Yancy Lazarus is having a bad day: there’s a bullet lodged in his butt cheek, his face looks like the site of a demolition derby, and he’s been saran-wrapped to a banquet table. He never should have answered the phone. Stupid bleeding heart – helping others in his circles is a good way to die – just ask the gang members ripped to pieces by some kind of demonic nightmare in LA.
As a favor to a friend, Yancy agrees to take a little looksee into the massacre and boom, he’s stuck in a turf war between two rival gangs, which both think he’s pinch-hitting for the other side. Oh, and there’s also a secretive dark mage with some mean ol’ magical chops and a small army of hyena-faced, body-snatching baddies. It might be time to seriously reconsider some of his life choices.
Yancy is a bluesman, a rambler, a gambler, but not much more. Sure, he can do a little magic – maybe even more than just a little magic – but he knows enough to keep his head down and stay clear of freaky-deaky hoodoo like this business in LA. Somehow though, he’s been set up to take a real bad fall – the kind of very permanent fall that leaves a guy with a toe tag. That’s unless, of course, he can find out who is responsible for the gangland murders, make peace in the midst of the gang feud, and takeout said magical dark mage before he hexes Yancy into an early retirement. Easy right? Stupid. Bleeding. Heart.
Not a smooth read. I was excited to see a male author in this genre. I was hoping there wouldn’t be a romance at light speed overtaking the plot. Well, this did not have the romance bogging down the story line but it was a difficult read. Events could never just happen. They had to be artfully described. Every conversation he had was the same way. This guy talked in his head so much that you barely registered the other characters. I normally get thru a book in a couple days but this took me 2 weeks because…
Ambivalence here… When I finish a book, I’m rarely in doubt about what I will say in a review, but this one has me sitting on the fence, not sure which way to jump. I read a ridiculous number of paranormal novels, particularly urban fantasy, and Strange Magic sounded like my particular cup of eldritch tea. And in many ways, it was; 1st person narrator-a Mage who chiefly wants to be left alone to drink, smoke and play the blues. Of course, his own particular reality intrudes, and he is called upon to battle…
Enjoyable; Has Potential I enjoyed the book and it certainly kept me interested, enough so that I sacrificed an hour of sleep last night to get to the end. So yes, go ahead and get it.Â