This is a serial book - that is, 16 episodes strung together like a season of TV shows, each episode written by one of the 4 authors.  One of the reasons I picked it up was because I had read one of Max Gladstone's Craft Sequence novels and enjoyed it. 

Anyway, it appears that I'm not really a huge fan of the serial experience.  It's not my preferred style of book.  I just find it tends to go on for too long, maybe.  Or maybe it's the pacing that I'm not fond of.  I'm not bright enough to figure out the reasons.  *LOL*

But also, I'm not a fan of urban horror fantasy.  I mean, I like the premise.  I like the characters for the most part but it's the horror part that's not my favourite.  I'll read them and if the the characters are captivating and the plot intriguing, I can usually deal with the actual horror parts - like the intense descriptions of monsters and dungeons and lairs and the like. 

So, after that caveat, Bookburners was a good read for the most part.  The 4 different author styles weren't jarring, as a matter of fact they were all rather similar and I'm not familiar enough with them to know if it was worked towards in this project or just something that they all have in common.  The main character, Sal, I couldn't quite enjoy until about 2/3rds of the way through the book.  I just didn't like her very much.  I was fascinated by the other members of her team though. 

Will I read the next seasons of Bookburners?  Maybe.  If they come up on sale at some point.  I enjoyed this one enough to be curious about where they go next with the story. 

An original and entertaining urban-fantasy series combined into one volume. The characters each have a unique and well rounded personality with several unusual quirks. The story telling is engaging, fun and nail-biting as required. This novel serialization should be be made into a TV series.

This is a continuation of the Bookburners Season One Volume One serialization, that is just as original and entertaining as the first 9 "episodes".  The characters each have a unique and well rounded personality with several unusual quirks.  The story telling is engaging, fun and nail-biting as required.  This novel serialization should be be made into a TV series.

Bookburners is a serial about a detective named Sal Brooks who joins a secret Vatican Black-Ops Squad after her brother gets possessed by demons after handling an ancient text that houses dark magic and demons. The squad is tasked with retrieving these books and securing them in their archives before more demons are spread through the world.

I wasn't sure what to expect going in to this but I knew the serial was about books so I couldn't pass it up. I'm glad I didn't. I thoroughly enjoyed every episode! There's a little bit of mystery, a little action, lots of magic and a great cast of some pretty cool and quirky characters too.

There are 16 episodes and each episode is fairly short so you can read through them pretty quickly when you don't have a lot of time but they pack a lot into a few pages. Also, the serial is written by four different authors that rotate episodes so you're in for a little something different each time which I really liked. I thought the four authors, Max Gladstone, Brian Francis Slattery, Mur Lafferty & Margaret Dunlap did a fantastic job collaborating and keeping the stories tied together and flowing naturally which I imagine isn't an easy thing to do with multiple personalities and writing styles.

I've gotten hooked on this serial so I definitely plan to continue with Season 2. A whole new set of authors are featured so I'm looking forward to seeing what they have in store for the Bookburners.

Episode 1 Review

Episode 2 Review

Episode 3 Review

Episode 4 Review

Episode 5 Review

Episode 6 Review

Episode 7 Review

Episode 8 Review

Episode 9 Review

Episode 10 Review

Episode 11 Review

Episode 12 Review

Episode 13 Review

Episode 14 Review

Episode 15 Review

Episode 16 Review- The Finale

*I received Bookburners: Complete Season One ARC from NetGalley & Serial Box Publishing in exchange for an honest review. Thank you!

**I read Episodes 13, 14, 15 & 16 for 2016 Halloween Book Bingo:

~Free Space~

In the aftermath of Team 3's showdown with Team 2 at the monastery, Team 3 went on the run & into hiding. The Vatican has placed guards around the Archives so Team 3 can't enter & is proceeding to have their leader, Father Menchú, defrocked.  Their only chance to save themselves is by getting back into the Archives but they'll have to make a deal with a demon or guardian angel to do it- which one he actually is, they haven't quite figured out yet... 

Just when it seemed their plan to enter the Vatican was going to go off without a hitch, the Team encountered a number of obstacles including several corrupt Vatican leaders which they were not expecting. 

I'm looking forward to seeing how they get out of this mess. They still have to deal with The Hand too. There's only one episode left so I'm wondering if it's all going to culminate in this final episode or continue over into Season 2. Probably a little bit of both I imagine which means I'm definitely going to have to read Season 2 if that's the case.  

*I received Bookburners: The Complete Season One from NetGalley & Serial Box Publishing in exchange for an honest review. Thank you!