The Wire Noose

The Stalker Chronicles #1

by Erik Buchanan

Abraniotok is a vibrant city filled with life, from the citadel’s magic-wielding knights, to the gangs of the lower city, to the miscreations — magically-created beasts — that lurk in the streets.

Abyowith, once a knight-initiate, is learning to be a Stalker and hunt miscreations. And when her lieutenant is sent to investigate a dead City Councillor, found garrotted in a locked room, Abyowith goes with her. All evidence points to a miscreation, but why would a miscreation break into a man’s house, kill him, and lock the door after?

And why, that night, does a voice in the darkness tell Abyowith, “Leave him alone!”

With no motive to be found and more victims coming to light, Abyowith begins a search for answers that takes her from the halls of power to the city’s underbelly.

As she closes in on the killer, Abyowith discovers that learning why the Councillor died may be even more dangerous than tracking the creature who killed him.

Genres: Fantasy

150 pages, Kindle Edition

Published May 6, 2021

Reviews

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book has a couple of non-fatal flaws, which appeared early on. Firstly, I had to double-check that this is Book 1, since there's a lot of expository backstory that sounds like "previously on...". I believe there's a prequel as a mailing list magnet, which explains why a lot of significant-sounding past events are summarized in what's marketed as the first book in the series.

The author also makes the classic stumble of introducing a large number of people at once (many with similar names - most characters' names end in -th, and those that don't all seem to end in -o), so that by the time any of them did anything I'd forgotten who they were.

Other than that, it was an entertaining fantasy mystery with a capable, determined and compassionate young female protagonist (who, quite appropriately, gets into trouble with her boss for going off without backup or telling anyone where she's going). The pacing worked well, with some suspenseful action scenes and a good progression of the mystery's solution through the book. The clues were there in plain sight but not so spotlighted that I solved the mystery before the character did, so well done on that too.

I will be looking out for sequels; the author and the character both show promise.

[Ida Jagaric · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fabulous follow up to the prequel The Trials of Abyowith: Prequel to The Stalker Chronicles! A bit slow at the beginning with all the boring parts of criminal investigations, but then it got rolling and I again had to finish it in one sitting! Soooo good!! The miscreations are a an amazing concept and I love learning about each new one. They add so much story potential for future novels! And the last paragraph killed me. To not share any spoilers the line was something like: "Abyowith thought of _____ and smiled." And I turned the page (on the ereader ;) and the book was over and I was like gaaaaahhhh I need to know what happens with those two!! ;)))) So I'm anxiously waiting on the next book which Erik promised will be ASAP! Phew! :)

[Shelby · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a short, action-packed story that was easy to read in one sitting. The Wire Noose is well-written with only a couple of grammatical errors that tripped me up, which is understandable given it is self-published. It became clear at the beginning of the novel that I was missing some background knowledge, but I thought the world was well-described so I didn't find this lack of backstory distracting or confusing. The concept of miscreations was especially intriguing and well-executed; I really enjoyed the scenes with the tkodipin. I gave this book three stars because while it was enjoyable, I couldn't connect with the characters, even though I found the MC likable. I think this was in part due to the pacing, which kept the story focused mostly on the action. While this was a nice contrast to some high fantasy novels where the plot pacing often feels too slow, it kept me from feeling engaged with the story as I was reading. I also felt that Abyowith's realization about Lisyrith towards the end of the book came out of left field and should have been saved for the next book, perhaps with more build-up and context (maybe this was present in the prequel?). Overall, The Wire Noose is definitely worth the read for fantasy, action, and crime fans. Thank you to NetGalley for the digital review copy.

[Leo Valiquette · Rating 4 out of 5]

Erik Buchanan continues to build out the setting and the characters of the Stalker Chronicles with another exciting blend of murder, miscreation and mucking of stalls (because even childhood friends expect to be compensated when their horse gets eaten on your watch). The Wire Noose breaks new ground by combining elements of a police procedural with an urban adventure in a secondary fantasy world. Look forward to the next instalment of Abyowith's adventures.