This is a review I wrote back in February 2021 – before I got sick…
I’ve thoroughly enjoyed this murder mystery series, see my reviews of Academic Curveball, Broken Heart Attack , Flower Power Trip, Mistaken Identity Crisis and Haunted House Ghostfeaturing single parent Kellan who inconveniently keeps tripping over corpses in this otherwise quiet corner of academia. I had been hoping that after the drama surrounding his marriage, he’d now have a chance of happiness with someone else. However a storm hits Wharton County and Kellan gets swept up in it…
BLURB: A winter blizzard barrels toward Wharton County with a vengeance. Madam Zenya predicted the raging storm would change the course of Kellan’s life, but the famed seer never could’ve prepared him for all the collateral damage. Nana D disappears after visiting a patient at Willow Trees, leaving behind a trail of confusion. When the patient turns up dead, and second body is discovered beneath the snowbanks, Kellan must face his worst fears. What tragedy has befallen his beloved grandmother?
REVIEW: I’ve cut short the blurb, as I think it is just a tad on the chatty side – and if you are following this series, it would be such a shame for certain plotpoints to surface here, rather than within the story.
Once more, Kellan is put through the wringer. I’m aware that this series is shelved as a cosy mystery – and that’s true in as much as there is no undue gore, bad language or graphic sex. But that doesn’t prevent poor old Kellan going through yet more misery. However, Cudney is very adept at also introducing snarky exchanges to diffuse some of the angst that is building up as family members go missing, hateful characters taunt our put-upon protagonist and family members are targeted by a nasty smear campaign. And that’s only some of what goes on in this fast-moving story.
I whipped through this one at a fair clip, as it really grabbed me. Cudney is very good at producing an almost endless procession of likely suspects that could be in the frame for the murders. By now, there are a fair number of characters we have got to know throughout the six books so far. And Cudney manages to ensure that a fair number of them have strong motives to want to kill the victims. No wonder the Chief of Police, the fair April, is getting a tad frayed around the edges…
As ever, I really like the fact that this small community is nicely intergenerational. The feisty Nana D, as a seventy-something year old, is now the Mayor and we regularly meet up with her contemporaries, who also are involved in community life. It’s so refreshing to find this age-group fairly represented as fully functioning members of society with something to offer – and Nana’s resilience and refusal to be overwhelmed in the face of the woes piling up for the Ayrwick family is lovely to see. Yes… I’ve probably connected with spiky Nana D on a level that is not necessarily completely healthy.
Just a word of warning. While this book completely ties up the murder mysteries and we know exactly whodunit and why – this story is left on a cliff-hanger ending, where all sorts of other major issues are unresolved. I’ll be honest, I’m a bit torn – I generally loathe these sorts of endings. However, I’m prepared to give Cudney a pass due to the fact that he’s provided a thumping good plot in this particular slice of Kellan’s adventures. Highly recommended for fans of well plotted murder mysteries – but whatever you do, don’t crash into this series at this stage. There are so many characters so tightly intertwined with an eventful backstory, you’ll probably sink without trace under the weight of trying to keep up with who did what to whom, causing what’s-her-face wanting to do something else to what’s-his-name. You’d be far better putting this one back on the shelf and reaching instead for the first book, Academic Curveball. 9/10
With my customary shallowness, it was the cover that first attracted my attention to this offering. But I also was intrigued by the premise. Would I enjoy this one?
BLURB: For centuries, generations of Everlys have seen their brightest and best disappear, taken as punishment for a crime no one remembers, for a purpose no one understands. Their tormentor, a woman named Penelope, never ages, never grows sick – and never forgives a debt.
Violet Everly was a child when her mother left on a stormy night, determined to break the curse. When Marianne never returns, Penelope issues an ultimatum: Violet has ten years to find her mother, or she will take her place. Violet is the last of the Everly line, the last to suffer. Unless she can break it first. To do so, she must descend into a seductive magical underworld of power-hungry scholars, fickle gods and monsters bent on revenge. She must also contend with Penelope’s quiet assistant, Aleksander, who she knows cannot be trusted – and yet whose knowledge of a world beyond her own is too valuable to avoid. Tied to a very literal deadline, Violet will travel the edges of the world to find Marianne and the key to the city of stardust, where the Everly story began.
