Tombyards & Butterflies

Montague & Strong Detective Agency #1

by Orlando A. Sanchez

A Missing Ferryman. An Undead Dilemma. An Immortal Detective.

An emissary from the Dark Council has just materialized in the office of the Montague & Strong Detective Agency, and makes Simon Strong an offer he can’t refuse. Charon is missing. The legendary ferryman responsible for transporting sorcerer souls across the river Styx hasn’t been seen in days. And with each passing hour, those unable to cross the river are left to walk among the living, tilting the world further out of balance.

Meet Simon Strong, an immortal, who is also the best private detective in New York City. Together with his surly partner-Tristan Montague, a mage of indeterminate age, they must find the Ferryman and get him back to work before another Supernatural War ravages the earth, destroys humanity, and Simon’s local coffee shop.

Time is running out. His landlord wants the rent and Karma with a capital K is paying him a visit, and she can be a real…

Join the Montague & Strong Detective Agency and help them locate Charon, so he can restore balance to the universe, put the dead sorcerers to rest, and maybe solve the age old conundrum-coffee or tea?

Genres: Urban Fantasy, Fantasy, Paranormal, Mystery, Audiobook, Magic, Vampires

278 pages, Paperback

First published February 27, 2017

About the author

Orlando Sanchez has been writing ever since his teens when he was immersed in creating scenarios for playing Dungeon and Dragons with his friends every weekend. An avid reader, his influences are too numerous to list here. Some of the most prominent are: J.R.R. Tolkien, Jim Butcher, Kat Richardson, Terry Brooks, Piers Anthony, Lee Child, George Lucas, Andrew Vachss, and Barry Eisler to name a few in no particular order.
The worlds of his books are urban settings with a twist of the paranormal lurking just behind the scenes and generous doses of magic, martial arts, and mayhem.
Aside from writing, he holds a 2nd and 3rd Dan in two distinct styles of Karate. If not training, he is studying some aspect of the martial arts or martial arts philosophy.
He currently resides in Queens, NY with his family and can often be found in the local Starbucks where most of his writing is done.
Please visit his site at: www.OrlandoASanchez.com for more information about his books and upcoming releases.

Reviews

[Montzalee Wittmann · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tombyards & Butterflies by Orlando A Sanchez and narrated by Kevin T Collins is a great fantasy read with lots of gods, creatures, and magic! Plenty of action, friendship, evil, magic, spells, different gods, and unpredictable situations kept this book going at a good clip! Great dialogue, witty, and clever writing, and an excellent plot!
Narration was excellent too! Can't wait for the next book!

[Aya · Rating 3 out of 5]

Montague & Strong Case Files: 1
Simon, the main character, bears a strong resemblance to Harry Dresden, especially the habit of running at the mouth, which gets him into trouble. For Simon, it's not as much a front while outmatched as a case of terminal foot-in-mouth disease. The author hits the ground running with the story, stingy with the world-building details, much less the main character's circumstances. It leaves the reader scrambling to make sense of it. This is an action-packed story and somewhat light in plot, or perhaps heavy, but it's hard to tell, because it was all a jumbled blur. There was also unexplained discrepancies in regards to finances - in the beginning of the book, Simon is concerned about getting paid so that he can make the current month's rent, yet he talks about having several bespoke suits, eats at expensive restaurants, has personal transportation that he can call at any time, etc. As a character, Simon is something of an idiot-savant. Stupid stuff comes out of his mouth almost non-stop, yet he is oddly competent, or perhaps just extraordinarily lucky in a fight. Meh. As whole, the story is a bit of a mess.

[Deborah · Rating 4 out of 5]

So I started this one but soon realised I was missing something. I looked back to see if it was a crossover book. But there’s a lot of books so I started reading again. Eventually I did what I should have done in the first place and checked the whole series on Goodreads. Turns out there’s
#0.4 The War Mage
#0.5 No God is Safe
#0.6 The Date
So I broke off from this and read those. Then I returned to this knowing how Simon became immortal and how he first met Monty.

I settled down and really enjoyed this book. It’s fast paced, funny and chaotic and just what I was looking for.

[Myriam · Rating 3 out of 5]

Oh wow, not to sound like an M/M fan!girl but you know what this story really needed? A freaking M/M plotline. Seriously, the writing is so cinematic (to the book's detriment, but more on that later) that I can already see the fervent essays shipping Simon and Tristan. And honestly? I have built ships out of way less than what the author is offering here. So that's definitely a good thing. The smart-ass, wild-card and the stuffy Mage with a mysterious and dark past pairing sparkles with quippy one-liners and death-defying stunts. The world-building is slick even if it's a little traditional. I'm definitely into all of it when it comes to Urban Fantasy.

