Project and content management for Contemporary Authors volumes
WORK TITLE: Legend Has It
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE:
WEBSITE: https://elliottjamesauthor.wordpress.com/
CITY:
STATE: VA
COUNTRY:
NATIONALITY:
RESEARCHER NOTES:
PERSONAL
Male.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Writer.
AVOCATIONS:Mythology, martial arts, live music, hiking, and used bookstores.
WRITINGS
SIDELIGHTS
Elliot James is the author of the “Pax Arcana” urban fantasy series featuring former Knights Templar John Charming, a monster hunter, and now a werewolf. In an interview on Orbit Books Website, James remarked on what made him want to become an author: “The same things that make anyone want to become an author, really. A combination of crippling loneliness, habitual lying, greed, and delusions of grandeur. I mean, I could slather it on about how the imagination is the key to freeing the mind and all that, but let’s face it, ultimately it all comes down to the wild parties, the women, and the limos full of cash. Speaking of which, when are those getting here anyway? Plus I like to read.”
Charming and Daring
The first book in the “Pax Arcana” series, Charming, appeared in 2013. Since that time, James has produced several more novels in that world as well as a number of novellas. In this debut novel, James introduces his protagonist, John Charming, part werewolf and genetically inclined to maintain what is known as the Pax Arcana, the secret that keeps humans from becoming aware of supernatural beings all around them. This novel finds John much diminished from his line of dragon slayers and as a knight trained by a modern variant of the Knights Templar. He was one of the best-trained monster hunters until a curse turned him into one of these monsters that the modern Templars are sworn to hunt. But all this is in the past; now John tends bar in rural Virginia under an assumed name and tires to live quietly. Then he meets a six-foot blond who has the look of supernatural about her. It turns out that this woman, Sig, is a Valkyrie and she is tracking vampires responsible for the disappearance of several young women. John’s first instinct is to run, but then decides to team up with Sig and her odd cohort–including Choo and Molly– instead. “Grab some snacks and settle back as splendid debut author James serves up a Prince Charming tale yanked sideways,” noted RT Book Reviews Website writer Jill M. Smith. Booklist reviewer Diana Tixier Herald termed this “masculine urban fantasy,” adding: “In a saturated literary realm, James’ tale stands out for the gritty, believable world he builds, and provides a reason for the genre’s renewed strength.” A Publishers Weekly contributor similarly termed this a “solid” tale, further commenting that though the plot “sometimes feels boilerplate … [it] eventually takes a darker, more personal twist.”
The second novel in the series, Daring, finds John Charming enlisted to help the very Templars who have been hunting him. There is danger in the Pax Arcana as packs of werewolves are being united into an army of super soldiers by a mysterious figure. Any knight who attempts to challenge this new threat ends up dead. The Templars need someone who can infiltrate this new army, and John might be the one, though his own werewolf instincts are becoming stronger and stronger. But he strikes a bargain with the Templars in order to save Sig and her friends. Writing in RT Book Reviews Website, Smith noted: “If you like your supernatural chills and thrills with a hefty dose of humor, then James should be on your must-read list!” An online All Things Urban Fantasy writer was also impressed, commenting: “Daring was full of action and plot twists, just like Charming, and the plot was fast-paced and exciting for the most part. … With … the second book in the ‘Pax Arcana’ series, Elliott James becomes an urban fantasy author to watch.”
Fearless and In Shining Armor
Fearless continues the action, with Charming, Sig, former priest Molly, and muscled Choo heading off to New York state to save a 19-year-old virgin college boy, Kevin Kichida, who is beset by threats from magical predators. As John and his team investigate, he begins to see that Kevin is not a potential victim, but is actually meant as a sacrifice. “What James’s brash urban fantasy series lacks in depth, it makes up in rollicking action and pure fun,” noted a Publishers Weekly reviewer. Writing in RT Book Reviews Website, Smith also had praise, commenting: “As always, when the situation gets dicey, you can expect John’s wisecracks to rise in proportion. Sit back and enjoy this awesome ride!”
The fourth series installment, In Shining Armor, finds John Charming on the trail of whoever it was that kidnapped Constance, the baby who is the last descendant of the Grandmaster of the Knights Templar, and more importantly, John’s goddaughter. Her kidnapping breaks the tenuous truce and alliance between the Templars and the werewolves, which is bad enough. But for John, getting Constance back is personal. Writing in the online RT Book Reviews, Smith lauded this series addition, noting: “James ups his game in both excellent character development and world expansion. If you love wisecracks in the face of ultimate danger, then John Charming is definitely your man!”
Legend Has It
In Legend Has It, citizens of New York City are suddenly being transformed into various monsters out of myths, fairy tales, and video games. The city is in chaos and the Templars summon John and his team–Sig, his Valkyrie girlfriend, Molly, who specialize in arcane knowledge and exorcisms, and Choo the warrior. This team must find who is responsible for these evil transformations, all with the help of a magical book. A Kirkus Reviews critic had a mixed assessment of this fifth series installment, terming it an “urban fantasy that features an irreverent, smart-mouthed hero and adventures that are entertaining, if not particularly thrilling.”
Writing in the online Reading Reality, Marlene Harris had higher praise, observing: “[T]he sheer amount of danger that John, his gang and the Templars are tipped into, while awesome and scary on so many levels, also brings out one of the inevitable twists of urban fantasy–that in order to keep the series interesting, the protagonist has to face and overcome more dangerous situations each outing, with bigger and badder villains, and hairier and scarier problems to solve. The hero becomes more powerful, and the villains get even more frightening and evil. The tone of the series gets darker the deeper you go. And so it proves with John Charming.” Smith similarly commented in the online RT Book Reviews: “Combining hair-raising peril and humor is a James trademark that works extremely well in taking readers on over-the-top UF adventures they won’t soon forget!”
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Booklist, September 1, 2013, Diana Tixier Herald, review of Charming, p. 52.
Kirkus Reviews, March 15, 2017, review of Legend Has It.
Publishers Weekly, July 1, 2013, review of Charming, p. 71; June 15, 2015, review of Fearless, p. 69.
ONLINE
All Things Urban Fantasy, http://allthingsuf.com/ (October 16, 2014), review of Daring.
Elitist Book Reviews, https://elitistbookreviews.com/ (June 13, 2017), Vanessa Christenson, review of Legend Has It.
Elliott James Website, https://elliottjamesauthor.wordpress.com (January 9 2018).
