A keen, absorbing, character-driven tale of a sleuth and his remarkable supernatural allies.
A private eye reconnects with his werewolf ex-boyfriend while tracking down a client’s cheating spouse in this LGBTQ+ fantasy.
Much of Korean American detective Jae Kim’s work keeps him in Chicago. This includes Wolftown, a walled-in neighborhood. It’s one of the numerous Wolftowns in cities around the globe. Despite the name, Wolftowns are not just for werewolves, but for other extra-human creatures (or “extras”) like vampires as well. Kim isn’t an extra but his partner is—Sergei, a 7-foot Russian ghost bear. The private investigators’ latest job takes them to Detroit’s Wolftown, where Kim’s old Army captain wants to know if his wife is having an affair. Seems like a simple gig, except that Czoltan, Kim’s ex, lives there. They fell in love years ago when Army liaison Kim worked in Germany with Czoltan, a refugee adviser and werewolf. But things in present-day Detroit get even more complicated. Warrant officers suddenly chase Kim, suspecting him of a crime so abominable they’d just as soon shoot him in the street. Kim lies low with help from his ex and his ghostly partner, but someone in unexpected danger may take precedence over his own safety. Susman’s engrossing detective story centers on the cast. The extras in this book are primarily werewolves, who come across as regular people with abundant fur. This opens up effective parallelisms involving discrimination; some callously deem werewolves as monsters, not unlike the bigotry that Kim has seen in his life. The author digs deep into bonds, from the working relationship of Kim and Sergei (bound together by a spell that makes the ghost a helpful partner) to the romance of Kim and Czoltan, whose meet-cute and breakup both eventually come to light. The story nevertheless boasts tight action scenes, such as the innocent Kim sprinting from trigger-happy, lycanthrope warrant officers. Instances of humor are likewise abundant, largely from relentlessly cynical but still endearing Sergei. There’s plenty of material for a potential series, including other extras, like kumiho, Korean nine-tailed fox spirits.
A keen, absorbing, character-driven tale of a sleuth and his remarkable supernatural allies.Pub Date: July 5, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-61450-559-4
Page Count: 246
Publisher: Argyll Productions
Review Posted Online: April 18, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2022
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Though it falters a bit under its own weight, this series still has plenty of fight left.
In this long-awaited fifth installment of Shannon’s Bone Season series, the threat to the clairvoyant community spreads like a plague across Europe.
After extending her fight against the Republic of Scion to Paris, Paige Mahoney, leader of London’s clairvoyant underworld and a spy for the resistance movement, finds herself further outside her comfort zone when she wakes up in a foreign place with no recollection of getting there. More disturbing than her last definitive memory, in which her ally-turned-lover Arcturus seems to betray her, is that her dreamscape—the very soul of her clairvoyance—has been altered, as if there’s a veil shrouding both her memories and abilities. Paige manages to escape and learns she’s been missing and presumed dead for six months. Even more shocking is that she’s somehow outside of Scion’s borders, in the free world where clairvoyants are accepted citizens. She gets in touch with other resistance fighters and journeys to Italy to reconnect with the Domino Programme intelligence network. In stark contrast to the potential of life in the free world is the reality that Scion continues to stretch its influence, with Norway recently falling and Italy a likely next target. Paige is enlisted to discover how Scion is bending free-world political leaders to its will, but before Paige can commit to her mission, she has her own mystery to solve: Where in the world is Arcturus? Paige’s loyalty to Arcturus is tested as she decides how much to trust in their connection and how much information to reveal to the Domino Programme about the Rephaite—the race of immortals from the Netherworld, Arcturus’ people—and their connection to the founding of Scion, as well as the presence of clairvoyant abilities on Earth. While the book is impressively multilayered, the matter-of-fact way in which details from the past are sprinkled throughout will have readers constantly flipping to the glossary. As the series’ scope and the implications of the war against Scion expand, Shannon’s narrative style reads more action-thriller than fantasy. Paige’s powers as a dreamwalker are rarely used here, but when clairvoyance is at play, the story shines.
Though it falters a bit under its own weight, this series still has plenty of fight left.Pub Date: Feb. 25, 2025
ISBN: 9781639733965
Page Count: 576
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Review Posted Online: Dec. 12, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A fresh, arresting entry in the vampire genre that revels in violent, bloody delights.
An orphaned teenager tries to connect her sister’s disappearance to their family’s decadeslong relationship with vampires.
Nineteen-year-old Kidan Adane wants nothing to do with her family’s horrifying rules and traditions, which stipulate that Kidan and her sister, June, who are Black girls of Ethiopian heritage, must honor soul-binding contracts with dranaics, or vampires. After their parents died, the sisters were placed in foster care with Mama Anoet. For years, Kidan had thought they were safe from evil—until Silia, their maternal aunt, unexpectedly died, and June and Kidan became the last two living members of House Adane. When June is abducted in the middle of the night by an unknown assailant, Kidan traces the clues to Uxlay University, where worthy leaders are taught how to protect a hierarchical society in which humans and vampires harmoniously coexist. Kidan believes that June was taken by Susenyos Sagad, the formidable vampire who’s bound to her family’s bloodline. As she dives deeper into this cruel new world, the line between her hatred of Susenyos and her growing fascination with him begins to blur. Debut author Girma’s trilogy opener offers a richly detailed, sweepingly imaginative narrative that artfully explores the dark heart of desire, rage, and loss through expansive worldbuilding. Kidan’s powerful characterization is layered, and her journey toward the truth has been crafted with a cinematic eye.
A fresh, arresting entry in the vampire genre that revels in violent, bloody delights. (map, content warning) (Fantasy. 15-adult)Pub Date: Sept. 3, 2024
ISBN: 9780316581448
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: July 4, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2024
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