Johnny Lycan & the Vegas Berserker, by Wayne Turmel - OCT2022 LTER
Talk Reviews of Early Reviewers Books
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Disclaimer: An electronic copy of this book was provided in exchange for review by publishers Black Rose Writing, via Library Thing.
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This second entry in the Werewolf PI series cranks up the violence level but skimps on the background that made the debut volume (Johnny Lycan & the Anubis Disk) stand out from its urban fantasy peers.
This time around, Johnny is dispatched to Las Vegas to pick up yet another arcane artifact purchased by his eccentric employer, only to find that the person who was beaten out at auction for the goodie is not willing to give up so easily. The item in question is an egg-shaped crystal which may or may not be an alien artifact; in any case, it proves to have some unusual powers. The would-be buyer sends some pretty serious muscle out to grab what he couldn’t purchase, including another not-quite-human creature, the Berserker of the title. There’s a whole lot of fighting (with and without the assistance of Johnny’s werewolf persona), a few modern-day witches, a brief romance, and the discovery of a possible way to control the beast with which Johnny shares a body.
So in that sense, the universe being developed for this series does get a bit more fine-tuning. This reviewer simply wishes that Turmel had been able to figure out how to include a bit more of the background he set up so skillfully in the first volume. A reader coming in without that background is apt to flounder a bit, trying to identify all the players without a program, so to speak.
The series continues to be an interesting take on the paranormal / superhero genre, and readers will just have to wait for the third installment to see how Turmel is going to give new readers a leg up on understanding the ground rules for Johnny and Shaggy.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
This second entry in the Werewolf PI series cranks up the violence level but skimps on the background that made the debut volume (Johnny Lycan & the Anubis Disk) stand out from its urban fantasy peers.
This time around, Johnny is dispatched to Las Vegas to pick up yet another arcane artifact purchased by his eccentric employer, only to find that the person who was beaten out at auction for the goodie is not willing to give up so easily. The item in question is an egg-shaped crystal which may or may not be an alien artifact; in any case, it proves to have some unusual powers. The would-be buyer sends some pretty serious muscle out to grab what he couldn’t purchase, including another not-quite-human creature, the Berserker of the title. There’s a whole lot of fighting (with and without the assistance of Johnny’s werewolf persona), a few modern-day witches, a brief romance, and the discovery of a possible way to control the beast with which Johnny shares a body.
So in that sense, the universe being developed for this series does get a bit more fine-tuning. This reviewer simply wishes that Turmel had been able to figure out how to include a bit more of the background he set up so skillfully in the first volume. A reader coming in without that background is apt to flounder a bit, trying to identify all the players without a program, so to speak.
The series continues to be an interesting take on the paranormal / superhero genre, and readers will just have to wait for the third installment to see how Turmel is going to give new readers a leg up on understanding the ground rules for Johnny and Shaggy.
