Wild Card (Raine Benares)

by Lisa Shearin

A magical prequel featuring pirates, goblins, elves and stolen souls. Raine Benares is the only (or at least mostly) law abiding member of a criminal family. Distancing herself from the family business sees her making a living as a seeker - a person who finds and retrieves stolen goods, missing items or kidnapped people.

In this first case, Raine is charged with finding some stolen jewellery and teams up with her cousin, Captain Phaelan Benares - second most feared pirate of the seven kingdoms - and newcomer to the city, the infamous Tamnais Nathrach - the ex right hand and magical enforcer of the goblin queen. And Raine needs all the help she can get because it's not just stolen jewellery she's after - but stolen souls.

I really liked this. The banter between Raine and Phaelan and Tam and the rest is snarky and hilarious. The mystery was interesting and the world building was well done - even if not anything particularly original. It was full of action and adventure and a great start to a new urban fantasy series. 4 stars.