REVIEW: The first thing that struck me was the quality of the writing. Summers is a talent – her poetic, vivid prose wound through me and had me immediately rooting for Violet. Though for me to continue to be impressed, I needed to also bond with the story – over the years I’ve read far too many books where glorious writing stood in for a plot worth the name. It wasn’t the case here. Violet’s sense of anger and grief at her uncle’s refusal to tell her what was going on is palpable.
We also have Penelope, the antagonist who is threatening the Everly family. It was impressive just how her cruelty and malign presence pervades the book, as it is Violet’s desperate search for her mother and the supposed solution to the curse blighting the Everlys that powers the narrative drive throughout. I was a tad worried that when we finally discovered Penelope’s reason for hounding the Everly family that it would fall a bit flat. It didn’t. Summers manages to depict the haunted individual at the heart of the curse with both compassion and a clarity that doesn’t mask his terrible cowardice. It takes serious writing chops to bring that off.
I loved this spellbinding tale that pulled me in to experience Violet’s quest with all its desperation and sadness as well as the excitement and anticipation. I look forward to reading what else Summers produces – she is a talent to watch. While I obtained an arc of The City of the Stardust from the publisher via Netgalley, the opinions I have expressed are unbiased and my own. 9/10
I’ve been reading a fair few historical murder mystery series recently – see my review of The Nubian’s Curse – so when this one popped up on the Netgalley dashboard, I immediately requested it. After all, a Regency murder mystery featuring the great Jane Austen? It sounds just up my alley.
BLURB: Jane Austen—sparkling, spirited, and incredibly clever—is suddenly thrust into a mystery when a milliner’s dead body is found locked inside a cupboard in the middle of a ball. When Jane’s brother Georgie is found with some jewelry belonging to the deceased, the local officials see it as an open-and-shut case: one which is likely to end with his death. Jane is certain that he is innocent, and there is more to the murder than meets the eye.
Her investigations send her on a journey through local society, as Jane’s suspect list keeps on growing— and her keen observational skills of people will be put to the test to solve the crime and save her brother.
REVIEW: I was expecting a cooler, smarter Jane Austen. Instead, we’re treated to a real scatterbrain – someone who finds it difficult to think clearly unless she writes everything down. While she clearly has a clever wit and a sparkling personality, she is also hot-headed, impetuous and inclined to let her tongue run away with her, often hurtfully. Think of Emma, but more so. I’ll be honest, while I thought the plotting and pacing of the whodunit was done extremely well, I struggled to line up this much sillier, immature version with the person responsible for some of the cleverest, witty novels in the English language.
Yes, she’s only nineteen. But she’s also the daughter of a country parson at a time when many of her contemporaries were already married and bearing children. Furthermore, working-class young women of her age had been out earning a living for at least six years, maybe longer. People grew up fast in those days – they had to. While I’m prepared to concede that she might have prattled away in letters to siblings as if she didn’t have a serious thought in her head – I don’t believe she would have behaved in such a manner. And her flirtation with Tom Lefroy is plain reckless – if they’d been discovered in the greenhouse together, her reputation as a respectable unmarried woman would have been ruined even in the more lenient Georgian era. The fact that none of Jane’s heroines behaved so freely says it all.
Despite this grizzle – for which I’ve deducted a point – I wasn’t ever tempted to DNF this offering. For all my quibbles regarding Bull’s depiction of Jane, the rest of the period details and scene setting appears spot on and the Austen family dynamic worked well. As for the murder mystery, Jane’s habit of accusing the wrong person meant there were plenty of credible suspects so that I didn’t guess whodunit until the denouement. There was also an intriguing and poignant twist. Overall, I highly recommend this entertaining read and look forward to the next slice of Jane’s adventures. While I obtained an arc of Miss Austen Investigates from the publisher via Netgalley, the opinions I have expressed are unbiased and my own. 8/10
I’ve thoroughly enjoyed following Sandy’s adventures – see my reviews of And Justice for Mall, Inherit the Shoes and Witness for the Persecution. So when I saw this next book has Sandy reluctantly attending a family wedding – I jumped at the chance of getting a copy. And I wasn’t disappointed…
BLURB: An uncomfortable weekend awaits LA family lawyer Sandy Moss when she makes her way to her hometown in New Jersey for the wedding of her cousin Stephanie, sweetly nicknamed Skinny. Uncomfortable, because Sandy is not really looking forward to seeing her family, but at least her boyfriend, Hollywood movie star Patrick McNabb, is by her side.