The problem is that it's all too...shallow. The action is breathless and plentiful. Unfortunately there is nothing behind it. This all Show and no Tell at all. Any information about the setting, the characters, the current situation or really anything that can't be explained through dialogue is not explained at all. At first that was fun because I like not having my hand held but it got tiring because I really wanted to learn more about this world and the info just kept on not coming.

So this is really fun but also really light fare. I'm going to read a few more because it is no hardship to spend an entertaining hour or two with these two but I kind of want more substance.

[Snarktastic Sonja · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ya know, this is one of those books that causes me great anxiety when it comes to giving it stars. It is better than 3, but not good enough for 4. So, yea, 3.5. But, I don't have that option. So, there ya are.

This book is a little bit like if Lethal Weapon had magic - and were private eyes instead of police. There is constant blowing things up and not a whole heck of a lot of plot. There is also a whole lot of sarcasm and snarkiness. Tristan and Simon are good enough friends - with enough other side characters - to fulfill my need for vicarious relationships. And, then, we added Peaches. And, I was lost.

It was a fun way to pass the time and it made me giggle. I'm still not really sure what happened, but I was entertained all along the way. I will definitely be moving on.

[Nancy D Miz-Firefly aka Sparky · Rating 5 out of 5]

Goodreads rating 5 stars.
Real world rating 12 stars

Tombyards and Butterflies is my favorite flavor of UF. Fast paced, snarky and exciting. With characters that reel you in and dialogue that never fails to entertain.

I have just found my next reading obsession. Thank heaven the series is well established. I'd go absolutely bonkers having to wait for the next book to drop.

[Ronie Reads · Rating 5 out of 5]

I still don't get the title reference. Yet I enjoyed this one. I mean it has nice jokes and one step from a punch to the face. Can't ask for more than that.

[Maggie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fast paced, enjoyable, completely action oriented very quick read. Doesn't tie all the world building or character bits together - just light hints for what you can guess will be revealed later. Feels a bit like you're in the second, not the first, book of a series and should already know the characters and world. That's ok with me - I prefer to connect the dots myself rather than endless expounding on world building. A light fun read.

[Penni · Rating 4 out of 5]

4-1/2 *'s on this one. Can't wait to read the next one.

[S.E. Anderson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’m a sucker for a good Urban Fantasy novel, so of course I was incredibly excited to start reading this one when it came my way. In short, it’s terribly fun: incredibly fast paced and with a fantastic cast of characters, you’re going to want to add this to your TBR!

Meet Simon Strong: an immortal and a detective. His partner, Tristan ‘Monty’ Montague is a mage; not a wizard, and don’t you dare ever calling him a sorcerer. When an incredibly deadly emissary from the Dark Council breaks into their offices and gives them a job, they know it’s something they can’t refuse. She can’t be involved, so you know it’s going to be bad.

Simon wasn’t always an immortal: we learn more about this curse, and the person behind it, as the story progresses. He’s still getting used to it, and doesn’t want to test how far this immortality goes. There’s a mark on his arm that links him to a god, who seems both intent on protecting him and making his life a miserable hell. Maybe both at the same time. The author leaves a lot of the backstory unspoken, so there are details with the characters yet to be revealed. It showed them all to be complex and exciting.

My one qualm with the book was that I felt like I was reading a sequel. Many times the characters referenced a moment in their shared history that seemed like something I should have know about. This is the same with Simon’s relationship with Karma: when she first appears, she isn’t given a name in the entire chapter, and I was left confused until she was properly introduced later on. It’s like I skipped the Pilot Episode entirely – but this might not be a bad thing.

The writing style took me a bit to get into, but once I did, the ball was really rolling. I loved the character of Simon, with his funny quips and witty remarks, always breaking the tension with a joke. He seems like someone you’d want to be friends with. And Monty? Still a bit of a mystery, but one I’d really like to uncover.

The overarching plot was masterfully crafted and exciting to unravel. There’s so much happening in this book you, you wonder how it fits in only 300 pages. It’s fast paced and exciting, with fun characters along the way.Seeing Hades, for example, working at the head of a fancy company; or the special Uber created just for people in supernatural muck; these were proof of fantastic world building and a fun and enjoyable read. And if you love puppies, you’re going to adore Peaches!

All in all, if you love UF, then this should be on your shelf. It’s fun, enjoyable, and a series I personally will be reading a lot more of. Enjoy!

[Red Tide]

Interesting

Rating: Minus 3

I originally wrote my scribbles for an audience of one. I am rewriting a!l of them and it goes slowly. I was self-censoring without quite admitting it. The rewriting is to make these more honest and more intelligible. To my commenters more interested in my punctuation, intelligence, character and family background than the book reviews, the punctuation and paragraphs are improved (more or less) but I am quite satisfied with my slightly above average intelligence, my generous character and my working class background. I am sorry but I do not plan to change those.

