Not Just Voodoo

by Rebecca Hamilton

[inlibrisveritas]

3.5 Rating Overall
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Not Just Voodoo is a ‘box set’ of quite a few different stories ranging in age and heft. It has a little something forever paranormal fantasy lover out there and feels pretty cohesive as a group.

Major Arcana by Margo Bond Collins – This is probably one of my favorites in this set and it’s definitely a strong lead in. I liked the characters enough to want to continue their story and enjoyed the writing style enough to add several of her books to my wishlist.

I Wish I Weren’t A Djinni by Erin Hayes – This goes with Erin Hayes shorter series that features titles like ‘How to Be a Mermaid’ and ‘I Do Believe in Fairies’, which I haven’t gotten around to reading but I do own. This is short and sweet. Teeth-achingly sweet, but I enjoyed it’s lighter feel (especially after the first book).

Splintered Magic by Aileen Harkwood – This has a case of ‘ridiculous adult’ syndrome that some YA novels are prone too. All of those who can be considered old enough to function independently are jerks or make terrible choices, it’s irritating that the only rational adults are those mentioned second hand. However, the magic system does seem really interesting and though the story itself didn’t feel new I did enjoy it overall.

Wicked Witch by L.C. Hibbit – This one has a really cool premise and I love the idea of highly influential and well of people being magical, I also like that the group of teens we follow are not necessarily good people either. But this one just didn’t grab me much and at times it felt too Gossip Girl in terms of loftiness.

Journal of Abigail DiAngelo by Megan J. Parker & Nathan Squiers – I wasn’t a fan of this one. The tone was almost too nonchalant and bored to match the subject matter towards the beginning, though the latter portion really does hold some promise.

The Witch and The Thief by Katerina Martinez – This one is an adult paranormal read that really pulled me in. It’s a shorter story that moves rather quickly, but it really does a good job of building that creepy tension that I expect from New Orleans-based UF.

The Awakened by K.N. Lee – This might be one of the more unique stories in the set as it is historical and has a more prim writing style. I don’t think I was blown away by this one, but it was enjoyable and it would be interesting to see how Willa handles her power.

Gavin’s Gamble by Nicole Zoltack – I really liked this one! It’s one of the stars of this set I think. We get a different view on witch hunters, a more personal view and I really liked that Gavin wasn’t blindly accepting of his father’s brand of world saving. I’m keeping my eye on this other for sure.

Deadtown by Debbie Cassidy – Another fantastic read! This one is more adult in age terms and we follow a duo who tackles problems of the paranormal variety. There is a lot happening this one and it really sets up nicely for the beginning of the series that follows and has a really interesting set of characters.

Visions Among Frost by Alicia Rhodes – This one has some promise as well, though it does have a rather style that lends itself towards ambiguity. I have the first book in this series so I’ll be giving this author another go sometime soon and I’m curious to see how Crystal gets started on this road.

The Dying of the Light by Monica Corwan – This leans more towards mystery/crime beat fiction but has a really interesting paranormal twist in the form of reapers. There is some seriously awesome stuff happening in this story and I’m glad to have this author on my radar now.

Tested by Magic by Jasmine Walt – Another really good story for this set and another author for me to add to my list. We get a new fantasy world as well as more modern setting with shifters and magic users, as well as some bounty hunting goodness to round it all out. The writing is fantastic and the characters really balance each other out.

Reaper’s Redemption by Thea Atkinson – I’m torn on this one. I wasn’t really fond of the overall story, but I did like the idea of it as well as the twist. There was just something off about this one that I can’t quite put my finger on.

Leaves Like Magic by Rebecca Hamilton – This is one of the longer stories in the set but it falls somewhere in the middle for me. The magic is really awesome and I like the idea of a sort of political battle with vampires and witches…but it just didn’t really feel much different from other paranormal stories out there. I don’t really think I knew the character enough to care about her power or her selflessness, it was sort of Mary Sue-esque and it lost some of its unique quality because of that.

Overall I think this is a great set of short stories! Some of the stories were in the middle, a few were hard passes, but quite a few were stories I’d be interested in continuing at some point. I love getting to try out new authors and sets like these really provide a great way to do it at a low cost.