Hound's Bite (Ivy Granger, Psychic Detective, #5)

by E J Stevens

[Melanie]

My review and an extended sample of the audiobook are posted at Hotlistens.com.

I was very excited to back in the world of Ivy Granger. This is a series that I’ve really enjoyed and this book was no exception. Ivy is back from her trip to Faerie. Her powers are growing. After spending a year in Faerie (which was only a week in Harborsmouth, since time travels differently between the two), Ivy finds herself not able to slow down a bit.

The Wild Hunt has followed Ivy back from Faerie and they only have until sundown to defeat them or they will tear through Harborsmouth and kill many innocent (and naive) humans. Ivy goes to her friend and mentor, the witch Kaye. Kaye has helped Ivy several times, but this time, she seems to be different. She seems a little power hungry. Ivy learns that Kaye has been up to no good while she was gone.

So, Ivy has to figure out how to defeat The Wild Hunt and help get Kaye under control without killing her friend. Luckily, now that Ivy is back in Harborsmouth, she has her full cast of friends to help her. Ceff and Torn have come back with her from Faerie. Even though they were treated very poorly by Ivy’s family, they stand by her side and do what is needed to help her. She also has Jinx and her man, Forneus the demonic lawyer, to help too.

Again, there are other, smaller characters, that make an appearance and I loved seeing them again. Humphrey (the gargoyle), Sparky (Ivy’s adopted full demon child), Hob (Kaye’s kitchen brownie) and Marvin (a young troll), Father Michael and Kaye’s apprentice, Arachne.

This story gives new meaning to “fast-paced”. Ivy and her friends don’t have a chance to catch their breath. The whole story takes place in about a single day (since they have to fight The Wild Hunt before the end of the next sundown).

I really enjoy this world that Ms. Stevens has created. I think the characters are a lot of fun. I think the world is very creative and interesting. I love the action (and boy is there a lot of action). There is snark. I just can’t say enough about this ragtag group. They all fit perfectly together. I’m very interested to see where this series goes next.

Narration
I really like both Melanie A Mason and Anthony Bowling. I think they both have nice voices and do a good job voicing the characters. This duet style of narration, where the female voices all female characters and the male narrates all the male characters is something that I’m getting more accustomed to. I will say that the sound effects that are included were a turnoff for me. With some, it was hard to hear the voices. The one example that stood out to me the most was when they were fighting with a wall of fire, the sounds of the fire overtook the voices. My personal opinion would be to just let the narrators use their great voices to make the story without the sound effects.

**I like to thank the author for providing me with a copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.