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Tuesday, June 24, 2014

Book Review ARC: Deadly Curiosities (Deadly Curiosities) by Gail Z. Martin

Deadly Curiosities (Deadly Curiosities)
by Gail Z. Martin

Cassidy Kincaide owns Trifles & Folly, an antique/curio store and high-end pawn shop in Charleston, South Carolina that is more than what it seems. Dangerous magical and supernatural items sometimes find their way into mortal hands or onto the market, and Cassidy is part of a shadowy Alliance of mortals and mages whose job it is to take those deadly curiosities out of circulation.

Welcome to Trifles & Folly, an antique and curio shop with a dark secret. Proprietor Cassidy Kincaide continues a family tradition begun in 1670—acquiring and neutralizing dangerous supernatural items. It’s the perfect job for Cassidy, whose psychic gift lets her touch an object and know its history. Together with her business partner Sorren, a 500 year-old vampire and former jewel thief, Cassidy makes it her business to get infernal objects off the market. When mundane antiques suddenly become magically malicious, it’s time for Cassidy and Sorren to get rid of these Deadly Curiosities before the bodies start piling up.


Deadly Curiosities is a bit of a mixup of cozy, suspense, and supernatural urban fantasy with the blending of these genres being a new twist for me. Cassidy is the owner of an antique shop in Charleston working closely with her associate Teag. She has a gift of being able to neutralize supernatural items and is the descendant of those in her family with this gift who have been performing this task for generations. Teag has his own gifts that compliment Cassidy's. In addition she has a business partner, Sorren, a 500 year-old vampire who has worked with and protected the proprietors of Deadly Curiosities for generations.

The story opens with previously neutralized, as well as unremarkable items suddenly radiating a malevolence that is increasingly destructive and they must get to the bottom of this to head off the spreading evil. The writing was clean and well executed and there was great world building, as well as historical lore that was very colorful and a pleasure to read. 

The characters are wonderful making me want to get to know them and kept me turning the pages to find out just what was happening and where it would all end up. The only thing that I had difficulty with in this read was the world building did have a tendency to go on and on a bit, at times seeming to take an extraordinary amount of time to get to the point, which made the story seem a bit long. However, the mystery did keep me engaged and anxious to find out what the outcome would be. I would definitely love to read more about these characters in the future and will be on the lookout for subsequent installments. I received this book via NetGalley.

4 Sheep




DeniseZ

About the author:
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Gail Z. Martin is the author of Ice Forged in The Ascendant Kingdoms Saga and the upcoming Reign of Ash (Orbit Books, 2014), plus The Chronicles of The Necromancer series (The Summoner, The Blood King, Dark Haven & Dark Lady’s Chosen ) from Solaris Books and The Fallen Kings Cycle (The Sworn and The Dread) from Orbit Books. In 2014, Gail launches a new urban fantasy novel, Deadly Curiosities, from Solaris Books. She is also the author of two series of ebook short stories: The Jonmarc Vahanian Adventures and the Deadly Curiosities Adventures.

3 comments:

  1. Great review Denise! I heard this book was really dark, kind of borderline horror...but thought it still sounded interesting. I just went and ordered a copy for myself! :) Looking forward to checking out this series.

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    Replies
    1. I don't think it was really horror so much as supernatural bad guys and the battle to overcome evil :) I hope you enjoy it. Thanks for stopping by!

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  2. Great review, I want to read that book !

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