Due to a sudden, unexpected passing in the family a few years ago and another more recently and my subsequent (mental) health issues stemming from that, I was unable to download this book in time to review it before it was archived as I did not visit this site for several years after the bereavements. This meant I didn't read or venture onto netgalley for years as not only did it remind me of that person as they shared my passion for reading, but I also struggled to maintain interest in anything due to overwhelming depression. I was therefore unable to download this title in time and so I couldn't give a review as it wasn't successfully acquired before it was archived. The second issue that has happened with some of my other books is that I had them downloaded to one particular device and said device is now defunct, so I have no access to those books anymore, sadly.

This means I can't leave an accurate reflection of my feelings towards the book as I am unable to read it now and so I am leaving a message of explanation instead. I am now back to reading and reviewing full time as once considerable time had passed I have found that books have been helping me significantly in terms of my mindset and mental health - this was after having no interest in anything for quite a number of years after the passings. Anything requested and approved will be read and a review written and posted to Amazon (where I am a Hall of Famer & Top Reviewer), Goodreads (where I have several thousand friends and the same amount who follow my reviews) and Waterstones (or Barnes & Noble if the publisher is American based). Thank you for the opportunity and apologies for the inconvenience

This was a great urban fantasy book! The world building was fantastic and the book kept me at the edge of my set! I didn’t expect to enjoy it so much.

cuando tuve la oportunidad de leer La última sonrisa en Sunder City no la dejé escapar.


Lo más atractivo de libro es la construcción del entorno en el que tiene lugar la acción. Un mundo donde la magia dejó de existir por acción de los humanos, con consecuencias terribles para el resto de las criaturas que lo poblaban, todas mágicas y todas afectadas en mayor o menor medida por esta catástrofe. Los vampiros ya no pueden chupar sangre, las banshees pierden su voz… El resentimiento y la nostalgia por un pasado que no volverá son la fuerza motriz de una novela que narra la investigación de un caso de desaparición por parte de Fetch Phillips.

Se trata de una novela crespuscular, con tintes noir porque la investigación detectivesca es el hilo conductor que nos llevará a lo largo de las páginas de libro. Aunque el propio Phillips no se define como detective privado si no como hombre a sueldo, lo cierto es que cumple punto por punto las características comunes casi arquetípicas de estos personajes. Alcoholismo, adicción sustancias nocivas, violencia, soledad y cierta cabezonería para llegar hasta el fondo de los asuntos le pese a quien le pese. Luke Arnold utiliza estos recursos para construir una historia bastante tópica pero bien traída que a su vez enlaza con el pasado del protagonista. La prosa es funcional pero se adapta muy bien a lo que se quiere contar. El ritmo de la novela es constante y en ningún momento se hace pesado, favorecido también por la propia longitud de la obra, que no llega a las 300 páginas.

Arnold aprovecha para sentar las bases de un mundo que puede ser escenario para más historias, pero sin dar la sensación de que estamos ante una primera entrega de una saga. El libro es autoconclusivo y cierra bien el relato, pero claro, queda todo un mundo por explorar, especialmente las relaciones entre las razas mágicas tan perjudicadas por los humanos con un fondo de racismo que puede dar mucho juego. Ya existe una nueva entrega de las aventuras (más bien desventuras) de Fetch Phillips.

Talk about books being overdue. I’ve been intending on reading this for almost a year now and then pandemic. I have long been a reader of Urban Fantasy but I did drift away in my late teens for lack of diversity in many areas of the genre. This was before I discovered Rivers of London with the fantastic Peter Grant as lead but now, I also have Fetch Phillips!

Let me start this review by saying that despite me giving this a lower rating than I usually would, I highly enjoyed this book. I kind of have been skirting around urban fantasy books a bit this month, likely for the escapism factor, and this is absolutely wonderful in terms of sitting in that genre.

What I really loved was the world this book was set in. This was a hell of a refreshing setting! Sunder City is a city like any other, but it’s a fantasy city. So if you’re not a reader of Urban Fantasy, the difference here is the setting is usually a place in our world but with fantastical elements. Harry Dresden has Chicago, Peter Grant has London and so on. Sunder is totally in a magical world with races, creatures and magic but humans just happen to live there. It’s honestly so much more interesting and I loved how Arnold did this.

Let’s talk about Fetch Phillips himself. Something I enjoyed the most was his character. We’ve all seen it haven’t we? Detective with a tragic past. PI with trauma. Drinking problems, dangerous women and shady dealings right? I love a good trope and I love detective stories, but the clear difference here is the character arc defined for Fetch and the clear development he has compared to other gumshoes.

