not as much as I’d have liked (for good reasons, I should add, I’m not saying that Bledsoe wasted her).
I think this might be a better novel than The Sword-Edged Blonde—the story’s a bit tighter, Eddie doesn’t engage in any casual cruelty, the characters are better developed (just a bit). But I don’t like it as much (each of the three or so times I’ve worked through the). There’s a missing je ne sais quoi to this, however, that restrains my enthusiasm. Do I recommend it on its own merits? Yeah. Do I recommend it as a necessary installment in this series? Definitely—read them all.
I’ve only re-read the first two novels up to this point, when I move on to book three in a month or so, it’ll be the first time I revisit it, and I’m really looking forward to that. It’s possibly the best of the series—at the least, I remember it being a step above this.
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The Ghosts of Sherwoodby Carrie Vaughn Kindle Edition, 112 pg. Read: June 9, 2020 |
“Can you tell how the mood is from here? How the journey went?”
“I won’t know how it went until I see Father’s face,” she said. “And see if he smiles or frowns?”
“No. And see if his smile is glad or wicked.” Her father would be smiling in any case.
That right there? That’s the line that sold me, I love that take on Robin Hood—between screen and print, all you can find lately is earnest, serious, Robin Hood as populist rebel with almost all the fun sucked out of it. Vaughn’s Locksley contains those elements, sure—but he’s also the outlaw in search of adventure, who enjoyed what he was doing. Always smiling–it’s just a matter of what kind of smile he wore.
We rejoin the Earl after the signing of the Magna Carta (which he was instrumental in getting that rascal King John to sign). He’s had to do the unthinkable—bowing the knee to John after Richard’s death—in order to protect his lands, his friends, and his wife. With Marian’s help to contain his impulses*, he’s become a responsible member of the nobility, doting father, and law abiding citizen.
* To be fair, Marian misses the adventures, too. But she’s not at that stage in her life anymore.
All that other stuff? Well, he’s content to leave that to the bards and storytellers. So much so that his own children aren’t sure how much to believe, “Everything about Father is stories.”
At least, that’s what his eldest daughter, Mary, says. But after she and her siblings are kidnapped, they’ll all get a better idea just what their father is capable of.
That’s all I’m going to say about that. This is very much a “pilot episode” of a novella. We meet the kids—Mary, John, and Eleanor—catch up with a couple of the Merry Men, see where Robin and Marian are in their lives and so on. Vaughn balances that with the kidnapping story.
The kidnapping is a quick and almost-too-neat story solely because of the space she has to tell it. If Vaughn hadn’t had to establish so much in these 112 pages, you get the feeling that the kidnapping wouldn’t have been resolved quite as neatly.
My sole complaint—and it’s a big one—is that this is a novella, and not a collection of novellas/short stories. I just needed more of everything—the kids, Robin, Marian, the other members of Robin’s band. This is a great introduction to this world and these characters, with a little bit of drama. But having been introduced, I want to read the next one. Or, the next five or so.
But no. Tor is making me wait until August for the second one. Which is simply unfair.
While my tongue is firmly in my cheek above, there is a kernel of truth to my gripe—I’m 97% sure that this thing has legs and that I’m in for several more (even if it’s currently slated to be a duology, but I’m hoping that changes), but I’m going to have to wait to really commit until August when The Heirs of Locksley is scheduled to be released. But in the meantime? This was a quick and fun read, full of promise, and one I heartily recommend.
This post contains an affiliate link. If you purchase from it, I will get a small commission at no additional cost to you. As always, opinions are my own.
One summer.
Three months.
93 Days.
20 books.
Here’s the kickoff post on 746 Books in case you want more details. I’ve seen people do this the last couple of years, and it seemed like fun. I’ll be reading more than 20 books over this period, anyway. I’ve found myself having a hard time staying focused lately when it comes to reading lately–although the WWW Wednesdays have helped a bit. I figure this is the same principle, just expanded over a few weeks rather than the next couple of days. Anyway, here’s my list (subject to change, but I’m going to resist the impulse to tweak as much as I can).
