Reviewed by Sarina
TITLE: The Glamour Thieves
SERIES: Blue Unicorn #1
AUTHOR: Don Allmon
PUBLISHER: Riptide Publishing
LENGTH: 166 pages
RELEASE DATE: August 28, 2017
BLURB:
JT is an orc on the way up. He’s got his own boutique robotics shop, high-end clientele, and deep-pocketed investors. He’s even mentoring an orc teen who reminds him a bit too much of himself back in the day.
Then Austin shows up, and the elf’s got the same hard body and silver tongue as he did two years ago when they used to be friends and might have been more. He’s also got a stolen car to bribe JT to saying yes to one last scheme: stealing the virtual intelligence called Blue Unicorn.
Soon JT’s up to his tusks in trouble, and it ain’t just zombies and Chinese triads threatening to tear his new life apart. Austin wants a second chance with JT—this time as more than just a friend—and even the Blue Unicorn is trying to play matchmaker.
REVIEW:
I have to give it to the author, this was a really well thought out and intricately put together bit of world building. When I first read the description of the book, I was immediately grabbed by the idea of an orc main character who wasn’t in the role of a bad guy. JT sounded awesome and after reading his story, I’m happy to say that he lived up to my expectations. The start of the story was well done and snagged my attention fairly quickly; there was enough information given to intrigue me and enough hints about something bad that happened in JT’s past to peak my curiosity and make me want to read more. The story that progressed from there was both entertaining and frustrating by turns but totally worth the read.
I found most everything about the book to be interesting and worth paying attention to; like I said at the beginning, the world building was fantastic! There are so many different elements I was constantly debating which new thing I liked most. The author can do some seriously interesting stuff with all that was laid out here and future books can go in a pretty much infinite number of directions. I love worlds like that! The plot itself was interesting on its own but the twist regarding the Blue Unicorn drew me farther in and that’s where I really found myself invested in both the story and the characters. There was quite a bit of history and contention in regards to JT and Austin, which is where my frustration came from, but at the same time, I don’t think I would’ve enjoyed their interactions as much if there wasn’t that painful past they needed to work through.
Overall I liked this story quite a bit; there was a lot of well written action scenes to keep me glued to the pages and the blending of fantasy, urban fantasy and sci-fi elements were done beautifully. I’d label the ending a happy for now but with the next book right around the corner, I’m looking forward to seeing if JT and Austin can get their happily ever after together in the future.
RATING: 
BUY LINKS:
Riptide Publishing