Orbit Books Website, https://www.orbitbooks.net/ (January 9, 2018), “Elliott James.”
Reading Reality, https://www.readingreality.net/ (March 27, 2017), Marlene Harris, review of In Shining Armor; (April 17, 2017), Marlene Harris, review of Legend Has It.
RT Book Reviews, https://www.rtbookreviews.com/ (January 28, 2018), Jill M. Smith, review of Legend Has It, In Shining Armor, Fearless, Daring, and Charming.
QUOTE:
The same things that make anyone want to become an author, really. A combination of crippling loneliness, habitual lying, greed, and delusions of grandeur. I mean, I could slather it on about how the imagination is the key to freeing the mind and all that, but let’s face it, ultimately it all comes down to the wild parties, the women, and the limos full of cash. Speaking of which, when are those getting here anyway? [Looks at watch.] Plus I like to read.
An army brat and gypsy scholar, ELLIOTT JAMES is currently living in the Blue Ridge Mountains of southwest Virginia. An avid reader since the age of three (or that’s what his family swears anyhow), he has an abiding interest in mythology, martial arts, live music, hiking, and used bookstores. Irrationally convinced that cellphone technology was inserted into human culture by aliens who want to turn us into easily tracked herd beasts, Elliott has one anyhow but keeps it in a locked tinfoil covered box which he will sometimes sit and stare at mistrustfully for hours. Okay, that was a lie. Elliott lies a lot; in fact, he decided to become a writer so that he could get paid for it.
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An Interview With Elliott James on CHARMING
After you've read CHARMING, be sure to check out the earlier adventures of John Charming in these three short stories by Elliott James:
CHARMED, I'M SURE (Available August 2013)
DON'T GO CHASING WATERFALLS (Available September 2013)
PUSHING LUCK (Available October 2013)
What made you want to become an author?
The same things that make anyone want to become an author, really. A combination of crippling loneliness, habitual lying, greed, and delusions of grandeur. I mean, I could slather it on about how the imagination is the key to freeing the mind and all that, but let’s face it, ultimately it all comes down to the wild parties, the women, and the limos full of cash. Speaking of which, when are those getting here anyway? [Looks at watch.] Plus I like to read.
When did you start writing?
At the age of five. It was kindergarten, and I penned an opus about a backward planet where cows gave chocolate milk (I’m not sure how that’s backward, but it made sense at the time) and grown-ups went to school to get away from their jobs and learn how to play from kids. The thing I still think is kind of cool about that story is that every word was spelled backward. Or misspelled backward in many cases. After that I flirted around with writing. I had a minor fling with journalism, briefly got involved with advertising, and lived with teaching English. But I didn’t really get serious about writing until a few years ago, and then writing rejected my first proposal. Rejected quite a few of my proposals, actually. But I persisted, and now I’m ready to settle down and start having kids. Or maybe writing is. OK, I kind of lost track of the half-assed metaphor I had going there.
What do you like to do when you aren’t writing?
Well, I’m constantly processing oxygen into carbon dioxide so that plants can live, and buying perishable goods to keep currency circulating through the economy. It’s exhausting. I also like running, hiking, live music, movies, used books, coffee, and worrying my family. The usual.
Who are some of your biggest influences?
Well, as far as urban fantasy goes, I’ve read everything I could get my hands on by Patricia Briggs, Jim Butcher, and Ilona Andrews, so it’s hard to imagine that they haven’t influenced me. I guess the authors who I’ve heard echoes of when I reread my stuff are Lawrence Block, Carrie Fisher, Ross Thomas, Dorothy Sayers, Robert B. Parker, Nelson DeMille, David Wong, Jeffrey Thomas, Roger Zelazny, and Robert Heinlein. I’m not claiming to write as well as those individuals, it’s just that every now and again I can see parallels or hear similarities in tone. I do an understatement thing that’s very Zelazny-like sometimes, and a sarcastic overstatement thing that’s very DeMille-ish. I have a weakness for wordplay that’s Carrie Fishery? Carrie Fishy? And so on.
That said, my personal favorite writer is Jim Munroe, and Flyboy Action Figure Comes with Gasmask is also about a loner who finds himself fascinated by a strong and mysterious blonde. I never planned that; in fact, I just noticed it for the first time. I don’t think the two books are really all that similar, though—I wish they were. There are probably all kinds of authors who I imitate without even being aware that I’m doing it, and authors I wish I wrote like, and authors that I would blatantly rip off if I could.
On the visual-media side of things, I love Supernatural and Buffy the Vampire Slayer and those shows obviously had a big impact on me. Eric Kripke, Ben Edlund, and Joss Whedon rule. I would say that Grimm obviously influenced me, but I had already started sending my complete manuscript out months before its premise was announced.
What inspired you to write CHARMING?
My grandmother. She was an English teacher, and I don’t think she ever threw away a book that she liked. She had this incredible house full of books about fables and myths and folktales. I’m not just talking about the Brothers Grimm collections, although she had those. I’m talking the Jack tales, the Petit Jean stories, Richard Burton’s translation of the Arabian Nights, Kipling’s Jungle Bookstories, Hans Christian Andersen, mythology collections like those of Thomas Bullfinch and Edith Hamilton, Chinese fables about the Eight Immortals, and so on. All of these beat-to-hell books with ripped or missing covers, but inside they smelled great and had gorgeous illustrations.
Which character is your favorite and why?
John’s voice is in my comfort zone, but the character who was the most fun to write was Molly. That might be because she’s an amalgam of two real people who I’m very fond of.
Why did you decide to mix John with a werewolf versus other various supernatural beings?
I actually wanted to make John an ordinary person, at least genetically. Urban fantasy isn’t really a comedy routine, but I think normal protagonists can function like straight men, providing a backdrop and basis for comparison against the wild and crazy creatures that authors throw their way. Sometimes this really is done to comedic effect, as with Thorne Smith, and sometimes it is done to induce near-mindless terror as in the works of H. P. Lovecraft (or Caitlín Kiernan). Sometimes the normal protagonist kind of gives the reader someone to identify with, provides a foundation and a window simultaneously. I think that’s why Stephen King is so wonderful—he mixes the mundane and the otherworldly in a way that bypasses your defenses and goes straight to your gut.