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Venators: Promises Forgedby Devri Walls, Daniel Thomas May (Narrator) Unabridged Audiobook, 12 hrs., 14 min. Read: May 22-27, 2020 |
Like the Ultimate Blog Tour for the first Venators novel, Venators: Magic Unleashed, back in March, I’m going to take what I posted last year when the novel was initially released and then add on some new thoughts, with a focus on the recently published audiobook.
So the ending of the previous book (Venators: Magic Unleashed) focused on a dragon being unleashed by the series’ (apparent) Big Bad, the sorceress Zio. Not surprisingly, the series central characters survived the encounter. This book starts with a quick recap of that survival from the point of view of Zio—which is a great way to get the reader back into the moment and build on their understanding of what happened and Zio.
We quickly return to our Earthlings, Grey and Rune and the aftermath of their unauthorized excursion to rescue humans from a werewolf pack, which culminated in the aforementioned dragon attack. Rune’s proving to be a quick study of Council politics and was able to turn things to their advantage and buy them some leniency from the Council. The ways the two humans respond to and interact with Council members is pretty interesting and I suspect will be one of the more interesting developments from this point forward in the series. I suspect the Venator abilities that make these two the warriors they are in this world are in play with Rune’s politicking—no one mentions mental acuity when talking about Venator abilities, but maybe they should. Watching Rune play the games (both successfully and less-so) that the various Council members throw her way is probably my favorite part of the character.
And she has to do a lot of politicking and game playing here because her co-Venator and friend Grey has found himself in quite the pickle. After their ordeal with the werewolves, the two Earthlings’ need for training was even more apparent. They get just a little of it (a good, promising start) before getting momentarily side-tracked. Before they get a chance to build on that, Grey is lured into the one place the two have been told they absolutely cannot go. Because forbidding people from going somewhere always works out (how many Hogwarts students stayed out of the forest? How long did Belle stay out of the West Wing? Even the Federation had to know that forbidding landing on Talos IV wouldn’t work for long).
Grey has found himself in the clutches of a powerful Fae, Feena. Feena will spend days/weeks/years sucking the life out of her prisoners to feed her own magics. Given that Grey is more powerful than your typical Eonian, you know she’ll drag it out as long as possible. It’s a torturous experience for Grey, but he does what he can to resist and fight back. On the one hand, watching him stupidly and blindly put himself in this situation was maddening. But after that, watching Grey endure what he has to and struggle in response is pretty cool. As much as I appreciate Rune’s playing politics, I enjoy watching Grey in action.
So the book boils down to this—can Rune get permission to run a rescue mission—or at the very least, find a window in which she can pull off another unauthorized mission? Can Grey survive long enough for the cavalry to arrive? Assuming they do, how can Grey be rescued and the Venators get back to their training without causing a diplomatic incident that will shake up everything?
The actions of the Venators’ guides, teachers, allies confuse me. They’ve got these two kids in a world they clearly don’t understand, with abilities they don’t understand and then expect them to react appropriately in new situations. Even worse, all of them are keeping things from Grey and Rune—telling them half-truths, deflecting legitimate questions, and delaying explanations. It’s maddening. It’s bad enough that the Council, who are clearly only using these two for their own ends do that, but the people who supposedly are looking to them to change the world? A little honesty, being a little forthcoming, helping them to avoid the minefields they keep running into rather than saying “oh, you shouldn’t have done that”—it would make it a lot easier for this reader to stomach them.
The Council? I need to see more of them. I have little patience for them as individuals or as an entity at the moment, but as individuals and as an entity there’s great potential for something interesting to happen. Feena’s a good villain—she’s not worth several books, but for one novel? She’s a good opponent. The Fae? It’s simple—any universe, any world, any author—when it comes to Fae politics, Fae dealings with other Fae, Fae dealings with non-Fae? It’s complicated, tricky, and messy. It’s good to know you can count on something.
