{"id":5307,"date":"2015-06-30T18:14:48","date_gmt":"2015-06-30T22:14:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/?p=5307"},"modified":"2019-01-21T19:12:33","modified_gmt":"2019-01-22T00:12:33","slug":"magic-lost-trouble-found","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/5307","title":{"rendered":"Magic Lost, Trouble Found"},"content":{"rendered":"

Magic Lost, Trouble Found<\/a><\/em> (2007) Lisa Shearin<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Magic-Lost-Trouble-Found\"<\/a>I came across Lisa Shearin<\/a> through her SPI files, which I thoroughly enjoyed. So I decided I should probably look into checking out her Raine Benares. I then read a short story set in this world that was a prequel to the first book. It also was interesting, so I decided to take a gamble.<\/p>\n

So how’d that work out for me?<\/p>\n

First, this is straight-up fantasy, which I don’t read a lot of anymore.<\/p>\n

Second, this is, I now realize, book one in a six book story arc.<\/p>\n

Did I enjoy the story? Yes. I found some of the names confusing, especially having two main characters, both male, whose first names started with P. Piaris and Phaelan aren’t that similar, I know, but at a glance (I read very quickly) they look similar, and so I kept losing track of who was who.<\/p>\n

Despite that occasional confusion, I enjoyed the writing quite a bit.<\/p>\n

My godfather didn\u2019t keep anything of value except his privacy, but that he held dear above all else.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

a man didn\u2019t have to have power to be corrupted, but it sure happened faster when he did.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I also appreciated Raine’s fashion ideals.<\/p>\n

I approved of the leather and even the corset I\u2019d have to wear underneath. I wouldn\u2019t be comfortable, but at least I\u2019d have marginal protection against pointy steel objects that went stab in the night.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

That is one of the nicest things about straight-up fantasy: you can mix different eras and sensibilities without offending history. So you can have a female fighter who wears trouser at the same time you have women wearing corsets and fancy gowns.<\/p>\n

So am I going to read the rest of this series?<\/p>\n

Most likely not.<\/p>\n

I enjoyed the story and the characters, but not enough to commit to reading five more books to get the full story. Which brings us back to why I don’t read much straight-up fantasy anymore. I don’t want to commit to a long series that probably has cliff hangers. I want a series I can read some of, then take a break, and come back later and jump right back in without feeling lost.<\/p>\n

So, it was a good book, I just don’t want to read five more like it to find out what happens.
\nRating: 7\/10<\/strong><\/p>\n

Published by Ace <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Magic Lost, Trouble Found (2007) Lisa Shearin I came across Lisa Shearin through her SPI files, which I thoroughly enjoyed. So I decided I should probably look into checking out her Raine Benares. I then read a short story set in this world that was a prequel to the first book. It also was interesting, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2],"tags":[167],"class_list":["post-5307","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fantasy","tag-lisa-shearin"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/piQkW-1nB","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":4953,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/4953","url_meta":{"origin":5307,"position":0},"title":"Night Shift","author":"Michelle","date":"November 26, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Night Shift (2014) Nalini Singh; Ilona Andrews; Lisa Shearin; Milla Vane Let me be clear from the start: I read only two of these stories. In fact, I was going to read only one story, Ilona Andrews' story \"Magic Steals\" until I realized the next story was a Lisa Shearin\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"Night-Shift","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/Night-Shift.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5926,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/5926","url_meta":{"origin":5307,"position":1},"title":"The Grendel Affair, Audio Book","author":"Michelle","date":"June 12, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"The Grendel Affair, Audible version (2013\/2014) Lisa Shearin, narrated by Johanna Parker This is a really fun series. Mac Frasier has moved from her little town in the south to New York City, but instead of making it as a reporter, she's now working for SPI (Supernatural Protection & Investigations)\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"The-Grendel-Affair","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/The-Grendel-Affair.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":6231,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/6231","url_meta":{"origin":5307,"position":2},"title":"The Dragon Conspiracy, Audio Book","author":"Michelle","date":"November 29, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"The Dragon Conspiracy, Audible Version (2015) Lisa Shearin, narrated by Johanna Parker This is another audio book I finished earlier in the fall and forgot to review. The second SPI files book finds Makenna and Ian at a Gala opening at the Met, displaying a collection of rare gems that\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"dragon-conspiracy","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/dragon-conspiracy.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":22153,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/22153","url_meta":{"origin":5307,"position":3},"title":"The Dragon Conspiracy, Audio Book","author":"Michelle","date":"August 10, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"The Dragon Conspiracy (2015) Lisa Shearin narrated by Johanna Parker (SPI Files) (T)he sprinkles on the squashed cupcake of my evening. (S)omewhere a charmer was missing his snake. If you were smart, you lived your life and treated the people who were in your life\u2014 those who were important to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"The Dragon Conspiracy","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/dragon-conspiracy.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":22163,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/22163","url_meta":{"origin":5307,"position":4},"title":"The Ghoul Vendetta, Audio Book","author":"Michelle","date":"August 22, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"The Ghoul Vendetta (2017) Lisa Shearin narrated by Johanna Parker (SPI Files) My grandma Fraser had always told me I had \u201clittle dog syndrome\u201d\u2014 small size, big attitude, delusions of toughness. I appreciated Ian\u2019s training efforts in that area as well as hand-to-hand combat, but I\u2019d pretty much gotten as\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"The Ghoul Vendetta","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/Ghoul-Vendetta-e1511045670983.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5095,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/5095","url_meta":{"origin":5307,"position":5},"title":"Wild Card","author":"Michelle","date":"January 31, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Wild Card (2014) Lisa Shearin This short story is an introduction to Lisa Shearin's Raine Benares series. I fully admit that despite being elves and goblins and not set in this world, I like it. Probably because it was a PI story, so the world building gets to take second\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Fantasy"","block_context":{"text":"Fantasy","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/fantasy"},"img":{"alt_text":"wild-card","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/wild-card.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5307","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5307"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5307\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5307"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5307"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5307"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}