But the world in my novel is in a state of schism: it’s actually two worlds that have been unnaturally divided and are coexisting side by side in an uneasy state of truce. It’s kind of like the world in China Miéville’s amazing book The City and the City, although it’s also nothing like it. I reluctantly decided that I needed a character who was going to have a foot in both worlds while ultimately belonging to neither because I have plans. Twisted, evil, mad-scientist-type plans. Whether those plans will come to fruition, I honestly don’t know. It still amazes me how different the book I plotted out and the book I finished turned out to be from each other. It’s kind of like that saying “Man plans and God laughs.” I think authors plot and novels wind up going wherever they want.
I chose to make John a werewolf because werewolves are one of the weakest monsters individually, and also one of the most familiar. I love exotic and little-known supernatural creatures: almost all of my short stories feature them, and I have loved writing those short stories. But if I couldn’t have an ordinary human protagonist for my novel, I at least wanted to make his abilities familiar so that I could use him as a starting point to explore this world I want to have fun with. I made my first antagonist a vampire for similar reasons.
Where did the idea for the Pax Arcana come from?
Basically it was an intellectual exercise. I sat down and tried to come up with a way that the supernatural could actually exist. I came up with the following: (1) Some sort of mass compulsion/illusion/hypnosis. (2) Some sort of organized conspiracy or system in place to handle “incidents.” (3) Some vague physics principle in action that would make technology unable to function or record the supernatural. (4) Some sort of mental conditioning or fail-safe that would make it impossible for people in the know to turn traitor or go public or just babble insanely in the middle of a breakdown.
That said, the idea of worlds within the world concealed by mass illusions and mind control are nothing new. My first memory of reading about something like that was the illusion that protected the Land of Oz from mundane eyes in L. Frank Baum’s books, but there are all sorts of fairy tales where people are suddenly able to see through the illusions concealing reality. More recently, there’s “Eight O’Clock in the Morning” by Ray Nelson, Singer of Souls by Adam Stemple, Dean R. Koontz’s Odd Thomas books, the false “Gods” in Edgar Rice Burroughs’s Barsoom stories, the Spiderwick Chronicles, the Matrix movies, and so on.
What was the most difficult part about building the world of CHARMING?
Trimming it down. I had something like ten interludes full of background information. I wrote speculations about the Nephilim in Genesis, theories about the Fae, the hidden history of the fourteenth century, background information on the Knights Templar, different theories of how magic works, and so on. I came up with what I think is a logical explanation on why staking vampires destroys them, why werewolves were created, and so on. And I yanked all of that and more because I thought it was ultimately getting in the way of the story. It hurt. It still hurts.
What is next for John and Sig?
Well, John finds out that Sig is centuries old and really the one who ordered the werewolves to kill his parents. Sig sleeps with John, but it turns out to be his evil twin brother that nobody knew about. John loses control the next full moon and eats Molly. Sig and John meet with all of this stuff going on and try to kill each other but instead wind up beginning a violent sexual relationship marked by self-loathing and dominance games. This lasts until Sig catches some unknown Valkyrie disease that makes her really long-winded and eloquent on her deathbed, and John tearfully vows to get a sex change and take her name in order to make sure that no one forgets her. Then John wakes up at the end of my next novel and there’s a sexy vampire in the shower and he realizes that the first two books were all a dream. Or were they?
Actually, the premise of the next book goes something like this: John needs to somehow come to terms with the Knights Templar if he and Sig are ever going to sort things out. The Knights Templar are having problems with a huge werewolf clan in the Midwest that is absorbing smaller werewolf packs, kind of the way Genghis Khan absorbed smaller Mongol tribes into a larger clan and organized these supposedly untamable groups into an army. It looks like the Knights Templar are about to be pulled into another large-scale open conflict like the one they got into with vampires, and the organization is still recovering from that one. They can’t get any reliable inside intelligence on what’s going on with this werewolf clan because werewolves can sniff out non-werewolves and technology doesn’t work around places where magic is concentrated. And here’s John Charming, who wants to reach some kind of truce. Those are the elements I’m working with.
Hello, my name is Elliott James (well, it’s a pen name) and I’m writing a series called the Pax Arcana. The protagonist of my series is one John Charming. You know those guys in all the Prince Charming stories who are always slaying some monster or chasing some woman or getting turned into some creature, or wandering around forests maimed and confused after getting jacked up or cursed by some foul beastie? Those are John Charming’s ancestors, and he has continued to uphold the proud – if not particularly bright – family tradition of messing with things that really shouldn’t be messed with to the extent that somewhere along the way he picked up a mild case of werewolf.
John lives in a world where magickind is protected from humankind by a glamour called the Pax Arcana, and humankind is protected from magickind by a secret order of modern day knights. My protagonist was once one of these knights, but that was before John became one of the creatures that he used to hunt. Now John Charming is forced to hide in the same shadows he used to stalk through, constantly staying on the move, changing his name, and living off the grid.
My short stories are fairly straightforward and go the Conan the Barbarian route, chronicling John Charming’s adventures as he travels through this dark magic-filled world, still compelled to right wrongs and protect innocents. Sometimes this is against his better judgment, and sometimes John’s judgment isn’t all that good to begin with. Those stories to date are Charmed I’m Sure, Don’t Go Chasing Waterfalls, Pushing Luck, Surreal Estate, and Dog-Gone, and they all take place before the events of my novel, Charming.
In Charming, I introduce some game-changing events and characters that are going to have a lasting impact on both John Charming and his world. One of these characters is a young teenaged vampire with a genius IQ, social media skills, and an anarchist’s handbook. Another is Sig Norresdotter, a descendant of Valkyries and the leader of a band of monster hunters. And then there’s lots of, you know, fighting and screaming and some kissing and stuff.
QUOTE:
An
urban fantasy that features an irreverent, smart-mouthed hero and adventures that are entertaining, if not
particularly thrilling.
James, Elliott: LEGEND HAS IT
Kirkus Reviews.
(Mar. 15, 2017):
COPYRIGHT 2017 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
Full Text:
James, Elliott LEGEND HAS IT Orbit/Little, Brown (Adult Fiction) $15.99 4, 18 ISBN: 978-0-316-30237-
1
The fifth book in the Pax Arcana urban fantasy series takes James' (In Shining Armor, 2016, etc.) cast of
characters on a near-catastrophic romp through a reality destabilized by fairy tale and myth.John Charming
is a werewolf and monster hunter who was once a member of the Knights Templar, a secret society that
works to keep ordinary humans and magic apart. When a half-vampire named Kasia crashes his peaceful
summer evening with an ominous message, Charming finds himself dragged into a disastrous supernatural.
