Vendetta is the second book in Gail Z. Martin’s Deadly Curiosities series (though there are also several story stories and novellas as well). Set in Trifles & Folly, the antique shop of twenty-something Cassidy Kincaid, it chronicles our heroine’s urban fantasy adventures, as she uses her psychometry gift (knowing an objects history after touching it) to continue her family tradition of aiding the “Alliance.” This shadowy group led by a 600-year-old vampire named Sorren, whose goal is to safeguard the mortal world by acquiring and disposing of dangerous supernatural artifacts.

As the tale begins, Cassidy along with her friend and assistant Teag Logan find themselves investigating an abnormal amount of spirit activity in Charleston. Not that ghostly visits are rare; in fact, they are fairly common in this haunted, southern city: some appearing regularly; others coming and going. But things are different now; the spirits themselves in an uproar, terrified by something in the otherworld.

Normally, Sorren would lend help to Cassidy with a situation this large, but he has his own problems. Hundreds of years of undeath having caused him to acquire a lot of enemies; most of them forgotten (or almost forgotten) by Sorren. One of that shadowy multitude is now attacking Sorren’s other holdings, causing him to be absent when his help would have been very welcome in South Carolina.

With her immortal mentor absent, Cassidy calls in some outside experts; several Root Workers lending a hand getting to the bottom of the escalating weirdness enwrapping Charleston. Their investigation leading the group to an ominous conclusion, one which threatens the entire population of Charleston!

Because I have only experienced a handful of urban fantasy, I tend to compare every new novel I read to those which came before it, and because of its feel, I have to place Vendetta on the shelf next to Jim Butcher’s Harry Dresden. Cassidy reminding me of Harry in many ways, especially how she is learning to deal with her powers and adapt on the run as supernatural crisis after supernatural crisis envelop her. Even the story itself is very Dresden-like, filled with non-stop action, focusing on Cassidy and her friends struggling to unravel mysteries, then avert imminent disaster. All of which really means this novel is a pulse-pounding adventure on par with (arguably) the best urban fantasy in the business.

One of the stellar qualities of this novel is Gail Z. Martin’s portrayal of Charleston. Here the city is a huge part of the narrative. Much more than a mere name for the setting but an integral component of the story. Its history rendered in exquisite detail. Each character living with its embrace, exhibiting the intricacies of its unique culture. Ms. Martin succeeding in capturing the essence of this place, showing it in all its southern glory. Vendetta truly fulfilling the promise of urban fantasy by making the “urban” environment just as much a part of the tale as the “fantasy.”

The characters are the only strength. Cassidy is a strong, skilled, and capable young woman; someone who is powerful but not overpowered, complex but not moody, approachable but mysterious, knowledgeable yet willing to take advice. Her friends are all unique, original, and more than willing to take turns lending aid to our heroine; they are never one dimensional in any way, but bursting at the seams with untapped potential and hidden history; all of it just waiting to be explored.

The only criticism I would level at Vendetta is the pacing; at certain points in the narrative, it is very slow. For instance, there are many chapters devoted to investigating the current supernatural crisis: clues are uncovered, leads are followed, and revelations are made, but it doesn’t result in anything other than a few fights and another mystery to resolve. Nothing wrong with that, but Cassidy and Company’s new riddle is too similar to the last one, resulting in a feeling that you’ve read all this before. All of which results in this story feeling too long, too drawn out for the payoff at the end.

Despite this one flaw, Vendetta succeeded in being an entertaining urban fantasy with an amazing setting, supernatural mysteries, compelling camaraderie, satisfying diversity, and raw emotions. Cassidy and Company braving the realistic haunting of the city, dealing with hurt, pain, and loss. Hints of romance do swirl around a bit, but it isn’t the true heart of the story. Rather, this is a tale about saving the world, or, at least, saving Charleston, South Carolina, which was a very fine read in my opinion; one all urban fantasy fans should give a try.

The publisher provided this book to me for free in return for an honest review. The review above was not paid for or influenced in any way by any person, entity or organization, but is my own personal opinions.

Cassidy runs Trifles and Folly, an antique shop, with Teag while secretly using her psychometric powers to ensure dangerous magical items are quietly squirrelled away where they can cause no trouble. It also means she’s in a good place to see when the ghosts of Charleston are getting riled up

And when it does it heralds a major new threat come to town – but this monsters and its terrifying, apocalyptic minions are not just a threat to the city, but a very personal threat to Sorren, her vampire protector and mentor as well

I find myself faced with the same issue I have with this author’s other books – because there’s a lot I like about this series. I really like the world setting. I love the whole concept of trying to control magical artefacts that may cause damage either inadvertently or purposefully by unscrupulous people.

I really like how ghosts are such a large part of the book as well – it’s rare to see ghosts to be such a major emphasis in an Urban Fantasy novel and I do like the novelty of it. I also like how the ghosts are worked into the setting – Charleston – and history. And here we have another unique element – it isn’t sanitised. For whatever reason, a not-insignificant amount of Urban Fantasy is set in the south of the US, with lots of immortal beings all straining real hard to pretend slavery wasn’t a thing. This book doesn’t do that – the haunted streets of Charleston is populated by many of the horrors and scars of the city’s history. I like that, I like that a lot.

