TESSA TALKS BOOKS

Thank you @BerkleyPub for the free book!

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🎃 Dead Man’s Hand by James J. Butcher 🎃

• One-word review: Fun
• Emojis: ☠️👹🧙🏼‍♂️🤣😰
• Rating: 4 🌟s

My thoughts:

Dead Man’s Hand, the debut novel of James J. Butcher, is an urban fantasy with a wide range of humor and a thriller-style plot that is pure escapist enjoyment to read. My favorite aspect is the humor. The humor in this book had me laughing so hard that I had to put it down at least once while I got control of myself. It has snarky humor and a lot of dry wit throughout the story, which provides fun banter with the bonus of a few hilarious situations.

The world-building has enough aspects resembling worlds I’ve already seen to feel comfortable and immediately immerse myself. But it also has a few unique twists, providing that cool factor that interested me and fascinated me. The plot contains a base in a thriller – starting with a murder that the main character is accused of committing and speeding its way through his detective work to find the actual killer. As a thriller addict, I love seeing the genre taken to urban fantasy with its fast-paced and dangerous situations in place.

Lastly, I enjoyed the character development, which was just sublime. In some ways, Les Mayflower and Grimshaw Griswald Grimsby (the main character) are very stereotypical. But together, they are hilarious and grow individually, and as a duo, it is just the right way. They are fleshed out so well that they leaped from the page and came to life in my imagination. I can’t wait to see them together again in the next story.

Thank you Berkley for the free book!

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🎃 Long Past Dues by James J. Butcher 🎃

• One-word review: poignant
• Emojis: 🧌🧙🏼‍♂️⏳⚖️
• Rating:  5 🌟s

My thoughts:

I thought Dead Man’s Hand – the first book in this series – was exceptional, but Long Past Dues took the story up ten notches to absolute perfection.  

Starting with the end, I have to say that the ending of this story is so impactful that I shed a tear or two. It wasn’t what I expected, but it was just right for the story and leaves plenty of room for more books in the series. It’s a thought-provoking, bittersweet, soft conclusion that had me thinking about it long after I finished the book.

I love the character development, particularly of Grimsby and Mayflower – it goes beyond so many other stories. As a character-driven story, I want to see good character development, but I don’t know if I have seen it on quite this level. Grimsby is the green Auditor (detective) who only wants to help people, and Mayflower is the older, hardened Hunter who has seen it all and had to make hard choices more times than he wants to remember – a combination we’ve all seen many times over. But the moral complexities of good versus evil/right versus wrong these two face together are handled authentically and developed at the right pace to hit home with me at every turn.

I also love the world-building, the fast-pace, and the quirky humor in both of the stories. Long Past Dues didn’t have those laugh-out-loud moments that the first book did, but there were still plenty of snickers and smiles as I made my way through the story. The world-building is incredible, and for an urban fantasy, it is exceptional. The many details and nuances make me forget that the book is set in Boston.

This is a series I will continue to follow, as I can’t wait to see what happens next, particularly where the character development goes.