REVIEWED BY CINDY

TITLE: Black Dog Blues

SERIES: Kai Gracen Series Book 1

AUTHOR: Rhys Ford

PUBLISHER: DSP Publications

Pages: 256 Pages

Blurb: 

Ever since he’d been part of the pot in a high-stakes poker game, elfin outcast Kai Gracen figured he’d used up any good karma he had when Dempsey, a human Stalker, won the hand and took him in. Following the violent merge of Earth and Underhill, the human and elfin races were left with a messy, monster-ridden world and Stalkers were often the only cavalry willing to ride to someone’s rescue when something shadowy and dark moved into the neighbourhood. There certainly were no shortage of monsters or people stupidly willing to become lunch for one.

It was a hard life but one Kai liked. And he was good at it. Killing monsters was easy. Especially since he was one himself.

After an accident retired Dempsey out, Kai set up permanent shop in San Diego, contracting out to the local SoCalGov depot. It was a decent life, filled with bounty, a few friends and most importantly, no other elfin around to remind him he wasn’t really human.

That was until a sidhe lord named Ryder arrives in San Diego and Kai is conscripted to do a job for Ryder’s fledgling Dawn Court. It was supposed to a simple run; head up the coast during dragon-mating season to retrieve a pregnant human woman seeking sanctuary with the new Court then back to San Diego. Easy, quick and best of all, profitable. But Ryder’s “simple” run leads to massive trouble and Kai ends up being caught in the middle of a deadly bloodline feud he has no hope of escaping.

No one ever got rich by being a Stalker. But then hardly any of them got old either. The way things were looking, it didn’t look like Kai was going to be the exception.

Review:

Kai Gracen is a man who lives on the edge of two worlds. Abandoned by his elven family, he ends up in the dubious care of a human hunter. He’s trained to kill monsters and keep people safe and he’s very good at his job. He thinks he’s got everything he needs in life even if it’s a little lonely.

Then Ryder enters his life, bringing chaos and danger. Kai is left with no choice but to help Ryder, but somewhere along the way, it becomes more than just a job.

This story is everything a fantasy should be. The writer has created a fascinating universe where the human and fae worlds have collided rather violently and created a place that is as wonderful as it is terrifying. I love the descriptions of places that are familiar to me from other books and the transformations they have gone through because of the magic that was unleashed.

The characters that Rhys Ford has living in her version of California are just as amazing. I found myself with very definite picture in my head of not only Kai and Ryder but also of Kai’s best friend Dalia, his mentor Dempsey and Ryder’s cousin Alexa. They are all very strong personalities that some of the best side character’s I’ve seen in a while.

One of the interesting parts of this book is watching as Kai adjusts to the changes in his world and how he goes from an unwilling participant in Ryder’s quest to being Ryder’s champion. His reluctant admiration for Ryder as a good man as well as a beautiful one is filled with humor that helps alleviate the darkness in the rest of the story.

I spent as much time wanting to bang Kai and Ryder’s heads together because of their lack of communication skills as I did cheering them on. When some of the darker details of Kai’s past come to light, I couldn’t decide whether I wanted to hug him more or ride out for vengeance against the people who’d hurt him.

Everything about this story swept me up and carried me away, making it impossible to put this book down and finishing it at 1 am the night before made for a very long day at work. It was totally worth it though and I can’t wait to see where Kai and Ryder’s adventure goes from here.

This story is not only a fantastic story, its technically excellent and smartly edited. It’s definitely an example of the brilliance I’ve come to expect from Rhys Ford.

Rating:

Buy Links:

DSPP

Amazon.com

Amazon.co.uk