However, if Sandy thought a weekend with her criticising mother and aggravating sister was bad, she definitely wasn’t prepared for the rehearsal event at the wedding venue! When Skinny enters the room, all eyes are on her and her beautiful party dress . . . covered in blood, with a knife in her hand.
Skinny says she didn’t do it. But with dozens of wedding guests witnessing her dramatic entrance, the question of who killed the corpse in the kitchen seems an easy one to answer – and an equally easy court case to lose.
REVIEW: Sandy’s relationships with her mother and perfect older sister are problematic. Sandy strongly feels her mother and sister are closer and far too judgemental of her life choices. As for her cousin, Skinny – a nickname Sandy coined when she was seven years old – they’ve never been all that close. So when Skinny hysterically insists that Sandy has to be her trial lawyer, despite Sandy now living some 3,000 miles from where said trial will be held – she is dismayed when the rest of the family join in the chorus.
I love the desert-dry observations Sandy’s first-person narration drops our way, in between what is genuinely a puzzling case fraught with difficulty. One of the major problems for Sandy comes in the shape of the Prosecutor – her ex, who admitted to her far too late that he was already married. So Sandy promptly contacted love-rat Richard’s wife and told her what had been going on, before fleeing as far away as she could get – LA. Now she has triumphantly rebuilt her life with a good job in a new law firm as a defense attorney and a loving, loyal boyfriend, who also happens to be a TV star, Patrick. So Sandy’s professional façade is sorely tested when she’s confronted with her untidy and painful past.
I tore through this thoroughly readable and entertaining legal whodunit, with a doozy of a plot twist I didn’t see coming. I reached the end with a real pang of regret, because I didn’t want the goodness to end – and this one comes highly recommended. While you obviously will get more out of these stories if you read them in order – as the crime is perpetrated and solved within this offering, you could jump in and sample this slice of Sandy’s life without undue floundering. While I obtained an arc of My Cousin Skinny from the publishers via Netgalley, the opinions I have expressed are unbiased and my own. 9/10
Can’t-Wait Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted at Wishful Endings, to spotlight and discuss the books we’re excited about that we have yet to read. Generally they’re books that have yet to be released. It’s based on Waiting on Wednesday, hosted by the fabulous Jill at Breaking the Spine.
This week’s Can’t-Wait offering – The Hunting Moon – Book 2 of The Luminaries series by Susan Dennard – release date – 7th November, 2023
#fantasy #feisty heroine #YA
BLURB: Winnie Wednesday has gotten everything she thought she wanted. She passed the deadly hunter trials, her family has been welcomed back into the Luminaries, and overnight, she has become a local celebrity.
The Girl Who Jumped. The Girl Who Got Bitten.
Unfortunately, it all feels wrong. For one, nobody will believe her about the new nightmare called the Whisperer that’s killing hunters each night. Everyone blames the werewolf, even though Winnie is certain the wolf is innocent.
On top of that, following her dad’s convoluted clues about the Dianas, their magic, and what happened in Hemlock Falls four years ago is leaving her with more questions than answers.
Then to complicate it all, there is still only one person who can help her: Jay Friday, the boy with plenty of problems all his own.
As bodies and secrets pile up around town, Winnie finds herself questioning what it means to be a true Wednesday and a true Luminary—and also where her fierce-hearted loyalties might ultimately have to lie. It’s a while since I tucked into The Luminaries – see my review – but it’s proved to be a highly memorable read, as I was immediately keen to get hold of this one to answer a host of the many unanswered questions left at the end of the first book. Apart from anything else, I also want more time in that amazing forest Dennard created… So I’m delighted to have got hold of this book and it’s next up in my reading queue😊.
A very Happy Halloween to you – and as well as enjoying all things pumpkin-shaped, I can announce that Flame & Blame is now available in your nearest Amazon store. ‘So, is this an entertainingly spooky read?’ I hear you say.
And I’m bound to reply that no – it isn’t. In a stunningly oblivious Marketing move – I hadn’t even appreciated that the release day was Halloween when I’d first worked out all those niggling deadline thingys that need doing before publication to ensure that I’ve produced a quality book. I can also announce that Flame & Blame will be free tomorrow, 1st November, if you’d like to give the first full-length book in the series a whirl. Here’s the blurb…
Fantasy dragon adventure for all ages, featuring living legend and disaster magnet, Castellan the Black…
Castellan the Black, former mighty dragon warrior and recent mouldy old has-been, now resides with his daughter and that waste of skin and scales who is her mate in their cramped lair at Wyvern Peak aery. Their young family is at full stretch right now – for Emmy Lou is incubating her third egg.
