Saturday 20 September 2014

URBAN FANTASY REVIEW: Libriomancer and Codex Born - Jim C Hines

Release Date: 06/03/14
Publisher:  Del Rey

SYNOPSIS:

Isaac Vainio is a Libriomancer, a member of a secret society founded five centuries ago by Johannes Gutenberg. As such, he is gifted with the magical ability to reach into books and draw forth objects. But when Gutenberg vanishes without a trace, Isaac finds himself pitted against everything from vampires to a sinister, nameless foe who is bent on revealing magic to the world at large...and at any cost.


REVIEW:

Something new and wonderful for me as a reader as I loved the concept of the story from the book blurb. Yet whilst a blurb can sell the book, it can occasionally be like the old Video’s that appear to deliver something that sadly is lacking when you get to the meat of the matter. What this title delivers from Jim is a book that has some great characters, solid supporting cast that works wonderfully well with the principle hero and when added to dialogue that just trips off the page all round gives the reader a great tale.

Back this up with good pace as well as top notch prose and all round I was a more than happy reader and to discover that the second part was out shortly after finishing the first, all round gave me goose-bumps as the wait would soon be over to see what was next in store for the characters I’d come to love.



Release Date: 07/08/14
Publisher:  Del Rey

SYNOPSIS:

They're back. And they want revenge...Sent to investigate the brutal slaughter of a wendigo in the north Michigan town of Tamarack, Isaac Vainio and his companions find they have wandered into something far more dangerous than a simple killing. A long established werewolf territory, Tamarack is rife with ancient enemies of Libriomancy who quest for revenge. Isaac has the help of Lena Greenwood, his dryad bodyguard born from the pages of a pulp fantasy novel, but he is not the only one in need of her unique and formidable powers...


REVIEW:

The second outing for Isaac and for me, the tale gets so much more interesting as the principles have been already established and we can get more to the character interactions alongside the development of the overall arc for the series. Whilst not as fast paced as the original and at times feeling not as fresh, I did love the way that Jim kept it going without it feeling like it was just filler.

As with the original I liked the pace and the saving grace was the dialogue. All round a solid read.



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