Mark the time for the most repetitive criminal investigation you’ve ever experienced. Plus a lot of craziness with pigeons.
Time-Marked Warlock by Shami Stovall is available in eBook, Print and Audiobook from Amazon. Learn more at: https://sastovallauthor.com/
The moral of the story is, when a crazy bird starts battering at your window, just go back to bed.
Adair Finch has given up. He doesn’t clean house or wash his clothes. He doesn’t shave or restock the tea cabinet. He’s certainly not about to return to his past career as a magical investigator for the Stockton Police Department — that is until Bree Blackstone shows up beating on his door at 4 in the morning. Again and again and….
The best lines are already taken by previous reviewers, but the shorthand is simple. If you make a Venn diagram with the Dresden Files and Groundhog Day, this is at the center. That isn’t to say this is a blatant rip-off. Shami Stovall’s actually done something very clever and interesting. The rules for what you can do and what you can’t, get radically different when you can rewind time. She does a fantastic job of taking advantages of the strengths of that while also hampering her characters with it’s weaknesses.
This is a very polished book. It hums along. I was always eager to find out what would happen next — until the boss fight. I won’t go into detail here, because I don’t want to create spoilers. But a lot of the pacing and energy of the book drains out for several pages. I understand the reasoning. It makes sense in the context of the story. However, it’s a disappointment in what is otherwise a really tightly paced book.
While I’m not the target market for Urban Fantasy (I want swords and castles), I thought this was great fun and would tell you to go and read it right now except…
CONTENT WARNING: If you’ve read the Dresden Files books, you’re already well prepared for what you’ll find here. But if you’re not familiar with Jim Butcher’s books and are someone who has read my books, you may need a little heads up. Adair and even Bree are not above the occasional f-bomb in this book. Of much greater concern, the core conceits of the book involve binding parts of your being into agreements with spirits — something which I would consider to be dangerously close to something real and very harmful. Further, there was one short section of dialog where Bree decides to help Adair define his sexuality. It came from nowhere, connects to nothing else in the book, and frankly felt like a pander to me — however, it is probably extremely realistic dialog for a 12 year old with a smart phone in 2024.
So, I wouldn’t hand this book to my kid, or my friend who’s involved with Wicka. That said, if you’re spiritually healthy, are cautious about the demonic, and are looking for a fun urban fantasy with a constantly resetting clock, I think this is a truly enjoyable read.