I'm a sucker for Kindle freebies lately. And since this was a Kindle freebie, in one of my favored genres, with an author who knew to have a great cover for her book, I decided to give it a shot.I know a bit about RPGs, board games that aren't Monopoly, and comic books, but I admit that in the grand scheme of things they aren't my favorite. Jade has a comic and game store in a small town, which also happens to be an attractive area for paranormal beings. Somehow, (perhaps through a surfeit of nerds in the area?) she makes a living, even though the local stores in my area in Idaho (and in a larger city) barely coast by. Being that this is urban fantasy, I wasn't too at odds with it, but when some of the minor inconsistencies that irk me started adding up, I began to question why I was reading this.
The Plot (As Seen on Goodreads):
'Gamer. Nerd. Sorceress.
'Jade Crow lives a quiet life running her comic book and game store in Wylde, Idaho. After twenty-five years fleeing from a powerful sorcerer who wants to eat her heart and take her powers, quiet suits her just fine. Surrounded by friends who are even less human than she is, Jade figures she’s finally safe.
'As long as she doesn’t use her magic.
'When dark powers threaten her friends’ lives, a sexy shape-shifter enforcer shows up. He’s the shifter world’s judge, jury, and executioner rolled into one, and he thinks Jade is to blame. To clear her name, save her friends, and stop the villain, she’ll have to use her wits… and her sorceress powers.
'Except Jade knows that as soon as she does, a far deadlier nemesis awaits.
'Justice Calling is the first book in The Twenty-Sided Sorceress urban fantasy series. Readers who enjoyed The Dresden Files or The Iron Druid Chronicles will likely enjoy this series.'
One thing I enjoyed about this book was it did have some humorous moments, but there was a quote I found tasteless (not to mention other things):
He wears his hair in a long Mohawk and has enough piercings in his face that I joke I could peel his skin and use it to strain pasta.~Justice Calling by Anne Bellet, 3% Kindle Edition (of the first three books)
At one point while reading this book, I'd just had enough. Because I like to finish all the books I start, though, I checked how many pages were left. Given I was more than halfway through, I decided to finish, even though I connected to zero of the characters and felt like most of the book was a rehash of urban fantasy things I'd seen before. Don't get me wrong- I can endure/adore a lot of vampire, werewolf, and evil magician rehashes, but the author has to make them their own. I'm not sure if it was the short length of the book or the way the author went about it, but I found myself not giving a crumbly cookie about what happened in Justice Calling or how it ended.
Justice Calling is urban fantasy that might appeal better to those who are deeper into the game side of nerd than I am. For me, it just didn't cut it. I'm tempted to read the next book in the series just to see if there's any improvement for me, but only because I got the first three books as freebies.
Rating: 2 of 5 Stars for an urban fantasy I just didn't care for.
Age Advisory: Ages 16+ for the occasional swear (including f-bombs), violence, and lines I wish I hadn't read.
Page Count: 119 pages
I don't think I have read an Urban Fantasy unless Above by Leah Bobbet was one, or the Mystic City books, it has to be current day and set primarily in the real world? Or is that Magcal Realism. Ha ha. I will have to look it up and see what it specifically is because I am next to clueless at the moment. At least it was free! I am trying to think if I have ever read any of my Kindle freebies. I might need to add that to my monthly Strive List. :)
ReplyDeleteSebastian is hard into Magic the Gathering. We have two large gaming stores here, one is also a comic store: Fat Cat Books, and Jupiter Games. They have a lot of tournaments. They also have board game nights, which I don't think Baz goes to anymore because they have that at his buddy's apartment on Tuesdays. He also doesn't play D&D out anymore. I know they play every once in a while at his friend's but not much. Is D&D even all that popular anymore? There is a huge arcade near us and I guess they have also started an RPG gaming night. I think it might be because this is a college town with a large engineering program, ha ha. I'm not trying to stereotype, but that might explain the area being able to support multiple nerd "sports" facilities. XD
I'm going to bend your brain a bit- many people would consider Harry Potter urban fantasy, because it's fantasy set in the modern-ish world- I never realized the connection until recently. Magical realism/fabulism is more on the real world scale than UF should be- like maybe one or two elements that are magical. Most of a magical realism world should be hyper realistic, or so I think.
DeleteMy brothers are into nerdy board games, RPGs, etc., too (which is why I know anything about them). My older brother used to play D&D, but my father took away and/or destroyed his book for it. O_o For whatever reason, there aren't many nerds in my area, or they buy all their stuff online/elsewhere- we have one comic book store, and they don't seem to have events. I laughed at your "nerd sports facilities"- I never thought of it that way.
Thanks for stopping by and commenting, La La!
~Litha Nelle