Reviewed by annieb123 on

4 of 5 stars

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Originally published on my blog: Nonstop Reader.

I'm a huge urban fantasy fan. Despite having become something of the 'flavor of the month', there are a lot of really high quality books and series from which to choose.

This series reminds me in a lot of ways of a lot of other scruffy, slightly disreputable, out of their depths, mages and wizards like Dresden, Atticus (iron druid), and the Sandman Slim books in all their sarcastic glory.

I love the original take on the main character. He's an artificer which I find cool as hell. He's well and truly out of his depth and more or less just has a bag of tricks to keep ancient evil creatures from snacking on him.

There's a nice mystery subplot which keeps the narrative moving along. The book is capably written and eminently readable.

It provided everything I look for in an urban fantasy: escapism, engaging characters, a great 'hook', a compelling story, humor, and a plot that kept me interested. Well played! I enjoyed it very very much and look forward to the rest of the series.

Four stars
Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher.

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  • 4 May, 2018: Reviewed