Nicholas Chapman

Mix together murder-mystery, a police procedural and urban fantasy and No More Heroes is what you get: an up-to-date fantasy fable set in an imaginary world of ‘what if’. It’s an attention-grabbing opening episode which establishes a solid central character – one of the few remaining Heroes of the title – whose job is rather more mundane than that name suggests. Part gumshoe detective, part supernatural sleuth, part parole officer, his task is to monitor the Villains who have turned over a new leaf in the city of Asphodel, where fictional characters go when their stories otherwise end. Inevitably, we join the story just as everything goes pear-shaped.

No More Heroes succeeds in establishing a credible and intriguing universe; one which the author doesn’t over-explain but where the background is gradually revealed as the plot progresses. And that plot fair scampers along – this is an all-action affair, barely pausing for breath between violent encounters with underworld thugs, the beasts known as Legion and magic-wielding weirdos.

Further detail on the plot and characters can be found here:
http://murdermayhemandmore.wordpress.com/2014/04/30/no-more-heroes-supernatural-...

Chapman’s writing is crisp and accessible. He successfully portrays personalities and original situations with pithy prowess – you’ll find plenty of laconic one-liners in here and, no matter how dire the situation, there’s always a thread of humour to hand… be it bleak at times.

The editing and presentation on NMH are considerably better than you find on many debut novels from small publishers. The occasional grammatical glitch sneaks through (your and you’re being the most wince-worthy examples) but the text is otherwise admirably clean and suitably formatted for easy reading. For a first novel, NMH is an admirable package and it was refreshing to read an introductory episode which satisfactorily concludes an entire adventure – no cliff-hanger here; we get an entire story in this one volume although it’s obvious that there’s more to come.

So if you’re hankering after old-style Harry Dresden (sorry; that comparison was always going to be inevitable), then add No More Heroes to your reading list.

7/10
… (altro)

Jack Reynolds lives in almost a fairy tale world - Villains, Heroes, Lawmen. Jack's world is that of all the forgotten characters of unfinished, unread and unpublished books. I love this idea! It's so fascinating to me! We get to follow Jack as he works to keep his department, the Heroes, from being shut down. This book is part fable, part magic story, part crime thriller. Jack's got a deadline - solve a case or the Heroes are shut down!
It's such a fun read! Jack's a great protagonist and he's sidekick Presley was so charming! A real Knight in Shining Armour. The reader gets thrust into Jack's world and how it functions, learning as we go.

I liked the mystery Jack was working on and I'm really hoping we get to find out more about Jack's Shadow in future books. And also, more about how characters cross the river Styx and end up being citizens of this universe.

A very good read!… (altro)