Has promise, but characters don't connect

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	• Black Magic Woman (Quincy Morris Supernatural Investigation) Justin Gustainis Solaris, 2008 - 336 pages average customer review:based on 30 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Awesome New Urban Fantasy Series

This story completely sucked me in and captivated me all the way through. I was completely immersed in the world that Mr. Gustainis has created here. Quincey Morris and Libby Chastain play off each other well and are great protagonists. The plot, pacing, danger, supernatural elements and story weaving are excellent!

If you're a fan of X-Files or The Dresden Files, this book is reminiscent of that style of writing. I LOVED it and can hardly wait for the next book in this series, Evil Ways, which is due to be released December 30th, 2008 according to Amazon.ca.

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Interesting start

I'm always on the lookout for a new urban fantasy author, and this novel by Justin Gustainis seemed to have an interesting premise and solid characters. The plot moved quickly and kept me interested enough to read it through in a day or two, but in the end I felt like I still didn't know much about the main characters. There are some books that draw you in with unique, charismatic people that you just can't wait to read more about. That's how I felt about the Harry Dresden series by Jim Butcher, I was hooked from the very first novel because I loved the characters. This book just didn't have that draw. Quincy Morris had a fascinating background, but the man himself just wasn't very interesting. I'm writing this review a few weeks after I read the book, and I don't even remember the name of the detective, Van something or other, because he was equally uninteresting. There was very little in the way of character development, which I'm hoping will be corrected in any future novels. I will probably pick up the second one in a library somewhere, but it's not something I have to have as soon as it comes out like other series I could name.

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Super Reader

A pleasant surprise, with bonus.

The bonus being there is a short story included at the beginning, as an introduction to Mr. Morris. Yes, he is a descendant of the original, and there is a cool little scene 'from' Dracula showing the surviving characters learning about a child that he had. Our hero here, too, is a Texan, of rather more understated character than usual.

Actual monster hunting here, the only people involved in sex with the undead or demons are really not very nice.

The cover here actually shows two characters, and both their heads, Solaris having a different focus to the run of the mill urban-fantasy-for-women books being produced elsewhere. So, the picture implies a partnership.

This is what you get: Morris, the 'supernatural interventionist', who is just a competent, well trained and read human, and a consulant he uses named Elizabeth Chastain. She is a white witch, and can do the fairdinkum magic stuff, as well as being his friend.

The book is certainly into horror territory, with the plot being revenge tied into the execution of a woman in Salem witch times, and a family feud. A black witch is trying to destroy the family line, completely, of those who executed her ancestor. Women, children, and budgies if they had any included. The family hires Quincey to help them stop the attacks.

The different bit is the hiring of an African woman to make a powerful fetish to help the black witch involved destroy her enemies. This involves some very nasty crimes.

Along with the Morris and Chastain main storyline, the hunting down of the African and her partner by a South African member of their Occult Crimes squad and an FBI agent is the major subplot.

This is apparently the author's second novel, and feels rather polished to me.

Vampires, demons, werewolves, witches, voodoo, and more are to be found packed into this book that thankfully does not suffer from any bloat or padding whatsoever.

There's a stringpuller in the background who presumably we will find out about in later books, and this one does end with a preview section from the next novel.

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Has promise, but characters don't connect

The setup for this book is promising. Magic is all around, and somewhat like Harry Dresden, there are those who practice magic and don't deny it, but the general populace doesn't believe unless their noses are rubbed in it. The two main protagonists of the book are a savvy but non-magical PI/problem-solver, and his "white" witch sometime partner. Unfortunately, neither character was written in a way that grabbed me. If I'm supposed to care about the peril to a character, I need to care about the character in the first place. Also, if there's going to be romantic tension between two characters, I need to care enough to root for them getting together.

I'm not entirely sure why I didn't bond. The writing is perfectly competent. Perhaps dual first-person viewpoints rather than third person would have helped. Also, the two main characters' storyline is diluted by a totally unnecessary parallel storyline involving a South African occult police specialist brought in to help the FBI with a serial killer. It turns out both sets of characters are after the same perps (this is not really a spoiler because it's never a mystery), but their paths cross only tangentially and the pages spent with the second team could have been much better used to build up the main characters.

I think there is some potential here, but at this point it's largely unrealized.

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Good start to series

I think that this is going to be an excellent series. It had good setup, interesting characters, and was paced well. None of the characters got short shrift either, since the POV moved around pretty consistently. I was resentful when I had to put it down during the last hundred pages or so. And parts of it scared me, which I figure Mr. Gustainis could ask for no better compliment. I'll be keeping an eye out for Mr. Gustainis's books from now on. Also, since I believe in sharing the wealth, I've already loaned my copy out.

reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

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