What I enjoyed about Fetch is his honesty and how he’s not just bitter at the world. He’s bitter about humanity and the role they played in the event that stripped the world of magic. He has a clear understanding of his own bias and how his position as position as a human makes him a painful reminder to other magical races of the magic that they needed to live. I also really enjoyed the fact that Fetch is neither an emotionless husk. He has feelings, he has a very tender side. He is very likeable for a hard boiled detective solving a mystery/possible murder.

Speaking of said mystery, that’s where I felt the book was a bit weaker. The mystery was very thin, we only came back to it when Fetch remembered he was supposed to be finding this missing person. A chunk of the book is dedicated to his backstory and building up the setting which is done VERY well. The interlude chapters where Fetch connects his 4 tattoos to 4 big life events is actually very touching! But the big reveal happens so close to the end that it’s almost kind of a last thing to finish the book and it wasn’t so satisfying.

I am however so glad to have finally read this. I highly enjoyed this, a cracking start to a wonderful take on Urban Fantasy and I have the sequel already so will be bumping that up the list. Thank you to Orbit for sending me a copy of this book to review as well. Thanks for checking in guys, have a good reading weekend!

This book was great. I was at first a bit confused - unsure if it was the Luke Arnold I knew from Black Sails or not. And I was really surprised when he turned out to be exactly the Luke Arnold from Black Sails. He is not only an actor I like but will probably a must-read author for me too.

I really like this type of story - I really like Urban Fantasy and this certainly checked all the right boxes. It has a detective Noir feeling I really appreciated and set itself apart from the more stereotypical Urban Fantasys that take place in a popular real life setting. The setting in this is really interesting and the backstory I liked enormously.

But the best thing has to be the main character. He is everything I like when reading a protagonist with his own set of problems and I appreciate the voice Luke Arnold provides him with.

The Last Smile in Sunder City could be seen as a mix from Carnival Row tv-series and Carlos Ruiz Zafon books, it’s kind of a strange paranormal criminal mystery - a Scandi Noir in fantasy world.

The protagonist Fetch Phillips is a human in a magical world that has lost it’s magic. Fetch’s story is told in past and in present, it’s filled with paranormal creatures. It’s well written and the idea behind the story is wonderful. Even if the beginning might be a bit confusing, once you get into the story, it’s difficult to get out.

Good read!

This is a debut novel, but you may recognise the author’s name. For not only is Luke an author but you may have seen him as an actor – he was Long John Silver in the television series Black Sails.

As the first novel this one introduces us to Fetch Phillips, a cantankerous, moody, grumpy sort of guy who makes his way (barely) through Sunder City, a city of iniquity and decay worthy of comparison with other decrepit urban areas.

I’m Fetch Phillips, just like it says on the window. There are three things you should know before you hire me:
1. Sobriety costs extra.
2. My services are confidential.
3. I don’t work for humans.

It’s nothing personal – I’m human myself. But after what happened, it’s not the humans who need my help.

I just want one real case. One chance to do something good. Because it’s my fault the magic is never coming back.

The beginning was a little generic. I couldn’t help feeling it was (at least to start) something I’d read before, an homage like many others to the film noir detective novels of the 1930’s. The cover also didn’t help, making the book at first glance feel a little like a Rivers of London ripoff, or a poor man’s Ankh-Morpork. (I thought of this before finding out that the author himself admits to being inspired by Terry Pratchett’s city in an illuminating interview at the back of the book.)

To the author’s credit, I found that the lead character was not as unremittingly nasty as some of our genre characters have been of late. Fetch is more like Glen Cook’s Garrett P.I. than like someone out of Tyler Whitesides’ The Thousand Deaths of Ardor Benn. He has some redeeming qualities, although admittedly they are often well hidden beneath his snarky exterior. It may not be a characteristic that’s too realistic, but it’s bearable. This is a character damaged by his life-experiences, trying to survive in a changed world, a change that he blames himself for.

The surface plot is the usual detective fare. Fetch is hired by Principal Burbage to investigate the disappearance of a teacher at an interspecies school. Professor Edmund Albert Rye is a Vampire, a species that since the start of The Coda and the ensuing loss of their ability to gain sustenance through drinking blood, is in decline. Rye was also one of the founding members of The League of Vampires, the group who has vowed to protect, not prey, on weaker species, which leads Fetch to discover that this may be more than a simple missing person case.