People in New York City are transforming into monsters out of fairy tales, myths, and the video games and
role-playing games they have inspired, wreacking havoc and violence on innocent bystanders. The knights
summon Charming to New York, along with his team of friends and fellow monster hunters: Sig, his
Valkyrie girlfriend; Molly, who specializes in holy knowledge and exorcisms; and Choo, who acquires cars
and weaponry with ease. Along with the mysterious and brutal Kasia, they must find the person causing the
horrific transformations by reading them into existence with the help of a magical book. The search for this
reader ticks the boxes of serviceable plot points that seem ready-made for television adaptation, with
blandly described fight scenes, terrible puns, and tough-guy repartee. The characters are likable but not
exceptional, falling neatly into the tropes of both urban fantasy and rougher-than-usual action heroes. The
book opens with a strange, imagined interview between Charming and Barbara Walters, allowing for a
shameless infodump that catches the reader up on the back story of the series, and most of the novel is
narrated in Charming's voice, which might be the strongest and most enjoyable element of the story. An
urban fantasy that features an irreverent, smart-mouthed hero and adventures that are entertaining, if not
particularly thrilling.
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
"James, Elliott: LEGEND HAS IT." Kirkus Reviews, 15 Mar. 2017. General OneFile,
http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A485105344/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=9d6c54cf.
Accessed 28 Jan. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A485105344
1/28/2018 General OneFile - Saved Articles
http://go.galegroup.com/ps/marklist.do?actionCmd=GET_MARK_LIST&userGroupName=schlager&inPS=true&prodId=ITOF&ts=1517176966294 2/4
QUOTE:
What James's brash urban fantasy series lacks in depth, it makes up in rollicking action and pure fun
Fearless
Publishers Weekly.
262.24 (June 15, 2015): p69.
COPYRIGHT 2015 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Full Text:
Fearless
Elliott James. Orbit, $15.99 trade paper (448p) ISBN 978-0-316-25344-4
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]
In this breezy third Pax Arcana supernatural mystery (after Daring), set in present-day New York, James
sends his witty, self-deprecating, dedicated urban monster-hunting troupe into the world of Japanese
mythology. Returning are katana-wielding werewolf John Charming; his jealous Valkyrie girlfriend, Sig;
former priest Molly; and muscle-bound Choo. After college student Kevin Kichida is attacked by magical
beings, sheriff and dhampir (vampire) Ted Cahill calls in Team Charming. With the help of a witch, they
learn that the ancient Akihiko Watanabe, an onmyouji (occultist) who drains the youth out of victims, is
hunting Kevin. To get close to Watanabe, John and Sig infiltrate an underground New York City fight club
for monsters. During the numerous action scenes, the plot slows a bit. However, mythology fans will be
thrilled by the slew of Japanese mystical beings, as well as entities from Philippine, Hindu, and Celtic
myths. What James's brash urban fantasy series lacks in depth, it makes up in rollicking action and pure fun.
Agent: Michelle Johnson, Inklings Literary Agency. (Aug.)
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
"Fearless." Publishers Weekly, 15 June 2015, p. 69. General OneFile,
http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A418342420/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=d311d2d0.
Accessed 28 Jan. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A418342420
1/28/2018 General OneFile - Saved Articles
http://go.galegroup.com/ps/marklist.do?actionCmd=GET_MARK_LIST&userGroupName=schlager&inPS=true&prodId=ITOF&ts=1517176966294 3/4
QUOTE:
In a saturated literary realm, James' tale stands out for the gritty, believable world he
builds, and provides a reason for the genre's renewed strength. This is masculine urban fantasy
Charming
Diana Tixier Herald
Booklist.
110.1 (Sept. 1, 2013): p52.
COPYRIGHT 2013 American Library Association
http://www.ala.org/ala/aboutala/offices/publishing/booklist_publications/booklist/booklist.cfm
Full Text:
Charming. By Elliott James. Sept. 2013.400p. Orbit, paper, $15 (9780316253390).
Although John Charming looks human, he is part werewolf and genetically compelled to help keep the Pax
Arcana, the shroud of secrecy that keeps most humans unaware of the supernaturals around us. Working as
a bartender, he is fascinated by Sig, a six-foot-tall blond with something of the supernatural about her. It
turns out she is a Valkyrie on the hunt for vampires responsible for the disappearance of several young
women. John ends up teaming up with Sig and her cohorts: a psychic who looks like an old guy on steroids;
his two Eastern European nephews; a cop, Choo, who is a professional exterminator; and Molly, a former
Episcopal priest. In a saturated literary realm, James' tale stands out for the gritty, believable world he
builds, and provides a reason for the genre's renewed strength. This is masculine urban fantasy in the vein
of Jim Butcher and Mark del Franco. --Diana Tixier Herald
Herald, Diana Tixier
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
Herald, Diana Tixier. "Charming." Booklist, 1 Sept. 2013, p. 52. General OneFile,
http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A345457177/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=4b9c451a.
Accessed 28 Jan. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A345457177
1/28/2018 General OneFile - Saved Articles
http://go.galegroup.com/ps/marklist.do?actionCmd=GET_MARK_LIST&userGroupName=schlager&inPS=true&prodId=ITOF&ts=1517176966294 4/4
QUOTE:
solid
sometimes feels boilerplate but eventually takes a
darker, more personal twist.
Charming
Publishers Weekly.
260.26 (July 1, 2013): p71.
COPYRIGHT 2013 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Full Text:
Charming
Elliott James. Orbit, $15 trade paper (400p) ISBN 978-0-316-25339-0
James's debut delivers a solid though sometimes familiar-feeling tale. Despite being descended from an
illustrious line of monster killers, John Charming's supernatural powers have led him to become a fugitive
from the Knights Templar, who trained him. When a tall and unusually clean-smelling athletic blonde walks
into John's rural Virginia bar, John knows it's time to run. But John can't ignore his knightly training, and he
delays to kill some vampires. The blonde Valkyrie named Sic saves his life, and something about her
convinces John to stay and help her band of racially stereotyped monster hunters--including a pot-smoking
exterminator, an Episcopalian ex-priest, an immoral Naga software mogul, and an Eastern European
psychic---clean out the local vampire hive in a plot that sometimes feels boilerplate but eventually takes a
darker, more personal twist. (Sept.)
