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perid0t 's review for:
The 13th Witch
by Mark Hayden
These books are very short, but they didn't feel short. I felt like the author didn't waste a single word in telling exactly the story he wanted to.
One of the biggest compliments I can give this book is that it actually felt genuine British. I'm a big Urban Fantasy fan, and a fair deal of them are set in the UK. However, since I'm also not American, someone just throwing out a famous landmark or two isn't going to make the book feel more British and less American. In fact, I often forget where a book is placed because everything feels the same.
The 13th Witch didn't feel the same. It felt thoroughly British. Conrad, being the narrator of the tale, even used certain British slang I've never heard before and had to google! It felt as if I was there, on vacation, spending time with some guy who'd keep throwing weird ass slang at me like "I was the grass" (Which apparently is slang for an informer and I've never heard of it before!)
Other than that, this story was magical. It was a fresh new universe of magic to explore, one where the things we know aren't quite as normal in the story. (The Dwarves for example came across more like robots with a hivemind than any drunken short people with beards as we normally imagine them). Conrad also don't got much power, in fact he has very little of it. So he's taking this new world with storm not with magical power but good old fashioned technology and guns.
I'd argue it's probably perfect for the gun loving American power fantasy fans.
The thing that might turn people off however is that the book starts of as if it is a sequel. Conrad is in a car, shot and hurt, and on the run from the police. There are vague mentions of "what he had to do" and of his girlfriend and of finally getting free. Most of those don't even get answered in the first book, just vague hints of his last mission. I personally liked it (after confirming that I hadn't accidentally downloaded the wrong book), Conrad isn't exactly young, he has a past and a colorful one at that. It makes somewhat sense that he hints to us about how he's closing one chapter of his life and is getting ready for the next one. The next chapter however ended up including magic and giant moles, and not so much as gardening in the village.
One of the biggest compliments I can give this book is that it actually felt genuine British. I'm a big Urban Fantasy fan, and a fair deal of them are set in the UK. However, since I'm also not American, someone just throwing out a famous landmark or two isn't going to make the book feel more British and less American. In fact, I often forget where a book is placed because everything feels the same.
The 13th Witch didn't feel the same. It felt thoroughly British. Conrad, being the narrator of the tale, even used certain British slang I've never heard before and had to google! It felt as if I was there, on vacation, spending time with some guy who'd keep throwing weird ass slang at me like "I was the grass" (Which apparently is slang for an informer and I've never heard of it before!)
Other than that, this story was magical. It was a fresh new universe of magic to explore, one where the things we know aren't quite as normal in the story. (The Dwarves for example came across more like robots with a hivemind than any drunken short people with beards as we normally imagine them). Conrad also don't got much power, in fact he has very little of it. So he's taking this new world with storm not with magical power but good old fashioned technology and guns.
I'd argue it's probably perfect for the gun loving American power fantasy fans.
The thing that might turn people off however is that the book starts of as if it is a sequel. Conrad is in a car, shot and hurt, and on the run from the police. There are vague mentions of "what he had to do" and of his girlfriend and of finally getting free. Most of those don't even get answered in the first book, just vague hints of his last mission. I personally liked it (after confirming that I hadn't accidentally downloaded the wrong book), Conrad isn't exactly young, he has a past and a colorful one at that. It makes somewhat sense that he hints to us about how he's closing one chapter of his life and is getting ready for the next one. The next chapter however ended up including magic and giant moles, and not so much as gardening in the village.