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mellhay's review against another edition
4.0
Genevieve, or Evie as friend from school call her, works as a bike courier in Boston. But, on the side works to help recover, or find, items for people - for a fee to help pay rent. Evie has a special ability passed down in her family blood of years past, she can smell scents even almost taste them at times. Evie has the nick name in the Undercurrent of Hound. But one night, after midnight she receives a call from a friend of the past who Evie thought was gone or dead. Frank, someone Evie had not talked to in fifteen years which didn't end on best of terms, calls to say he has found a way out and is leaving. But the coversation changes and Evie now can taste the scent of a hunt. She receives a warning from another through Frank. Because Frank was once a friend, and possibly more, she feels she owes him and decides to hunt him since no one knows where he is, and there was something in his voice which she feared he would be in trouble.
The story caught my attention at the beginning. The mystery started right off from page one. Then as I read more questions surfaced to me. I love mystery with my urban fantasy, and this book had it. Fifty pages into the book I was caught up with many questions and wondering how they will tie together. From here on out I started to get the pieces and the puzzel was coming together.
There is magic, Celtic mythology, and a dark side mixed in here. The magic is defined in this story as three different categories and what would fall in those areas. The Irish mythology is added in and blended with the gods and magic together to come to the end of the book.
I enjoyed reading this book, although I did at times stumble over a few words I was not sure of. My confusion was only because I was not quite sure what some words were, ones used in the magic world, which I am sure many of you would know them. These words did get defined in the book.
I have book two here and will be getting to it as well!
The story caught my attention at the beginning. The mystery started right off from page one. Then as I read more questions surfaced to me. I love mystery with my urban fantasy, and this book had it. Fifty pages into the book I was caught up with many questions and wondering how they will tie together. From here on out I started to get the pieces and the puzzel was coming together.
There is magic, Celtic mythology, and a dark side mixed in here. The magic is defined in this story as three different categories and what would fall in those areas. The Irish mythology is added in and blended with the gods and magic together to come to the end of the book.
I enjoyed reading this book, although I did at times stumble over a few words I was not sure of. My confusion was only because I was not quite sure what some words were, ones used in the magic world, which I am sure many of you would know them. These words did get defined in the book.
I have book two here and will be getting to it as well!
vikingwolf's review against another edition
1.0
This was a book that failed from the very start for me. The plot is confused and rambling, the book is overdescriptive to the point where you are being swamped in it yet you can't actually work out what the author is trying to say. The author's style of writing seemed to be there to baffle the reader and for the first few chapters I had no clue as to what was actually happening. When things are that bad at the start, I refuse to waste any more time on it. I actually felt guilty about handing it on to a friend, as she hated it just as much!
allofmypurplelife's review
3.0
Book contained many interesting ideas and did a fairly good job of creating a parallel world. Main character - Evie - was hard to connect with and lacked emotional depth? Or maybe emotional motive. I was interested enough to breeze through the book and would be willing to try the next in the series to see if the quality improves.
kellanemc's review
3.0
Fairly run of the mill light weight urban fantasy, with a couple of twists to amuse anyone who has lived in Boston and study Celtic myth.
inurlibrary's review
3.0
As a fan of Celtic mythology and urban fantasy, this seemed like an ideal pick for me, but I couldn't get into it. Parts of it were hard to follow, and it wound up being a bit of a chore to finish. (And the constant baseball references were a bit tiresome to someone who has no interest in the sport, though possibly I'd feel different if I was from Boston?)
I'd give it 2 1/2 stars, because I think it was well enough written even if it didn't gel with me personally. I'd be willing to try the sequel though.
I'd give it 2 1/2 stars, because I think it was well enough written even if it didn't gel with me personally. I'd be willing to try the sequel though.
erininabox's review
5.0
I tend to get obsessed with certain types of books for a period of time, and then can't read anything after that until a new obsession takes me. This book was meant to fit into my recent paranormal noir obsession, and I was delighted at how well it worked as paranormal noir while still feeling utterly different from the others I've read. Even if I go on to read more in this sub-genre, I think this will be the cap on the genre for me.
What seems to start out as a typical noir mystery with a missing person and a part-time PI leads us down a path of deceit, unfamiliar magic, nightmares, fantastical creatures, memories of an unhappy past, and dead people that don't stay dead. I was pleasantly suprised at the shape the story took towards the end, with it turning out to be more of an origin story for the main character than the typical fantasy noir series beginner. I'm not sure if this was meant to be the beginning of a series, and I'd be skeptical of whether the author could pull of a Book 2 of this, but only because Book 1 was so wonderful. There's a reason that super-hero stories leave the origin story for their characters for when they've run out of heroic things for the characters to do.
