Reviewed by Vicki
SERIES REVIEW: Men of Myth
AUTHOR: Brandon Witt
PUBLISHER: Dreamspinner Press
BOOK ONE TITLE: Submerging Inferno 
LENGTH: 344 pages
BLURB:
A Men of Myth Story
Brett Wright and Finn de Morisco come from vastly different worlds. Disowned by his family for being gay, Brett builds both a life on his own terms and walls around his heart. But nothing can prepare him for the evil that stalks him in the night or from discovering the dark secrets of his heritage.
The youngest of a doting family, Finn lives a sheltered life that allows him to trust easily and makes him quick to jump to the rescue. While using his knowledge of the supernatural world to help Brett uncover the truth of his ancestry, Finn learns neither his magical life nor falling in love is as simple and risk-free as he believed.
New knowledge comes with a price—one that may prove too high for them to pay.
REVIEW:
Wow, there is a lot going on with this plot! Let me see if I can break it down a bit without giving too much away….
Brett Wright is young and single, working as a lifeguard, sharing a house with his best friend Sonia, and has been ostracized by his family for being gay. He was raised by his conservative grandparents, not knowing who his father is and his mother has been gone since he was born. He’s a big fan of the ocean, and has begun to notice some strange things happening when he’s in the water. He is attacked by a vampire, having no idea such things exist, and ends up deeply involved in a paranormal story. It turns out he is not fully human!
Finn de Morisco is from a magical family, they are all warlocks or witches, very involved in the magical community and quite used to it all. Finn’s uncle owns a restaurant that Brett frequents, and he is introduced to Brett one day. Brett ignores him and follows a man out the door, who Finn eventually realizes is a vampire. Finn follows Brett, rescues him, and takes him home to his family. Who is not thrilled that Finn has brought a non-human in to their home.
So this plot can be broken down in to three parts: Brett’s quest to learn his true parentage, the attempt to keep the vampire from attacking Brett and/or the rest of the family, and the developing relationship between Finn and Brett.
I liked the three plot lines just fine, but…. It took way too long to go anywhere. This is a longer book, at 344 pages, I am a fan of books this length because there is more time for a longer more complex plot, and more character development. I hate to say it, but I think this book would have been better for me if it had been shorter and the plot lines tighter. Not that much happens for a 344 page book. There is a lot of dialogue, a lot of wandering around, and not much moving forward with the various issues. I don’t want it to sound like I didn’t like the book, I did, but I found myself skipping ahead a bit to get past the dialogue and get to some action. When things do happen, it is great! Parts of the story move well, the characters are interesting, and the plot is good, but it bogs down sometimes. It did find it to be fairly predictable, both of the big revelations I saw coming a mile away. So I had issues here and there, I didn’t always get the point of what was happening, but that’s ok. Overall I liked the book just fine.
What I liked best about this book was the characters. I loved Brett and Finn, I think they are very creative individuals and I can’t wait to see them further develop as a couple. I liked the de Morisco family, as crazy as they all seem to be. I liked their businesses, and the closeness of them all. This is the first full length story I have read by Brandon Witt, and his writing is good. I’m curious to see how the other books go and what happens to this pair!
RATING: 
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BOOK TWO TITLE: Rising Frenzy 
LENGTH: 350 pages
BLURB:
Sequel to Submerging Inferno
A Men of Myth Story
Heartbroken, angry, and hurting, warlock Finn de Morisco can feel darkness growing inside, altering every aspect of his life. There are moments when the man he used to be seems to have been devoured completely. Retreating from his family and everything he once held dear, Finn attempts to escape the despair left in the wake of Brett’s rejection—only to find dangers he never knew existed.
Still struggling with the decision to leave everything he knew behind, Brett Wright is swept into a maelstrom as he searches for his place within his newly discovered family. Life beneath the surface of the ocean should have been unlike anything he’s ever known, yet prejudice over his demon ancestry and homosexuality follows him. Even the existence he begins to build may not last as those he is learning to love face extinction.
REVIEW:
Oh no…. Why oh why did I not care for this book? I feel so bad, I wanted to, I like Urban Fantasy, but I just didn’t get what I was wanting out of it. Dammit!
Rising Frenzy is a continuation of the story started in Submerging Inferno, it follows the story of Finn de Morisco and Brett Wright, who we meet in the first book. Here’s a spoiler! Finn and Brett are not together any more. They part at the end of the first book and don’t reunite in this one. This book follows their individual stories.
Finn’s story is about his struggle with a voice he hears in his head, his drug and sex addiction, and his budding relationship with Schwint, a fairy he meets in The Square. I kind of liked Finn’s story, the basic plot anyway, but it took so damn long for anything to happen. I found myself skipping ahead through conversations and descriptions to get to the interesting stuff. I like the relationship between Finn and Schwint, I think there is the possiblity for them to be a good couple. I was ready to scream from Finn whining about Brett leaving him however. So glad when that stopped! Finn’s story did have some action, both of the sex variety and some drama, if it was shortened up a bit I probably would have really enjoyed it.
