Red Hot Fury (A Shades of Fury Novel)

I wanted to like this book, as it had a great premise, particularly because there's not a lot out about furies, especially as a main character. But this book just fell flat. So much so, I really had to push myself to finish it just to find out who was the ultimate baddie. Sadly, I say save yourself the trouble.

First, the writing was disjointed, and in many places, sounded very juvenile. First person narration can be tricky, especially with providing background and world information. This book clearly demonstrates the pitfalls of first person narration. Too much glossing over, too many assumptions, and the reader is left a bit confused as to why this world is as it is. Then many names and words were shortened (weps for weapons) for no show more apparent purpose. It didn't add to any one character's personality, as they all seemed to do it one time or another, and sounded rather dumb and awkward in places. The writing was disjointed enough that I ended up skimming most of the last half of the book.

The characters, particularly the main character Riss (short for Marissa, which you don't learn until later), all felt very one dimensional to me. Riss was too wishy-washy: a take no prisoners bad ass investigator one moment, then a whiney juvenile the next. While the author tried to explain this away to the fact she was a Fury, most of the time felt as if Riss was really two characters - either 100% bad-ass or 100% wimpy, and neither one had any depth. Plus, Riss didn't seem like she'd make a good investigator at all (so no idea how she had become Chief Magical Investigator), because most of the time she was too caught up in her own drama. Overall, Riss was just annoying. I couldn't like her, and her dialogue was awful. Then Riss's so-called romance with her ex Scott just had no oomph. The character of Scott was rather meh, and I really didn't understand why he would want to be with her. There was no heat in the "steamy" scenes between them. The apparent sexual "tension" was flat, flat, flat. And after setting the story up that Riss was in the wrong as to why she bailed (in high drama), there's a big scene where *he* apologizes to her. It made no sense.

As for the other characters, many were almost pointless. The author sets up potential issues/conflicts, such as the one between Riss and Scott's little bro Sean, but then Sean simply disappears. This happened to several other characters. Major issues with Ellie were alluded to more than once, but never developed. Ellie continued to be there, but was pushed into the far background. So conflict was alluded with several characters, but then that character disappeared. If they returned, there was no mention of aforementioned conflict. I don't know if this was because the author ran out of time, the conflict scenes were edited out after the fact, or there is an intent to discuss it in future books. But it came across as if these alluded conflicts were simply dropped, which made no sense and seriously detracted from the overall story.

As for the plot and the storyline. The descriptions focused too much on inconsequential areas and not enough on the places that were important. The background story (the war between arcanes and humans) was weak, almost as if it really wasn't thought out, The background seemed more created as the story went along to justify the current plot, which made it inconsistent and fall apart in some places. The description of the world and why it was the way it was (arcanes vs. mundanes) was rather glossed over, as if the reader should simply know the various races, their powers, and the dynamics between them all. Many places it was difficult to understand. Overall, I felt the background and description of this world was unfocused, disjointed, and slapped together just to support the plot - all of which contributed to it falling flat. While the plot was intriguing, there were too many holes, too little explanations on key points. Combined with a fractured background story, a weak world description, the book just failed. show less

Review posted at http://urbanfantasyinvestigations.blogspot.com

This is the first book in a brand new series by a brand new Author and WOW was it great. Marissa (Riss) is a fun, sexy, independent Fury who works with the Boston PD as there Chief Magical Investigator and someone is trying to kill her at every turn she takes. Riss is called to a murder scene to find that the victim is her missing Best friend who has been gone for years and then discovers that it isn't her body at all just a double made to look exactly like her. This leads to her investigating the whole thing which sends a group of bad guys after her that want her dead before she figures out their secret. Scott Murphy Riss's Ex is a shapeshifting Warhound (kinda like a show more private Eye/bodyguard) who is smoking hot and goes along for the ride. I thoroughly enjoyed Red Hot Fury, I thought the whole concept of the book was fantastic. There is tons of action and mystery to keep you interested. There isn't a ton of romance in here but there is some high sexual tension at some points. All in all a great start for Kasey Mackenzie. show less

Red Hot Fury is Kasey Mackenzie‘s debut novel. It’s an entry into urban fantasy with a slightly different spin: her lead character, Marissa Holloway, is a Fury (as in Greek mythology) who works in the mundane world as Boston’s Chief Magical Investigator.

