I’m beginning to think that some of the hardest things in the world are to write a decent fantasy quest novel (5 assorted misfits seek the Object of All Wonderfulness to Save the World) and good urban fantasy. Quest stories are usually awful unless the quest itself is subtle, downplayed, perhaps the Object is a throne or some event.
Urban fantasy is a growing genre with some hits and more misses. Some authors make it look easy, but let’s think about it. Good urban fantasy has to:
- Have an engaging hero or heroine (hereafter referred to as “hero”)
- Side kicks are optional, but if present must also be believable and interesting on their own
- Hero ought to have some unusual traits or magic
- Have a reason the hero is on the outs/suspected by/worried about/in hock to some overall mystical group that has power over him. Think Harry Dresden and the White Council.
- Have a sense of obligation. Perhaps the hero seeks to save us regular folk from encroaching vampires, or to keep the peace among groups of fae, or is a PI.
- This obligation must be dangerous and difficult, with moral dilemmas
- Plus let’s not forget the basics of any novel: Plot, character, setting, timeline, dialogue, so on
So yes, it’s difficult.
Modern Sorcery (Jonathan Shade Book 1) has some requisite elements. The main character, Jonathan Shade, is reasonably engaging with a couple well-done side kicks. He’s without magic himself but is also not subject to it. Plus he’s dead and come back. I particularly liked his librarian friend Sharon and typewriter Esther but his semi-partner Kelly lacks appeal and is 2-dimensional.
Overall the book’s main lack from an urban fantasy point is Jonathan’s rationale for taking on magic users. He’s a PI and his old girl friend asks for help. That doesn’t give the book much framework to hold the story.
Author Jonas Gary does a decent job with this novel and kudos to him for trying and getting it mostly right. I don’t much enjoy the story, partly because the overall plot was a little over the top and Jonathan’s girl-to-rescue was a nasty piece. Dialogue was a bit weak and stylistically inconsistent, sometimes snarky, sometimes frank, sometimes just bleah.
I’m unsure whether I’ll look for more books in the series. At the moment (June, 2018) there are 10 books in all, so author Gary likely improves his craft. Book 1 is a solid try. If you think you’d like to try it, Amazon offers this for $.99.
3 Stars
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