So instead of using his considerable draconic skills to reclaim his former lair from the dratted humans, Castellan is plunged into the middle of family life. Yet everyday chores, such as hunting for food and trimming his battle honours to provide for his young grandchildren, turn into a dangerous battle of wits with the greedy scale-sack running the aery – Overlord Wendell Bo.
Try as he might, Castellan is finding it increasingly difficult to ignore the rottenness at the heart of Wyvern Peak aery. Half-starved guards, cracked walkways and overflowing drains are bad enough. But when the life of his small granddaughter is put at risk, Castellan isn’t sure that all his 721 years of experience will be enough to save her. Or himself…
A few technical gremlins have dogged this release, so the paperback version isn’t yet available – but I’m hoping to have those sorted out by the end of the week. In the meantime, those of you who kindly pre-ordered the book – do drop me a line at sjhigbee@hotmail.co.uk as I need to chat to you.
Meanwhile, in a world exclusive, Castellan the Black decided to interview me in an undisclosed location.
ME: Oh my goodness! I didn’t ever think I’d meet… Greetings and may the wind ever fill your wings, great and wondrous Castellan the Black.
CASTELLAN: And may your flying days be ever fair. Except you don’t fly. And why would humans wish to know of the doings of Wyvern Peak, hm? I trust this isn’t some attempt of you smooth-skinned wretches to renege on the Treaty of Devastation Valley.
ME: Not at all, Sire. Humans have ever been fascinated by dragons and after learning of your deeds—
CASTELLAN: Yes – those deeds. How did you find out so much about our lives, hm? I’ve questioned all the dragonkin within Wyvern Peak – and if any of those pesky lizards had been blabbing dragonish secrets to you, I’d have discovered the culprit. They haven’t. So how did a person such as yourself, with no warrior skills whatsoever, learn of our exploits?
ME: I gave my Oath that I’d keep my informant’s identity a secret, Sire.
CASTELLAN: Hm. I can smell the lie on you. You know far too much about the Timescape, for instance. Those who know of such hidden happenings would have rather been dipped in boiling tar than give up such knowledge. So, you must have managed to sneak into the Timescape – which in itself is a dratted outrage.
ME: (a bit squeakily) I would invoke the terms of Parlay, Sire. After all, there are those who would twist such events for their own ends – whereas I am giving a true and honest account of what happened. And indeed, those humans who have already perused your exploits in my books are rightly invested in your success and wish you well.
CASTELLAN: (snorts) I rather doubt that! I’ve eaten far too many of your kind for there to be many fond feelings between our species.
ME: Those knights were rather asking for it, marching up your mountain and hollering for you to come and fight them. I was just wondering – in all your 721 years—
CASTELLAN: And I’ll thank you to stop blathering quite so much about my age! There’s no point now in trying to shed a half-century or so to the family, thanks to you. My wretched son-in-law and daughter look upon me as if I’m some dratted relic, given your constant repetition about my being the oldest dragon alive.
ME: My pardon, Sire. I’ll ensure I don’t mention your age anymore.
CASTELLAN: Well, it’s a bit late now, isn’t it? Enough of this nonsense – I’ve places to be and food to hunt.
ME: Just one question, Sire. If you will.
CASTELLAN: Make it quick!
ME: (Gabbling…) In all your 721 years – what is the most terrible and the most wonderful thing you’ve ever seen.
CASTELLAN: Hm. Terrible… the aftermath of the Battle of Devastation Valley – no, I’ll not say anymore on the subject. And wonderful – watching Ekaterraina walk into Emmy Lou’s lair on the day of little Jimmy Ray’s Imprintation. And remember. I know your scent – if you ever relay anything disrespectful or of a nature that will bring my family into danger – I will track you down and incinerate you! (launches into the air and flaps majestically into the gathering gloom).
This is part of the weekly meme over at the Caffeinated Reviewer, where book bloggers can share the books they’ve read and share what they have got up to during the last week.
