Book source ~ Tour

Rune Jenkins and Grey Malteer have crossed over into Eon, a parallel world where all the things fantasy are actually real. They’ve been recruited by the Council because they are Venators, and Tate, a Venshii, is the one who retrieved them. Rune’s twin Ryker has also crossed over, but he’s in the hands of Zio. The Council hates Zio and that hate is mutual. But is one side really good and the other bad? Or is this world just totally fucked up? I’m forming an opinion, but won’t share yet.

Rune and Grey are knee-deep in secrets and politics of a world they have no idea how to navigate. It is nothing, I mean, nothing like Earth. Well, ok, the sneaky politics are the same, but think about if you could add magic and powers and otherworldly beings to our world and then you have an inkling of what Eon is like. Rune and Grey keep thinking they are back in Kansas (metaphorically) and this leads to serious trouble for them.

Ryker is another story. Man, I don’t know that this guy is going to be salvageable after staying with and believing everything Zio says.

When Grey’s dumb ass goes running into enemy territory and becomes the captive of Feena the Fae Queen, well, I can’t say I felt sorry for him. Rune also has me wanting to slap her around because seriously? How stupid do you have to be?

This book is at times frustrating and at others intriguing. I get that the characters are YA and in over their heads AND not by their own choice. But they are supposed to be smart. Not to say smart people don’t do dumb things, but after nearly dying in book 1, you’d think book 2 would see some epiphany billboards being lit up. However, the frustration is rewarded by character growth during the course of this book, so I’ll allow it. Every other character is fabulous. Every single one has an agenda and I don’t know what they are yet. I’m fully invested in finding out how all these pieces are going to fit together. Also? Beltran is perhaps my favorite character so far.

I will end this review with one thing that bugged the shit out of me. There is a moment, when Grey is off doing his stupid thing, that he leaves his boots by a river. Verida and Rune see those boots later. That’s how they know he did the stupid thing. But for the rest of the book, Grey suddenly has his boots on. This is the kind of thing I notice and it drives me nuts.  Other than that, I recommend this book. It has danger, action, sexual attraction, magic, and intrigue. Layer upon layer of intrigue. Bring on the next book!

Like the Ultimate Blog Tour for the first Venators novel, Venators: Magic Unleashed, back in March, I'm going to take what I posted last year when the novel was initially released and then add on some new thoughts, with a focus on the recently published audiobook.

So the ending of the previous book (Venators: Magic Unleashed) focused on a dragon being unleashed by the series' (apparent) Big Bad, the sorceress Zio. Not surprisingly, the series central characters survived the encounter. This book starts with a quick recap of that survival from the point of view of Zio—which is a great way to get the reader back into the moment and build on their understanding of what happened and Zio.

We quickly return to our Earthlings, Grey and Rune and the aftermath of their unauthorized excursion to rescue humans from a werewolf pack, which culminated in the aforementioned dragon attack. Rune's proving to be a quick study of Council politics and was able to turn things to their advantage and buy them some leniency from the Council.

The ways the two humans respond to and interact with Council members is pretty interesting and I suspect will be one of the more interesting developments from this point forward in the series. I suspect the Venator abilities that make these two the warriors they are in this world are in play with Rune's politicking—no one mentions mental acuity when talking about Venator abilities, but maybe they should. Watching Rune play the games (both successfully and less-so) that the various Council members throw her way is probably my favorite part of the character.

And she has to do a lot of politicking and game playing here because her co-Venator and friend Grey has found himself in quite the pickle. After their ordeal with the werewolves, the two Earthlings' need for training was even more apparent. They get just a little of it (a good, promising start) before getting momentarily side-tracked. Before they get a chance to build on that, Grey is lured into the one place the two have been told they absolutely cannot go. Because forbidding people from going somewhere always works out (how many Hogwarts students stayed out of the forest? How long did Belle stay out of the West Wing? Even the Federation had to know that forbidding landing on Talos IV wouldn't work for long).

