Welcome to Litsy!

I loved everything about this book - the setting, the characters, the special “powers”, and all the little twists in the plot. The prose was engaging and while it look it‘s time to get going, by the 1/3 mark, I didn‘t want to put it down. The ending leaves things perfectly poised for a series and I really hope it‘s a long one. I want more of Evan, Reese, and Jamey.

Allie Therin‘s first contemporary fantasy is great on a bunch of levels.

Level One: the characters are vivid, layered people.

Level Two: the mystery is fast paced and tightly plotted.

Level Three: every page invites the reader to absorb a very cool alternate world where empathic magic‘s emergence has led to social and technological changes with real-world parallels.

I had a hell of a time putting it down. Next one, please.

Just hangin‘ out, reading with Geo. The book‘s fast paced so far, with lots of worldbuilding and crime solving for the reader to figure out. I‘m enjoying it a lot, though I think Therin‘s immersive approach might throw off readers who prefer their SFF to spell everything out for them. (Until recently, it never occurred to me that such readers even existed, but there seems to be a big market for infodumpy fantasy these days. This ain‘t that.)

Doing the book & beer thing with a delicious, slightly spicy black lager from Barn Hammer Brewing and my first ARC of 2023! I had a great time with Allie Therin‘s historical Magic In Manhattan series and I‘m excited to see how she handles contemporary fantasy. (Or maybe it‘s contemporary science fiction? I‘m not far enough in yet to tell how the empaths originated.) It‘s also hit just as I‘m in the mood for more mysteries; even better.