The HighFire Crown

Blood Magic, Book 1

By: J.T. Lawrence, M.J. Kraus

Narrated by: Roshina Ratnam

Length: 6 hrs and 35 mins

Publisher's summary

It’s a case she can’t refuse.

Spell-slinger. Vampire-slayer. Magical albino ferret-rescuer. Meet Jacqueline Denna Knight, the best wizard detective in the city.

Jax turns vampires to ash and pain into magic. She also has a knack for finding things. So, when a distraught - and obscenely wealthy - elf calls Jax at midnight to hire her for an intriguing job, she grabs the opportunity with both hands.

But what Jax doesn’t know is that this case is going to unravel her life. She’ll get tangled up with a host of intriguing characters, most of whom are not who they appear to be.

As Jax speeds down a path toward the most powerful vampire clan in the country, she’ll have to put everything on the line.

Will she be able to use her unique brand of magic to save the Realm?

This is a breakneck-paced mix of urban fantasy, irreverent humor, and detective noir. Fans of The Dresden Files and Jessica Jones will burn through this brand new addictive urban fantasy series.

Get it now.

©2019 Muonic Press Inc (P)2019 Muonic Press Inc

Honest review

I really loved this book. So much magic, witchcraft, and other worldly beings in one book. I love the fact that Jacqueline never gave up. Definitely well put together and narrated. I also need to find out what happened to Gizmo.

I want to listen to more

This is the first book I’ve read/listened to by these authors together, and the tenth by JT Lawrence. I’ve never listened to anything by MJ Kraus before. I have Witches Get Stitches next in my cue. I’m looking forward to it. The writing of the main character is very JT Lawrence. She is a tough, direct speaking main character.
There is definitely a lot going on in this book. Lots of action. The book ends without a real conclusion. Gotta get the next one!

This is the seventh book I’ve listened to by this narrator ( Roshina Ratnam ). She is a great voice actress. She really brings out the heart of the story.

There are no explicit sex scenes, excessive violence. I don’t remember if there was swearing.

I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and voluntarily left this unbiased review.
Please feel free to comment on whether you found my review helpful.

Look for the turn, the trick, the twist!

Jax is fully invested in her career as a paranormal investigator. This first volume of the series puts Jax on several complex and dangerous cases. The case of the missing crown is the main plotline, splitting into several threads involving Elves, Orcs, and Goblins. It’s an interesting tale and our MC is blessed with an overabundance of luck and insight. I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

LOVED IT!

I absolutely loved it! This book caught my attention from the very beginning and held it throughout the entire book. This book is full of action, drama and so much adventure. The narration was excellent. The author did an excellent job with the character builds and plot. I look forward to reading more books in this series! I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

A good start, to get even better

This book reminded me of Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter series, without the steamy situations, and without the PI investigations.
I recommend the book as it has the ingredients to become a successful series after some work on the plot development: an intriguing mystery to be solved - although the interviews/interrogations were not productive; a bada$$ female detective; some supernatural beings (goblins, orcs, and of course, vampires); a mysterious handsome "savior" that is at the right place, at the right moment; and of course, more than one exciting situation. It has many movies and some current events references; as well as funny analogies that had me chuckling all along.
Both my husband, who doesn't usually listen to audiobooks, and I were engaged and drawn into the story from the beginning. We had a long trip and the duration of the book was perfect to listen to it on the long drive. You must be aware that the narrator of the book doesn't have an American accent. I guessed it right, as it was set up in South Africa.
Be prepared to be entertained by the action and humor in this audiobook.
I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

Great job!

Love love love Roshina Ratnam! I continue to maintain that she should pretty much be a mandatory hire for any author creating a female-perspective audiobook that occurs in South Africa. :) She does her usual great job here.

Oh yeah, there's a book here too. :) It's also excellent. I've enjoyed Ms. Lawrence's cyberpunk stories and so I was looking forward to giving this different genre (and team-up with another author) a try. In short, it was well-done in my opinion. The story sucks you in with mysteries galore, and more is going on than initially seems apparent. It's fun following along as things are unwrapped piece by piece. The main character is also easy to root for, and the magical world the authors created is interesting and treated matter-of-factly which is a nice sort of change-of-pace compared to some stories. It's just where things happen to be occurring rather than something to gawk at, which is a cool approach.

Bottom line, give this one a try. Looking forward to the next in the series.

A woman and her Ferret.

Great detective story in the vein of Harry Dresden or Mercy Thompson. Fun Characters and rollicking plot along with wonderful narration. I'm looking forward to more. I was given a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Loved this!

I loved this audiobook production! Having read this book previously, I was familiar with the story, but Roshina Ratnam's narration brought it to life in a whole new way. Fantasy novels that feature any number of creatures - from trolls to orcs, goblins, dwarfs and elves, to name a few - present their own challenges in terms of the unique "voices" that each species embodies, but Ratnam is well up to this challenge. Various accents also sounded great.
I love this magical world JT has created in Micah Kraus's universe. I love the magic, the intrigue, the humour, and the characters.
Roll on, Book 2!

a great addition to the urban fantasy genre.

disclaimer I received this book for free for a review my opinions are my own.

looking for another wizard detective / vampire hunter well you found it and she is a firecracker. this is a great opening novel to what I expect will be a great series.

Entrance into a new magical/urban world

This story has a great deal of action. Indeed the heroine, has a feast or famine thing going on for her. I had "Die Hard" in a magical urban world spring to mind several times. (sometimes that is good, and sometimes not. It depends on the suspension of disbelief.) It has a Young Adult feel to the book, but is not really Young Adult. I believe there was one F word, some really gory imagery, a darker world atmosphere.

I enjoyed the story and am listening to book 2 right now and enjoying it as well.

There is a lot to establish in any new world building series. Some authors develop with a lot of descriptions and details. This story's details are slowly drizzled out for you in smaller nibbles. There are scenes that let the reader imagine quite a bit, but then some of the little details that are described later kind of force you to revise your inner eye picture of what you had been imagining all along.

I found many of the characters likeable, and they made sense as they developed. Book 2 (as in most new world series) sheds much more light on the main character and why/how she is the way she is.

I must say I did have trouble with the narration. Not a lot of trouble, but I will explain in a moment. I rarely have trouble with anyone, unless it is the actual audio quality. I enjoyed her accent and general tone and voice modulations. It did sound like she was reading each sentence almost out of breath, like she was running and stopped to tell us the sentence. I believe it more her style than anything negative. I just hard some difficulties getting used to it. I did not notice it by the end of the book, so that says something positive as well.

Note: It does leave off on a cliffhanger, stops rather suddenly.

Overall, this is a potentially very enjoyable series. I enjoyed book 1 and wanted to read book 2 afterwards. I thank the author for this new series and look forward to its development.

I was given a copy by the author. I left this review voluntarily and thank the author for the chance to see what will come in this series.