Grey has found himself in the clutches of a powerful Fae, Feena. Feena will spend days/weeks/years sucking the life out of her prisoners to feed her own magics. Given that Grey is more powerful than your typical Eonian, you know she'll drag it out as long as possible. It's a torturous experience for Grey, but he does what he can to resist and fight back. On the one hand, watching him stupidly and blindly put himself in this situation was maddening. But after that, watching Grey endure what he has to and struggle in response is pretty cool. As much as I appreciate Rune's playing politics, I enjoy watching Grey in action.

So the book boils down to this—can Rune get permission to run a rescue mission—or at the very least, find a window in which she can pull off another unauthorized mission? Can Grey survive long enough for the cavalry to arrive? Assuming they do, how can Grey be rescued and the Venators get back to their training without causing a diplomatic incident that will shake up everything?

The actions of the Venators' guides, teachers, allies confuse me. They've got these two kids in a world they clearly don't understand, with abilities they don't understand and then expect them to react appropriately in new situations. Even worse, all of them are keeping things from Grey and Rune—telling them half-truths, deflecting legitimate questions, and delaying explanations. It's maddening. It's bad enough that the Council, who are clearly only using these two for their own ends do that, but the people who supposedly are looking to them to change the world? A little honesty, being a little forthcoming, helping them to avoid the minefields they keep running into rather than saying "oh, you shouldn't have done that"—it would make it a lot easier for this reader to stomach them.

The Council? I need to see more of them. I have little patience for them as individuals or as an entity at the moment, but as individuals and as an entity there's great potential for something interesting to happen. Feena's a good villain—she's not worth several books, but for one novel? She's a good opponent. The Fae? It's simple—any universe, any world, any author—when it comes to Fae politics, Fae dealings with other Fae, Fae dealings with non-Fae? It's complicated, tricky, and messy. It's good to know you can count on something.

So much is happening in a very short period of time, it's hard to know what kind of impact the events are having on anyone—it's been less than two weeks since these two jumped into this world, leaving St. Louis behind. It's hard for them—or a reader—to really take it all in. We do know that already both Venators are changing because of their abilities (as well as the experiences in this new world)—both are self-aware enough to see how it's happening (at least in part) and are both resisting and embracing the changes. Both are, naturally, deluded about how easy it will be to resist this kind of thing—denial's not just a river on Earth.

I'm enjoying these books—I do hope that under the new publisher, they're able to come out pretty regularly, it'll help sustain my interest (and, I'm guessing, the reading public's). I know that Walls has several more books planned, so it makes it okay that I'm still on the fence about the series as a whole—there's a lot of potential to the series and these characters and she has time to help them reach their potential. There are aspects of the books (the prospective—and lingering—romantic entanglements, for example) that I'm withholding an opinion on until more happens. And I'm not sure if I should appreciate how little we're getting with Zio and Rune's brother, or if it should annoy me. Is Walls building suspense, or is she simply being obfuscatory? I'm hoping that after Book 3, I'll be more settled with my expectations about these books—I know I'm enjoying them, I'm just not sure if I should wait on them getting better.

May's narration is as strong as it was last time. He captures the emotion and characters and tone with both skill and art. He's doing the narration for another series due to be released in a couple of weeks and I'm looking forward to seeing how he handles that.

This time through, two characters really stood out to me: Ryker and Tashara (a succubus who sits on the Council). I'm not sure if Walls is setting Ryker up for a major redemptive arc or if she's going to cause an irreparable rift between the twins (or both). I guess this ties into what I said above about him and Zio. As far as Tashara, she's a complex character—May does a great job of depicting that—and I'm intrigued by both her and her relationship to Grey (her incubus counterpart, on the other hand, just annoys me).

One last thing. This is just a personal hangup, I'm sure, but I hate Arwin's name. Last year, when I got to ask Walls some questions, I talked about how much it reminded me of a certain Lady of Rivendell. This year, when I listened to the books, it kept making me think of Lloyd Alexander's Arawn Death-Lord. He's hands-down my favorite Council member (I'm waiting for Walls to pull the rug out from under me and reveal he's a turncoat or more Machiavellian than the rest), but his name trips me up in print or audio.