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
"Charming." Publishers Weekly, 1 July 2013, p. 71. General OneFile,
http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A335973423/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=8943e7f4.
Accessed 28 Jan. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A335973423
QUOTE:
the sheer amount of danger that John, his gang and the Templars are tipped into, while awesome and scary on so many levels, also brings out one of the inevitable twists of urban fantasy – that in order to keep the series interesting, the protagonist has to face and overcome more dangerous situations each outing, with bigger and badder villains, and hairier and scarier problems to solve. The hero becomes more powerful, and the villains get even more frightening and evil. The tone of the series gets darker the deeper you go. And so it proves with John Charming.
REVIEW: LEGEND HAS IT BY ELLIOTT JAMES
POSTED ON APRIL 17, 2017 BY MARLENE HARRIS
Review: Legend Has It by Elliott JamesLegend Has It (Pax Arcana, #5) by Elliott James
Format: eARC
Source: publisher via Edelweiss, publisher via NetGalley
Formats available: paperback, ebook
Genres: urban fantasy
Series: Pax Arcana #5
Pages: 448
Published by Orbit Books on April 18th 2017
Purchasing Info: Author's Website, Publisher's Website, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Book Depository
Goodreads
For John Charming, living the dream just became a nightmare.
Someone, somewhere, is reading a magic book that is reading them right back. Real life is becoming a fairytale: high school students are turning, quite literally, into zombies, subway workers into dwarves, drug addicts into vampires.
John Charming and his motley band of monster hunters are racing to find the villain of this story, following the yellow brick road through a not so wonderful wonderland. And if they can’t find Reader Zero before the book is closed, there won’t be a happily ever after again.
My Review:
The snark is strong with this one. Very strong. And John Charming needs all the help that he can get.
At this point in the story of John Charming and his “Scooby-gang” of Sig, Molly and Choo, they, and the world, are in pretty deep foo-foo. Which is where they do best. And sometimes worst.
The story follows almost directly from last year’s In Shining Armor. At the end of that book, John says that he and Sig are going back to pick up the rest of the gang, and that’s pretty much where we are now. John and the gang heading to New York to meet up with John’s former and possibly future gang, the Knights Templar, along with his semi-present gang, the werewolves of the Round Table.
Those Knights Templar really are the descendants of the original Knights Templar. The werewolves of the Round Table, on the other hand, adopted that name because it was cool and because it fit into their frequently mesalliance with the Templars. And probably because it pisses the Templars off just a bit.
Not that werewolves in general don’t make the Templars very, very twitchy. The Templars aren’t merely charged with, but are actually geas bound to protect the Pax Arcana, the magic (ironic that) that makes it so that us mundanes don’t see or remember magic. And for a very long time, the Templars were taught to believe that the mere existence of werewolves (and vampires, and pretty much anything else that was magic but wasn’t Templar) were an automatic violation of the Pax.
Which they mostly aren’t. Most werewolves, and vampires, and cunning folk (witches) and other magical types just want to live their lives without bothering anyone. They don’t want to be outed any more than the Templars do. But negotiating that particular change in outlook makes the Templars very, very twitchy indeed.
And that’s where John Charming came in. John is a Templar. And he’s also a werewolf. The fact that he didn’t self-combust the minute he discovered those two supposedly contradictory identities has forced, often at swordpoint, the Templars to do a bit of re-thinking. Hence the very shaky alliance between the Templars and the werewolves.
What was discovered in In Shining Armor was that there is a group very much in opposition to the Templars, and that the opposition, the School of Night, had done an excellent job of infiltrating the Templars over the past 500 years. The mission of the School of Night is bring down the Pax Arcana, by any means necessary, to let magic loose in the world again.
And the Templars are bound to oppose the tearing down of the Pax by any means necessary, no matter how vile those means might be. Even to the point of nukes in New York City. They may not want to, but they may feel that they have to.
That’s what John Charming and his Scooby-gang are right smack in the middle of. Their job, and they’ve decided to accept it, is to bring down the School of Night before the Templars bring down Ragnarok. No matter what it takes. Or possibly who.
Escape Rating A-: If you’ve read the other books, this one is a humdinger, slam-dunk thrill-a-minute ride from the beginning to the end.
Let me say this upfront – the Pax Arcana series is one that is meant to be read from its beginning. Although the world starts out being very much like our own, as the series piles on, we see more and more of just how different it is – or rather just how much has been hidden from us by the Pax Arcana. The author makes a brave and hilarious attempt to get new readers into the action by opening with our hero John Charming in the midst of an imaginary interview with a very imaginary Barbara Walters. That intro does a good job of reminding series readers where last we left our heroes, but isn’t really a substitute for new readers actually reading at least most of the rest of the series.
So if you like really, really snarky urban fantasy, start with Charming.
As I’ve mentioned, John Charming definitely comes from the snarky end of urban fantasy. He reminds me a lot of Harry Dresden from the Dresden Files, but John’s attitude towards women in general is a bit more, I want to say enlightened but that isn’t quite right. John, unlike Harry or most heroes in urban fantasy, is managing to have a successful relationship with Sig the Valkyrie. And he’s less of a hound and more of a good man, if only because Sig can perforate him with her spear when he screws things up. He’s learning, and it makes him more sympathetic.
Like other urban fantasy heroes, including Harry Dresden, Atticus Finch of the Iron Druid Chronicles, and John Taylor from the Nightside, the book is literally his story. It’s told from the first-person, and we are inside John’s head. You do have to like his brand of snark to want to occupy that head for very long, but it’s generally a livable space. While he does use humor to lighten what are often grim situations, he is also funnier on the inside than even what comes out, and he says what he’s thinking, and often what we’re thinking too.
The thing in this story that causes all the fuss is an interesting one. It’s a book. An evil book. It’s one of those books from the Restricted Section in the library at Hogwarts (not literally, of course) that should be chained up because when you read it, it reads you. And it’s way more powerful than most people who read it. The School of Night is using it to let magical monsters loose in the world, test the responses of the Knights, and see if they can spread enough chaos to break the Pax. It’s a diabolical plan, from a very diabolical mind.
