Pride's Spell

Wallace is doing an interesting thing with his urban fantasy series centered on the adventures of a catering firm the works with the supernatural. As he states on his website:

"Each book has a standalone plot, in this case centered around a single event the company is catering, but it carries over a lot of the stories and character arcs from the last book. It’s like an old-fashioned serial. There are cliffhangers, there are monsters of the week, and there’s a fast-paced world you check in with every few months to get the next part of the Big Story." (source page)

The books are a blend of culinary escapades, physical action and general silliness, wrapped around a curious emotional core and sprinkled with pop culture references, and show more honestly, they're like chocolate-covered popcorn: a little salty, a little sweet, and really, really hard to stop.

In this installment, Bronko, the famed former tv chef, is experiencing hellish torments, but reasons why remain unexplained. Meanwhile, his crew is obligated to two catering engagements on opposite sides of the country--the Half-and-Half convention in New York (although as Jett reminds us, that's ablest and is disrespectful to centaurs and minotaurs) and a big-budget movie premiere in Los Angeles. The newest employees, best friends and roommates Lena and Darren, remain at odds over her sexing the sous chef. It's complicated to work together when you aren't speaking to each other. Since procurement is done, Bronko gives the Stocking & Receiving Department the week off. However, as we all know, the minute you get a week's vacation, things are going to go to hell. Or rather, Hell will come to you.

While it is a fun, fast-moving story, the narrative is a bit choppy. Initial scenes alternate between Bronko's torment, the dastardly Hollywood producers, Lena's surly perspective and various events with members of the Stocking team. I'm not sure the sections with the movie producers were strictly needed, although it added to the tension. While it did give Wallace a chance to farcically describe the Hollywood system, it was a little overt:

"Apparently less than ten percent of all writers and directors are women."
"We can't get it any lower than that," Producer Two complains. "A few are bound to slip through now and then. It's not a foolproof system."

I enjoyed the dryly sarcastic tone, offering such insights as "Behind him, Cindy performs a physiological miracle by rolling her eyes without her eyes ever moving in their sockets" and "In fact, in Hell it will become known as the single most horrific death ever to occur on Earth. That's like winning the Oscar for best picture down there."

Unlike some pulpy urban fantasy books (looking at you, [b:Geekomancy|13609386|Geekomancy (Ree Reyes, #1)|Michael R. Underwood|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1334886014l/13609386._SY75_.jpg|19206590]), I thought Wallace maintained congruence between events and tone, not losing sight that death and dismemberment are horrible experiences. That said, there's also a bizarro element to the series, particularly when Hell sends holiday 'false idols' after the team.

I've read the first in the series but missed the second, Lustlocked (now rectified), and my word of advice for would-be readers is that this is truly a serial in the old-fashioned sense. Unlike my recent reading experience of the frequently repetitive Mercy Thompson series, Wallace doesn't waste space on back story; often there will be no more than a sentence or two of explanation. There's definitely emotional and social changes as our two leads, Lena and Darren, start to individuate from each other and find their roles in the company. Starting at this book will prove confusing on both the character and world-building fronts, much like picking up on the third or fourth episode of a sci-fi tv series.

While I don't think the Sin du Jour series is meant to be taken entirely seriously, there's a core emotional weight to them that is intriguing, particularly in this one based on pride. I've discovered is that Wallace has achieved his goal--these are perfect pieces for when I want to sit down and devour something fun.

My review for Envy of Angels here

Many thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan-Tor/Forge for an advance reader copy show less

The third book's the charm. Or, actually, it's pure hell.

Not for us, mind you, it's all for the characters. And what a hell of a ride it is.

I mean, seriously, after the last book, which I thought was pretty good and definitely funny and fun, I didn't quite expect a full and completely kick-butt tale of Hollywood human sacrifice, pools of chocolate, exquisite tacos from a truck, or awesomely choreographed fight-scenes.

I'm pretty sure that Tim Burton was not consulted for the Truly Strange bits, but I would be quite remiss if I didn't tell Mr. Tim Burton that he probably ought to read this book, tip his hat in serious pride for the spirit of this book, understand that this might be a good deal better than a lot of the more recent stuff show more he's come up with, and come back to Matt Wallace and tell him that [b:Pride's Spell|28595871|Pride's Spell (Sin du Jour, #3)|Matt Wallace|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1454685885s/28595871.jpg|48765760] is now being made by him. I mean, fair's fair. This book is awesome.

I didn't even know, at least, not really, that all these wonderful chefs where so versatile with weapons! Or that evil cartoon bunnies could quite send such shivers down my spine.

So was it more a funny book, an action book, or a horror?

Well, heck if I know. All I know is that all three worked wonders in this one and I think this author has just earned a huge fan. :)

Thanks goes to Netgalley for the arc! show less

I have enjoyed all the books in this series but this was easily my favorite. It was probably the killer........oh I can't tell. Let's just say there are some crazy assassins roaming around in this book.

Maybe I'm in a funk or something, but the series is losing its charm on me. There are only so many frustrating ostriches I can take before going pyro on books.
I really hope it's just my mood. Too many terrible books lately.

REVIEW

I... honestly have no clue what this one was supposed to be about? Like, AT. ALL.
What's the purpose? Where are developments? What on earth is going on?
I got more satisfaction from [b:Small Wars|27242762|Small Wars (Sin du Jour)|Matt Wallace|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1445967138s/27242762.jpg|47291555] than from this confusing mess of a story.

I just... I honestly don't know.
So very disappointed.

I'll take a stab at the next instalment but I'm not holding out much hope at this point.