Again, I find myself rating this a tad higher in audio than in print. I'm not sure where that comes from, also not sure if it matters. Walls and May are a great combination. An interesting world, great characters (even if they frustrate me), good action—and a fast-moving plot. This YA fantasy is a crowd-pleaser, I'm sure of that—you should join the crowd.

Book source ~ Tour

Rune Jenkins loves all things supernatural, but has to suppress her fascination around her twin, Ryker. For some reason he’s taken an extreme dislike of the things she likes and it’s exhausting hiding it from him. One person she knows embraces the supernatural though and Grey Malteer doesn’t seem to care that people think he’s weird. When creatures suddenly come hunting for them, Rune is in for a rude awakening. The things she’s been drawn to are not fantasy, they’re real and she, Ryker, and Grey are sucked up into their world. It’s not all fun and games in Eon. In fact, it’s not fun at all. It’s terrifying and Grey and Rune don’t know who to trust. But Rune knows this…she will do anything to rescue her twin from the crazy bitch (and Council of Eon enemy) who took him from Earth. This Zio chick better watch out. Because Rune is coming for Ryker whether he likes it or not. Family is family.

While I’m a little iffy on the whole Council reason for bringing the Venators back to Eon after so long, I do enjoy the action. The characters are complex and yet simplistic. Grey has had a shitty upbringing, but he’s a good person. Rune has had an uncomplicated upbringing and she’s reckless and, to be honest, an idiot. At least she has good instincts and hasn’t gotten Grey killed. Yet. Ryker is completely unlikeable at this point, but who knows what the future holds? Side characters are pretty awesome. I think I almost like them more than the main characters. I didn’t rate this higher simply for personal reasons. Or one reason. The Council. They seem so cliché and all this double (triple, quadruple?) secret dealing is something I really hate. I get it. They are immortal creatures who thrive on this devious shit, but I really truly hate it. What can I say? Not a fan. However, the story flows fairly smoothly with no overly explained scenes and the world is fascinating. I look forward to seeing where this is headed.

I'm about a month late with this one -- every time I sat down to write it, I decided I wanted to chew on things a bit more (and then I arranged to do a Q&A with the author in conjunction with the post and so I bought myself some time to let things stew while she found time to get the answers done). Now that I have her answers in my inbox, I have no excuse to put this off. So, despite some of my thoughts still being half-baked, here we go...

And yes, that was one very convoluted series of food metaphors. That really doesn't inspire a lot of confidence in this post, does it?

So the ending of the previous book (Venators: Magic Unleashed) focused on a dragon being unleashed by the series' (apparent) Big Bad, the sorceress Zio. Not surprisingly, the series central characters survived the encounter. This book starts with a quick recap of that survival from the point of view of Zio -- which is a great way to get the reader back into the moment and build on their understanding of what happened and Zio.

We quickly return to our Earthlings, Grey and Rune and the aftermath of their unauthorized excursion to rescue humans from a werewolf pack, which culminated in the aforementioned dragon attack. Rune's proving to be a quick study of Council politics and was able to turn things to their advantage and buy them some leniency from the Council.

The ways the two humans respond to and interact with Council members is pretty interesting and I suspect will be one of the more interesting developments from this point forward in the series. I suspect the Venator abilities that make these two the warriors they are in this world are in play with Rune's politicking -- no one mentions mental acuity when talking about Venator abilities, but maybe they should. Watching Rune play the games (both successfully and less-so) that the various Council members throw her way is probably my favorite part of the character.

And she has to do a lot of politicking and game playing here, because her co-Venator and friend Grey has found himself in quite the pickle. After their ordeal with the werewolves, the two Earthlings' need for training was even more apparent. They get just a little of it (a good, promising start) before getting momentarily side-tracked. Before they get a chance to build on that, Grey is lured into the one place the two have been told they absolutely cannot go. Because forbidding people from going somewhere always works out (how many Hogwarts students stayed out of the forest? How long did Belle stay out of the West Wing? Even the Federation had to know that forbidding landing on Talos IV wouldn't work for long).

