I have mixed feeling about this book. I was initially excited to go back into the world setting of the Iron Druid as it was one of my fave series. (In fact, Atticus & Oberon makes a cameo.) As it is the same world as the Iron Druid, the magic system is obviously similar, except the Al, MC, is a mundane human called a Sigil Agent because he has to use sigils, written with special, handmade inks, on special paper, with quill pen or fountain pen. (In some ways, this book is a homage to ink and fountain pens.) And even though this is set in the same world of Iron Druid, one doesn't have to read the Iron Druid series to understand this world. Hearne does a great job of world building and how the characters fit into it. 

But this story just didn't captivate me as much. Some of it is that there are a lot of slow places where the story is relying too much on the interaction between Al and Buck Foi, a hobgoblin. Some of it is that Al, because of his curse, has to rely on a text-to-speech app, which slows down the pace. (Seriously, who can type while there's any kind of action happening?) And some of the humor felt like middle school boy humor, even though Al is supposed to be in his early 60s. Really, how many times do they need to call Gladys, Al's office assistant, "Gladys who's seen some shite"? No, they can't call her just Gladys. Every time it's the full title.

Another issue is that Luke Daniels, who is a fabulous narrator, has to do a Scottish accent as Al is Scottish and the story is mainly set in Scotland. While I like a Scottish accent, it honestly got a bit much after listening to it for a few hours. This is not against Daniels as he was simply reading the book in the accent of the MC. And I give Daniels full props because not only did he have to do a Scottish accent (and also a Glasgow vs Edinburg accent, which Al goes on a diatribe about), he also had to do Irish, a computer-esque British (because of Al's text-to-speech app only has an English accent), Asian, Australian, southern American, and Latino American. But the heavy Scottish accent wore me down after a while. 

Also, I just thought the plot was a bit weak. Obviously, this is a trilogy, and so part of this book sets up the continuing story (Al's curse and lack of apprentice). Although entertaining, I just didn't connect to any of the characters to root for them. Nadia was interesting, but I didn't feel she was fully developed. In fact, I felt the most of the characters were more cartoonish, more along the lines of an animated series or graphic novel. 

Finally, while I thought Hearne did a great job with recognizing and balancing the patriarchy privilege, racism, sexism, and other -isms with his white 60-year-old male protagonist, I thought Hearne did a little too much preaching about some topics via Al's lectures, or rather his soliloquies. For example, the human trafficking subplot felt a bit too much with the overall plot which is about fae trafficking. I agree with the author’s feelings, but there were a few too many info dumps and it created a forced and somewhat unrealistic with the relationship with the police.

So overall, I'm a little disappointed in the start to this series, hence only 3 stars. I will be continuing on to books 2 and 3, but my expectations are more managed now. 
 

Had a blast with the Audiobook!