Misguided Allies

The Void Series, Book 2

De: Charissa Dufour

Narrado por: Janelle Tedesco

Duración: 6 h y 7 m

Resumen del Editor

Half-fae Sam Gollet is no stranger to solitary confinement - being a half-fae working as a vampire enforcer will do that to you. She is also accustomed to solving the crimes within the supernatural community inside the Illinois Mystical Reservation when the feds refuse to lift a finger.

After being released from Solitary, she finds herself quickly embroiled in the mysterious deaths of leading members of the fae community. Despite having been ostracized by the fae community, Sam agrees to solve the murders at the risk of her own safety.

As the body count rises, she'll be forced to show her allegiance to the fae and prove that she's not in league with Heywood’s vampire gang, all the while trying to rebuild her crumbling friendships, avoid rejection from her family, and dissuade the unwanted attentions of a mage living outside the reservation. It seems like no matter what she does, all they can see is her allegiance to the vampires, leaving her wondering if she is stuck with misguided allies.

©2016 Charissa Dufour (P)2019 Charissa Dufour

Oh Sam

Just like in book 1, Sam is busy getting tangled up in a twisty web of a mess. It's definitely intriguing to see how things work out. New players are introduced in this book and involve themselves in ways not expected, as well as old players acting in unexpected ways!

*I requested this book and am voluntarily leaving this review

Action packed story

Actions packed story that keeps you interested until the very end. You so need to read or listen to the first book before this one.

Fantasy and Action Packed!

This is the second book in The Void Series. The first book was suspenseful, and this one is absolutely breathtaking. The world building is fantastic, and the characters are great, intriguing and well developed. Sam's story is entertaining! The storyline is complex, filled with action packed, twists and turns, intrigue, romance, and mystery. Janelle Tedsco did an amazing job with the narration. Now, I can't wait for the next book in the Series.

Sam is back!

I enjoyed the first book in the series and was hoping the second book was good. It was! She faced a lot of challenges in this urban fantasy. This is an exciting read. The narrator did a great job!

Great character growth

Misguided Allies, the second book in the Void series, picks up a few months after the events of Cornered Magic. Sam is continuing to fulfill the role of enforcer and gopher for Heywood, head of one of the vampire clans on the Illinois Mystical Reservation. But as Sam deals with Heywood's growing demands, and threats against her friends an family, prominent fey begin to be murdered. Is this the work of rogue vampires, or maybe the newly captured and imprisoned wizard is involved? As more fey are killed, and there is evidence that vampires may be behind the deaths, Sam convinces Heywood that it is in his best interest to let her investigate. But as Sam digs deeper into the murders, she learns that the fey community still mistrusts her and her void abilities, especially now that she seems to be employed by the vampires. It will take all of Sam's wits and skill to figure out what is going on and stop the murderer.

In Misguided Allies, Charissa continues to explore Sam's confined world within the mystical reservation. This book is almost twice the length as the first one, and Charissa makes wonderful use of this additional space to give us more depth and background to the characters. Not only for Sam, but for her friends and family. Sam continues to be put into some tight places because of her powers and unwanted association with the vampires, and Charissa does a great job of showing us how these struggles affect Sam. Sam does a lot of growth in this book, not only in how she deals and reacts to people she has known all of her life, as well as the new people she's met, but in understanding her powers. Her gift is essentially wild, everything that she knows how to do with it Sam has learned on her own. In a way this makes her more powerful (and dangerous), and in the climax of the story you really get to see Sam shine using her gift.

I still would like to know more about the world that Charissa has created. We are given a few more glances into the everyday life on the mystical reservation, but the events leading up to the climax of Misguided Allies still make me wonder how the fey, vampires, werewolves, and wizards let themselves be put into this reservation in the first place. It is the one thing I really want to know more about. There are some hints, but it is an unresolved issue that I hope Charissa will answer in a future book.

I read the audiobook version of Misguided Allies, narrated again by Janelle Tedesco. Janelle does a good job of making each character seem unique and different, and she really makes Sam's character come to life. There was a minor problem at the very beginning of the book - a sentence seemed to be repeated, but overall the quality of the production was very good.

I recommend Misguided Allies for anybody who enjoys urban fantasy. Charissa has created a very interesting and unique world that is fun to explore.

wonderful as the first book

I love this series very much the first book was great and very well written and this book didn't disappoint as the first one the story keeps going to new levels and I love it very much
I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review

Action Packed

This is a wonderful 2nd installment in the void series. The story moved quickly and efficiently along with lots of twist and turns. I found my heart hurting for Sam for so many reasons. Such a great story. The narrator does a fantastic job of bringing you into the story. I can’t wait for the 3rd book!!

A half-Fae allied with vamps?! Oh my!!!!

It's hard to believe that this book would be better than the first one but it is all that and then some!!!! I love this series!!!!

Book one ended with Sam, the half-Fae and the main character, forced to work with the vampires, a sworn enemy of the Fae. Book two has that alliance in full swing with all of the icky that comes with it. Sam loses her friends, her family, and slivers of her soul in the process. This book was as compelling as it was intense. I felt for Sam as each person in her world showed their true selves. It was heartbreaking.

The narrator was exceptional. There were so many characters and different beings and their portrayals were extremely well-done. This listen is probably not considered an action thriller but in every sense of those words, that's how it felt. That is attributable to the insanely good narration.

I took a sneak peek and to my utter joy, see that there are a few more books on the horizon. I can't wait.

Hard to Review

It is hard to review this book when it labeled as book 2, but it is actually act 2 and 3 of book one.

There are a lot of weak points in this book, and I will get to those. But I do want to say that at no point did I consider or want to stop reading the book. It was compelling. Charissa is a clean, clear writer and she understands suspense and has the hard to identify it factor of a bestselling author.

There are a lot of outpoints. The main character, having turned into a nearly sociopathic Mary Sue at the end of the last book has had her powers greatly weakened. This is inconsistent, but it was a necessary change.

Her world feels small and time seems almost non existent. It feels almost like the setting is a play where all the other characters are just waiting to rush on stage to have the next improbable encounter with her, whether it makes any sense or not. It was a real problem and the book felt rushed and like we were jump cutting constantly with no transition and no actual time passing in the book. It was jarring and I frankly don't quite understand how she managed to make me like the book and care about the outcome in spite of it.

Another problem, for me, is that her world seems primarily peopled with scum and villainy. Basically anyone not vile is pathetic. The lecture about the death of innocents near the end made me roll my eyes, as I am convinced that even the young children of her world are plotting robbery, rape and murder. It's a dark, bleary place.

It feels, in places, a bit like anguish/victim porn. That was also very off putting.

But it didn't bounce me out of the world. It didn't bounce me out of the story. It didn't make me not care what happened. Whether by talent or by skill, she's doing something very very right.

The biggest problem is the fact that to buy the single book, you have to buy two books. In Kindle, that can easily be handled with a smaller price. But with Audible, the prices are crazy, especially if you are using credits. I'm not sure how that one gets fixed, personally.

A GREAT urban fantasy series

I was given this free review copy audio book at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

Now we are talking! The first book was really short and just gave you enough to get hooked. This one is more than twice as long and just as full of greatness. The narration is great, and I'm really looking forward to more books coming out in this series.