Grey has found himself in the clutches of a powerful Fae, Feena. Feena will spend days/weeks/years sucking the life out of her prisoners to feed her own magics. Given that Grey is more powerful than your typical Eonian, you know she'll drag it out as long as possible. It's a torturous experience for Grey, but he does what he can to resist and fight back. On the one hand, watching him stupidly and blindly put himself in this situation was maddening. But after that, watching Grey endure what he has to and struggle in response is pretty cool. As much as I appreciate Rune's playing politics, I enjoy watching Grey in action.

So the book boils down to this -- can Rune get permission to run a rescue mission -- or at the very least, find a window in which she can pull off another unauthorized mission? Can Grey survive long enough for the cavalry to arrive? Assuming they do, how can Grey be rescued and the Venators get back to their training without causing a diplomatic incident that will shake up everything?

The actions of the Venators' guides, teachers, allies confuse me. They've got these two kids in a world they clearly don't understand, with abilities they don't understand and then expect them to react appropriately in new situations. Even worse, all of them are keeping things from Grey and Rune -- telling them half-truths, deflecting legitimate questions and delaying explanations. It's maddening. It's bad enough that the Council, who are clearly only using these two for their own ends do that, but the people who supposedly are looking to them to change the world? A little honesty, being a little forthcoming, helping them to avoid the minefields they keep running into rather than saying "oh, you shouldn't have done that" -- it would make it a lot easier for this reader to stomach them.

The Council? I need to see more of them. I have little patience for them as individuals or as an entity at the moment, but as individuals and as an entity there's great potential for something interesting to happen. Feena's a good villain -- she's not worth several books, but for one novel? She's a good opponent. The Fae? It's simple -- any universe, any world, any author -- when it comes to Fae politics, Fae dealings with other Fae, Fae dealings with non-Fae? It's complicated, tricky and messy. It's good to know you can count on something.

So much is happening in a very short period of time, it's hard to know what kind of impact the events are having on anyone -- it's been less than two weeks since these two jumped into this world, leaving St. Louis behind. It's hard for them -- or a reader -- to really take it all in. We do know that already both Venators are changing because of their abilities (as well as the experiences in this new world) -- both are self-aware enough to see how it's happening (at least in part) and are both resisting and embracing the changes. Both are, naturally, deluded about how easy it will be to resist this kind of thing -- denial's not just a river on Earth.

I'm enjoying these books -- I do hope that under the new publisher, they're able to come out pretty regularly, it'll help sustain my interest (and, I'm guessing, the reading public's). I know that Walls has several more books planned, so it makes it okay that I'm still on the fence about the series as a whole -- there's a lot of potential to the series and these characters and she has time to help them reach their potential. There are aspects of the books (the prospective -- and lingering -- romantic entanglements, for example) that I'm withholding an opinion on until more happens. And I'm not sure if I should appreciate how little we're getting with Zio and Rune's brother, or if it should annoy me. Is Walls building suspense, or is she simply being obfuscatory? I'm hoping that after Book 3, I'll be more settled with my expectations about these books -- I know I'm enjoying them, I'm just not sure if I should wait on them getting better.

An interesting world, great characters (even if they frustrate me), good action -- and a fast moving plot. This YA fantasy is a crowd pleaser, I'm sure of that -- you should join the crowd.

Back in 2016, I read and blogged about Venators: Through the Arch, which was later picked up by a new publisher, given a re-write, a spiffy new cover, and was re-born as Venators: Magic Unleashed. I haven't read that old post in a long time, and won't until I finish with this one, I'm only linking out of habit. I hate to say it, but I remember very little about the original version of this book beyond a vague grasp of the plot outline, some vague notions of characters and an overall positive regard. Oh, and a strong interest in volume two. This revamped version is stronger, with some of the rough edges smoothed out, and strengths sharpened. Brown Books and Walls made good use of the relaunch. But let's set aside the comparisons and focus on Magic Unleashed.

