Spell Blind

I like the idea of dectective and P.I. stories but most contemporary or old pulp fiction don't work for me. Add urban fantasy in and i'm ready to go. This hit me just right.

The cover drew me and i had to read it. Justis Fearsson is illustrated in agony on the cover with his vintage Z-ster in the background. That headache is not of the normal kind and only a select few have to endure every month during the full moon. You see Justis is a weremyste. A practicioner of magic with natural born powers, their power is at full strengh during the full moon but at price. The full moon causes someone to slip from reality , to be disillusioned the sameway with werewolves. This losing of reality are called phasing. Fearsson uses his magic to solve cases but the phasings became to much and had to leave the police force, the same reason his father did. Because his magic is kept a secret the force thinks it was because psychological reasons. Now being a P.I for a few years now a case began again where a politician's daughter was murdered by magic in a similar way other victims where.The poor on the street living youth and sexworkers is a stark contrast.
can fearsson stop the sorcessor

I immediately liked Fearrson the first page. He's doing his best, he might not the strongest using his magic but boy is he resourceful and not a quitter. I love how Coe wrote him. Coe characterised him as stand up guy without being a ‘ nice guy'.
Fearsson is similar to dresden but without the dresden sexist tendencies and eye fuckery. I love Harry Dresden but you have to admit Butcher writes him in away that is very male gazy when he's around female characters. This is where i'll stop comparing Fearrson to Dresden and only focus on Jay.
We see Jay grow in his magic and as character and I can't wait to see him grow further in the rest of the trilogy. Jay has a great support system in Kona, Namid, Billie and his dad to a lesser extend. His best friend friend and former parter in the force, his magical ghost mentor and what could potentially be his female love interest in the future, respectively.

This is a very grounded urban fantasy. It sparks joy everytime i see that magic has different colors in books. Jay has glimmering Aqua green, it was a treat to imagine when reading.
The magic used through will power, mental images ( elements) and words. Magic users' individual magic glows and has a halo effect on objects and the user.
A Zuni practioner has a large part in the novel. The Zuni ( A'shiwi) are Native American Pueblo peoples native to the Zuni River valley. Namid is Jay ghost mentor and was his father's mentor before him.
Being indiginous myself i pay close attention to how people like and similar to me are portrayed.I'm Lokono and not from the Zuni nation and can't speak for how they portrayed. It appeared respectful to me at least. Jay uses his quick witt to his advantage to deveat his more powerfull enemies but he could never have done it alone without Kona and Namid.

Not only has Coe written an amazingly entertaining book, and proven that urban fantasy doesn't have to have constant profanity & sex scenes. I appreciate the craft in written sex scenes but was shocked after putting the book down having read none. I'm pro sex positivity but being ace is difficult in an allosexual focused world. Spell blind was a pleasure to read and i can't wait to finish the trilogy and to read more about Jay , his adventures and about his close ones.


Stray thoughts

I love how Coe added queer representation with Kona. A bad ass Black lesbian cop and i hope to see more of Margarette and their relationship in the future. I loll'ed internally reading the jay & billie date scenes. Jay was so adorable around her, intrigued and scared how smart she is. She's a reporter.


I often try to imagine KJ Apa ( my favorite actor , Gyllenhaal 2nd ) playing a character after reading a book. I never imagine him as the character when reading. He would be a great Justis, a problem is he's to young. Jay is in his early 30s and KJ is only 22. Who knows what could happen in the future.