Book Reviews

Book Blurb

Kit Winter does not get caught.

As the most infamous thief in America, Kit enjoys a carefree, transient lifestyle—or, he did, until someone slapped a pair of handcuffs around his wrists and offered him an impossible choice: Rot in prison or join the most dangerous division of the Darkmagic Investigation Agency, the Renegades.

Kit’s pretty sure he chose wrong. The Renegades are the most elite fighters in the world—none more so than their legendary dark-witch-killing lieutenant, Zach Riley. Kit is utterly outmatched and unprepared for hunting witches and demons through the dangerous, magic-riddled city of Las Oscura.

But when a routine hellhound hunt turns fatal, Kit’s criminal skillset might be the Renegades’ best shot at tracking a deadly new killer through the shadowy underground—and Kit’s chance to earn his place on the team. However, hunting witches is worlds away from Kit’s old life, and if he wants to survive, he’ll need to learn to trust his team—and balance his burgeoning feelings for a certain lieutenant.

 

Book Review

This debut book by a new author left me reeling. Everything that works for me is in these pages: action and adventure, a slow-burn romance, mystery and suspense, great worldbuilding, a special op found family, and excitement around every corner. I suspect this author is not “new”, only the name is, and I’ll be curious to see if I’m right at some point, but until then I was turning pages as fast as I possibly could.

 

Kit Winter escaped from Las Oscura, his hometown, seven years ago and has been living a life of thievery as the Shadow on the eastern seaboard of the US. He’s never been caught until he makes a stupid (and, let’s face it, a total guy) mistake and now he’s given a choice: prison or join the Renegades, the elite and most dangerous division of the Darkmagic Investigation Agency. Kit figures he’ll go along with it until he can escape and get back to what he’s good at. He doesn’t expect to find something he never knew he was missing. Comradery. A team. Friends. And, then there’s the Ghost, the leader of the Renegades.

 

Zach Riley is a killer. Straight up. He kills darkmagic witches and hellhounds, keeping West America and Las Oscura as safe as he can. His name is a household warning for witches and gang members. He always wears a hooded mask so no one can see his face and there are plenty of rumors abounding about why. He’s fiercely protective of his team and he works hard at making them a practically indestructible unit.

 

The world is interesting with the United States broken down the middle with the Rocky Mountains as the divider between West America and the US. There are pockets in the ground in the Rockies where hellhounds come forth and demons can be summoned by witches. The witches all live in West America and they sell pieces of their souls via their blood to summon demons and get darkmagic powers. I’m looking forward to getting more information about this world in future installments.

 

As the first book in a new series, the author did a great job at capturing my interest within the first pages, and continuing to keep the story fascinating while not saturating me with unnecessary details. The writing is very crisp and clean, and the characters, not just the main ones, are all interesting and contribute to the plot and flow of the story. I’d be lying if I said I’m not jonesing for the next book and I hope it gets here quickly. Thank you, Lex Veia, for a fabulous story!

 

 

 

DISCLAIMER: Books reviewed on this site were usually provided at no cost by the publisher or author. This book has been purchased by the reviewer.

 

Additional Information

Format	ebook and print
Length	Novel, 391 pages
Heat Level
Publication Date	29-February-2024
Price	$4.99 ebook, $14.99 paperback
Buy Link	https://www.amazon.com/Shadow-Ghost-Shadows-Slow-Burn-Fantasy-ebook/dp/B0CPG91WNW