This is a portal fantasy about a world called Eon, populated by humans, elves, vampires, werewolves, elves, dragons, etc. There are connections between Earth and Eon, allowing travel between the two -- although they're not as strong as they once were. It turns out some humans from Earth have a certain invulnerability to the kinds of magic employed by the various races (like a werewolf or vampire bite, but not, say, an invulnerability to a werewolf tearing off their head). Thee humans also have other enhanced physical attributes allowing them to go toe-to-toe in combat with members of these races. Which has made these humans a powerful force for good, and a potentially tyrannical force as well. Eon's known more of the latter lately, which has led to a lack of recruitment.

But now, society's on the verge of collapse into chaos, warring tribes trying to wipe out other races in a fight for dominance, and the end of law. So some people have taken it upon themselves to reintroduce these humans, Venators, to Eon. Enter Tate, a warrior who is convinced that Venators are the key to Eon's survival -- he's been to Earth before, and now returns to bring back some people he observed then. Six years ago, he encountered a young teen named Grey Malteer -- who was forever changed by their brief encounter. Now in college, Grey is about as well-read in the lore of the supernatural and weird as is possible for someone to be while stuck on Earth and not being known as a crackpot (although he's regarded as pretty eccentric, probably well on his way to crack-pot status).

An acquaintance of his from childhood, now attending the same college, Rune Jenkins is repulsed by the same things that Grey is focused on (while also drawn to them). Rune is totally unprepared to accept that the supernatural is anything but wild fiction until she's attacked by goblins and rescued by a large blue man (the aforementioned Tate). Which really can only make her a believer -- or drive her to some sort of psychotic break. Thankfully, she goes with the former. Tate brings Rune and Grey into Eon and sets before them the calling of Venator.

To oversimplify things: from here out, the two are introduced to this world, the beings that populate it, the political realities that govern it (and see them only as pawns), and they begin to embrace their new identities, while engaging in a brief battle or two. While Rune and Grey are introduced to all this, so is the reader -- and it's clearly the point of this book -- to bring the reader and these two into Eon, give us all a taste of what's to come and help us get to know the players. There is a clear plotline and definite story here -- don't get me wrong -- but the major function is to provide a foundation for things to come.

The book would have to be a lot longer to serve as anything other than an introduction -- the ruling council alone is made up of enough characters we'd need a few more chapters to really get to know them and their goals -- although they can be summed up in lust for power and influence for themselves and their race to the possible detriment of every other council member/race. Then you throw in Tate; his allies (however temporary) the vampire Veridia and the shapeshifter Beltran; the two humans; and the council's enemy, Zio -- and really, you've got enough players that you really can only skim the surface with in 354 pages.

We get to know Grey and Rune enough to see they're well-developed and three-dimensional, and many of the rest show signs of being that developed, but we don't get to see that fully displayed -- but we see enough to know that given the opportunity, the characters will be easily fleshed out. One thing I noted in particular while reading this is just how many seeds Walls planted in the characters and situations to come back to in future installments. This foundation is built in such a way that several books can be built on it -- it's really impressive to note.

Yes, this is written for the YA market, so there's a bit more action than others might use. There's a focus on certain kinds of emotional beats, and that sort of thing. But it's more of an accent to the storytelling than other writers would've made it. For some reason, Mercedes Lackey's Hunter series and Brandon Mull's Beyonders Trilogy come to mind as I think about similar series -- but the YA-ness of both of those comes through more strongly than it does with this book.

Book Two, Venators: Promises Forged releases today, and I'm hoping to start it in a day or two -- I'm looking forward to seeing how Walls takes all these ideas, characters, and potential and develops them. This is a good starting point, and what comes next can't help but be better when she can focus more on exploring the world she's created and shown us rather than just establishing it here. This is a good book and I do encourage people to read it, but its foundational nature should be borne in mind.