This book is uneven in its writing and in its background universe. I sometimes referred readers to other reviews which seemed to me to have useful notes or which were better than what I was prepared to write. I can no longer offer those referrals, since a (rogue, of course) Goodreads tech has as usual blocked my seeing other reviews.🤔 To think that some people imagine that the useful idiot is extinct.

The care that I directed to my reviews declined as I began to slowly self-censor in response to a few hundred ugly comments. They were usually clumped into a group defense of the most jingoistic or racist or white nationalist or libertarian (?) works of art. 😃 A Venn diagram would show an almost perfect overlap of sets. What a surprise.

The usual attack comments magically fell into groups of two or three arriving across an hour or so. 🤔 My polite responses sometimes generated as many as four additional commenters again in tightly clustered groupings. The multiple comments on a page, with no reference to the book but only my personal defects were a particularly interesting phenomenon.

The culmination of this harassment was the months long flood of comments demanding that I respond to three very openly racist members, including the writer of Powers of the Earth. I think that dozens of comments defending and then suggesting a return to the North Atlantic slave trade convinced me that this is a sick site. Patience and courtesy are pointless, when encountering twisted souls. Fortunately my very rough working class upbringing has kicked in. It begins with honesty.

Goodreads masked all commenter ID's where I did not identify members in my response or whose ID I did not incorporate later into my review. 🤔 I finally dropped all lurkers but one. From the above experiences, I realized that they are not as harmless as I had thought. Goodreads will not allow me to remove the last lurker, a Dr. Susan Hamilton (Maths professor at the University of Tennessee ?). She posted nothing over two years but has not responded to four requests that she remove me from her list. 🤔 That she feels the need to remain on my "friend" list is sad. I am just not that interesting.

I suspect that if one writes a scathing review of a "poorly written libertarian/white nationalist rant", it is possible that a useful idiot of the lowly tech type, may suddenly decide that a communist member is a bad thing.

For a good read, see my review of "The Last Stand of Mary Good Crow", a very good novel by Rachel Aaron or Powers of the Earth (a poorly written libertarian/white nationalist rant) and the comments of a Claes Rees Jr/cgr710 (a self-identified NeoNazi and US patriot).

To Claes Rees Jr/cgr710
Don't be a numpty. Be a smarty. Come and join the Communist Party.

I wonder how these US patriots (Tucker Carlson, Claes Rees Jr and US Republican Party, for example) can support Putin and Russia, with the threats that he has made against their own country of nuclear war. I think that there is more there than the gold transfers. Perhaps it is admiration for the Russian program of deporting millions of Ukrainians to Siberia as slave labor. That may be it. In any case.

GLORY TO UKRAINE !!!

Back to the book. There was a weirdly interesting premise to the background universe. There is a mix of supernatural creatures and deities from across a number of pantheons. The world building breaks down at that point. The relationships between pantheons and between the members of the same pantheon are fuzzy. It leads me to believe that there was no detailed structure for the above created before the writing began.

The plot suffers from the spotty world building. The weak plot is covered by the characters, rather than plot providing a pathway for the characters to hopefully grow. There is no strong backstory for the main characters. The characters might work better in a thin but action filled screenplay.

The dialogue emphasizes the thinness of the characters and the scenes do not create the tension or drama that they should. The dialogue creates throwaway characters, which do not generate any emotional connection to the reader.

The pantheons are intermixed with no rhyme nor reason. I am not sure why the writer thought that would work as a convincing world, a solid basis for the plot to unfold or an interesting foreground for a swashbuckling pair of main characters who are devoid of depth.

The book suffers from the "It is only science fiction, fantasy (urban or otherwise), Steampunk or other subgenre" syndrome. The pages reinforce that distance between writer and writing in every chapter.

The overuse of banter and with little consistent dialogue to generate character development or reflect even a small amount of growth, was a symptom of the other failings of the book. The characters are made to seem cheesy and the thinness of the characters can not be reversed.

The world building shows its tattered tapestry with the unexplained and seemingly random appearances of vampires and deities. It reads as a mess but disciplined introduction of the supernatural might still have salvaged the story structure. There was no effort and it was not.

This lack of writing discipline or skill is typical of current low end US science fiction. The writer does not just apply little effort, he and the rest demonstrate their disdain for the genre with every chapter. It is impossible to imagine a publisher considering accepting this manuscript for any other genre without a promise of a complete rewrite, followed by serious editing.

I believe that this is not an accidental fifteen year development. It seems a fairly conscious decision to degrade the genre built on imagination and questions asked about the nature of reality. This genre is supposed to consider possibilities and futures not usually considered, as I understood its core. The publisher choices purposefully or not work to degrade both critical thought and imagination.

The quality of low end US science fiction has put me off the entire genre. I watch rather than read it and so turn to the streaming services for better written and more entertaining stories than the print. In addition, Netflix offers a large multinational selection. Compare Babylon 5 to the typical military science fiction book.