What is actually more interesting is the back-plot that we get along the way. This is about how Fetch managed to cause the loss of Magic in an event known as The Coda, although some of this is explained in clunky blocks of exposition, such as during a school sex education class lecture at the beginning of the book. However, once the book has got over its slightly wobbly start, it finds its feet and clicks along at a great pace.

What worked for me most, more than the characterisation, was that the world of Sunder City is interesting. It is not a medieval-esque world, but a fairly modern one. There are cars and telephones, for example. It’s what we would probably describe as a factory town, created atop an underground fire pit to smelt iron. The Sunderites are generally straightforward folk – often tough, belligerent and worn down – that made me think of a 1920’s New York in style and manner. It feels industrial, with old, decaying warehouses, dark and dim bars and limited light sources. A flood in a shanty town shows the reader how precarious some areas of the city are.

This precariousness doesn’t just apply to the buildings, however. Most of all The Last Smile in Sunder City is about a world where magic, once part of everyday life, has gone and how the inhabitants deal with the consequences. Wizards, witches and warlocks have been rendered impotent. Vampires can go out in daylight, but no longer get sustenance from blood, which leads them to eventually just crumble into dust. Ogres are now having to get jobs as bodyguards, whilst dwarves are reduced to squatting in properties they can no longer afford. Necromancers have to earn their keep by working in the City Morgue, whilst Sirens are often having to make do with getting by singing and playing music in bars or even becoming strippers in less salubrious environments. Nail Gangs roam the streets, vigilante groups killing ex-magic characters for fun. It’s a sobering yet imaginative world.

What doesn’t help is that Fetch himself is a pariah, outcast from the elite ruling body known as The Opus. He’s also a human, despised because it was Humans who caused the magic to go away. Along the way we discover that he’s an ex-soldier whose life-experiences have led him to become this dour, broken person, and yet one who wants to make amends and help, despite the consequences to himself. This meandering backstory gives us glimpses into the wider world of Sunder City, which are intriguing, even if not always directly related to the story at present.

And it is this that really engaged me. By the end, and despite my initial reservations, the character of Fetch and the world he inhabits won me over. Whilst The Last Smile in Sunder City is clearly a debut novel, but one with an intriguing set-up, and once it got going became an engrossing and entertaining read that kept my attention happily whilst reading. There’s scope for more novels here, which I’m pleased about, as more books will no doubt follow. (Indeed: Dead Man in a Ditch is due in October 2020.) Now that the premise has been set up, I suspect things will now get very interesting.

I love to be surprised by books and, as someone who doesn't usually seek out detective novels, I was pleasantly surprised by The Last Smile in Sunder City. I was offered and ARC in exchange for an honest review, but when I didn't download it in time I chose to purchase a copy to complete my end of the deal and I'm so glad I did.

Arnold has created an enchanting world full of deeply complex characters that grow on you as the story progresses. Sunder City beautifully entwines the current narrative with flashbacks that provide depth to the current events in a way that constantly keeps you engaged, answering just enough of your questions while inciting more. The novel was a slow burn for me and I didn't like Fetch Phillips much in the first act but as more layers are revealed I am so intrigued by him I can't wait to read more stories from his world (A sequel is expected later this year!)

Contemporary fantasy has a lot to live up to in terms of being original and standing out in the market - and I think this one might have done it? Excellent characters. I devoured this so avidly that I can't comment on the writing and style because I was so engrossed I didn't pay attention, and isn't it so great when you find a book like that? Will be buying a physical copy to display proudly on my shelves

I'm not sure if it was the book, timing or myself but something didn't quite click between me & this book. I adore the cover and the plot sounded intriguing and mostly it was an enjoyable story but there was just something lacking that I wanted more of. I might reread it sometime and hope for a better reading experience.

An enjoyable first novel in what promises to be a fresh new fantasy series.

Fetch is a solid protagonist with a past he's ashamed of, a present where he's barely getting by and no idea what the future holds.

The noir and the humour are well balanced with the hardboiled dialogue occasionally venturing into over the top territory but I still couldn't get mad about it.

The story isn't quite as cohesive as it could've been but that's partly because it's doing the heavy lifting of explaining the past and telling the realtime mystery.

I will be keeping my eye out for book two. Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for a copy in the for an honest review.

Fetch Phillips is a PI in a world altered by"the coda" an event which he precipitated and which robbed everyone of their magical abilities, He is hired by the school headmaster to find a missing teacher - a former vampire, made toothless by the coda but there is more to the problem thanFetch is prepared for. The narrative looking at the disappearance is interweaved by the narrative of Fetch Phillips' life. his career changes and how he brought about the changes to his world.

