Reviews

Envy of Angels by Matt Wallace

kluidens's review against another edition

Go to review page

4.0

What is it with humanity? In fantasy series after fantasy series, we’re the last to know that whole races of monsters and metaphysical beings are messing around in our midst unseen. Witches disguise themselves; werewolf brotherhoods lurk on the edges of society; vampires shutter themselves into the shadows (or try to blend in at high schools in rainy regions). For some reason we humans are so sensitive that we need to be sheltered from the rest.

Fortunately for us, these series are usually stocked with a team of experts who are secretly in the know about all the magic out there. They’re charged with protecting the rest of us in some way: government agencies with supernatural alliances, crime-fighting teams armed with charms and spells. Versions of the same plot race forward from there.

I confess that at first I was afraid Matt Wallace’s forthcoming urban fantasy series “Sin du Jour” was set to recycle this premise. Diving into the first novella, Envy of Angels, I hoped to be proven wrong by some meaningful innovation in the voice or characters or story. The first few chapters made me nervous: after a disoWallace, Envy of Angelsrientingly action-packed opening scene, we meet two ordinary New Yorkers who promptly discover that their world harbors a complex ecosystem of paranormal creatures. They barely have a chance to recover from their shock before they’re thrust into the thick of things. Here we go again, right? Could Wallace find a way to make it fresh?

Yes. Yes he could. He pulls it off not by raising the stakes to cosmic heights—will good triumph over evil?—but by taking them down to comic lows—does this taste like chicken to you? This fantasy is FUNNY. And not just because the narration is so snarky.

“Sin du Jour” sets up a world that’s pretty undiscriminating when it comes to mixing and matching magical elements. Christian-ish archangels, pre-Islamic genies, Caribbean voodoo, and far-East talismans all have a part to play. That’s New York City for you, I guess: a melting pot of mythologies from various cultures and time periods. Wallace lays this out for us and then turns away from the usual front-and-center drama of the genre to take us behind closed doors. No, not the heavy mahogany doors of some secret government agency; not even the high-tech hissing-metal doors of a sci-fi laboratory. Think of those two-way swinging doors with circular windows at eye level—the ones that lead to every restaurant’s kitchen.

Of course, this is not “every restaurant.” The titular Sin du Jour is a Manhattan catering company whose sole client is the secret U.S. government branch that manages humanity’s diplomatic relations with all those familiar fantasy species. After all, goblins and gremlins may be hidden, but they still need to host banquets from time to time. And when two demon clans broker a peace treaty, someone has to cook up the celebratory feast.

Despite its references to heaven and hell, Envy of Angels does not recount a battle for the moral arc of the universe. The story centers instead on a quest for a recipe. The chefs of Sin du Jour need a certain secret ingredient so as not to botch a big catering job—never mind whether the ingredient is divine or diabolical, what matters is that it’s delicious.

Fortunately Chef Byron “Bronko” Luck is up to the challenge. His name captures the qualities he brings to the job: one part wild mustang, one part pure luck. His staff includes an event coordinator with a metaphysical Bluetooth and busboys who don’t mind a little mortal danger on the job, but the Stocking and Receiving Department really steals the show. Ritter brings a mysterious expertise in various kinds of sorcery; Cindy started her career as a Naval Explosive Ordinance Disposal Technician; Hara is a hulking mass of muscle with a surprisingly in-depth knowledge of ancient languages. Then there’s Moon, the stoner with an iron stomach. And Nikki, the tattooed pastry chef. And Boosha, the food taster who talks to stray dogs. And we haven’t even gotten back to our original protagonists, Lena and Darren, who sign on as cooks and take a wild ride from there.

This human cast is so colorful that their culinary tasks actually become more interesting than whatever evil the demons are up to front of house. We meet the demons too, of course; we also meet an angel, a genie, an enormous enchanted chicken, and a few more otherworldly creatures in the course of the novella. But they’re just plot-driving props compared to the quirky, diverse personalities Wallace has invented. Speaking of the plot, I could go on, but it would be difficult to give away a little without giving away a lot. Suffice it to say that my worries about an unoriginal urban fantasy were progressively blown away by a storyline that gets weirder and more wonderful at every turn.

In Envy of Angels, Wallace takes a familiar premise and then shifts our focus from the main action to a single kitchen crew. They’re not the power players of this world; they don’t have a noble mission to protect humanity, just a job to perform and a vaguely amoral attitude toward it. The stakes are low, but hilarity keeps us engaged for the length of a novella. With a setup like this the next six books in the “Sin du Jour” series could go anywhere—now that we know the team and the shock value has worn off, how will Wallace maintain the pace, energy, and humor? I look forward to finding out when Lustlocked comes out in early 2016.

emcantey's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark funny lighthearted medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

lezreadalot's review against another edition

Go to review page

3.0

This was a really fun and interesting read. Disturbing, for all its humour, but it worked. The premise is unique and had me hooked once I realised what was going on, enough so that I can see myself giving the other books in this series a try in the future.