But the sheer amount of danger that John, his gang and the Templars are tipped into, while awesome and scary on so many levels, also brings out one of the inevitable twists of urban fantasy – that in order to keep the series interesting, the protagonist has to face and overcome more dangerous situations each outing, with bigger and badder villains, and hairier and scarier problems to solve. The hero becomes more powerful, and the villains get even more frightening and evil. The tone of the series gets darker the deeper you go. And so it proves with John Charming. Also Harry Dresden, John Taylor and every other urban fantasy series I’ve ever read.
I wonder where this one is going to end. But I certainly plan on hanging on to the ride. Possibly with my fingernails. And maybe my teeth.
QUOTE:
Combining hair-raising peril and humor is a James trademark that works extremely well in taking readers on over-the-top UF adventures they won't soon forget!
LEGEND HAS IT
Image of Legend Has It (Pax Arcana)
Author(s): Elliott James
What happens when fantasy starts becoming reality? Nothing good as far as werewolf and ex-knight John Charming is concerned. Rising star James is back with the newest installment in his dangerous and dangerously wacky Pax Arcana series. Combining hair-raising peril and humor is a James trademark that works extremely well in taking readers on over-the-top UF adventures they won't soon forget! If you have not checked out James' books, you are missing out!
After the events in the previous book, John and his Monster-Hunters-R-Us team, including his love, the Valkyrie Sig, are waiting for another shoe to drop. It does when Sig's old nemesis, the dhampir Kasia, arrives in town. Kasia brings word that the Knights Templar will be contacting John about a new crisis developing in New York. Ordinary people are turning into monsters — literally. It seems that a dangerous magical book is being read by someone, and through the act of reading it, the lines between fantasy and reality are blurring. With office workers turning into real zombies and bullies into black knights, things are getting downright terrifying. John and his motley crew have their hands full trying to find Reader X before living the dream becomes a permanent nightmare! (ORBIT, Apr., 448 pp., $15.99)
Reviewed by:
Jill M. Smith
Legend Has It
Posted: June 13, 2017 by Vanessa in Books We Like
Tags: Elliott James, Reviews by Vanessa Christenson, Urban Fantasy 0
From the back cover: “Someone, somewhere, is reading a magic book that is reading them right back. The line between fantasy and reality is breaking down, and real life is becoming a fairy tale: bored office workers are turning, quite literally, into zombies, bullies into black knights, and squatters beneath bridges into trolls. John Charming and his motley band of monster hunters are racing to find the real villain of this story, following the yellow brick road through a not-so-wonderful wonderland. And if they can’t find Reader X before the mysterious grimoire is closed, there won’t be a happily ever after again.”
LEGEND HAS IT is book five in the Pax Arcana series by Elliot James. And while it would be easier to understand what’s going on if you’ve read the previous books, the author does a good job bringing you up to speed early on and keeping you from getting lost during the story. For example, in this book the prologue is an extended and imaginary scene where John is interviewed (tongue firmly in cheek) by Barbara Walters. I can’t think of another author who does series-up-to-this-point explanations better than this guy. Or more hilariously.
The humor is necessary, otherwise the dire circumstances John often seems to find himself in would leave a reader unable to continue as a result of the incredible tension. As in my review for FEARLESS, it often seems like the quests have no chance of ever being successful, the odds are too great and it’s difficult to see a solution. But would a Charming ever give up? No! And thank goodness he has a team he can trust and who trust him. There’s his girlfriend and part-Valkyrie Sig, the priest Molly, tech support (and occasional sniper) Choo, as well as enough people in the paranormal community who owe him the favors he needs to get the job done. It’s those very connections that makes John successful, as the Templar grand pubah Simon admits with extreme frustration. He wonders how an unrespectable guy like John can get so many people to trust him. But Simon’s a jerk, so what does he know?
The Templars need John to hunt down Reader X, but Simon isn’t telling the whole story, and that’s a serious problem (no wonder the other paranormals don’t trust the guy). John knows he should wash his hands of this entire debacle, but New York City and its citizens are in big trouble. While the story is told mainly from John’s PoV, there are a few interludes from the viewpoint of the various denizens around the city: a guy whose hook-up is lured by a pied piper, the Templar Janine and her crew’s efforts as part of the whole, an uncle’s heroic efforts to save his young niece from giant snakes at a playground, and etc. At times these felt like side-tracks, but ultimately they all fit into a bigger picture that John must work through and unravel.
Along for the ride is new-girl and dhampir (a vampire turning that gets botched in process) Kasia, a bad flash from Sig’s past, and assigned by Simon to John’s group to keep an eye on them and help out where necessary. Unfortunately, she may be there to kill John since John killed her ex-lover, who also happened to be Sig’s ex-lover….ug, what a mess. Can John convince her that once the job is done, that he isn’t worth trying to kill?
As always the best part of the book is John’s irreverent wit. Include that with an interesting and well-plotted story, clever characters, exciting battles, and excellent worldbuilding, all of which made it a hard book to put down, even with its 400+ pages, longer than most Urban Fantasy novels. I especially enjoyed John and Sig’s relationship, how it’s evolved, and how they relate to each other. It helps that John has been around the block and that despite his foibles, he’s gotten pretty good at reading his lady’s moods–and why. I keep reminding myself I need to go back and find the first two books and read them (I haven’t yet); my only excuse is that my to-read pile for EBR is currently falling over it’s so long. Hopefully the pile has more books as fun to read as this one.
Recommended Age: 16+
Language: A fair bit, our hero can get salty at times
Violence: John Charming is a magnet for violence, and the fight scenes are pretty intense
Sex: Lots and lots of innuendo/references, sometimes crass
QUOTE:
James ups his game in both excellent character development and world expansion. If you love wisecracks in the face of ultimate danger, then John Charming is definitely your man!
IN SHINING ARMOR
Image of In Shining Armor (Pax Arcana)
Author(s): Elliott James
Ex-Knight-turned-werewolf John Charming is having a wonderful day with his love, the valkyrie Sig Norresdotter, so of course disaster must strike — at least that is what John figures, and, sadly, he is correct. The fragile alliance between werewolves and knights is about to be sorely tested. With each new chapter in his outstanding Pax Arcana series, James ups his game in both excellent character development and world expansion. If you love wisecracks in the face of ultimate danger, then John Charming is definitely your man!