So much is happening in a very short period of time, it’s hard to know what kind of impact the events are having on anyone—it’s been less than two weeks since these two jumped into this world, leaving St. Louis behind. It’s hard for them—or a reader—to really take it all in. We do know that already both Venators are changing because of their abilities (as well as the experiences in this new world)—both are self-aware enough to see how it’s happening (at least in part) and are both resisting and embracing the changes. Both are, naturally, deluded about how easy it will be to resist this kind of thing—denial’s not just a river on Earth.
I’m enjoying these books—I do hope that under the new publisher, they’re able to come out pretty regularly, it’ll help sustain my interest (and, I’m guessing, the reading public’s). I know that Walls has several more books planned, so it makes it okay that I’m still on the fence about the series as a whole—there’s a lot of potential to the series and these characters and she has time to help them reach their potential. There are aspects of the books (the prospective—and lingering—romantic entanglements, for example) that I’m withholding an opinion on until more happens. And I’m not sure if I should appreciate how little we’re getting with Zio and Rune’s brother, or if it should annoy me. Is Walls building suspense, or is she simply being obfuscatory? I’m hoping that after Book 3, I’ll be more settled with my expectations about these books—I know I’m enjoying them, I’m just not sure if I should wait on them getting better.
May’s narration is as strong as it was last time. He captures the emotion and characters and tone with both skill and art. He’s doing the narration for another series due to be released in a couple of weeks and I’m looking forward to seeing how he handles that.
This time through, two characters really stood out to me: Ryker and Tashara (a succubus who sits on the Council). I’m not sure if Walls is setting Ryker up for a major redemptive arc or if she’s going to cause an irreparable rift between the twins (or both). I guess this ties into what I said above about him and Zio. As far as Tashara, she’s a complex character—May does a great job of depicting that—and I’m intrigued by both her and her relationship to Grey (her incubus counterpart, on the other hand, just annoys me).
One last thing. This is just a personal hangup, I’m sure, but I hate Arwin’s name. Last year, when I got to ask Walls some questions, I talked about how much it reminded me of a certain Lady of Rivendell. This year, when I listened to the books, it kept making me think of Lloyd Alexander’s Arawn Death-Lord. He’s hands-down my favorite Council member (I’m waiting for Walls to pull the rug out from under me and reveal he’s a turncoat or more Machiavellian than the rest), but his name trips me up in print or audio.
Again, I find myself rating this a tad higher in audio than in print. I’m not sure where that comes from, also not sure if it matters. Walls and May are a great combination. An interesting world, great characters (even if they frustrate me), good action—and a fast-moving plot. This YA fantasy is a crowd-pleaser, I’m sure of that—you should join the crowd.
This post contains an affiliate link. If you purchase from it, I will get a small commission at no additional cost to you. As always, opinions are my own.
I’m very pleased today to welcome The Ultimate Blog Tour for Venators: Promises Forged by Devri Walls. This Tour Stop consists in this little spotlight post and then my take on the audiobook coming along in a bit. Let’s start by learning a little about this novel, okay?
Book Title: Venators: Promises Forged by Devri Walls
Publisher: Brown Books Publishing Group
Release date: April 30, 2019
Format: Ebook/Paperback/Audiobook
Length: 428 pages
It has been mere days in the world of Eon, where Rune Jenkins, her twin brother Ryker, and their friend Grey have been trapped, fighting for their lives. After discovering the truth of their ancestry, the three are far from home, and far from anything resembling their mundane lives of the past.
While Ryker is still held captive by the eerily beautiful Zio and her goblins, Grey falls into the clutches of Feena, the Fae queen. She begins to drain his soul bit by bit to feed her dark underground garden, and Grey has no hope of escaping on his own.
It is now up to Rune to save Grey, as his precious time slips away inexorably. But the Council has denied her permission to embark on a rescue mission, until she can harness her Venator gifts and prove herself capable of venturing into the Fae queen’s territory. As Rune discovers that promises in Eon are forged with life-or-death consequences, she realizes that she must act quickly, or else be swallowed—and Grey along with her—by the dangers of Eon.
Devri Walls is an international best selling author. She lives in Meridian, Idaho with her husband, two children and one adorable little mutt. Writing in all things fantasy, she would do just about anything for a working magic wand.