I began visiting YouTube a bit more than 2 years ago, when I admitted the uselessness of Amazon/Goodreads. They do not even function well as a sales platform. I began searching for science fiction and found a slew of channels that I never suspected existed. There were a lot of interest areas but the real treasure was the book tube.

The book channels as a group cover the entire world of bookish things. The reader communities are varied in tastes and perspectives, are cosmopolitan, thoughtful and above all are excited by the entirety of the bibliophilic experience. In short these channels represent everything that Goodreads are not and could never be. I recommend a visit to several for any reader and have listed several below.

A side benefit of YouTube was introduction not to just its own essayist and documentary channels but the advertising for various educational video sites. I began with Curiosity Stream/Nebula at a cost of about $15 USD for a yearly subscription. I think that they are all worth a look.

My YouTube picks of the moment.
More Perfect Union, TVP News, Owen Jones, 2Cellos, Mandy, DUST, Tom Nicholas, Mrs Betty Bowers, Julie Nolke, Ben and Emily, No Justice MTG, Chris Animations, Adult Wednesday Addams, The Mindful Narrowboat.

Some of my favorite YouTube channels are.

No Justice MTG, Ben and Emily, Some More News, Munecat, Tom Nicholas, Tara Mooknee, Owen Jones, The Juice Media, Novara Media, Book Furnace, Wizards and Warriors, 2Cellos, Between the Wars, Crecganford, Elina Charatsidou, No Protocol, Tibees, The Real News, Real Engineering, Real Time History, The Historian's Craft, The Leftist Cooks, Prime of Midlife, May Moon Narrowboat, Sort of Interesting, Merphy Napier, Bookleo, We're in Hell, The Piano Guys, Swell Entertainment, Mrs Betty Bowers, Jessie Gender, Lilly's expat life, Brittany the Bibliophile, Lady knight the Brave, Lady of the Library, Hello Future Me, The Templin Institute, Democracy at Work, Cruising Alba, Chloe Stafler, Cruising the Cut, Sufficiently Advanced Lena, Rowan J Coleman, Kings and Generals, Natasha's Adventures, Denys Davydov, Second Thought, Patrick is a Navajo, Engineering with Rosie, Philosophy Tube, History Marche, Timeline, I'm Rosa, Sarah Z, NFKRZ, Boat Time, With Olivia, Karolina Zebrowska, Bernadette Banner, Jill Bearup, The Shades of Orange, Renegade Cut, Noah Samsen, The Kavernacle, Real News, Kathy's Flog in France, All Shorts, Overly Sarcastic Productions. New Economic Theory, Fiction Beast, Library Ladder, Spacedock, Dr Becky, Art by Annamarie, Three Arrows, UA Courage, TVP News, Chris Animations, DW News, Then and Now, The Present Past, What Vivi did next, Camper Vibe, Holly the Cafe Boat, Double Down News, Mandy, Space Matters, Vlad Vexler, HBomberGuy, Beautifully Bookish Bethany, A Cup of Nicole, The Leftist Cooks, Meidas Touch, Pro Robotics, Steve Shives, Black Pigeon Speaks, The Researcher, Geo Girl, Diane Callahan Quotidian Writer, Jean's Thoughts.

I wish you a sunny morning, a glorious afternoon, a pleasant evening, a wonderful night and may we all keep learning.

The basis for healthy self esteem, must certainly be constant Growth and unflagging Empathy.
Roger Bacon

[Mary Carolyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of those rare reading experiences where I could not put down the book. The main characters, Monty and Strong, are beautifully constructed, complex, deep, and realistic, as is the world they inhabit. Both immortal, they are unlike fictional beings I have seen before. There is no foul language and there are no sex scenes...so refreshing! Just an intricate and riveting story. The vocabulary is excellent, grammar and punctuation are so perfect they completely disappear. I didn't realize until I finished the book that I had not stumbled over poor punctuation once. Wow! I really recommend this book. Have a great adventure, visit a fresh new world full of magic and rich characters, mystery and adventure.

[Claudia · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a great, exciting story! This is what a good urban fantasy book should be, and I love it! Pure, unadulterated fun.

As much as I really, really like Simon, I adore Monty. I have a thing for snarky, and yet very proper British men :P And Peach! *dies laughing* I'd love to have one myself :P

I really enjoyed the story itself, too. There isn't a lot of plot going on, really, just a main case that gets dangerously complicated with the interference of an unsuspected amount of gods and goddesses and one vampire or two.

I'm going for the second book ASAP

[Cherry Mischievous · Rating 5 out of 5]

My Thoughts:
Glad I stumbled into this series!