I think my favorite thing about this story was how well the author wove in Irish mythology and neo-pagan beliefs with the culture and history of Boston. If you aren't familiar with even the most basic of beliefs and folklore from these two groups, you'll probably get more out of this novel than I did. My only gripe was how predictable the end was as someone who is familiar at a basic level with the beliefs of neo-pagans and Irish folklore. I have a soft spot for fiction that explores mythology and religion, and the fact that this also explored the main character's past and her connection to her home town only sweetened the deal for me.
What seems to start out as a typical noir mystery with a missing person and a part-time PI leads us down a path of deceit, unfamiliar magic, nightmares, fantastical creatures, memories of an unhappy past, and dead people that don't stay dead. I was pleasantly suprised at the shape the story took towards the end, with it turning out to be more of an origin story for the main character than the typical fantasy noir series beginner. I'm not sure if this was meant to be the beginning of a series, and I'd be skeptical of whether the author could pull of a Book 2 of this, but only because Book 1 was so wonderful. There's a reason that super-hero stories leave the origin story for their characters for when they've run out of heroic things for the characters to do.
I think my favorite thing about this story was how well the author wove in Irish mythology and neo-pagan beliefs with the culture and history of Boston. If you aren't familiar with even the most basic of beliefs and folklore from these two groups, you'll probably get more out of this novel than I did. My only gripe was how predictable the end was as someone who is familiar at a basic level with the beliefs of neo-pagans and Irish folklore. I have a soft spot for fiction that explores mythology and religion, and the fact that this also explored the main character's past and her connection to her home town only sweetened the deal for me.
platyphemus's review
3.0
It's fun enough to read books based on cities I know. I went through a real Baltimore thing. A Real. Baltimore. Thing. So, I'm branching out to the city that is just always there for me and maybe 96% of my life, Old Boston Town.
I chose the book because I filtered a list of Boston-based books and fantasy/science fiction, it seemed interesting enough- a secret world unknown to the rest of the world (a regular destination of mine), a female protagonist who takes NO SHIT, and as I said before, Boston.
Soooo, I did enjoy some new life the story breathes into fantasy. The last third of the book got much more interesting as it started to unfold Celtic mythology. I kind of muddled through the magic stuff, I'm not that into magic, it can make the story cheat. However, the Celtic aspects were a worthwhile payoff and made it worth it.
I liked the site-seeing aspect of the novel, its neighborhoods and places I know and travel for work and lived when I was in graduate school and after.
It did play up some of the stereotypes about Bostonians to which I don't subscribe-really embracing the Irish American Southie culture non-Bostonians associate with the entire city. It ends up being justified because, Celtic, but I'm hoping future novels branch out into the array of cultures and races that live and work in the city; it would be more interesting than the St. Patty's Day Pahty. Also, this book fucking loves Boston sports, and I'd rather not. Oddly enough, also justified in the narrative, but I find the whole sports culture just so aggressive and aggressively boring, I personally could have done without it. I wish there was more ktsch and fun things to Boston culture, hopefully some of my memories of things like Spags, WLVI Kids Club and the Children's Museum can show up.
So, as far as the book goes, it's a fun enough world, I hope it expands to include some more kinds of people. The pacing was decent, characters interesting enough, if not terribly sympathetic. Reccomend for fantasy/detective types. And you know who you are.
I chose the book because I filtered a list of Boston-based books and fantasy/science fiction, it seemed interesting enough- a secret world unknown to the rest of the world (a regular destination of mine), a female protagonist who takes NO SHIT, and as I said before, Boston.
Soooo, I did enjoy some new life the story breathes into fantasy. The last third of the book got much more interesting as it started to unfold Celtic mythology. I kind of muddled through the magic stuff, I'm not that into magic, it can make the story cheat. However, the Celtic aspects were a worthwhile payoff and made it worth it.
I liked the site-seeing aspect of the novel, its neighborhoods and places I know and travel for work and lived when I was in graduate school and after.
It did play up some of the stereotypes about Bostonians to which I don't subscribe-really embracing the Irish American Southie culture non-Bostonians associate with the entire city. It ends up being justified because, Celtic, but I'm hoping future novels branch out into the array of cultures and races that live and work in the city; it would be more interesting than the St. Patty's Day Pahty. Also, this book fucking loves Boston sports, and I'd rather not. Oddly enough, also justified in the narrative, but I find the whole sports culture just so aggressive and aggressively boring, I personally could have done without it. I wish there was more ktsch and fun things to Boston culture, hopefully some of my memories of things like Spags, WLVI Kids Club and the Children's Museum can show up.
So, as far as the book goes, it's a fun enough world, I hope it expands to include some more kinds of people. The pacing was decent, characters interesting enough, if not terribly sympathetic. Reccomend for fantasy/detective types. And you know who you are.
cbking's review
2.0
More like 2.5 stars, I suppose. Interesting conceit, but I never really sunk my teeth into it.
jkh107's review
3.0
This was better than average but didn't wow me enough to want to scarf down the entire series in one go. Make of that what you will. I did like the use of celtic mythology.