This week has been a struggle. I think it’s a culmination of the emotional whirlwind of seeing my son and his girlfriend for the first time in nearly four years, coping with a heavy cold, and dealing with all the stuff around publishing my first book since 2020. The last of those factors is probably the key one – getting to grips with all the Marketing tasks around publishing a new book has been really stressful. All sorts of niggling things have gone slightly wrong – the biggest being problems around formatting the paperback. I think I’ve got that sorted now. But the upshot is that I’ve ended back in bed for three days this week with the all-too familiar symptoms of dizziness, nausea and exhaustion.
Thankfully, it’s been half term week so I haven’t had to worry about the school run and I’m feeling better today, so I’m hoping this Long Covid relapse is now behind me. Oscar travelled to see his brother at uni on Friday and they had a lovely time together. His birthday is coming up, so Ethan bought him a present and treated him to a meal.
As you can see from the photos, the weather has now changed. We’ve had bouts of torrential rain for most of the week. I’m so sorry for the poor folks in the Isle of Wight coping with being flooded out, yet again. And last night a mini-tornado hit Littlehampton, which ripped the roof off a house not too far away. The pics show the rain coming down – and my Elaeagnus has flowered for the very first time since we planted it twelve years ago. I’m guessing that it’s usually too cold for the flowers to appear – whereas this year the plant is smothered with these tiny waxy flowers.
Books I’ve read this week.
AUDIOBOOK – Quiver of Cobras – Book 2 of The Fractured Fairy series by Helen Harper Madrona might still not remember anything about her past, and she might be more of an evil villain than a fabulous super hero, but that doesn’t mean she can’t also be a super spy. With Rubus desperately searching for the magical dragon sphere which can return the faeries back to their homeland – and cause the apocalypse in this land – she doesn’t have much choice.
Someone with wit, intelligence and strength has to step up and save the world … and if that person happens to look super sexy while doing it then that’s just an added bonus. This is a delight. Madrona’s OTT posturing and announcements of her own superhero status are at once funny and also poignant, given the real circumstances that we’re discovering. Harper’s characterisation is funny and yet also tugs at the heartstrings. I’m thoroughly caught up in the story, so broke my usual habit of spacing out series and read the next one immediately. 9/10
AUDIOBOOK – Skulk of Foxes – Book 3 of The Fractured Fairy series by Helen Harper Madrona might still have amnesia and might yet prove to be a vicious murderess but that doesn’t mean she’s going to quit being a heroine just yet. However, while she might be prepared to go to any lengths to stop Rubus from triggering Armageddon, it’s equally possible that the world will end as a result of her actions too.
Manchester is experiencing terrifying surges in magic which are causing all sorts of chaotic events to occur. With a dragon, several werewolves and a host of faeries by her side, there is still a thread of hope. Typically, I’d already read the City of Magic series without realising it was a spinoff series from this entertaining and funny urban fantasy offering. And only realised it about halfway through this book – I blame it on the brain fog! Madrona is definitely a Marmite character – you’ll either love her bits and think her hilarious. Or get increasingly fed up with her extravagant pronouncements and headlong recklessness. Usually, I fall into the latter camp, but for some reason I became ridiculously fond of this quirky character early on and even her dafter stunts didn’t frustrate me. I was genuinely sorry that this was the last book in this series, but was delighted Harper ends it so satisfactorily. 10/10
Earth Retrograde – Book 2 of the First Planet series by R.W.W. Greene The United Nations is working to get everyone off Earth by the deadline – set by the planet’s true owners, the aliens known as the First. It’s a task made somewhat easier by a mysterious virus that rendered at least fifty percent of humanity unable to have children. Meanwhile, the USA and the USSR have set their sights on Mars, claiming half a planet each.
Brooklyn Lamontagne doesn’t remember saving the world eight years ago, but he’s been paying for it ever since. The conquered Earth governments don’t trust him, the Average Joe can’t make up their mind, but they all agree that Brooklyn should stay in space. Now, he’s just about covering his bills with junk-food runs to Venus and transporting horny honeymooners to Tycho aboard his aging spaceship, the Victory.
When a pal asks for a ride to Mars, Brooklyn lands in a solar system’s worth of espionage, backroom alliances, ancient treasures and secret plots while encountering a navigation system that just wants to be loved… This intriguing duology has a really smart, clever ending that also plays nicely with the title. Review to follow.
My Cousin Skinny – Book 5 of the Jersey Girl Legal Mystery series by E.J. Copperman An uncomfortable weekend awaits LA family lawyer Sandy Moss when she makes her way to her hometown in New Jersey for the wedding of her cousin Stephanie, sweetly nicknamed Skinny. Uncomfortable, because Sandy is not really looking forward to seeing her family, but at least her boyfriend, Hollywood movie star Patrick McNabb, is by her side.
