Book Review: Shoot the Messenger (Messenger Chronicles #1) by Pippa DaCosta

Shoot the Messenger

Author: Pippa DaCosta
Series: Messenger Chronicles, Book 1
Publisher: Crazy Ace Publishing
Published: February 22, 2018
Kindle Edition, 285 pages
Rating: 5 Stars
★★★★★
Goodreads  Amazon

Summary: "Lies aren't her only weapons against the fae..."

In the Halow system, one of Earth’s three sister star systems, tek and magic—humans and the fae—are at war.

Kesh Lasota is a ghost in the machine. Invisible to tek, she’s hired by the criminal underworld to carry illegal messages through the Halow system. But when one of those messages kills its recipient, Kesh finds herself on the run with a bounty on her head and a quick-witted marshal on her tail.

Proving her innocence should be straightforward—until a warfae steals the evidence she needs. The fae haven’t been seen in Halow in over a thousand years. And this one—a brutally efficient killer able to wield tek—should not exist. But neither should Kesh.

As Kesh’s carefully crafted lie of a life crumbles around her, she knows remaining invisible is no longer an option. To hunt the fae, to stop him from destroying a thousand-year-long fragile peace, she must resurrect the horrors of her past.

Kesh Lasota was a ghost. Now she’s back, and there’s only one thing she knows for certain. Nobody shoots the messenger and gets away with it.

A new space fantasy reverse harem series where the guys are hot, the perils are many, and one rebel messenger holds the key to the survival of the human race.

REVERSE HAREM INFO: The Messenger Series is a slow burn reverse harem space-fantasy adventure. This series contains sexual encounters with multiple partners. The harem develops during the series.

Review: Upon finishing a book, I like to rate and shelve it on Goodreads, and my usual placeholder review is something alone the lines of "Review coming soon." I think it says a lot about this book that my placeholder review was "My heart. I can’t... words... Review to come later... once I can see again through this sheen of tears. Ack."

I'm still not even sure how to begin reviewing this book. I can't even peg the genre. The blurb touts it as being "a slow-burn reverse harem space fantasy adventure" romance. Apparently the reverse harem develops over the course of the series, as there isn't actually much romance in the book. It's set in this future society where we've advanced our society to space, but also has a sort of alternate reality where the fae are a part of the human history, so it's sci-fi, but it's also fantasy? But also romance. Oh, and with a sort of mystery element too. And adventure. But also paranormal/paranormal romance? But with a sort of steampunk, sort of western feel, sort of urban fantasy. ...Genre party! ALL THE GENRES!

This was my first book by Pippa DaCosta, but now I need to go check out her back catalog. And I also need the next book in this series, preferably injected directly into my veins RIGHT NOW. There is so much to recommend this book. The world building is amazing, the dialogue is witty and sharp, and Kesh is bad ass who doesn't take crap from anybody while walking around in a sweet pocket-filled techno duster that can disguise her and carrying a chain whip charged with magic. Add to that the bad ass warfae out to frame her for murder who has kidnapped her best-friend-slash-droid, a hot marshal (read: old west cop but in space, also with a sexy duster) who is more than he appears, and a caged and exiled (also sexy) fae, and you can see the beginnings of this reverse harem starting to build up. Oh, also, holy plot twists, Batman. I got so emotionally invested in this book and in Kesh and the other characters, and then right at the end it was like Pippa DaCosta reached her hand inside my chest and ripped out my cracked and broken heart. (...Which is fitting, actually). I felt like I needed to go find some tape and try to put my heart back together after finishing this book. That's after resisting the mighty urge to fling my kindle across the room and sob broken heartedly into a pillow.

So yes! Read this book and be forever ruined, like me! I make it sound kind of awful, but it's that really good kind of pain, where you're like "Oh God, I can't take it! ...Give me the next book right now so you can continue sticking pins into my heart, Pippa DaCosta!"

Book Review: An Enchantment of Ravens by Margaret Rogerson

Book Review: An Enchantment of Ravens by Margaret Rogerson

Rating: 5 Stars

 

Published September 26th 2017 by Margaret K. McElderry Books
Summary: Isobel is a prodigy portrait artist with a dangerous set of clients: the sinister fair folk, immortal creatures who cannot bake bread, weave cloth, or put a pen to paper without crumbling to dust. They crave human Craft with a terrible thirst, and Isobel’s paintings are highly prized among them. But when she receives her first royal patron—Rook, the autumn prince—she makes a terrible mistake. She paints mortal sorrow in his eyes – a weakness that could cost him his life.

Furious and devastated, Rook spirits her away to the autumnlands to stand trial for her crime. Waylaid by the Wild Hunt’s ghostly hounds, the tainted influence of the Alder King, and hideous monsters risen from barrow mounds, Isobel and Rook depend on one another for survival. Their alliance blossoms into trust, then love, violating the fair folks’ ruthless Good Law. There's only one way to save both their lives, Isobel must drink from the Green Well, whose water will transform her into a fair one—at the cost of her Craft, for immortality is as stagnant as it is timeless.

Isobel has a choice: she can sacrifice her art for a future, or arm herself with paint and canvas against the ancient power of the fairy courts. Because secretly, her Craft represents a threat the fair folk have never faced in all the millennia of their unchanging lives: for the first time, her portraits have the power to make them feel.
(from Goodreads)


Review: Wow. Just… wow. I loved this book. I can't believe this is Margaret Rogerson's debut novel, either. As soon as I finished reading An Enchantment of Ravens, I immediately went to see if I could find more books by her and followed her author profile on Goodreads.

Julia Whelan did a phenomenal job narrating this book. The second thing I did after finishing this book (after desperately searching for more to read by Margaret Rogerson) is to go on Audible and look up other books Julia Whelan has narrated. She is just amazing to listen to. Julia reads with a depth of feeling that really embellishes the text, without overdoing it and sending it into absurdity. This is impressive as she voices several non-human characters with somewhat mercurial ranges of emotion. I now want to read this book again in print, rather than listening to it, to see how much of my love was the book itself and how much can be contributed to Julia's reading of it.

This books has so many classic elements of faeries, and I love Rogerson's fantasy and almost-horror interpretation of the fae folk. I've been on a romance kick for a while now, but this stirred up a thirst in me and sent me searching for more fantasy with a focus on the fae. I love Isobel's relationship with her fae patrons, especially with Gadfly and Rook. I found myself with tears welling in my eyes on more than one occasion, and this book resonated with me, touching something in my heart that is filled with a yearning, keening longing. Isobel is challenged throughout to book to question her preconceived notions and what she knows to be true, as well as being placed in a situation which seems to basically be up against a rock and a hard place, with no real good solution. I admire her resourcefulness, her strength, and her courage of conviction. And, oh Lord, Rook… *dreamy sigh* My poor, sweet, confused Rook. I just want to hug him and squish him and call him mine.

You know you've stumbled across a real jewel when you're ready to read it again immediately upon finishing it. I even listened to all the audible credits and nonsense at the end because I wasn't ready for it to end!