This is another " Dresden Files by Jim Butcher " story where the characters even mention "that wizard in Chicago" urban fantasy worlds combobulation. Originality-wise, it has been around the block once or twice too many... However, it is not necessarily the originality that I am looking for as an urban fantasy reader, it is how the story is told! And Orlando Sanchez is wonderful!! In fact, for an author to pull it off and compete in a very congested market, one has to be good enough for readers to keep coming back. And this author pulled it off. How's that for talent?! And of course, my favouritest of them all, is Peaches! My image of Peaches in my head is not that of a scary hellhound, but he is still a puppy. Besides he is bound to Simon. He gets his fierce hellhound look only when there are bad guys around.

And hey, there is a plot too! Plot is not something I highly prize in an urban fantasy book as I would in a crime fiction one. But this book got it anyway. Another kudos to the author! The title... so Hack mentioned it, but, it still hasn't been explained what the ef**** it is!?!...

Empirical Evaluation:
Story telling quality = 4.5
Character development = 5
Story itself = 4.5
Writing Style = 4
Ending = 4
World building = 4.5
Cover art = 4
Pace = 3.5
Plot = 3.5
Narration = 4.5

Overall Rating: 4.5 out of 5 cherries

http://www.cherrymischievous.com/2020...

[Kat Lebo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tombyards & Butterflies (Montague & Strong Case Files #1)
by Orlando A. Sanchez

This is the first in the series novel, introducing the characters Montague, a mage, and Strong, an immortal human, plus, of course, their supporting characters. It's also one of those series that advertises itself as "...if you are a fan of the Dresden Files..." I always wonder if the authors who put that in their promo really have read the Dresden files. Am I the only one who wonders that after finishing a book that I have been told I should like because I like the Dresden Files?

I mean, I liked this book. And yes, it had vampires and mages (and sorcerers and wizards -- and differentiated between them), and gods and ogres, and hell hounds, and action and magic and still, it doesn't replace the Dresden Files (note to Jim Butcher -- so get with it and put out another Dresden Files novel, man, it's been too long!)

So, this novel is well plotted and paced, has likable and quirky characters, loads of action, snarky and funny dialogue, good description, great editing and proofing, and no cliffhanger ending. If I hadn't gone into it hoping to find something truly comparable to Dresden Files, I'd have probably rated it higher, but that wasn't the case, and it didn't live up to the hype, even though it was a fun ride. To be truthful, I really didn't care whether the main characters lived or died. I liked them, but I wasn't attached to them. I'd have been more upset if the puppy, Peaches, had been killed than I would have been had any of the good-guy main characters bit the dust.

I may read another of the novels in this series, especially if one comes up on the free or 99cent lists, but otherwise I probably won't seek one out.

[Vintagebooklvr · Rating 3 out of 5]

An intriguing title that turns out comes from a quote by Bradbury. The book turns out to be pretty good too. It is a mix of action, banter, a lead-character who just can't control his mouth, pantheons, vampires, etc. Of course, who won't love Peaches.

The main problem: you feel like you have started with book 2 in a series not book 1. I'm all for not having a data dump and allowing the reader to figure things out. This just has too many mentions of previous events that felt like you obviously had already read that crazy situation, i.e. "the date" that he once went on. You don't know what happened so it doesn't tell you about his character or his relationships.

For all that, there are plenty of hints that there are complex things yet to be revealed and I would read another in the series.

[William Howe · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fast and nasty

The dialogue is snappy and clever. The plot plays out at high-speed with almost no pauses between battles.

But...

Witty banter can’t replace character development. They basically go from explosion to explosion, with stops for food, information from gods, and new weapons. Like a bad action movie. And it’s set in some alternate New York that doesn’t entirely make sense.

It feels like the middle of a series and not the first book.

The prose is clean and professional grade.

[Lianne Pheno · Rating 4 out of 5]

4/5
https://delivreenlivres.home.blog/202...

Vous allez surement me dire : Je n’ai jamais entendu parler de cette série !! Et bien moi non plus. C’est un livre que j’ai pris gratuitement dans une opé et je l’ai ouvert vraiment au hasard parce que le titre m’intriguait.
Et c’est une bonne pioche !

Dans ce livre on suit un duo d’enquêteur à New York, de détectives privés spécialisés dans le surnaturel plus précisément. Sachant que le surnaturel, et l’existence des autres peuples/dieux, est connu de tout le monde est fait parti du quotidien de ses habitants.

Montage & Strong sont en général chargés d’enquêtes par le cabinet d’avocat qui est sur le même palier que leur agence, ainsi que par une vampire faisant parti du « Dark Concil » le conseil de toutes les forces surnaturelle qui dirige la ville (un peu le conseil municipal de la ville version surnaturelle)

Le duo est composé de Simon Strong, le narrateur. Américain un peu casse-cou, il a la particularité d’avoir été maudit par la déesse Kali. En conséquence, celle ci l’a fait « sortir du flux du temps » ce qui fait qu’il est quasiment immortel.

