The HighFire Crown

Blood Magic, Book 1

De: J.T. Lawrence, M.J. Kraus

Narrado por: Roshina Ratnam

It’s a case she can’t refuse.

Spell-slinger. Vampire-slayer. Magical albino ferret-rescuer. Meet Jacqueline Denna Knight, the best wizard detective in the city.

Jax turns vampires to ash and pain into magic. She also has a knack for finding things. So, when a distraught - and obscenely wealthy - elf calls Jax at midnight to hire her for an intriguing job, she grabs the opportunity with both hands.

But what Jax doesn’t know is that this case is going to unravel her life. She’ll get tangled up with a host of intriguing characters, most of whom are not who they appear to be.

As Jax speeds down a path toward the most powerful vampire clan in the country, she’ll have to put everything on the line.

Will she be able to use her unique brand of magic to save the Realm?

This is a breakneck-paced mix of urban fantasy, irreverent humor, and detective noir. Fans of The Dresden Files and Jessica Jones will burn through this brand new addictive urban fantasy series.

Get it now.

©2019 Muonic Press Inc (P)2019 Muonic Press Inc

Honest review

I really loved this book. So much magic, witchcraft, and other worldly beings in one book. I love the fact that Jacqueline never gave up. Definitely well put together and narrated. I also need to find out what happened to Gizmo.

I want to listen to more

This is the first book I’ve read/listened to by these authors together, and the tenth by JT Lawrence. I’ve never listened to anything by MJ Kraus before. I have Witches Get Stitches next in my cue. I’m looking forward to it. The writing of the main character is very JT Lawrence. She is a tough, direct speaking main character.
There is definitely a lot going on in this book. Lots of action. The book ends without a real conclusion. Gotta get the next one!

This is the seventh book I’ve listened to by this narrator ( Roshina Ratnam ). She is a great voice actress. She really brings out the heart of the story.

There are no explicit sex scenes, excessive violence. I don’t remember if there was swearing.

I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and voluntarily left this unbiased review.
Please feel free to comment on whether you found my review helpful.

Look for the turn, the trick, the twist!

Jax is fully invested in her career as a paranormal investigator. This first volume of the series puts Jax on several complex and dangerous cases. The case of the missing crown is the main plotline, splitting into several threads involving Elves, Orcs, and Goblins. It’s an interesting tale and our MC is blessed with an overabundance of luck and insight. I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

LOVED IT!

I absolutely loved it! This book caught my attention from the very beginning and held it throughout the entire book. This book is full of action, drama and so much adventure. The narration was excellent. The author did an excellent job with the character builds and plot. I look forward to reading more books in this series! I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

A good start, to get even better

This book reminded me of Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter series, without the steamy situations, and without the PI investigations.
I recommend the book as it has the ingredients to become a successful series after some work on the plot development: an intriguing mystery to be solved - although the interviews/interrogations were not productive; a bada$$ female detective; some supernatural beings (goblins, orcs, and of course, vampires); a mysterious handsome "savior" that is at the right place, at the right moment; and of course, more than one exciting situation. It has many movies and some current events references; as well as funny analogies that had me chuckling all along.
Both my husband, who doesn't usually listen to audiobooks, and I were engaged and drawn into the story from the beginning. We had a long trip and the duration of the book was perfect to listen to it on the long drive. You must be aware that the narrator of the book doesn't have an American accent. I guessed it right, as it was set up in South Africa.
Be prepared to be entertained by the action and humor in this audiobook.
I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

Entrance into a new magical/urban world

This story has a great deal of action. Indeed the heroine, has a feast or famine thing going on for her. I had "Die Hard" in a magical urban world spring to mind several times. (sometimes that is good, and sometimes not. It depends on the suspension of disbelief.) It has a Young Adult feel to the book, but is not really Young Adult. I believe there was one F word, some really gory imagery, a darker world atmosphere.

I enjoyed the story and am listening to book 2 right now and enjoying it as well.

There is a lot to establish in any new world building series. Some authors develop with a lot of descriptions and details. This story's details are slowly drizzled out for you in smaller nibbles. There are scenes that let the reader imagine quite a bit, but then some of the little details that are described later kind of force you to revise your inner eye picture of what you had been imagining all along.

I found many of the characters likeable, and they made sense as they developed. Book 2 (as in most new world series) sheds much more light on the main character and why/how she is the way she is.

I must say I did have trouble with the narration. Not a lot of trouble, but I will explain in a moment. I rarely have trouble with anyone, unless it is the actual audio quality. I enjoyed her accent and general tone and voice modulations. It did sound like she was reading each sentence almost out of breath, like she was running and stopped to tell us the sentence. I believe it more her style than anything negative. I just hard some difficulties getting used to it. I did not notice it by the end of the book, so that says something positive as well.

Note: It does leave off on a cliffhanger, stops rather suddenly.

Overall, this is a potentially very enjoyable series. I enjoyed book 1 and wanted to read book 2 afterwards. I thank the author for this new series and look forward to its development.

I was given a copy by the author. I left this review voluntarily and thank the author for the chance to see what will come in this series.

A lot going on - leading to confusion

I received this book for free. I am voluntarily posting this review and all opinions expressed herein are my own.

There is a lot going on in this book. It seemed to me that everything which could possibly happen, happened. There were more creatures and characters than it was possible to keep track of and enjoy the story. I got lost several times and at the end, I felt exhausted by it all. So, to me, this was just okay.

I really like the narrator, Roshina Ratnam, and will look for other books narrated by her.

looking forward to more

I enjoyed this book and look forward to either listening to and/or reading more in this series.

Hard Driving Detective Adventure

There’s a lot to like about this new series by Lawrence and Kraus. Jacqueline Knight is a hard driving wizard detective whose magic is driven by her emotions. This simple statement really helps the credibility of the story, because in most adventures, even though our heroes are exhausted, they somehow manage to find the strength to keep going. Strong emotions like anger, hate and fear often grow worse as the hero is run down and this made Knight suddenly finding the strength to keep fighting really believable.

There is also a nice mixture of modern world and hidden magical world. The idea is not original, but the world building worked for me here and kept up my interest in learning about Knight’s realm.

The mystery was also a good one. Lots of things happening. Many of them end up being related—no surprise there—but how they become related kept my interest building throughout the story.

I do have a couple of very minor complaints. One is that we keep getting told that Knight is the best wizard detective around. She clearly has a superb reputation. And yet she’s two months behind on her rent and I found those two things didn’t quite go together. Maybe if only poor people thought she was good, but everyone knows who she is and wants her to work on cases for them. In addition, and this is a bit unfair of me, there is a big unresolved problem at the end which is clearly intended to drive the next book in the series. When I read a book that acts like a detective story, I expect the mystery resolved even if the bigger problems continue into the next novel. Obviously the authors disagreed with me here. Which is their right. It’s their story and despite these small complaints it’s a good one.

I received this book from Audiobook Boom in exchange for an honest review.

Magic, action and supernatural creatures

This story has everything; magic, action and a whole bunch of supernatural creatures. It's a great concept and I was super excited to read another book by one of my favourite local authors. But the problem is, this book has a whole bunch of supernatural creatures. So many in fact, that I lost the plot more than once and could not quite keep track of everything that is going on and who is who. despite that, I still enjoyed the story and some of the characters are really great and there is a magical albino ferret, who does not want one of those? I'm looking forward to reading the next book in the series as I would like to see how all the pieces fit together and hopefully with the first book setting the scene, the rest of the books will be easier to follow.