Venators: Through the Arch
by Devri Walls
Series: Venators, #1Kindle Edition, 300 pg.
Superstorm Productions, 2016
Read: October 7 – 10, 2016
So this is a strange double-portal fantasy — six years ago Tate and some other creatures come into our world and run into Grey Malteer and some others, and disappear soon afterwards. Tate (and some others) comes back to check up on Grey and let him know about his destiny. In the meantime, Grey’s discovered he has some strange supernatural abilities — and has been teaching himself to use them in secret — he’s also been doing some research into the supernatural in the open, which is not such a great idea for a socially awkward teen — he might as well attach a “Kick Me” sign to his back himself.
About the same time, Rune’s twin, Ryker starts acting a little strange (and definitely takes advantage of the metaphorical “Kick Me” sign). Rune starts to feel differently about her brother and the supernatural, but there’s nothing she can put her finger on — so she bows to parental pressure and devotes herself to three things: academics, sports, and keeping Ryker from self-destruction. She excels at all three.
Six years later, the three are in college and Tate returns to bring Rune and Grey back to his world. A world where they are Venators (hunters) — keeping the vampires, werewolves, goblins, elves, fae, dragons, etc. in line. Eon is home to pretty much every mythological creature you can think of — and a few that Walls has invented on her own. The Venators are a line of human hunters supernaturally immune to the various abilities and magics of them all, whose duty it is to keep order in the land.
For various and sundry (largely undisclosed) reasons, most of the Venators are dead and gone — only these two remain. Tate and some of his allies, under the watchful (and not entirely corrupt) eye of the Council will train them to fulfill their destiny and restore the Venators to their rightful place.
Throw in a distrustful populace, a mysterious and powerful enemy, and a couple of super-powered impetuous and idealistic youths and you’ve got yourself a heckuva story.
Walls writes with a confidence and flair that helps the reader trust that she’ll be able to make sense of a fairly jumbled beginning (not bad, but could’ve been easier to navigate). Once we get into Eon, she balances plot, character work and worldbuilding to create a foundation for a promising series. I wondered a couple of times if the characters could’ve been developed a little more fully, but the work as a whole was strong enough that I was willing to roll with it and assume she’ll give us fuller characters next go around.
A quick-moving introduction to an interesting new reality. Give this one a shot — Walls will entertain you.
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