Review: Time-Marked Warlock by Shami Stovall
Blurb:
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:
Every once in a while, I start a book that just grabs hold and will not let go of my brain. It causes me to just think about it, wanting to return and never stop reading. In the case of Adair Finch, this might be a girl knocking on your door telling him that her mother was murdered. So begins a new urban fantasy that really surprised me with all of the twists and turns. It takes everything I love about magic and turns it on its head in a very relatable way. I really liked the way that the warlock is represented and described as it allows for the reader to become familiar, even if they are unsure of what it may be. I could not get enough of Adair Finch and how he goes about his daily existence in this novel. It contains many of the elements that are to be expected in any urban fantasy, but it does it with a narrow focus of putting the story first, and allowing the world to be discovered in a smaller manner. In this manner the reader is slowly sucked in and left understanding exactly how everything works in the world.
The strength of the novel is most definitely the character work throughout the novel. There wasn’t a character that I did not like. But the standout by far is the character of Adair Finch. He is flawed in all the right ways and has a grit about him. You could sense the confidence oozing off of him in waves and rightfully so. Alongside the confidence is a history that has left scars that run deep, but also leave hooks in the reader with a desire to learn more about him. I believe that the author should have the same type of confidence in the story and characters that she has created at the highest level. I could not get enough of it and eagerly looked forward to the times when I had to read it, or in my case listen to it. There is an element of Groundhog’s day in the repetition part of it that I felt had the danger of being a negative aspect of having to read the same thing over and over. Once again the author showed a professionalism in having some of these repetitive actions become highlights that I looked forward to each of them to see how it was handled. Each experience was layered in hints and tidbits and more fantastic little things that just made it relatable. There are a lot of things that happen in such a short amount of time, that the reader could almost forget that the whole thing started as a murder investigation.
This is a novel that is definitely for the fan of urban fantasy in any shape or form. There are a lot of laughs, heartfelt moments, and times that truly will astound many readers. This is a novel that is well crafted in every sense of the word. I will admit that I went into this very blind and just expected a fun short read to break up some of my other reads. Instead I found the beginning of a series with incredible depth that left me begging for more. I encourage readers to open the doors for this incredible novel and be caught in the time loop with me. Trust me, it is an incredibly fun time.
Thank you for taking the time to read my review. As always, happy reading and Stay Great!!
