I received this book for free from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Ink & Sigil (Ink & Sigil #1) by Kevin HearneSeries: Ink & Sigil #1
Published by Del Rey Books on August 25, 2020
Genres: urban fantasy
Pages: 336
Format: ARC, eBook
Source: Netgalley
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Al MacBharrais is both blessed and cursed. He is blessed with an extraordinary white moustache, an appreciation for craft cocktails – and a most unique magical talent. He can cast spells with magically enchanted ink and he uses his gifts to protect our world from rogue minions of various pantheons, especially the Fae.
But he is also cursed. Anyone who hears his voice will begin to feel an inexplicable hatred for Al, so he can only communicate through the written word or speech apps. And his apprentices keep dying in peculiar freak accidents. As his personal life crumbles around him, he devotes his life to his work, all the while trying to crack the secret of his curse.
But when his latest apprentice, Gordie, turns up dead in his Glasgow flat, Al discovers evidence that Gordie was living a secret life of crime. Now Al is forced to play detective – while avoiding actual detectives who are wondering why death seems to always follow Al. Investigating his apprentice’s death will take him through Scotland’s magical underworld, and he’ll need the help of a mischievous hobgoblin if he’s to survive.
So I was a bit delayed in reviewing this because I had to go and finally read the last book & a half in the Iron Druid Chronicles to make sure that I wouldn’t be spoiled for those. Why hadn’t I read those yet? Well. Sometimes we don’t want a story to end, and so we delay as much as possible. Also, it could have a little something to do with the fact that it feels like Ragnarok has been happening in the real world for the last 3.5 years or so, especially if you’re in the US.
That said, if you’re as worried as I was, I can reassure you. The spoilers are very light: x,y, and z characters have managed to survive is about all you’re told. If that bothers you and you haven’t finished the original series, then you should probably get on that.
But enough about the old series. Let’s get into the new. I kind of wish I was still into audio books because with the proper reader, this one would be super fun to listen to. It’s all Scottish and English accents and fun swear words that an American reader wouldn’t normally get exposed to.
The main characters are also super fun. Al MacBarrais (pronounced Mac-VAR-ish, if I remember the guide at the front of the book correctly), our Sigil Agent and narrator, works for Brighid (who you should know from Iron Druid!), keeping the peace between the mundane world and visitors from the Fae. His exact age isn’t mentioned, but he’s old enough to have lost his wife and to habitually carry and use a cane. Then there’s Buck Foi (yes, he chose his own handle and yes, it means what you think), a hobgoblin who joins with Al to investigate how & why Al’s recently deceased apprentice, Gordie, had been involved Fae-trafficking*.
*Well, it’s not human trafficking, is it??
Al is an interesting character. He’s older (if not elderly) and under a curse which causes anyone he speaks with to, at some undetermined point, come to murderously hate & detest him. Even his own family. Alone, except for a string of apprentices who keep expiring in bizarre and accidental ways (Gordie choked on a raisin), Al is effectively handicapped. He uses a phone app to speak for him.
The plot is your basic murder-mystery, with the addition of Fae creatures, magic, modern technology, politics, and a particularly hard-to-glamour detective. This is clearly going to be a series — and has been marketed as such — and has lots of room to grow. I’m looking forward to see where Hearne takes us.