Mais pas du genre « ne peux pas être tué » mais plus dans le sens où il ne vieillit plus et est très difficile à tuer car son corps se souvient de sa forme telle qu’elle était lors de la malédiction et refuse les changements apportés par le temps. Du coup il revient inexorablement vers sa forme initiale.

Pour le reste, c’est du non testé. Jamais le personnage n’a été vraiment dans une situation ou il peut dire « j’aurais du mourir ». Du coup personne ne sait vraiment si ça fonctionnera si il se fait par exemple couper la tête ou écraser. En gros si il meurt vraiment, est ce qu’il reviendra consciemment en vie? Mystère. Mais toujours est-t-il qu’à partir du moment ou il reste en vie, il peut guérir de toute les blessures possibles et imaginable.

Il n’a bien sur aucune envie de tester l’extrême pour avoir la réponse du coup il évite de se retrouver dans des situations ou il pourrait mourir. Mais ce n’est pas facile, car comme je l’ai dit il est très casse cou. Il a tendance à foncer quand il voit un danger, au grand dam de son associé, le second enquêteur : Tristan ‘Monty’ Montague

Celui ci est anglais et ça se voit. Bien plus calme et posé, il aime bien prévoir les choses avant de se lancer dans une situation dangereuse.
Il est aussi mage, qui est une profession qui demande beaucoup de patience et de détermination. Monty a été expulsé de son cercle, le principal cercle de mage mais on ne sait pas encore pourquoi.

Les deux adorent se narguer et se chercher, toujours gentiment, comme des amis. Surtout Simon qui ne peux pas s’arrêter de parler tout le temps, quelque soit la situation.
Comme dit Monty : « un jour ta bouche te tuera ».
Les interactions entre Simon et Tristan sont vraiment très fun, j’ai passé un excellent moment.

Simon a également eu un effet secondaire de sa malédiction : sur sa main c’est inscrit la marque de la déesse Karma. Celle ci est la déesse de l’équilibre. Cette marque est la pour rappeler que la situation qui a fini en malédiction n’est pas équilibrée et qu’elle nécessitera dans le futur d’être réglée.

Mais normalement ce genre de marque ne se voit pas, c’est parce que Simon est sorti du temps qui l’a fait vraiment apparaître et la rendue très puissante. Cette marque permet à la déesse de le pister à tout moment, et elle permet aussi à Simon de l’invoquer.
Mais bien sur, celui ci n’en a pas trop envie, principalement parce que ça reste une déesse, qui n’aime pas qu’on la force à agir, mais aussi parce qu’il n’a pas envie de se relancer dans ce qui l’a fait maudire à la base.
En plus Karma est une déesse dont le pouvoir est en réaction a un événement. Elle ne peux donc pas du tout agir en préventif, c’est totalement en dehors de ses pouvoirs. Et elle aime encore moins être invoquée pour rien …

Pour ce qui est de l’intrigue de ce tome, il y en a deux en parallèle. Une qui est terminée, et l’autre non.

Evidemment je ne vais pas dire laquelle est laquelle, mais les voici :
La première vient des vampires, mais pas du Dark Concil. L’amie de Simon qui leur donne du boulot en général leur demande de sauver une vampire qui a été exclue de son clan. Ceux ci veulent vraiment se débarrasser d’elle et donc vont tenter de la récupérer pendant tout le tome.

La seconde leur est donné par Karma justement. Elle leur annonce que le monde est en émoi parce que Charon a disparu. Celui ci est un psychopompe c’est à dire un être surnaturel qui n’est pas un dieu, et qui n’a pas de pouvoir propre si ce n’est par sa fonction. Ici Charon est un de ceux chargés de faire passer les âmes des morts dans l’au-delà.
Spécifiquement, il est chargé des âmes des êtres utilisant de la magie, comme les mage ou les sorciers.

Elle charge le duo de trouver ce qui est arrivé à Charon, pourquoi il a abandonner son poste.

Bref, dans l’ensemble j’ai vraiment bien apprécié cette lecture. Les deux personnages sont vraiment super sympa à suivre. Le rythme est bon, pas de temps mort. On peut vraiment dire que ce tome était un page-turner. Je pense que c’est une excellente lecture pour se changer les idées tout en ayant de bons éléments de background et des personnages que j’ai trouvé excellents.
Je sens que je vais avoir du mal à patienter pour lire la suite !

[Emmalynn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rounding up to 4.5 stars!! This was an exciting find! Loving the magical detective story and the friendship between Simon and Montague (Monty). Dashing across the city trying not to get killed, (or can he?), rescuing gods, being cursed, rescuing vampires, running afoul of vampire hit squats and inheriting a hellhound named Peaches, how much can an immortal take in one day,, well, you’ll just have to read to find out 😁😁😁.