John and Sig are enjoying a weekend in the mountains when they get a call from werewolf pack leader Ben LaFontaine. Baby Constance, the last surviving descendant of the Grandmaster of the Knights Templar, and their goddaughter have been kidnapped. It appears to be an inside job, and since Constance was guarded by both werewolves and Knights, the tension between groups is rising. It will be up to John and Sig to find out who is really behind this attack, rescue Constance and try to keep the peace. Someone is about to find out they messed with the wrong supernatural godfather! (ORBIT, May, 464 pp., $15.99)
Reviewed by:
Jill M. Smith
QUOTE:
As always, when the situation gets dicey, you can expect John’s wisecracks to rise in proportion. Sit back and enjoy this awesome ride!
FEARLESS
Image of Fearless (Pax Arcana)
Author(s): Elliott James
“Prince” Charming saving a virgin is par for the course, but when the Charming is named John and the virgin is a 19-year-old college boy, readers know they are in for a wild ride. The third installment of James’ amazing series featuring ex-Knight-turned-werewolf John Charming and his gang of misfits trying to protect one Kevin Kichida from getting magically murdered. As always, when the situation gets dicey, you can expect John’s wisecracks to rise in proportion. Sit back and enjoy this awesome ride!
When Sheriff (and dhampir) Ted Cahill calls for assistance, John, Valkyrie Sig Norresdotter, Molly and Choo head to New York to see about a missing teen. It turns out that Lindsey Williams was murdered when she accidentally tripped a trap meant for another. Someone seems very determined to kill Kevin Kichida, but who and why? As the gang investigates, the threads lead them to a dangerous supernatural club. To get the answers they need, John and Sig are going to need to get their “Fight Club” on. (ORBIT, Aug., 448 pp., $16.00)
Reviewed by:
Jill M. Smith
QUOTE:
If you like your supernatural chills and thrills with a hefty dose of humor, then James should be on your must-read list!
DARING
Image of Daring (Pax Arcana)
Author(s): Elliott James
2014 – Fantasy Adventure winner
James is back with the second stellar entry in his Pax Arcana series. Ex-knight and current werewolf John Charming is stuck between a rock and a hard place. While things are dicey for John, readers are treated to another welcome dose of his snarky attitude in the face of danger. If you like your supernatural chills and thrills with a hefty dose of humor, then James should be on your must-read list!
With the Knights Templar after him, John knows he should leave his friends — and potential love interest, Valkyrie Zig Norresdotter — behind for their safety, but he worries they will be targets anyway. John attempts to make a deal with the Knights to protect them but, naturally, things don’t go exactly as planned and John ends up being taken in by a suspicious werewolf pack. Exploring his werewolf nature for the first time, John is surprised by some of his feelings. The Knights are worried about a mysterious werewolf leader who is banding packs together. John now has a front row seat for the action … is this leader a visionary or a madman? (ORBIT, Oct., 400 pp., $15.00)
Reviewed by:
Jill M. Smith
QUOTE:
Grab some snacks and settle back as splendid debut author James serves up a Prince Charming tale yanked sideways.
CHARMING
Image of Charming (Pax Arcana)
Author(s): Elliott James
Grab some snacks and settle back as splendid debut author James serves up a Prince Charming tale yanked sideways. John Charming comes from a prominent line of dragon slayers, witch-finders and killers trained by the Knights Templar, but now he has a problem: He has become what they hunt. James’ reluctant hero faces threats and danger with a smart-ass attitude that keeps the narrative fast paced, edgy and amusing. Mark this name down — you will undoubtedly be seeing more from James!
For the last number of years, John Charming has been living incognito while hiding from the knights he used to work with —- because he carries the “taint” of werewolf heritage. One night when he’s tending bar under an assumed name, both a vampire and a blonde walk in and there goes John’s peaceful life. Because of the Pax Arcana spell that has been placed on the world, John immediately knows he will have to deal with the vampire, but what throws him is the blonde, who is definitely not all human. (ORBIT, Oct., 400 pp., $15.00)
Reviewed by:
Jill M. Smith
REVIEW: IN SHINING ARMOR BY ELLIOTT JAMES
POSTED ON MARCH 27, 2017 BY MARLENE HARRIS
Review: In Shining Armor by Elliott JamesIn Shining Armor (Pax Arcana, #4) by Elliott James
Format: ebook
Source: purchased from Amazon
Formats available: paperback, ebook, audiobook
Genres: urban fantasy
Series: Pax Arcana #4
Pages: 464
Published by Orbit on April 26th 2016
Purchasing Info: Author's Website, Publisher's Website, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Book Depository
Goodreads
This fairy godmother's got claws.
When someone kidnaps the last surviving descendant of the Grandmaster of the Knights Templar, it's bad news. When the baby is the key to the tenuous alliance between a large werewolf pack and the knights, it's even worse news. They're at each other's throats before they've even begun to look for baby Constance.
But whoever kidnapped Constance didn't count on one thing: she's also the goddaughter of John Charming. Modern-day descendant of a long line of famous dragon slayers, witch finders, and wrong righters. John may not have any experience being a parent, but someone is about to find out that he can be one mean mother...
IN SHINING ARMOR is the fourth novel in a series which gives a new twist to the Prince Charming tale. The first three novels are Charming, Daring, & Fearless.
My Review:
Actually, John Charming is a knight in rather tarnished and bloodstained armor. It also seems to be covered in slime and shit all-too-frequently. But he’s still a knight, even if he is also a werewolf. And based on his adventures in his first three books, Charming, Daring and Fearless, that contradiction he embodies seems to be getting both more and less contradictory at the same time.
But the moral of this particular fairy tale (because the fae are always in the background in this series, somewhere, even if it’s fairly deep background) revolves around that tried and true old saw, “ Assume makes an ASS out of U and ME. Because everything that goes wrong in this story begins with John (and everyone else) making a very big assumption that turns out to be far from true.
Even professional paranoids, like the Knights Templar in general and John Charming in particular, occasionally can’t manage to be paranoid enough. And in this case it very nearly bites all of them, along with the werewolves, in their collective (and extremely well-muscled) asses.
At the end of Fearless, a very, very tenuous peace has finally broken out between the Knights Templar and the werewolves. It’s so tenuous because until very, very recently, the Knights’ first response to a werewolf was to kill it on sight as an automatic violation of the Pax Arcana that prevents us normals from finding out that there really is a whole lot of magic out there.
But most werewolves (and vampires, and even naga and gorgons) are just like everyone else, they want to live in peace, hold down a job, raise their kids and participate in the American dream. Or whatever the dream is wherever they happen to live. They have even less desire to reveal the magic in the world than the Knights do, because they know they’ll probably be first on the firing line when the mundanes bring out the contemporary equivalent of torches and pitchforks.
