Reviewed by kimbacaffeinate on
Shimmer is a blue dragon shifter, who has been exiled from the Dragon Reaches for five years and sentences to work Earthside with Alex Radcliffe. Alex is a vampire who owns the Fly by Night Magical Investigation Agency. I love the set-up and right away I am hooked.
Galenorn does a wonderful job of explaining this world where humans and the supernatural live together. Shimmer’s backstory and reason for exile are explained, but we also get a mystery about her parentage that I suspect will be an overall story arc with each book dealing with a new case for the Agency. Right away, I like the set up.
Alex’s friend Patrick recently renovated the Tide Bed & Breakfast in Port Townsend, Washington. He was all set to open but strange activities that are more than a simple haunting have him asking for help. Alex takes Shimmer and Ralph an adorable, caffeinated computer geek who also happens to be a werewolf with him for this assignment.
I loved how the author managed to set a nice pace for the tale while weaving in the worldbuilding. So often book one in an urban fantasy is weighed down by building the world in the first half and just when things are getting good, it ends. Such was not the case it Flight by Death. From the beginning, I was drawn in and had a good sense of things.
The mystery was fascinating and suspenseful. A simple haunting turns into an eighty year old mystery. Add in a gypsy curse and dark supernatural creatures holding spirits and you have the makings for an intense action-packed read. It also introduced unusual supernatural creatures, a witch and a spirit walker. Did I mention ghosts? Yep, there are many spirits in Port Townsend and not all of them are happy. We see a lot of different supernatural creatures and learn a little lore.
I enjoyed the characters in Flight from Death but wish they were more fleshed out. We learned the most detail about Shimmer, but Alex, Ralph and Patrick have me curious to learn more. Bette, the agencies secretary is a snake-shifter who made me laugh and I loved page time with this snarky woman. Chai, a jinni whose like a brother to Shimmer added to the tale from knowledge, humor and badassery. Shimmer has issues, but the girl is not afraid to take on a challenge, ok she is afraid but she gets it done without falling apart and I liked her spunk.
There is a mild romance as mentioned in the synopsis between Shimmer and Alex. I got off to bad start with Alex due to something he said and never really regained my footing with the romance. Alex was dating someone else. The relationship had turned sour sometime ago and he finally broke it off. (before acknowledging feelings for Shimmer) After, he made a statement about how he had been attracted to Shimmer for a while and that when he was with the "other girl" he was thinking of Shimmer. This is a huge turn-off for me, and I never completely recovered. Thankfully, this thread took a serious backseat to the case. It is not dead in the water for me, but I need a lot more convincing.
Copy provided by publisher, This review was originally posted on Caffeinated Book Reviewer
Reading updates
- Started reading
- 21 June, 2015: Finished reading
- 21 June, 2015: Reviewed