The Bookwyrm's Review of Time marked Warlock by Shami Stovall

 

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Rating: 10/10 Stars

Plot Synopsis

Adair Finch is the most powerful warlock in the world, and one of the best private investigators for hire.

He has dealt with corporate vampires, murderous werewolves, and even fae royalty. Everything was perfect until he lost one case—the case where he also lost his brother.

So Finch retired. From magic. From PI work. From everything.

Bree Blackstone, a twelve-year-old witch, doesn’t know or care about any of that except Finch’s reputation. In the middle of the night, she bangs on Finch’s door. Her mother has been murdered, and now the assassin is after Bree as well.

Reluctantly, Finch agrees to help, only to discover something sinister has been brewing in town while he ignored the world… He’ll need to dust off all his old skills and magic before it’s too late.

Review  

I have been a fan of this author since I first discovered her book Knightmare Arcanist, and following that up with her Nexus games series. When I heard she had branched out into urban fantasy, I knew I had to check it out, and the author graciously sent me a review copy, which I devoured. This is one reason I love the Indie book community so much, the authors are just nice and gracious to not only reviewers but to the fans too. I also discovered that her talents in those other genres definitely transfers to urban fantasy.

The world building is top notch, like I expected. Taking place in Stockton, California, A town I knew well a couple decades ago, and she brings the town to life in all it's good and bad ways. She uses the town like a character itself, using some of the local flavor to create scenarios in the book that create their own tension. Its such a strange town, with a pretty high population but a kind of identity crisis over what it wants to be. Also, in this universe, magic of all kinds exists under the surface, and the police struggle with magical criminals they are ill equipped to handle. That's why they keep warlocks like Adair Fitch, who retired after his brothers death, on retainer for these situations. it's a battle the normals are ill equipped to handle, but still manage to.

 And the characters really shine. Adair Fitch is now one of my favorite UF characters, easily in the same ballpark as Harry Dresden, Atticus O'Sullivan and Jane Doe. He is such a complex character, with a ridiculous amount of power because of the being he bonded with as a warlock, but he is not omnipotent, and he definitely makes mistakes. He is prone to bouts of depression after the death of his brother, and it has left him shabby and morose. Its not until the arrival of Bree that he comes out of his shell. 

Bree is the other main character, being the survivor of an attack on her family, seeking Adair's help to find her mother's killer and father's kidnapper. She goes through a really good arc, starting as a frightened tween who was running from a killer, to letting her natural perky self shine again as they get closer to having all the answers. She is such a fun character, and she is an actual help to Adair, even though she tries to hard at times, but that just makes her more endearing. The fact she is a witch that wants to become a warlock makes her something outside the ordinary as well, and it's really played well.

The villains in this book are also excellent. I don't want to go into too much detail because there are some swerves in who they actually are, but there is more than one faction that could be considered villainous, including a corrupt witches coven and possibly, some of Stockton's finest as well, which leads to Adair uncovering what is really behind the killing of Bree's mother and actually finding his brother's killer, who has a connection with the main baddies. This is definitely a strength of the book as well.

Really, this book exceeded all my expectations. The characters and world building are excellent, and the rich tapestry of magic and normalcy is woven together deftly with an artist's touch. The author has created a great magic system for the world, something truly her own, and I can't wait to see more of it. This is definitely one of my top 5 reads in urban fantasy to date, and that's a lot of books. I give it my highest recommend, and it is a strong candidate for book of the year. Don't miss out and check this book out today!