Mostly because she’s a walking disaster and a wand would be of enormous help…although she’d probably trip and break it. So, there’s that.
She graduated with a degree in theater and has studied vocal performance most of her life. She now teaches voice lessons when she’s not writing novels, cooking dinner, playing taxi, spending time with her amazingly supportive husband or trying to read.
Social Media:
Facebook ~ Twitter ~ Youtube ~ Instagram ~ Pinterest ~ Bookbub ~ Amazon ~ Goodreads
My thanks to The Write Reads for the invitation to participate in this tour and the materials they provided.
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The Sword-Edged Blondeby Alex Bledsoe, Stefan Rudnicki (Narrator) Unabridged Audiobook, 8 hrs., 28 min. Read: April 22-24, 2020 |
I’ve read this novel at least twice (13 and 11 years ago), and apparently have forgotten almost all of it. In fact, what I did remember as the climactic scene must belong to the second novel in the series, Burn Me Deadly. I can do better with the rest of the series (and not just because I actually wrote something about them—but I’m looking forward to taking another look at them in the coming months.
But I’m getting ahead of myself, I should introduce you to Eddie LaCrosse and his world. It’s your basic Fantasy world—swords, rumors of sorcery, small kingdoms, and so on. Eddie’s an ex-soldier, ex-mercenary, now “sword jockey” (basically a private cop). He’s got a little more on his résumé, but you’ll learn more about that as you dive in yourself. He’s been hired by an old friend, the King of a neighboring country to clear his wife of the horrific murder of her son. She doesn’t remember him, but when he meets her, Eddie realizes that he knew the Queen long before the King did.
Eddie’s investigation takes him through multiple kingdoms, into the remains of a cult, and into a criminal network that rivals anything that Varys put together for efficacy or ruthlessness. At the same time he does this, Eddie takes a trip through his personal history, reliving the time he knew the Queen (and events leading up to that). The two storylines are interwoven to help Eddie solve what seems like a perfect crime.
Both in the narration, LaCrosse’s character and the kinds of people we meet along the way, Bledsoe channels Chandler. LaCrosse is casually violent in a way that Marlowe indulged in a bit too often for me, and the (for lack of a better word) grotesque (in physical appearance and morality) criminals Eddie deals with in the latter parts of the book felt particularly Chandler-esque to me.
There’s some things that happen at the end that point to Eddie coming to terms with parts of his past that he’s been unable/unwilling to acknowledge existed. The character won’t change as a result of this (at least not much), but I think it opens the door for some of his rougher edges to be rounded out. How well that actually happens, I’ll have to see (I don’t trust my memory enough right now)—but at the very least, Bledsoe made it possible for the character to grow and evolve here.
Rudnicki’s narration didn’t really work for me initially—there was a quality to his voice that just didn’t click with me. But, I kept going because I liked the novel. Before the halfway mark, however, he’d won me over. I can’t put my finger on it (either good or bad), but he sold the emotional moments, the humor, and Eddie’s general attitude. Which is good enough for me.
It’s hard for me to rate this one on its own terms—I remember liking it. I remember what Bledsoe does with the characters. And those things color my rating, leading me to probably giving this another half-to-whole star more than I would otherwise. But also, for the world. The merging of Fantasy and Hard-boiled genres in a way that’s seamless and well-executed. I recommend this one and will be back for more soon.
Bookstooge posted about this book yesterday. It’s probably worth a read (I’ll read it later today, I didn’t want his voice in my head as I wrote this).
This post contains an affiliate link. If you purchase from it, I will get a small commission at no additional cost to you. As always, opinions are my own.
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Apex Predatorby M. T. Miller Kindle Edition, 238 pg. Read: April 17-20, 2020 |
“Nothing ever goes according to plan,” Shast said. That was why contingencies existed. Layers upon layers of them.
That’s from Chapter 4. By the time the book ends 11 chapters later, Shast is going to a whole new understanding of that.