[Kati · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love Simon and Monty and their hell hound Peaches and their purple Goat of a car! I'm so curious about Monty's background and his missing energy signature and why he hates the Dark Council so much. So glad I bought the next two in the series, too!

[L. G. · Rating 3 out of 5]

A story that wasn't bad but

This is a pleasant story. I think that the plot was inventive and the characters engaging. My major complaint however, is that even though this is book one in what will probably be a series, the writer just throws you into the deep end of the pool . The story introduces a variety of characters and he continually fails to tell the reader exactly what the heck their background is or how they originally interacted with the main players . There's just too much left unsaid way of background facts.

I strongly suggest that he write a prequel as quickly as possible and labeled this one as one book 11/2.

I also suggest that he try being a little less witty . After awhile it felt like he was simply trying too hard . Again, it's not a bad Book per se. In the end because of that really bad flaw, e.g. a lack of proper " historical" background about characters , I was compelled to give it three stars instead of four .

[Ng · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars

How to rate the book when the smart-ass comments of the MC (1st person POV) is super annoying? Simon Strong is our MC who is immortal and seems to have a mouth that runs wild at every scenario and most times, it is not funny. I wished several times that Monty would magically zipper is mouth shut. BTW we don't get Monty's POV even though the series title has both their names. The characters walk in without any context and then I realized that there are several prequels in which we probably learn who Montague and Strong are and how they came together to form a detective agency and why Simon and Monty are lusting behind Michiko the vampire and Roxanne the magic-user respectively. Their love interests also come out of nowhere and seems to just hang about.

All the stars are for the story line and action.

[Ken Cook · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thoroughly magical entertainment, this delightful novel had me chuckling as I had to reach into my memories to recover knowledge for the multiple entities from creeds' mythologies. The creationism of the Greeks is a strong base, but add creatures and deities for other cultures into a mix with mages, sorcerers, vampires, were-folk, magician plus a New York City based Police task force and multiple landmarks, Sanchez weaves multiple threads for Simon and Tristan's detective agency with skill, keeping the energy and interest bubbling. Superb first effort.

[Carol · Rating 5 out of 5]

Different

This is the first of This author s books that I have read. I found it to be refreshingly different while still containing the action, murder,and mystery expected.

[Tony Hinde · Rating 2 out of 5]

DNF 4%

I've no patience with stupidity. If my partner forgot to bring silver ammunition to a werewolf hunt, I'd end the partnership.

[L.R. Braden · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overview:
This is a fast, fun fantasy that I'd recommend for fans of the Nate Temple, Harry Dresden, and Iron Druid series. It has all the hallmarks of a standard urban fantasy novel -- fast pace, lots of action, short quippy dialogue, humor, paranormal/supernatural investigations, and bad-boy heroes with dark pasts. If you like quick adventure stories with a lot of banter, this is your jam.

The Characters:
This book centers around two friends who run a business (and possibly live) together. The main character and narrator is Strong, a gunslinger cursed with immortality. His sidekick (and I think the more interesting of the two) is Monty, a powerful mage with a very clouded past.
For the most part I found the characters engaging. My main complaint would have to be the heavy-handedness of their humor. I was knocked out of the story on more than one occasion when the author broke the flow of a scene to get in some extra snarky dialogue. This made the characters come across as long-winded, oblivious to their surroundings, and especially in the case of Strong, too flippant to be believable. I'm all for witty characters, but there's a fine line between witty irreverence and buffoonery. These guys would have come across better if they were toned down a tad so I wasn't so often rolling my eyes after an exchange.

The World:
In the world of this story, supernatural beings seem to be both known to exist and somewhat obscured. There is a policing agency that seems specifically designed to handle supernatural threats and there are several references to a supernatural war that happened at some point in the past, yet it's unclear if regular people are aware of the many strange things in their world.
The structure of the world's supernaturals seems to be based loosely on standard Earth mythology focused mainly on the Greek myths with vampires and werewolves thrown in the mix. Overall I think the author did a good job of creating a rich world, though there were a few details about the world's history that I would have liked to know to anchor me a little more.

The Writing:
Sanchez writes with a short, fast sentence structure that keeps the story clipping along at a good pace. He excels at punchy descriptions that convey just enough info without breaking the flow of a scene. There were a few instances where I was knocked out of the story because I wasn't quite sure what the author was trying to say, but for the most part the writing was easy to follow. As I mentioned above, Sanchez went a little overboard on the witty dialogue exchanges in places, seeming to put a scene on hold while Strong and Monty chatted about random, often inconsequential topics.
There were also a few inconsistencies and occasional plot jumps that required a bit of mental acrobatics to follow and knocked me out of the story. For example, approaching the climax of the story both Ramirez and Corbal say they won't help Strong, but then they turn around and do it anyway with seemingly no shift in motivation. Also, chapters 31 and 32 cover almost exactly the same ground in slightly different and mildly contradictory ways, giving me an odd sense of deja vu and once more knocking me out of the story. It was almost as though Sanchez wrote two versions of a scene intending to choose one, but then put them both in the final book.