However, if Sandy thought a weekend with her criticising mother and aggravating sister was bad, she definitely wasn’t prepared for the rehearsal event at the wedding venue! When Skinny enters the room, all eyes are on her and her beautiful party dress . . . covered in blood, with a knife in her hand.
Skinny says she didn’t do it. But with dozens of wedding guests witnessing her dramatic entrance, the question of who killed the corpse in the kitchen seems an easy one to answer – and an equally easy court case to lose. I’ve become a solid fan of Sandy’s dry wit and watching her negotiate her prickly relations provided a highly entertaining backdrop to a nicely twisty murder mystery. Review to follow.
AUDIOBOOK – Wheel of the Infinite by Martha Wells Every year in the great Temple City of Duvalpore, the image of the Wheel of the Infinite must be painstakingly remade to ensure another year of peace and harmony for the Celestial Empire. Every hundred years the sacred rite takes on added significance. For it is then that the very fabric of the world must be rewoven. Linked by the mystic energies of the Infinite, the Wheel and world are one. Should the holy image be marred, the world will suffer a similar injury. But a black storm is spreading across the Wheel. Every night the Voices of the Ancestors-the Wheel’s constructors and caretakers-brush the darkness away and repair the damage with brightly colored sands and potent magic. Each morning the storm reappears, bigger and darker than before, unraveling the beautiful and orderly patterns.
With chaos in the wind, a woman with a shadowy past has returned to Duvalpore. A murderer and traitor-an exile disgraced, hated, and feared, and haunted by her own guilty conscience – Maskelle has been summoned back to help put the world right. I absolutely loved Maskelle – and found the first four-fifths of this one stunningly good. While the final fifth isn’t bad, I felt the final act was not quite up there with the rest of the book. Which is why this one hasn’t received a ten from me. But it was mightily close and is certainly worth reading or listening to. 9/10
I have thoroughly enjoyed this ongoing cosy mystery series featuring poor old Kellan – check out my reviews of Academic Curveball, Broken Heart Attack , Flower Power Trip and Mistaken Identity Crisis – so was glad to get hold of Haunted House Ghost during a special offer. And while I’m publishing this review in 2023, I actually wrote it in January 2021 – hence the allusion to the pandemic…
BLURB: It’s Halloween, and excitement is brewing in Braxton to carve jack-o’-lanterns, go on haunted hayrides, and race through the spooky corn maze at the Fall Festival. Despite the former occupant’s warnings, Kellan renovates and moves into a mysterious old house. When a ruthless ghost promises retribution, our fearless professor turns to the eccentric town historian and an eerie psychic to communicate with the apparition. Meanwhile, construction workers discover a fifty-year-old skeleton after breaking ground on the new Memorial Library wing.
While Kellan and April dance around the chemistry sparking between them, a suspicious accident occurs at the Fall Festival. Soon, Kellan discovers the true history and dastardly connections of the Grey family. But can he capture the elusive killer – and placate the revenge-seeking ghost.
REVIEW: Kellan is now planning to move into a large home, as his teenage nephew, Ulan, is coming to stay, while his father continues exploring Africa. But, this being Kellan, nothing ever goes smoothly. The place he has acquired needs a great deal of work, but the contractors are plagued with tools going missing, odd noises, and work being messed up.
Initially, I did find it a bit of a struggle to wrap my head around the sudden influx of characters and their relationship to each other, although the very helpful cast of characters at the front of the book did make that easier. If I wasn’t so distracted by the generally grim news and my own problems, I think it wouldn’t have been such an issue, so I haven’t knocked any points off. However, once I got fully into the story and it picked up, I once again became engrossed in the world.