But I’m getting ahead of myself there’s some sort of monster infestation in a city—forces have been sent to take care of it–two different waves, actually. But they didn’t work. So now, The Culling–the organization that handles these kinds of things, has sent a full Hand to clear it out. A Hand is a team of five hunters, each with a different specialty. With those combined talents, they should be able to handle anything.
Only Shast and the most senior member of the Hand have worked together before, the other three are experienced, but not that much. It’s a diverse group of people who usually work along and there’s a good deal of bickering and being at loggerheads on the way to the city. Once there, once the hunt gets underway, that gets compartmentalized and the Hand gets to work.
For a completely foreign world—that we still don’t really know that much about (but we’re learning)—it’s a testimony to Miller’s story-telling that the reader is able to plug into their activities, get an idea what’s at stake and why they’re doing what they’re doing.
It doesn’t take long for every theory they have to be proven wrong, everything they try to not have any success. And before long, it’s clear that what they’re facing is something most of them had never heard of—or if they had, they thought was a myth. It’s not a myth, and soon the hunters are the hunted.
Interspersed with that story are flashbacks to a hunt from early in Shast’s career, and enduring that was pivotal in his development into the hunter that he is. He gained the perspective, the cold-heartedness that he requires to survive the hunt that’s the focus of this novel. I don’t remember Miller doing anything like this before, he pulls it off pretty well. There are times when you get a story like this that you really wonder what the flashback storyline has to do with anything, but I gave Miller the benefit of the doubt and was rewarded for it.
Last time out, I praised Miller’s design of monsters. This time, I need to do the same. I don’t remember reading monsters like this before—while they were completely original, I had no trouble getting a clear idea how these things looked or acted. They were disturbing, powerful and you have little trouble understanding why the Hand wants to destroy them.
Even better is his character design—each member of the Hand is a fully realized character–and we learn their backstory, culture, specialties, and the rest without ever feeling like we endured an info drop. Through them, we get a better idea how this world works and how the Culling developed. I’m still trying to get a handle on this world, not that it bothers me much, I know what I need to know—but I’m intrigued, I’m curious. I appreciate getting a little more information about this place.
Now in the first book of the series, Shast and his companions face off with a large and unprecedented force of monsters, but it’s something they can get a handle on, something they can understand and adapt to. This time, the Hand is completely blindsided and maybe outclassed. How he moves on from this point to book 3, I have no idea—I assume Miller has a few tricks up his sleeve and I’m looking forward to seeing what they are. In the meantime, I’d encourage you all to go pick this one up.
Note: I received a copy of this book from the author in exchange for this post and my honest opinion. I thank him for that.
This post contains an affiliate link. If you purchase from it, I will get a small commission at no additional cost to you. As always, opinions are my own.
The point of these quick takes posts is to catch up on my “To Write About” stack—emphasizing pithiness, not thoroughness. These three were all short reads, making it very difficult to write much more than this, anyway.
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The Time Traveler’s Guide to Dating, Issue 1by Todd Gilbert, Brandon McKinney, Zachary Brunner, Daniel Bruckner |
I saw an advertisement for this on Instagram last weekend—something about a Time Travel Rom-Com in six free issues. I decided it was worth a shot.
This is the story of an assistant manager at a “big box” store, angry and resentful over being denied a promotion (a series of them, I think). He sets out to exact his revenge by (the reader can see) future versions of himself.
So far, I’ve read the first issue—it’s a clever story, I like the art. I really don’t like the protagonist, but have hope he can be redeemed (or another major character emerges to get behind). But for the moment he’s an impetuous, selfish fool, and I’m sort of rooting against him.
I’m not going to check back in on this until I finish the series, but I’m looking forward to the rest of it.
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Iceby Neil Lancaster |
So, it seems that a Mexican drug cartel is trying to bring a new, extra addictive variety of Meth into London. We see both a user recruited by the cartel’s representative and a less-than-ethical tax specialist who finds himself laundering money for them. Novak comes into both of their lives in his efforts to stop this incursion.
So, here’s the cool thing—minor spoiler—Novak takes on a criminal enterprise and doesn’t hurt/shoot/kill anyone. That’s a nice thing to see.