Catering is [ba dum psh] hell.

catseye6773's review against another edition

Go to review page

4.0

The little jokes make it

I want the second one

I want an animated TV show

m_a_bicket's review against another edition

Go to review page

5.0

This is hilarious. An urban fantasy that doesn't take itself seriously at all.

I used this book as a bit of a pallete cleanser. A quick read between bigger reads. And it eas perfect. Light hearted, fun and an all round good time.

tessisreading2's review against another edition

Go to review page

3.0

Light, enjoyable, humorous urban fantasy set at a catering company. A little too edgy/a little too many horror aspects for my personal taste but a pleasant read.

vikingwolf's review

Go to review page

3.0

Darren and Lena share an apartment and have both been blackballed from working in any New York eating establishment which is a problem when you have bills to pay. It is a relief to get a call from Byron Luck, owner of the shortstaffed Sin De Jour...until they discover that the clients of SDJ are actually demons, the food ingrediants have their own dangers and you really don't want to go into the pantry...

Byron has solved his temporary staffing issue but he has an important event to cater when rival groups of demons are coming together for a summit. The problem is that they have provided something for the menu-a live Angel to be sacrificed and eaten by the guests. Some of the staff have issues with the prospect of doing this and want to provide something else that tastes like Angel instead but if the demons find out they've been duped, the event will turn into a bloodbath. Now his best team are being dispatched to steal a recipe that might allow them to get away with the deception.

This is a funny book with a few good sniggers along the way. I was particularly amused by the team doing the guided tour of the Henley's factory as they plan their theft of the chicken nuggies recipe, to be confronted by a photo on the wall of company mascots Postman Potatohead and Monsieur Udders, the beret wearing cow! For some reason the name Monsieur Udders just cracked me up and I kept getting the giggles! This whole part of the story kept me entertained.

I was amused by what happens to Moon in the opening sequence and his tendency to die several times in one day because of it. In fact the opening scene was pure slapstick as they try to resusitate him and fight a praying mantis at the same time. It was smart of the author to start with something fun like that to give the book a good start, and it lets the reader know that the content is not to be taken seriously. The dumb behaviour of some of the characters had me thinking that this book is like Hell's Kitchen meets an adult version of The Goonies!

I also liked the wide range of characters in the kitchen...one minute they are fighting with each other and the next they are working together to make the demon dinner a success. I very much look forward to what these characters are going to get up to. I very much liked Byron who is a very harrassed man at the start of the story and I liked him from the start. I loved the team he sends out to solve his problems...Ritter and Cindy are competant but Moon is totally crazy and a dumbass so I look forward to seeing a lot more of them. I didn't really form an opinion of Darren and Lena in the beginning but I think my thoughts will develop as the series continues.

Overall I thought this was a fun read and an entertaining start to the season. The book really hits its stride in the second half with a mixture of the heist story and the frantic preperation for the demon event working well together. It was different from my usual reads and I liked the chance of genre. I will certainly be reading on to see what happens in the next book.

arachnichemist's review against another edition

Go to review page

5.0

This was a very fun read and a wonderful change of pace. The humor and the magic blended into the real world was great. I think the three main characters were developed quite well and I am looking forward to learning more about the four involved with ingredient recovery in later stories. I loved how crazy the plot got near the end with the heist. I can't tell for sure which fast food chain he is poking fun of but it certainly makes me look at chicken nuggets a little differently lol.

Humor is a tricky beast so obviously if it doesn't jive with you then this isn't going to score as high. However, I found this to be a fantastic change of pace series when reading something heavier and darker. Given that my current line of books is a bit on the darker side, this series looks to be the perfect compliment to alternate in when I need a breather.

lgpiper's review

Go to review page

3.0

Well, this isn't generally my cup of tea: I'm not given to reading contemporary fantasy/adventure books. I was tempted to give up early on. But, the book was given to me, for some reason I can't fathom, and I decided to persist. It turned out ok. I'm not sure I'd read another book like this, but who knows?

Anyway, we have two young people skilled in culinary arts, Darren Vargas and Lena Tarr. They were high school chums and are room mates, but not "a couple". They find themselves to have been blackballed by the culinary industry, but it's not clear why.

Just as they're at their wits' end, they get a call from a famous chef, Byron (Bronko) Luck. Bronko needs some help in his catering business. They have a big dinner to put on for two competing gangs of demons. Real demons, like the ones from hell. The demons, it seems, wish to dine on angel flesh, as in an angel from God. They've even procured one such angel. But, some of the cooks aren't sure they're willing to cook up an actual angel and wonder if they can fake the taste in some way. So, they figure out what bizarre taste they need to reproduce, which leads them to an underground cavern in which a host of zombie clowns are employed by a fast food business. Something like that. Weird, but sort of fun.

aehsan's review

Go to review page

4.0

Something different

It's an unusual mix of a Gordon Ramsey cooking show antics and a dark Buffy verse or Dresden files urban fantasy. All I can say for sure it's fun though short - more of a novella which the description doesn't make clear. I certainly haven't encountered anything like it but it was fun.