[Sophia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Audio Edition review

I confess that it was the title that caught my attention first. The author explains in the beginning that it comes from a Ray Bradbury quote which intrigued me all the more. So with eagerness, I pressed forward and popped in my earbuds for a good time with this new to me urban fantasy and author.

The beginning was a tad rough for me because I had the disorienting sense that I'd somehow skipped the opening and dropped into the middle of things. A quick check showed that yes, there appears to be a prequel short story that likely introduces matters. I haven't read it, but I'm going to guess that this one probably wouldn't feel so disorienting if read after the prequel. That said, the confusion didn't last that long and I was soon cruising right along swimmingly in this fun, madcap story about a pair of paranormal PIs who end up getting tossed into the deep end of the pool more often than not.

Simon Strong tells the story. He's something of a loose cannon and brazens things out when facing powerful vampires, powerful gods, or any authority figures. Simon is a human immortal after being cursed by a god. His investigation partner is a reticent, powerful mage with a British stiff upper lip named Tristan Montague. Monty and Simon shouldn't get on. At all. But they are as tight as can be and have each other's back during the course of their work and in personal friendship.

Other quirky and fun characters were introduced even as the pair tackle a few different cases and missions that usually involve near death and lots of destruction. But, its the rise of a god determined to end the world that has Simon and Monty pushed to their extreme. I loved the snark, action, and intensity as they somehow find their way out of some tight spots.

The narrator, Kevin T. Collins, was as new to me as the author and the series. I thought he did a decent job at both the voices and the action. I think he did pretty good with genders and accents and catching Simon's voice the best. It took me some adjustment to get used to his way of narrating, but in the end, I got used to it and settled in nicely.

In summary, I had a good time with this sometimes humorous, but very exciting first in series. It will hold strong appeal for Urban Fantasy lovers who enjoy a blend of gods and paranormal with an appealing pair of supernatural detectives and their quirky acquaintance and friends.

My thanks to Tantor Audio for the opportunity to listen to the book in exchange for an honest review.

[Judi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Let's call this one a 3 star, but moving up. I changed this from a 4 star after reading book 2.

I read this book on the recommendations from friends who read this genre as well. And I'm very glad I did. As the first book in the series, the characters captured me and I found I enjoyed the different personalities. The main storyline was very distinct so there was no wandering around wondering what was going on. There were strong protagonists, strong antagonists, and some interesting secondary characters. My favorite, I think, is Karma. She seems to be someone who is going to cause a lot of trouble as time goes on, which is what Karma does, isn't it. :-)

However, I would like to see more detail of the characters that pop up in the periphery, like Karma, and his vampire Michiko. While it becomes obvious that he didn't have a choice with Karma and his vampire is something of a love interest, we don't really get any background to reference when they interact with them. The book seems to start in the middle and we need to play catch up with the various relationships. And while the main story was distinct, there were a couple side stories going on that seemed rushed. The book was definitely a quick read which leads me to believe he could have added more details in the side stories so we could cement the characters in our heads while reading the main story.

I did enjoy the main storyline, which I won't give away here, and I liked the way Strong and Monty play off each other. I believe this is a promising series and am looking forward to the second book. Hopefully it gets tighter with its story and character building.

As a new genre for Orlando Sanchez, I believe he did very well with the first book. It at least held my attention to the end, however short the book actually was. So, Well Done, Orlando Sanchez,

[L.G. · Rating 2 out of 5]

Rating: 2.5 stars

Simon Strong is an immortal, who is also the best private detective in New York City. Together with his surly partner-Tristan Montague, a mage of indeterminate age, they must find the Ferryman (Charon) and get him back to work before another Supernatural War ravages the earth, destroys humanity, and Simon’s local coffee shop.

This type of story is normally a perfect match for me when I want to read a quirky paranormal mystery. I kept picking this up, reading a few chapters, and then getting involved in a different book. This took 10 months! There is a lot of action and snark, but the character backgrounds and world building are sketchy. Since it's the first of a series, I'll likely pick up the next book to see if the continuing story works better for me.

[Darcy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I listened to this one while running errands in my car the last few days. Had I been at home I probably would have dnf'ed the book, but it was the only one I had in the car. The beginning was odd to me, I felt like I was missing something, like maybe there are books before this or a spin off series, things were firmly established without much explanation, like a 1st book in a new series should have. At time it was hard to tell if the partners liked each other or just put up with each other, yet by the end you knew there was more there, a sense of we're in this together type of thing. They did well figuring things out and getting the bad guy, even if they left a path of destruction in their wake.