But, this just wasn’t a good story. It feels like an outline, there’s no real drama or suspense. There’s a lot of talking, a lot of exposition.
I don’t like not saying good things about Novak or Lancaster, but aside from the novelty of Novak not leaving a trail of death and destruction, there’s not a lot of positive things to say. I like the idea of this, I just didn’t dig the execution.
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Shall We Gatherby Alex Bledsoe |
There’s not much of a plot here, either—but there is one. This is primarily a way to look at two characters—the outsider desperately trying to make a home in Cloud County, Rev. Craig Chess, and Mandalay Harris. Someone (no one we’ve met before) is dying and he asked for Chess to come. Outside, Chess meets Mandalay for the first time and the two have a couple of interesting conversations. There’s a bit more to it than that, but that’s enough for this.
I really liked watching these two interact, sizing each other up. Mandalay is at her creepifying best and Chess is his earnest, loving self. As much as he and I would debate essentials of the Faith, Chess has always been one of those fictional characters that’s easy to respect as well as like. I always appreciate the way that Bledsoe writes him.
Short (very short), but absolutely worth the time. It’s the one thing that I’ve taken off the TBR list since I started those Down the TBR Hole posts because I’ve read it. Will hopefully not be the last.
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Venators: Magic Unleashedby Devri Walls, Daniel Thomas May (Narrator) Unabridged Audiobook, 10 hrs., 20 mins. Read: February 26-27, 2020 |
When I saw that The Write Reads was doing one of their Ultimate Blog Tours for this book, I jumped to volunteer without thinking—sure, I’d be more than happy to help Walls promote her book. Shortly after I committed, however, I started to have second thoughts. What on earth, am I going to be able to say? I talked about the first edition of the novel back in ’16 and then again with the second, retitled, and improved edition last year. How is it possible to do anything but rehash what I’d said before? Then, Walls announced that an audiobook edition was going to be released. Phew.
If you remember what I said about the post last year*, you can skip the next seven paragraphs, because I’m going to basically plagiarize myself for a bit until I talk about Daniel Thomas May’s work.
* No, I can’t imagine anyone does, I didn’t. It’s just a joke.
This is a portal fantasy about a world called Eon, populated by humans, elves, vampires, werewolves, elves, dragons, etc. There are connections between Earth and Eon, allowing travel between the two—although they’re not as strong as they once were. It turns out some humans from Earth have a certain invulnerability to the kinds of magic employed by the various races (like a werewolf or vampire bite, but not, say, an invulnerability to a werewolf tearing off their head). Thee humans also have other enhanced physical attributes allowing them to go toe-to-toe in combat with members of these races. Which has made these humans a powerful force for good, and a potentially tyrannical force as well. Eon’s known more of the latter lately, which has led to a lack of recruitment.
But now, society’s on the verge of collapse into chaos, warring tribes trying to wipe out other races in a fight for dominance, and the end of law. So some people have taken it upon themselves to reintroduce these humans, Venators, to Eon. Enter Tate, a warrior who is convinced that Venators are the key to Eon’s survival—he’s been to Earth before, and now returns to bring back some people he observed then. Six years ago, he encountered a young teen named Grey Malteer—who was forever changed by their brief encounter. Now in college, Grey is about as well-read in the lore of the supernatural and weird as is possible for someone to be while stuck on Earth and not being known as a crackpot (although he’s regarded as pretty eccentric, probably well on his way to crack-pot status).
An acquaintance of his from childhood, now attending the same college, Rune Jenkins is repulsed by the same things that Grey is focused on (while also drawn to them). Rune is totally unprepared to accept that the supernatural is anything but wild fiction until she’s attacked by goblins and rescued by a large blue man (the aforementioned Tate). Which really can only make her a believer—or drive her to some sort of psychotic break. Thankfully, she goes with the former. Tate brings Rune and Grey into Eon and sets before them the calling of Venator.