Things are all hunky-dory for Riss until the body of a sister Fury washes up in the Harbour. Except it’s not a Fury, it’s a corpse that’s been magically altered. And then Riss is suspended without cause and an attempt is made on her life, leading her to suspect that someone is trying to cause some trouble between mortals and arcanes. Unsure about who to trust, Riss turns to her ex-lover Scott, a shape-shifting Warhound and mercenary, dredging up old feelings in the process.

I show more had my doubts about this book when I picked it up. I wasn’t totally thrilled by the cover art, though I thought the back blurb made it sound really promising. Plus it has quotations from two authors I enjoy – Nalini Singh and Karen Chance – so I was willing to take a chance. I’m really happy that I did since I couldn’t put it down! Kasey Mackenzie has created a wonderful world and a great story with Red Hot Fury. She shows a firm understanding of Greek mythology and has added a great twist by having them police the arcane world in her novel. Riss is a wonderful, spunky lead character and I loved following her on this adventure. Plus, the relationship between Harpies and Furies is very interesting and I thought Riss’ various forms, including her transformation from a blue-eyed blonde to a green-eyed brunette when she’s in full Fury form, was a neat extra.

Also posted at http://ireadgood.wordpress.com show less

I got this book through the Amazon vine program as an Advanced Reading Copy. It is the first book in the Shades of Fury series, I was unable to find how many books are planned for this series. The book was okay; there were some great things about it and a number of flaws in it too.

Riss is a Fury, sworn to protect mortals from non-mortals, she works for the Sisterhood and as the head of Magical Investigations in the local police department. When the body of a sister Fury washes up, Riss is Mandated to find out what is going on. Suddenly she is relieved from her position on the police force and people are out to kill her. Now she has to uncover a plot that will influence mortals and non-mortals alike; that plot may have to less to do with show more magic and more to do with genetic engineering and betrayal.

I'll start with what I really liked about this book. It is very fast-paced with lots of action and the action scenes are fairly well done. It is a good brainless read; if you don't think too hard and just enjoy the ride you will probably enjoy the book. I loved the idea of Furies and other mythological creatures alive and well in our society. It was nice to read about a Mythology based alternate world as opposed to the tons of fairy books and vampire/werewolf books out there. Riss is also a pretty likable character and her ex-boyfriend Scott was great to read about too.

There was a lot I didn't like about this book though. The writing, especially in the beginning, is disjointed and juvenile to the point of painfulness. The sentences were clipped and short and just sounded unnatural. This improved as the book continued. The world itself, how things worked, and how the races were related was confusing and unexplained. As I said, if you don't think about the surrounding world too much and don't pay too much attention to inconsistencies...then things are okay...but when you start thinking and trying to make sense of the whole world and how everything interacts on a broader sense...well it just doesn't make sense.

The author glosses over a lot of things that she doesn't want to explain in detail, which is okay but makes things harder to understand and at times come across as laziness on the author's part. Also the interaction between Riss and Scott is a bit odd at times. Sometimes they have great chemistry and then it just disappears. I know they were supposed to be an on-again, off-again type of thing but if was almost like reading about two different Riss/Scott sets because the characterization was just so inconsistent.

There are a couple other minor quibbles. All the characters' names are shortened from their originals (Riss was Marissa, Ness for Vanessa, etc) which was just weird and unnecessary. Lots of other terms are abbreviated too; like weapons are Weps...at one point there was a sentence with at least three acronyms in it, it sounded awkward and not at all like the way someone would really describe something.

The story was pretty well wrapped up, leaving just a couple threads dangling for the next book. Will I read the next book? I am not sure, this book just could have "first book in a series syndrome" and with more experience the writing and world-building might improve.

I read a ton of urban fantasies and so I was eager to like this one. Unfortunately the unfocused, fractured writing and the unrealized world just turned me off some. It is a really a pity because I love the idea of a mythology based urban fantasy and I really loved some of the things the author did with the characters' powers. This book gets just barely an okay from me. There are much better series out there to read. Try October Daye series by Seanan McGuire, the Jane Yellowrock series by Faith Hunter, or Jaz Parks series by Jennifer Rardin...all of these series are better than this one. show less

never have I read a book about a fury in all my days of reading, so I t a little hesitant about it first. but reading through the first few chapters It really grasped a good hold on my attention, and I took every possible chance I could get to read this. And at the end I was a little upset that the book was over.

An interesting read. A solid addition to the Urban Fantasy genre