Then we have Brett. He took off at the end of the last book on a quest to find his parentage. Here’s another spoiler. He’s half merman, and is found by his father. He goes off under the ocean to learn about his mer heritage. Then we have chapter after chapter of him swimming around with a bunch of boring merfolk. I am sorry, I did not care at all about any of it! I must confess to skipping through it as well, trying to find some action…. there was an interesting fight with a group of sharks, but mostly it was internal politics within the group of mer folks. Who are a nasty bunch of bigots. They don’t like Brett because he’s part demon and gay. That got old really quick. I have no idea why he didn’t just tell them all to fuck off and leave. But he doesn’t and it continued…
So I guess I misunderstood what this series was. It is urban fantasy with gay characters. It is not really a romance. I thought it would be about Brett and Finn as a couple, but it’s Brett and Finn as individual characters, having two seperate stories. There is nothing wrong with that. If you want an urban fantasy story, with lots of detail and creative characters you’ll probably like these books just fine. The writing is good, the characters are interesting, and the world building is very creative. I don’t have an issue with any of that. I was expecting more romance, and a connection between the main characters. That is what is missing for me.
I’m not going to give this book a low rating because I had a different expectation. The book is good, it’s just not what I was expecting. I hope that makes sense! I will be reading the next one, I am curious to see how it all ends now, so off we go to book three!
RATING: 
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BOOK THREE TITLE: Clashing Tempest 
LENGTH: 350 pages
BLURB:
Sequel to Rising Frenzy
A Men of Myth Story
Finn de Morisco knows he is walking into a trap when he enters the Vampire Cathedral to rescue his sister Cynthia. Aided by Schwint and his other sister, Caitlin, he intends to free Cynthia and avoid enslavement. But when he confronts the master of the Voice that has tortured him, Finn faces a grim choice: compromise his soul or lose his family.
For centuries members of the Chromis tribe have disappeared, and Brett Wright is on a quest to discover the fate of the captive mers and to stop the abductions. Despite the risk of tribal warfare, he embarks on a dangerous ocean journey to find other mer tribes experiencing the same plight. When destiny brings him back to land, Brett encounters new allies and old dangers while coming to grips with the past.
REVIEW:
Now this one I liked! Yeah!!
In this third book in the Men of Myth series, we get a very exciting plot. As we know from the last book, Finn is on a mission to rescue his sister Cynthia, who has been kidnapped by the Vampire Cathedral (the ruling group of the paranormal folks). He has gone to Costa Rica along with Caitlin (who I HATE!), Schwint (his boyfriend fairy), and another fairy named Newton/Pewlet. They have no idea what they are doing, or where they are going, it was rather interesting to follow their adventures. Execpt Caitlin, she was horrible!
Brett is still swimming around endless at the beginning of this book, but he finally gets a purpose when he is tasked with finding out why mers have been vanishing over the years. He heads off to visit other mer tribes, along with his father Therin (who is an asshole most of the time), his friend Lelas (who he seems to oddly lust after considering he’s gay and she’s a girl), and Wrell (who I thought might be a love interest for him, but wasn’t….). They visit a nice tribe and get some good information, then a nasty tribe and find only tragedy (pointlessly I felt!), before heading to Costa Rica to find the vampires they learn may have been taking mers for years.
So the two plot lines FINALLY merge, after waaaaay too long, and we get some serious action and drama! They all find each other and come up with a plan to rescue the missing mers and Cynthia. I loved it all, I don’t want to say much about what happens and give the plot away, but it was fantastic. Lots of action, some fighting, some fucking (finally!), and some resolution to this story. This is what I was wanting out of this series! Clashing Tempest is by far the best book of the three, with the best plot and the most action and drama. There were still scenes that I felt were too drawn out, too much conversation and arguing, and I didn’t like Caitlin and her negativity, but overall I really enjoyed this book.
The story was much more exciting, the characters seemed to have their shit together more by now, and I liked the indroduction of a couple of new characters. I am still not sure about splitting up Brett and Finn, although I liked Finn and Schwint as a couple (just not sure I liked them THAT much…). I can’t decide if I would have kept Finn and Brett as a couple throughout the series, or just not had them be a couple to begin with. I didn’t love the resolution for them really. But I did love the rescue and resolution to the rest of the story. I think the plot of this book was much better than the last one, and I’m so happy I didn’t give up on the series. The writing was great, I didn’t have a problem with Brandon’s style in the others, just the plots dragged. This one for the most part didn’t have that issue. It’s a great ending to the overall story.
If you have read the others in this series, you’ll like this one to wrap it all up. I really enjoyed it!
RATING: 
BUY LINKS:
Overall I am glad I read the series, I didn’t love all of them, but I liked enough that I’m happy I read them. There were things I wish had been different, but I did like a good portion of them. If you are a fan of urban fantasy books, you should give these a try. They are heavy on the character interaction, and world building, but light on the romance and sex. I liked Brandon’s writing and plan to read some of this other books. I can see his passion for these books and writing in general, and I look forward to seeing what he does in the future!
OVERALL RATING: