Helen Harper (1)

I'm continuing my back-to-back binge read of this series and I'm having a lot of fun. I've already read 'Brimstone Bound' and 'Infernal Enchantment'. Now I'm on to 'Midnight Smoke'.

The book opens with us finding out about Emma's uncle, the man who raised her after her parents were murdered when she was a child. This was beautifully done. The strain of the gap between the two of them, each trying to do the right thing by the other, was palpable. I liked that the story started here, taking the show more time to get me back inside Emma's head before plunging into that action.

Immediately after that, there's a lot of very dramatic action, that makes great use of London as a setting and which has Emma right in the heart of things. Then there's a 'did that REALLY just happen?' moment that's very well done.

After that, the book takes on two tropes that I don't normally enjoy, especially together: a 'Groundhog Day' structure and a heist theme. When I first realised that, my reaction was, 'What a shame - I've enjoyed this series so far.'

I should have had more faith. 'Midnight Smoke' turned out to be a very enjoyable read.

Helen Harper handled the whole Groundhog Day thing skilfully. She didn't make me sit through the same thing time after time with only small variations. Each 'reset' was quite different and made an interesting story in its own right. Adding the heist theme also provided a real puzzle to solve rather than using the Groundhog Day thing to make a character deepen their understanding of themselves.

This is the third book in the series and the benefits of all that world-building are starting to show. We're dealing with characters from the two earlier books who have clear story arcs of their own. There's also clear character and ability development for Emma, the main character, and changes in her relationships with the other characters.

The new characters are also interesting. The story brought Emma into conflict with a senior CID officer of the bully-bluster-and-bang-the-bastards-up variety who sees Emma as an irritating inexperienced girlie in the way of his investigation and who sees all Supernaturals as criminals, freaks and probably terrorists. As a picture of the Met under Cressida Dick, I found it very convincing and it made for some great confrontation scenes.

There was a bit more romance in this book, including the inevitable sex scene, but both fitted well into the storyline and character development and the writing was good enough that I never found myself rolling my eyes.

By the end of the book, looking back at the story arc for the series so far, I was able to admire how well the books in the series fit together. Each one is a full story but each story carries the people along a specific path.

Now, I want the fourth book, 'Scorched Heart', to see whether the series is going where I think it's going. show less

I am so sorry to finish this book, I loved this series. I'm going to miss reading Integrity's stupid jokes and Bob's weirdness personified.

The thing I haven't mentioned in my reviews of the prior books is Integrity's stance on pacifism and how it effects the books. Most of the fantasy that I've read is very dependent on violence, not ever main character is violent but a lot of violence occurs in fantasy.
Often a character states that he or she is a pacifist but then is forced through the show more narrative to commit acts of violence or murder, to save something or someone they love or themselves.




Integrity manages to "defeat a race of demons" and her magical Sidhe opponents, but maintains her pacifism throughout.



This sets this series of books apart and makes them memorable. I'll Set this series on the Want to reread shelf, and look forward to visiting with them again. show less

‘Waifs And Strays‘ is Helen Harper’s latest Urban Fantasy novel. It kicks off a series with the (for me) irresistible title: ‘The Cat Lady Chronicles‘ featuring the inimitable Kit McCafferty, a cat lady living in Coldstream, a town on the border between Scotland and England, populated by supernaturals of all types. Kit leads a quiet life renting rooms in her house and feeding feral cats but, as the tagline says: “No one is just a cat lady‘.

I wolfed this down in a couple of show more days. It was tremendous fun. A good plot, engaging characters with complicated histories, a fully imagined supernatural world and a lot of cats. Humour lubricates the plot but never drives it. This is a thriller/mystery designed to introduce Kit and her world and keep the reader on the edge of their seat while doing it.

Helen Harper's Urban Fantasy series range from the dark and tense Bo Blackman series (which I highly recommend and which has now been issued as a 55-hour-long audiobook containing all six novels) to the light humour of The Lazy Girl's Guide To Magic. The new series steers a path between the two.

Kit is not who she seems to be and is not typical Urban Fantasy heroine material. I enjoyed finding out who she had been and watching her being pulled reluctantly from the quiet life she'd intended to have in her retirement.

The plot is a nice mix of tension and humour. I was kept guessing at how things would work out right up to the last page and the final resolution made me smile.

The supernatural world is rich and the magic systems are thought through. And then there are the cats - who make everything more interesting.

I'm looking forward to the second book, 'The Dark Hiss Of Magic' which is expected to be released in June this year. I'll be going for the audiobook version as Ruth Urquhart's narration brings the book alive. show less

Helen Harper’s Midnight Smoke keeps up the clever and engaging storytelling that’s made the Firebrand series a hit. While the Groundhog Day concept is familiar, the story adds a unique twist that kept me engrossed from beginning to end.

It’s particularly rewarding to witness Emma’s character growth, as she demonstrates her abilities as a capable and resourceful investigator. When faced with a new character who seemed to hinder her work, she manipulates him out of her way. It’s not show more what she did, but how she did it that was so clever.

The world-building is great. Helen Harper really knows how to showcase London in atmospheric writing. I've never been there, but it feels familiar.

Read more at https://www.summonfantasy.com/reviews/midnight-smoke-a-rewarding-return-to-the-f.... show less