Gail Z. Martin

I found this one very interesting and would love to read more in this world.

Cassidy Kincade owns an antique shop and some of the antiques that pass through her hands stop with her. She's a psychometrist and anything that has too much of a residue is passed on to Sorren, a 500 year old vampire who has been associated with the business for many years. Working with her is Teag who has some magical powers of his own and a long-term relationship with someone else.

And that was one of the things I show more really liked about this, there was no shoehorned in romance between main characters just because. Refreshing in the Urban Fantasy genre.

When I started I could barely put it down. I really enjoyed Cassidy finding out what was going on in her part of the world. It made me want to read more in this series. show less

Originally posted on Just Geeking by.

Content warnings:
There are scenes of death, blood, violence and torture. There are also references to torture including flashbacks as a result of torture.

The fourth book in the Assassins of Landria series picks up directly after the events of the previous book. Ridge and Rett are reunited after the terrible events that separated them for a time, leading to both men believing the other to be dead. Ridge’s daring rescue paid off and with the help of show more friends he managed to save Rett from captivity and torture. While Rett survived, barely, the effect of the magic used to harm him had consequences and in Exile’s Quest both men struggle to come to terms with those.

Desperate to get back into the fight and prove himself, Rett worries about being replaced by Kane, while Ridge only sees the spy as a means to the end until Rett is back on his feet. All Ridge is concerned for is his friend’s health and wellbeing. This book had a different feel to it than the other books in the series so far because it’s the first time the two main characters have spent time apart where one of them wasn’t under duress. They were still working together, just on separate parts of the mission. This allowed Martin to dive deeper into their relationship, showing their more vulnerable sides as they tried to navigate these new changes.

The world that they are operating in is very different to where they were at the start of the series, and Rett’s new abilities are just one new change that happens in Exile’s Quest. Everything previous has been leading to the revelations in this one. Mysteries begin to unfold, and for the first time since the King’s death it looks like there might be a solid way to end the Witch Lord’s hold. While I missed Rett and Ridge causing chaos together in this book, I could see why it was necessary for the story to take the path it did. It was also interesting to see them working with different partners for a change, and learning more about Rett’s magic, about any magic, in this series is always fascinating. Martin has a fabulous talent for magic world-building, and it gets even better in Exile’s Quest!

As always Henry was on top form, and watching hardcore spy Kane stumble over Henry’s matter of fact approach to taking out the enemy was hilarious. I wish we could have had a bit more of Lady Sally Anne, Loretta and the kids, but I loved the way that Martin passed on updates of what they were doing to the idiots men who were besieging their castle. It injected some humour into the despairing situations Rett and Ridge were dealing with.

Overall, Exile’s Quest was an enjoyable continuation of the Assassins of Landria series. The normal status quo was shaken up in this book, and Martin used that to explore a lot of other scenarios. We get to see Malachi and Kane as separate characters rather than a pair, and I think the same can be said about Rett and Ridge, to be honest. For the whole series they have been a pair, and that’s not a bad thing, but in the last two books they’ve both become their own entities. That’s not a bad thing, people change, and due to what Rett went through he’s changed more than most. They still have a strong bond, and I think we’ll see them come back together stronger than ever in the next book. They have always been a great team, but their enemies have made the mistake of making them a formidable one.

For more of my reviews please visit my blog! show less

Cassidy is the owner of Trifles and Folly, an antique and collectibles store Charleston, SC. But more is going on there than meets the eye. Cassidy and her partners are tasked with finding dangerous magical items and keeping them away from the public. It helps that Cassidy is a sensitive and her partner is a 500 year old vampire. But this time they are up against a demon and they are going to need all the help they can get.

Well, ghosts, vampires, antiques and Charleston. Yep, right up my show more street. I really liked this book with its look at Charleston history, real and imagined. I also like the story line which reminds me of that old tv show, Friday the 13th. The characters in the book are well developed and I felt that I knew them by the end of the book. Cassidy did make me a bit annoyed a couple of times but to me that just shows that she was believable. There was lots of action that in some ways reminded me of The Dresden Files, not sure why. There are some related short stories that I plan to read that all precede this book. But I really want to read more about Cassidy and company. show less

While there were some times that the story didn't quite work for me and I lost which character I was with, this is an interesting conclusion to the sequence. Lord Jonmarc Vahanian is trying to get his revenge for what has been done to his wife, Lady Carina, who is stuck between vampire, or Vayash Moru, and life as she is a healer and they don't change. She also is determined to heal the source of magic as it's causing problems. At the same time Martris Drayke is trying to consolidate his show more kingdom while his wife, Kiara, deals with an evil whispering campaign that is losing her some of her support in a foreign country.

I did enjoy it, much of the whispering campaign was quite believable and the characters were very solid, I really like Jonmarc and I enjoyed how the characters had their own personalities.

I would recommend this series. Nothing earthshattering, quite readable show less