Boone has had a rather unlucky life. He has been involved in the magical world that most people don’t even know exists as a wendigo has been chasing him since he was six years old. This has caused him to develop terrible anxiety and have horrible panic attacks often. Now, he is 22 and mostly has his life under some control. He works at the local Ren Fair in his state and jousts with his friends from time to time. When a joust goes wrong, he travels to New York to fill in for his injured friend at a gig. Immediately he meets an NYU violin student when her professor falls off his brownstone’s balcony. This short sequence of events throws him into an adventure that he definitely did not sign up for, with a colorful cast of characters to help him along the way.
This book had me searching for the word onomatopoeia, which is basically using words as sound effects in stories. The author loves doing this and these sound effects often make you feel as if you are reading a video or movie.
This author also clearly had knowledge of New York City. I worked in NYC for over a year and spent a lot of time commuting through the city. Most books set in “urban fantasy” environments make up some random fantasy city that doesn’t match up with any particular real-world location. This story was ingrained in NYC culture and locations, and I found myself smiling when I remember seeing some of the locations in the story during my commutes and visits to NYC in real life.
I struggled to get through this book. Although the story was interesting and unique, the writing was a bit difficult to contend with. Two characters seemed to be set up to have some sort of romantic connection, but I didn’t see any chemistry whatsoever between them. Just awkward scenes where out of nowhere the girl would lay her head on the guy or they would randomly hold hands. The story jumped around so much that it was hard to keep up with. I remember being close to the end of the book and hearing Boone remember how a character had died, and I realized that I didn’t even remember the page where Boone was supposed to find out that the character died. I felt very disconnected from the characters of this book.
The thing that saved the book for me was the monsters. I found the monsters and magical creatures in this universe to be unique and fun to read about although they were based on various fantasy tropes and old tales. I also enjoyed how music was woven into this story and could truly be felt through the pages. If you can get past the writing style and the pacing, there is truly a unique urban fantasy tale at the heart of this book.
I received a copy of this book and this is my voluntary review.
Overall Rating: 3 out of 5 books.
