Sophia Rose Reviews: Paper and Blood by Kevin Hearne

 

Today Sophia Rose gives her thoughts on Kevin Hearne's Paper and Blood
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 borrow

Sellers:  Amazon

ADD TO: GoodReads

 

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