C. J. Daley
I had the opportunity to listen to this one through the Indie Ink Awards and I’m super glad I did. The narration by Richard Pendragon was stellar—great voice work and depth of character.
This is an urban fantasy with spice, both things that usually aren’t for me, but this was done very well. I know it’s a rough comparison to make at this point as many people want nothing to do with them (myself included) but for me this was one of the most successfully integrated urban fantasy’s featuring an almost entirely secondary world since reading Harry Potter. In the same way The Soul’s Aspect by Mark Holloway captures the school essence from HP, Mawce has done so on our own city streets. Glamours or magically enhanced items do little tricks on human minds that keep them seeing “normal” things, but behind closed doors, the entire world is magic. And this is of course enhanced by the main character’s shop and home, the Belamour, being a magic entity itself!
It’s incredibly representative, with gay, bi, trans characters throughout—all in prominent roles that are NOT ruled by the inclusion of their orientation. And while sex scenes just are not my cup of tea in books, there was definitely a well built tension in the book leading up to the moment. For me though, maybe just a few less moments…as there are several.
There is also some disability and neurodivergent rep as well, with Mael suffering from autism and magical synesthesia. While the first made me think like wow, magical people from magical lands still deal with the same stuff as humans, the second felt like an even cooler blend. He can sense, picture, even see people’s magical aura through his synesthesia and I thought that was just one of the cleverest little twists ever. The rep in general is handled well by someone showcasing it (at least IMO) as it seemed to inform the character more than control them.
The plot itself involves a human, Leo, hiring Mael to help track down a stolen dragon egg. The dragon egg belongs to his niece, and it is a bond that is meant to secure her place in the magical world. This leads to some interesting investigating, although as Mael’s best friend, a vampire, is an actual magical cop, I almost found myself wishing for a little urban fantasy/crime fiction blend. As you can imagine, the amount of power and effort needed to steal an actual dragon egg means that whoever took it won’t give it up easily.
Regardless, there’s tension, there’s suspense, there’s action, and there is a hell of a lot of tenderness bled throughout this one. Absolutely worth checking out.
I had the opportunity to listen to this one through the Indie Ink Awards and I’m super glad I did. The narration by Richard Pendragon was stellar—great voice work and depth of character.
This is an urban fantasy with spice, both things that usually aren’t for me, but this was done very well. I know it’s a rough comparison to make at this point as many people want nothing to do with them (myself included) but for me this was one of the most successfully integrated urban fantasy’s featuring an almost entirely secondary world since reading Harry Potter. In the same way The Soul’s Aspect by Mark Holloway captures the school essence from HP, Mawce has done so on our own city streets. Glamours or magically enhanced items do little tricks on human minds that keep them seeing “normal” things, but behind closed doors, the entire world is magic. And this is of course enhanced by the main character’s shop and home, the Belamour, being a magic entity itself!
It’s incredibly representative, with gay, bi, trans characters throughout—all in prominent roles that are NOT ruled by the inclusion of their orientation. And while sex scenes just are not my cup of tea in books, there was definitely a well built tension in the book leading up to the moment. For me though, maybe just a few less moments…as there are several.
There is also some disability and neurodivergent rep as well, with Mael suffering from autism and magical synesthesia. While the first made me think like wow, magical people from magical lands still deal with the same stuff as humans, the second felt like an even cooler blend. He can sense, picture, even see people’s magical aura through his synesthesia and I thought that was just one of the cleverest little twists ever. The rep in general is handled well by someone showcasing it (at least IMO) as it seemed to inform the character more than control them.
The plot itself involves a human, Leo, hiring Mael to help track down a stolen dragon egg. The dragon egg belongs to his niece, and it is a bond that is meant to secure her place in the magical world. This leads to some interesting investigating, although as Mael’s best friend, a vampire, is an actual magical cop, I almost found myself wishing for a little urban fantasy/crime fiction blend. As you can imagine, the amount of power and effort needed to steal an actual dragon egg means that whoever took it won’t give it up easily.
Regardless, there’s tension, there’s suspense, there’s action, and there is a hell of a lot of tenderness bled throughout this one. Absolutely worth checking out.