Review: Last Smile in Sunder City by Luke Arnold

       Damned this is a good book.

Luke Arnold has a gift for storytelling.  Last Smile is the first in the new Fetch Philips series and it this opening story is anything to go by readers will be in for a treat.

Fetch is a man for hire in a world where the magic has broken and the once mighty magical races now dwell in reduced circumstances because something the humans did and there is a lot of friction between humans and magicals because of this. Fetch has been involved in both sides and we see his back story shown through flashbacks which genuinely add depth to his story.  One thing that blew me away in this novel is just how vivid the voice of Fetch was.  I guess the style is similar to Ben Aaronovitch because the narrative voice is so strong but the locale and the world building is very different.

Fetch is a flawed character, he’s trying to make amends but he is very broken. He is initially contracted to find a missing Vampire teacher but very soon the plot gets more complicated as Fetch spends a lot of time getting hit in the face and trying to do something while more often than not hamstringing himself.

We learn about the Coda which was the event that killed the magic and what that meant for all of the races.  

I loved the world building, it actually feels fresh in the urban fantasy ouvre.  I look forward to seeing what Luke Arnold does next. I was lucky enough to have him on the podcast and we talked about the novel and you can hear him reading from it here