Enjoy!
Paper and Blood by Kevin Hearne
#2 Ink and Sigil
Urban Fantsy
Publisher: Del Rey
Published: 8.10.21
Pages: 304
Rating: 4 stars
Format: Hardback
Source: Library
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Sellers: Amazon
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GoodReads Blurb:
Kevin Hearne returns to the world
of the Iron Druid Chronicles in book two of a spin-off series about an
eccentric master of rare magic solving an uncanny mystery in Scotland.
There’s only one Al MacBharrais: Though other Scotsmen
may have dramatic mustaches and a taste for fancy cocktails, Al also has a
unique talent. He’s a master of ink and sigil magic. In his gifted hands, paper
and pen can work wondrous spells.
But Al isn’t quite alone: He is part of a global network
of sigil agents who use their powers to protect the world from mischievous gods
and strange monsters. So when a fellow agent disappears under sinister
circumstances in Australia, Al leaves behind the cozy pubs and cafes of Glasgow
and travels to the Dandenong Ranges in Victoria to solve the mystery.
The trail to his colleague begins to pile up with bodies
at alarming speed, so Al is grateful his friends have come to help—especially
Nadia, his accountant who moonlights as a pit fighter. Together with a
whisky-loving hobgoblin known as Buck Foi and the ancient Druid Atticus
O’Sullivan, along with his dogs, Oberon and Starbuck, Al and Nadia will face
down the wildest wonders Australia—and the supernatural world—can throw at
them, and confront a legendary monster not seen in centuries.
Sophia Rose's Review:
After meeting Al and his Ink and Sigil
work that’s part of the Iron Druid world, I was geeked to dive back into a new
Al MacBharrais adventure this time in the land Down Under. Kevin Hearne writes entertaining and exciting
characters and plots in a well-crafted urban fantasy world.
Paper
& Blood is the second in a connected Urban Fantasy trilogy that is a
spinoff to the Iron Druid Chronicles. It
really does work best when read in order including the entire Iron Druid books.
Al gets an alarming call from a fellow
Sigil agent’s apprentice. Her mistress
is missing and so is the nearby sigil agent who went searching for her
already. Al has to go to Australia to
start where the incident happened, but he’s not going alone. Al drags Buck the hobgoblin along and plans
to solicit the help of the Iron Druid who is in the area tracking down another
outburst of supernatural phenomena disrupting Gaia. But, it’s Al after all so he ends up with a
few other surprising helpers along the way.
Meanwhile, Al knows he has to give due
thought to who put the curses on him because Buck’s life is in acute danger
while the curses are in play. He gets
some hints about the curses and learns something interesting about his
mysterious receptionist Gladys who is not simply an efficient Canadian.
I enjoyed the reunion with Atticus now
calling himself Connor and his two dog pals Oberon and Starbuck. Connor isn’t the main character, that is
still Al, but he gets some significant page time including a couple of his old
tales around the campfire and there is a raucous one from Buck.
I settled into this book much easier
than the first one. I knew the score and
the introductions are over, but the characters grew on me in the last book and
that happened even more so here. Al has
a different way of going about things and it is his different thinking from the
big bad immortals and magic users around him that wins me over so strongly.
This was a rollicking urban fantasy
adventure and I can’t wait to get to the last leg of the trilogy and hopefully
get some answers to Al’s mysterious curse while having a good time with the
whole gang of characters especially Al.
Author Bio:
Kevin is the NYT bestselling author of the Iron Druid
Chronicles, as well as The Seven Kennings, an epic fantasy trilogy, and the
Tales of Pell, a humorous fantasy series co-authored with Delilah S. Dawson.
INK & SIGIL, a new urban fantasy series set in the Iron Druid universe,
will be out in 2020.
Website:
https://kevinhearne.com/
Sophia’s Bio:
Sophia
is a quiet though curious gal who dabbles in cooking, book reviewing,
piano-playing, and gardening. Road trips and campouts, museums and monuments,
restaurants and theaters are her jam. Encouraged and supported by an incredible
man and loving family. A Northern Californian transplant to the Great Lakes
Region of the US. Lover of Jane Austen, Baseball, Cats, Scooby Doo, and
Chocolate.
As a lifelong reader, it was inevitable that
Sophia would discover book blogs and the joy of blog reviewing. Sophia is a
prolific reader and audiobook listener which allows her to experience so many
wonderful books, authors, and narrators. Few genres are outside her reading
tastes, but her true love is fiction particularly history, mystery, sci-fi, and
romance. Though, sorry, no horror or she will run like Shaggy and Scooby.
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sophia.rose.7587
Twitter: https://twitter.com/sophiarose1816
GoodReads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/13418187.Sophia_Rose
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