And the Knights have just realized (a very few of them, all at the top) that they are really only geas-bound to enforce the Pax, and that as long as any magical creatures don’t violate the Pax, there is no obligation whatsoever to hunt them down and kill them. And, of course, a lot of them don’t want to give up the status quo.
Human beings are still human, extra power, extra knowledge, extra whatever, or not. And some humans are still arseholes.
The literal embodiment of this tenuous peace is little baby Constance. She’s the last descendant of the Grandmaster of the Knights Templar. And she’s going to be a werewolf when she grows up. Just like John Charming, little Constance has a tiny foot in both worlds. And both the Knights and the werewolves have been pledged to protect her. She’s the hidden little darling of both camps.
Until someone nefarious and unknown decides to disrupt that detente for reasons that, while obviously nefarious, remain nebulous and hidden for most of the story. The (very bad) idea was to kidnap little Constance and make the werewolves look guilty and responsible. Detente instantly explodes, werewolves hide far away from the Knights and whatever the evildoer wants hidden.
But evil never seems to reckon on John Charming. And he intends to wreck a reckoning on them. Just as soon as he figures out who they are, what they want, and what’s the best way to kill them very, very dead.
If they don’t kill him first.
Escape Rating B+: I liked this, but saying I enjoyed it doesn’t feel quite right. There are a lot of points in the story where things are very, very dark, to that point where it feels like things are getting darker just before they turn completely black. Which doesn’t quite happen, but gets really, really close. And occasionally feels like it’s dragging its feet just a bit.
For anyone wondering about the baby being in danger through the book, it doesn’t work that way. Constance is the catalyst but not the point, and John rescues her fairly early on. It’s never really about the baby. It’s always about breaking up the tentative peace between the Knights and the werewolves, even if John can’t put his finger on why for nearly the entire book.
And the reader can’t either. The hidden motives remain hidden until the very end. The plot in this plot turns out to be incredibly convoluted, and unlike a mystery, in spite of the first person singular perspective the reader is not privy to everything that John Charming knows or does. In fact, he makes a habit of reaching his resolution and only then revealing all of the secret things he did to make it all work out in his favor. After they work. Sort of.
If he wasn’t one of the good guys, he’d be downright annoying. A fact which his partner reminds him of on frequent occasions. One of the great things about this book, and the series, is John’s relationship with his partner and lover, Sig. Who is a valkyrie, and therefore even more badass than John is, with powers (and problems) of her own. They balance each other out, support each other, protect each other, and sometimes drive each other crazy. It’s terrific to see an urban fantasy where the protagonist both manages to have a fairly successful and monogamous relationship, and where the woman is every bit the equal of the man. That mix still feels rare, and is always welcome.
But as straightforward as John’s and Sig’s relationship is, the plot (and counterplot, and counter-counterplot) in this one seems almost overly twisted. In the end, the reader is just along for the wild ride, without much ability to see the twists and turns or even process all the changes. There’s a LOT going on in this story. But once John and Sig and the Knights get to the final battle, it’s a race to see if the reader can turn the pages fast enough.
As someone who has read the entire series, I have to say that I really missed the gang that John and Sig created (or that grew around them) in the first three books. And I missed those people, and the feeling of family and friends that they developed. But even though In Shining Armor pulls them completely out of their trusted sphere, it is still very grounded in the world that has been created, to the point where I don’t think In Shining Armor is the best place for someone to start this series. The operation of the Knights Templar is very complicated, and seems to get more so all the time. So start with Charming.
But speaking of that group of familiar faces, I’m really looking forward to the next book, Legend Has It, so John and Sig can get back to their extremely motley band of monster hunters and do what they do best all together – try to out-snark each other while racing to eliminate the most (and worst) monsters they can find.
QUOTE:
With DARING, the second book in the Pax Arcana series, Elliott James becomes an urban fantasy author to watch.
DARING was full of action and plot twists, just like CHARMING, and the plot was fast-paced and exciting for the most part.
Review: Daring (Pax Arcana #2) by Elliott James
October 16, 2014 Kate Review 0
Review: Daring (Pax Arcana #2) by Elliott JamesDaring by Elliott James
Series: Pax Arcana #2
Published by Orbit on September 23, 2014
Genres: Adult, Urban Fantasy
Format: Paperback
Pages: 400
Source: NetGalley
Sexual Content: Kissing, intimate situations
Reviewed by: Kate
4 Stars
THE WEREWOLVES HAVE A NEW LEADER...AND HE CANNOT BE STOPPED.
Something is rotten in the state of Wisconsin.
Werewolf packs are being united and absorbed into an army of super soldiers by a mysterious figure who speaks like an angel and fights like a demon. And every Knight Templar—keepers of the magical peace between mankind and magickind—who tries to get close to this big bad wolf winds up dead. No knight can infiltrate a group whose members can smell a human from a mile away...no knight except one.
John Charming. Ex knight. Current werewolf. Hunted by the men who trained him, he now might be their only salvation. But animal instincts are rising up to claim John more powerfully than ever before, and he must decide if this new leader of wolves is a madman...or a messiah.
DARING is the second novel in an urban fantasy series which gives a new twist to the Prince Charming tale.
With DARING, the second book in the Pax Arcana series, Elliott James becomes an urban fantasy author to watch. DARING manages to take everything I liked about book one and keep it, chuck everything I hated, and not come across as a sophomore slump. It's a surprisingly good read that really steps up the series.
The first time around, in CHARMING, John's narration was very distracting and off-putting for me. This time around, it's toned down, so there's less addressing the reader directly, but still with quite a bit of snark and amusing one-liners. With an entirely different cast of characters, we get to see John in a different light, and he comes off far more sympathetic than he did in CHARMING. All in all, the John of DARING was a vast improvement of the John of CHARMING.
DARING was full of action and plot twists, just like CHARMING, and the plot was fast-paced and exciting for the most part. There was a lot less explanation of the Pax Arcana spell and the world itself, and more of things actually happening. The middle section got a little slow, but the beginning and ending more than made up for it, cramming in the action while managing not to feel like you were rushing through the good bits.
All in all, I was quite impressed with DARING. I know I'll be picking up FEARLESS, the third book in the Pax Arcana series, when it comes out next August.