So good until the end.

The ending makes the rest of the book feel like an introduction to the world but makes everything that happens to that point meaningless. I was loving every bit of it until the last chapter.

6 people found this helpful

Where's the magic?

For me UF needs magic but Doc has none and I could not get past that fact. He uses knives and intellect to survive the impossible. I really needed him to throw a spell or alchemy potion or something. Also he is shallow and not much of a strategist. In spite of this not being a fav for me, I will read this author's work should I cross it again. The world-building and the scope of characters impressed me enough to get through to the cliffhanger ending.

5 people found this helpful

this is a good story but written poorly

Form too much jumping to the bantering during a fight the pacing the list is long I keep checking to see if this is abridged because this this is ether cut to all hell to be rush or whatever I’m to tires to finished this review much like this book it expects you to fill in the blanks

5 people found this helpful

Lackluster narration kills this

I'm sure the story was better than it seemed, but the lack of dynamic narration really just sucked almost all the enjoyment out of this one.

2 people found this helpful

Not your typical doc Holliday

It’s a good book for sci do and doc Holliday fans puts a new interesting twist on his classic legend hope the rest of the series is as engrossing but a winner of a book from a true doc fan

2 people found this helpful

extremely tedious and slow

I really couldn't get into it. it was just extremely tedious and slow. not again.

1 person found this helpful

Meh

It's not terrible, and the poor voicing of it hurts it a lot, but it still just wasn't that well written. Main character was pretty boring and the side characters were all the typical sidekick levels, just not amusing or interesting enough.

1 person found this helpful

Don’t discount the book yet

The story is so/so but that’s not uncommon in new series. There’s a lot of potential here so I’m hoping the second and third books start bringing it all together.

1 person found this helpful

great story

The premise is original. the characters are developed well. wish the rest was on Audible.

1 person found this helpful

Mostly just sets the stage for the series

There are some new twists to the urban fantasy setting and a somewhat original variation of Doc Holliday. Frankly, I think the Doc Holliday character and world of the Wynona Earp TV series gave a better supernatural twist on a modern day Earp with a (demon) soul eating gun. Here, Doc has a soul eating tattoo and never once fires a gun. Why have him forego guns? I’m not sure there’s a good reason. And the whole sleazy womanizer, inveterate gambler and booze hound thing doesn’t make him an anti-hero; Doc is simply a schmuck who’s done nothing to improve himself in over a century. When we meet him, Doc is still going on blackout binges and sleeping with engaged women. He also doesn’t do any good deeds unless there’s something in it for him- namely, paying a debt by saving a gal.

Book 1 provides Doc’s origin story through a jumble of confusing flashbacks. Between the dead affect narration and the lack of signposting, it took me a while to realize when the story was in the past vs. present. For every explanation given about Doc, the magic rules, the various magical beings (cryptids), and how cryptids stay hidden from humans (normals), I feel like there are a dozen explanations lacking. You need to pay attention because the author will describe what Joury looks like, or what kind of a magical being Jarvis is only once. For that matter, there’s a lot of fade to black scenes, whether in the womanizing, fighting, or the main mystery.

I think I might have liked the story better with someone like Luke Daniels narrating. The narration is flat, making it hard to distinguish between the multitude of characters. Moreover, the lack of emotion dulled down scenes that should have felt action packed, suspenseful or heartfelt.

But, then again, the writing glosses over fight scenes, having Doc kill with ease to the point I never felt he was in peril. The author makes excuses for a lack of thought out magic vs science system, constantly telling us that Doc just doesn’t understand either, as if that means we too should just accept magic rules, like how a magic pebble boosts power or that three people can walk away from a car crash at 80mph into a magic wall.

Having said all the reasons why this was a middle of the road listen for me, there were still things
I enjoyed enough to wishlist book 2 and wait for a sale. I liked the slow burn Legolas/Gimli banter and
kill-competition between Doc and Joury. Talking plant Thaddeus, who is both lush and a lush, grew on me (😜). And, the Constantine-ish feel of the hidden world of cryptids and the promise of creature-variety make me willing to give this new author a chance to improve from his freshman offering.