Cudney’s strength is his ability to write a thoroughly nice chap who doesn’t come across as too good to be true. Kellan has enough edges and naughtiness so he feels real. I really like the fact that he is always having to be mindful of his small daughter and who is looking after her, when he goes rushing off to try to solve yet another murder. I also liked the occasional rants about the very high death toll he’s been encountering since he returned to Braxton. The mix of the slightly macabre and snarky humour was nicely balanced in this Halloween special. I especially was very envious of all those cinnamon and pumpkin flavoured goodies that were mentioned throughout the book…
Overall, this was an enjoyable read with plenty of suspects, twists and turns. I had no idea where the plot was going – and frankly didn’t care all that much, so long as I was whisked along convincingly. Which was the case. Highly recommended for fans of cosy mysteries, who appreciate a dollop of slow-burn romance and humour in amongst the body-count. But whatever you do – don’t jump into the series via this book, or you’ll be completely lost. 9/10
I loved Jacka’s Alex Verus series – although it did get depressingly dark near the end. But what made it stand out from the rest was the interesting and layered way Jacka depicted someone who could see into the future. And the fact that Alex could only really be accurate for about thirty seconds in a fight, because branching possibilities after that meant the future timeline became so very entangled. It was so cool and plausible. See my reviews of Fated (Book 1), Veiled (Book 6), Burned (Book 7), Bound (Book 8), Fallen (Book 10), Forged (Book 11) and Risen (Book 12). So when I saw that An Inheritance of Magic, the start of a new series, was available – I jumped at the chance of reading it.
BLURB: The wealthy seem to exist in a different, glittering world from the rest of us. Almost as if by… magic.
Stephen Oakwood is a young man on the edge of this hidden world. He has talent and potential, but turning that potential into magical power takes money, opportunity, and training. All Stephen has is a minimum wage job and a cat.
But when a chance encounter with a member of House Ashford gets him noticed by the wrong people, Stephen is thrown in the deep end. For centuries, the vast corporations and aristocratic Houses of the magical world have grown impossibly rich and influential by hoarding their knowledge. To survive, Stephen will have to take his talent and build it up into something greater—for only then can he beat them at their own game.
REVIEW: It didn’t take me all that long to get through this one – not because it’s a particularly short book, at 384 pages, it isn’t. But because I simply couldn’t put it down. Right from the beginning, I was firmly on Stephen’s side. Jacka writes put-upon young heroes well, though Stephen is less hard-edged than Alex Verus. But then Stephen has been brought up by a loving father, whereas Alex spent his childhood in the clutches of a highly abusive, power-crazed mage.
Though Stephen has had a hard time of it. His father suddenly disappears when he is eighteen, leaving him destitute. He manages to get by bumping along the bottom of the economic ladder with a series of dead-end, poorly paid jobs, while still studying drucraft – the form of magic that is used in the urban fantasy backdrop, set in contemporary England. As Stephen gets caught up with the Ashfords, a great deal of the story is taken up by his desperate attempts to garner more magical power and skill, without having any lessons. His innate magical ability isn’t particularly strong – but he has talents that give him options to manufacture some defences – he hopes.
Because he’s all too well aware that his first encounter with House Ashford won’t be the last – and he’s determined to get to a point where he can begin to fight back. This is truly a David and Goliath struggle – and I love the fact that Stephen doesn’t go looking for trouble, but does his very best to hunker down and keep himself safe. Because it tends to fray my sympathy when our clearly underpowered, untutored protagonist decides to plunge headlong into a confrontation s/he can’t possibly win – which happens far too often for the sake of the plot in SFF.
In addition to having a really strong, sympathetic protagonist narrating his story in first person, what also sets this book apart is the highly detailed and complex magical system. Again, Jacka has been clever in how he delivers all the information regarding the magic to his readers. We care about it, because Stephen spends his time trying to build some magical defences for the next time a certain van with tinted windows draws up in his street.
I couldn’t put it down. Though I give due warning – Jacka leaves this one with a doozy of a cliff-hanger (think of Novik’s ending of A Deadly Education) so I’m desperate for the next book in the series. And I’ve come away with something of a book hangover. All in all, this is one of the reads of the year for me and comes very highly recommended for urban fantasy fans. Or any kind of fantasy, really – give it a whirl. While I obtained an arc of An Inheritance of Magic from the publishers via Netgalley, the opinions I have expressed are unbiased and my own. 10/10
If you accidentally startle a cockatrice – be prepared to fly as fast as you can away from the dratted creature. Their panicked screeches hit notes that have been known to knock griffins out of the air and start avalanches.
Castellan the Black, mighty dragon warrior, features in my short story Picky Eaters, written to provide a humorous escape from all the stuff that isn’t happening on Wyvern Peak… All proceeds for the duration of its publishing life are donated to mental health charities. The second book in the series, Flame & Blame is now available for pre-order and is due to be released at the end of October.
Brainfluff 