Interesting book. The h is a necromancer and she finds this out strictly by accident - her mom dies and she raises her. Since her father is a vicar, this does not go over well.

The story starts with her in prison. She's been caught stealing. Some brute attacks her, someone intervenes and dies, she raises him, and it scares the absolute crap out of everyone in the prison, allowing her to escape.

Eventually she's caught by what I assume is the H but it being more a historical fantasy series, we're left wondering about that. In any case, his purpose is to convince her to help him catch someone who is also looking for her because of her abilities. He does convince her, but not before inadvertently discovering she's a female, which causes him consternation.

The bad guy is eventually found, and it's also revealed that he has a connection to her.

The h is...well, her living as a boy gives her an excuse to not be all that compliant about being subservient, and she's realistic - her social class puts her more in servant/maid/companion, so what's the point in being schooled in being a lady? Makes for some friction there.

The H says at one point he was destined to lead the division before he was born. He doesn't elaborate unfortunately. He doesn't seem to have a standard social class himself, and he's trained in martial arts, so there's a lot of explaining to do, which we don't get. I don't know if future books address this or not.

I may eventually (particularly if amazon gives it away) read book 2, but Mt Doom looms and series that fall in the interesting category are being resolutely pushed aside.

C.J. Archer starts a new series off with a girl in hiding for her special ability to raise the dead:

Fleet Foot Charlie has been living on the streets since her father threw her out 5 years ago, but tonight she was not a fleet footed as she should have been. In a cell with men who have horrible ideas on their mind, one man ends up dead and that is when her true abilities come to life and allow her to escape. But those in the cell with her do not remain silent, and soon there are people desperate to find her to help with their own agendas. Charlie doesn't know who to trust and how long she can keep pretending she's not the necromancer they seek and with Queen and Country at stake she will have to decide who she can trust.

This was a good read. It had some interesting aspects in it especially the further you get into the story I just think there was a bit too much time spent on attempting to figure out Charlie's secret, that she was not a boy but a girl. This aspects takes about half the book to be found out and it took away from the actual plot of someone wanting Charlie to help raise an undead army to attack the Queen. This leads to the incorporation of a classis horror story and I think that Archer did a good job at melding the two books together and having the events/ideas unfold in an interesting way. Book was darker than I expected it to be, which was a nice surprise. I mean I feel like a book like this should be darker with having an individual who can raise the dead.

I wish that we had more than Charlie's point of view. I liked Charlie as a character but I felt that this story was not as well rounded as it could have been if there had been another point of view. I think that Archer should have had some points of view from Fitzroy as he is also the main male lead in the book. He was also an interesting character, as he was raised from birth to be the leader of the Ministry of Curiosities. We do not get a true sense of Fitzroy in this book, but I will say he seems to have some abilities that are not entirely human so I look forward to discovering who/what he really is.

I appreciated that while there is what a school girl crush that Charlie has on Fitzroy, Archer does not really peruse this aspect in this book. I feel like a romance between the two would muddle the plot, and you do get more of an older brother feel from the male character to Charlie.

I'm interested in seeing where Archer takes this series and if she chooses to connect her stories with other classic novels. I also hope we get more exploration in to Charlies' abilities and have her use them more often (I guess I'm being morbid as this means people have to die for this to happen) but the true extent of her abilities goes unexplored in this book. So I will be looking to read the next book in this series.

Enjoy!!!

   

I accidentally read the summary for the second book in the serious and now I have a bad feeling about the character I like so far in this. 

Note: As this is Book 4 in the series, you really need to enjoy the previous books to get what’s at stake in this story.

Whew! Such a mix of feelings over this book. It was a great, wild ride but I am sad to say it looks like this is the end of the series. First, it was awesome to see Dani back in the mix. She is so good for Conor and just a great character herself. I love her snark and quick comebacks and her absolute certainty once she’s made a decision. There’s some unfinished business between her and Conor and that might break them apart. I was on the edge of my seat for part of the story waiting to see how things would be resolved between them.

Frank, the trogre, continues to be the heart of this little adventure group. Amos is a jerk with a noble cause (protect Dani). Prythi is also back and her cyber skills are put to the test. Then there is Ash, Karatona’s son. He’s a young dragon that owes his life to Conor.

On the other side, we have Samedi. He’s gathered so much power from tricking and cheating Conor. I thoroughly enjoyed watching Conor and his team try to stay one step ahead of Samedi… and sometimes failing. The woe! But Conor and crew rally each and every time. Even though there are zombies.

Death also enters the fray. Yep, that Death. Conor has to figure out what side he’s really playing for. There were so many ways for all to have been lost for our heroes. I was caught up for the entire story! I especially liked Forbes’s take on the Morrigan in this tale, even if the trio create a serious headache for Conor.

The ending was a deliciously tense bit! Conor has been dying for years from cancer but I really didn’t know how things would fall out for him. I also feared for his companions. Even throughout the action, there’s bits of humor tucked in everywhere. Ash and pixies and all of Amos’s comments! Snort laugh! The final ending was very fitting. Perhaps we will see Conor again some day but if this is all we get, it’s been a worthy series. 5/5 stars.

I received a free copy of this audiobook.

Narration:  Jeff Hays has done this series justice! He has a great, rough voice for Conor. I also love his voice for Amos, who is sarcastic or dissatisfied or making lewd comments all the time. All his female voices are feminine (he does a great job with them) and I loved having Dani back. He went the extra mile with the ultra-creepy voice for Samedi. There’s quite the range of emotions in this book, especially for Conor and Hays did a great job performing those emotions. 5/5 stars.