Title: Fury (The Fae Awakening Book One)
Publisher/Author: Will O’Shire
Pages: 153pp
Price: $9.99 / 0.99
Breydenbach is a hunter. Indebted to the Fae Council, he takes care of problems that might expose the existence of the magical world to humanity — a secret guaranteed by an ancient treaty. When he’s not working for the Council, however, he takes jobs which pique his interest or which pay well. And this new job pays very, very well. Unfortunately, it involves tracking down a homicidal, incendiary unicorn …. And did I mention that goblin biker gang? Or the Sasquatch? Or Brad and Andy, the two dumb humans who suddenly find themselves caught up in events that they don’t understand, faced with monsters and dangers they can barely comprehend? Maybe Breydenbach should not have taken the job, after all ….
Fury is another book that I downloaded months ago, but never quite got around to reading. When I finally did, I found it to be — overall — an enjoyable urban fantasy romp. I came away with a few reservations, however.
First, the good. I really like the main character (though I was never quite clear if Hunter was his name, his title, or both). He’s determined to keep humans and fae alike safe by keeping them away from one another as much as possible, and keeping those fae who live among humans in line with the treaty. He hates being in debt to the Council (how that happened is never specified) and is secretly stockpiling cash from his side jobs until he can escape. He is deeply loyal to his friends, and will do what is best for the greatest number of people, even if that crosses a few legal lines. He’ll even work with beings he dislikes and distrusts if that means getting the job done.
The supporting cast is pretty cool, too. Frank the cop, who is secretly a Guardian also working for the Fae Council. George the bartender, who lines up Hunter’s jobs. Bonnie, a waitress at the bar and Hunter’s go-to for magical and technical information. They are all Fae, but exactly what kind is never stated.
And that right there is one of several reservations I have about the story. I feel like chunks of it are missing. Fury opens with Hunter just having returned from a botched job in Italy. It seemed important, but few details were given. There are no descriptions of Hunter other than “male.” I have no idea what he looks like. Similarly, I can’t pin down Bonnie’s appearance; certain scenes depict her as tiny, maybe the size of a toddler or even smaller; but in other scenes, she’s wandering around the bar carrying trays and drinks and seems to be the size of a human pre-teen.
The text is also riddled with typographical and grammatical errors. “Queue” is used instead of “cue.” Characters shake their heads (indicating a negative), when actually they are nodding (indicating a positive); that drastically changes the meaning of these interactions. Punctuation is missing throughout the text, and there are run-on sentences on every page.
And then there’s Claire, the evil ex-girlfriend who was only ever in it for the money. She betrayed Hunter at the first opportunity, but, about halfway through Fury, she comes waltzing back into his life, smiling and flirting and setting my teeth on edge. The character is such a cliche that I actually groaned when she appeared. Can we just be done with this caricature already?
Fury is a fun book, and an engaging first volume in a new urban fantasy series. With a solid copy edit, it could be great.