To oversimplify things: from here out, the two are introduced to this world, the beings that populate it, the political realities that govern it (and see them only as pawns), and they begin to embrace their new identities, while engaging in a brief battle or two. While Rune and Grey are introduced to all this, so is the reader—and it’s clearly the point of this book—to bring the reader and these two into Eon, give us all a taste of what’s to come and help us get to know the players. There is a clear plotline and definite story here—don’t get me wrong—but the major function is to provide a foundation for things to come.
The book would have to be a lot longer to serve as anything other than an introduction—the ruling council alone is made up of enough characters we’d need a few more chapters to really get to know them and their goals—although they can be summed up in lust for power and influence for themselves and their race to the possible detriment of every other council member/race. Then you throw in Tate; his allies (however temporary) the vampire Veridia and the shapeshifter Beltran; the two humans; and the council’s enemy, Zio—and really, you’ve got enough players that you really can only skim the surface within 354 pages.
We get to know Grey and Rune enough to see they’re well-developed and three-dimensional, and many of the rest show signs of being that developed, but we don’t get to see that fully displayed—but we see enough to know that given the opportunity, the characters will be easily fleshed out. One thing I noted in particular while reading this is just how many seeds Walls planted in the characters and situations to come back to in future installments. This foundation is built in such a way that several books can be built on it—it’s really impressive to note.
Yes, this is written for the YA market, so there’s a bit more action than others might use. There’s a focus on certain kinds of emotional beats, and that sort of thing. But it’s more of an accent to the storytelling than other writers would’ve made it. For some reason, Mercedes Lackey’s Hunter series and Brandon Mull’s Beyonders Trilogy come to mind as I think about similar series—but the YA-ness of both of those comes through more strongly than it does with this book.
So, how does this translate into audio? Very well. I’ll admit that it took me a while to get into May’s narration. For some reason, I’d expected a female narrator—someone like Kathleen McInerney, Khristine Hvam, or Lorelei King—so May threw me a little. Which isn’t a reflection on him, just on my preconceived notions. And I thought the initial chapters were a little rough—it seems like it took him a bit to “get into” the bok. But I think that’s a characteristic of the novel itself, it doesn’t really take off until the humans leave Earth.
Once there, the book—and the narration—settle in. The Venators find a sense of calm on Eon that they’ve been denied on Earth, and it’s May captures that—but what really sealed the deal for me was his portrayal of the vampire Verida—it sounded like he had extra long teeth that he had to talk through. From there, it was smooth sailing. Tashara and Beltran were a couple of the other highlights—most of the Council were captured well, also. I’m not suggesting that he didn’t do a fine job with Tate, Grey or Rune—it’s just those others seemed a bit more interesting (and Tate’s accent seemed to wander around awhile before becoming consistent).
May narrates with a good energy, a nice pace, and shows the text to be what it is—very approachable. I had no problem sticking with him and didn’t want to speed up the narration or skip ahead or anything else. He captures the tone of the book, the emotions of the moments, and the characters. All in all, it’s exactly what you want in an audiobook.
On this tour, we were encouraged to ask Devri Walls a question as part of our posts, so here’s the one that kept coming to me while I listened: Why are the Venators immune to Vampire Bites, Werewolf Bites, but not at all immune to succubi, incubi, [Book 2 Spoilery things]? I have a theory, but I’d like to hear it from the horse’s mouth (if for no other reason than my theory is probably wrong).
I ended up rating it a little higher this time—I’m not sure if it’s because I’m more familiar with the material so I can appreciate the little things more, if it was May’s narration, me just being in a generous mood, or what. Or it’s just me being inconsistent. Eh, whatever. It’s a fun little story. It is a foundation-setting kind of story, introducing the world, the magic system, the fantasy races, and many characters, so we don’t get too deep with anything. But now that things are established, the path is clear for more subtle, more layered storytelling to come.
In Print (electronic or paper) or on Audiobook, this is a solid YA fantasy that’s sure to please. Go get it for your own enjoyment and so TPTB continue to let her produce these books.
This post contains an affiliate link. If you purchase from it, I will get a small commission at no additional cost to you. As always, opinions are my own.
My thanks to The Write Reads for the invitation to participate in this tour and the materials they provided.
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