I like the potential richness of this series with so many different magic systems, vampires, ghosts, demons and even hints of many more. I also really like how restrained the series is. Sometimes you have a book series that has taken the kitchen sink approach to the supernatural and they decide to include ALL THE THINGS. This book doesn’t – only what is relevant is present and most of that focuses on a few magic users, the ghosts that populate the city and the core characters. I appreciate the restraint.

And I like the characters. I like Cassidy who, as I said in the last book, is skilled and capable, powerful without being super powered, with good relationships and good friends. I like Teague – an openly gay characters who manages to dodge a lot of stereotypes and have a very original (albeit rather convoluted) magic. We do have a number of very powerful, respected and capable Black characters who make regular appearances – but they are called on for their woo-woo. Yes, everyone has woo-woo in this book, but there’s more to Teague and Cassidy and Sorren than their magical nature – while the Mambos and Root workers are, well, Mambos and Root Workers. I don’t know much more about Mrs. Tiller than the fact she’s a root worker. I don’t know much more about Lucinda than the fact she practices voodoo. Yes, she’s a professor – in voodoo. It kind of defines her character. I think in book three I really need to see more of Lucinda: her past, her history, her hobbies, her work, her relationships. I want to see her do something that doesn’t involve a Loa

Now the invocation of the Loa did seem to involve a decent amount of research. Perhaps not more than you can do on google, but more than just repeating the name “Baron Samedi” a few times and throwing rum and cigars about.

So what’s my main issue with this book? Same as the other two books I’ve read by this author – flabbiness!

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Cassidy runs a little antique/pawn shop in Charleston – but few of her patrons know her true job: finding cursed, haunted or otherwise dangerous magical items and taking them off the market. It’s a mission her family has had for a long time, aided and guided by the vampire, Sorren and her employee Teag

With a job description like that, the weird and the odd are pretty much bread and butter. But when some perfectly normal (or, at least, not too harmful) artefacts start to become suddenly dangerous and haunted, there’s clearly something new in the city. Something dangerous. And who else is going to clean it up before worse follows?

This book has a fun concept. A family running a pawn/antique shop whose role is to find dangerous magical artefacts and take them out of circulation. It’s a very fun idea and it really works with Cassidy, the main character, psychometry. Being able to read objects is a perfect fix. I also quite like how they’ve managed to make that useful ability a powerful, dangerous one (albeit a little convenient, story-wise, since it allows her to pull any kind of magical mcguffin she needs) with some really nice ways of working

One of the common tropes I’ve found with magical female protagonists, if they’re not an outright kick arse combat monster weapon, they tend to have magical abilities which are more utility based than battle based. Either they’re all powerful combat gods, or useful tools and rely on other people to protect and fight for them (and, frequently, rescue them over and over).  So a character who is both capable of fighting and protecting herself without being the toughest most dangerous weapon evah with awesome killy powers. I appreciate that balance

I also like the world building – groups of people, supernaturals (including a vampire) trying to stop all kinds of supernatural chaos and carnage being unleashed and, inevitably, the big baddy group of selfish power hungry individuals who are naturally wanting to do nasty naughty things. What I like about these very very standard elements is the lack of organisation. The ad hoc, loose collection of both entities rather than some grand secret society that we so often see. It feels… more real to me.

The world and the concept is excellent.

All of it comes with a lot of fun action, excellent battles and nice capability from everyone. All the characters bounce off each other very well - Cassidy and Sorren and Teag and                          they work as an excellent team. I really like their story and would happily see them in more shenanigans in future.

So why didn’t I love this book? Because it feels… flabby. Flabby and slow, terribly slow and it feels like it drags for a long time. The whole pacing of the book feels off. Part of this is how the mystery is revealed

About the middle of the book we pretty much learn, well, everything. Even in the beginning we learn a fair amount pretty quickly. We learn that there’s a demon doing scary things which is leading to lots of ghostly shenanigans. We learn pretty quickly about the big dark scary demon summoners both past and present, we get an idea of what is happening and where and how it’s all connected really quickly. The location, the smuggled demonic artefacts, the general shenanigans caused by dark magic, shadow people and angry ghosts – we learn it all really quickly.

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Most of these purchases came from Bookliker's reviews and recommendations. Except Still Alice, I don't remember buying this so I must have picked it up at an estate sale in a box lot. It managed to migrate from inventory to a book shelf and looks grim, interesting, and sad.

This is just the DTBs, we won't speak about the ebooks.

With the exception of The Forgotten I purchased the rest used from Amazon and Ebay.

Purina is discontinuing Friskies Special Diet canned cat food, a required food for both Dorian and Diego. I use 4 cans a day. Special Diet ran $0.55/can, the new cat food will be $1.87/can.

My book buying budget just got pruned. There will be a lot of SPAs in my future, be afraid, be very afraid.

A review of Mr Penumbra will be appearing soon.