I felt the author had a real skill in characterisation and the world he describes both before and after the Coda were really brought to life in the language he used and there is a lot of this book that i enjoyed. I am grateful to have received this ARC of the book but there was something in the writing that made me struggle to get all the narrative lines together. I found myself having to go back and read again at times which made the whole thing feel like hard work

Dark fantasy meets noir detective in this stunning debut. The Last Smile in Sunder City showcases an incredible talent for world-building and weaves an exciting mystery around a character-driven plot.

Fetch Phillips is a Man for Hire in Sunder City, a place that's still dealing with the fallout of a catastrophe that happened a few years ago. Humans destroyed the source of magic, killing or crippling all the creatures whose life source was tied to magic. Fetch is hired to find a Vampire who went missing without a trace. As he moves throughout the city, encountering many magic-less creatures, the clues start to fall into place and Fetch may end up having to adjust how he sees this new world.

We follow two narratives in this story. In one, Fetch is looking for the Vampire in a world without magic. In the other, we get flashbacks to Fetch's life before magic disappeared. The flashback narrative only pops up a few times, always keeping the reader guessing about what happened next.

At first, the main character comes across as the stereotypical detective who has grown tired and cynical, who is done with the world and suspects the world is done with him. But as the story progresses, and more is revealed about Fetch and the world he lives in, he grows beyond the stereotype. As this is the first in a series, I'm expecting this growth to continue in further instalments. There were a few side characters in this story who had potential to be more interesting, so I hope they pop up again in the future. I understand that this first book meant to establish Fetch as a character and as a result there was less time for anyone else, but seeing more of the people in his life will help round out the story.

The Last Smile in Sunder City is written in a bleak and melancholic prose, but it was also weirdly beautiful to read. Despite the copious amount of world-building and background information, those elements never overwhelm the reader and the story remains quite accessible. The pacing was superb, giving just the right amount of information to keep the reader happily following in Fetch's footsteps.

If this first book is a good indication of what this author is capable of, I'll gladly pick up the next book in this series asap.

I loved this book as it's an amazing read, the love child of Jim Butcher and Raymond Chandler with a touch of Gaiman.
The characters are well thought and interesting, the world building is amazing and the plot flows as the author is a talented storyteller.
I hope this is the first in a series because I'd be delighted to read another story with these characters and this world.
It was an excellent read, highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.

Imagine my surprise when I saw the author was John Silver in Black Sails. After that you can only expect good things. And it did not disappoint.
The main character is the typical broody guilt-ridden private detective. His pessimist and self-loathing nature make this story seem more real and palpable.
As you probably have already guessed, I love detective stories but mix it with magical beings and you got me hooked. The investigation as to a missing vampire school lecturer and why magic was dead kept me at the edge of my seat. It was just such a fun adventure and I can't wait to read more from this author.

I’m Fetch Phillips, just like it says on the window. There are three things you should know before you hire me:

Sobriety costs extra.
My services are confidential.
I don’t work for humans.
It’s nothing personal – I’m human myself. But after what happened, it’s not the humans who need my help.

I just want one real case. One chance to do something good. Because it’s my fault the magic is never coming back.

The inhabitants of Sunder City have fallen on hard times. An event known as The Coda has stripped all the magic from their world. Everyone is suffering and each day things only seem to be getting worse. In the shadow of this terrible event, a much-loved teacher has disappeared under mysterious circumstances. Fetch Phillips, a down at heel human gumshoe, is tasked with tracing the rogue educator. It shouldn’t be a difficult case. I mean, how far can an ageing ex-vampire who has problems climbing stairs get?

Like all the best literary investigators, Fetch is an absolute shambles as a human being. It’s hardly a surprise really. He sees himself as responsible, at least in part, for the biggest catastrophe to befall the world he lives in. I’d imagine I’d be exactly the same if I was carting about that much guilt. The welcome oblivion of booze promises a brief respite from the memories that haunt Fetch’s every waking moment. As if that wasn’t bad enough there is also a lost love to factor into the equation. I’ll probably come across as a terrible sadist, but I really like a character who has suffered a bit, they always strike me as a little more realistic. Fetch has made some huge mistakes in his life and they have left him broken is many ways. Nothing better than a host of inner demons, metaphorically speaking, to keep a character interesting.

Ironically, all the remorse makes Fetch quite a good detective. Underneath, and I mean way way underneath, all the self-loathing is a person driven to do good. Fetch exhibits a grim determination in every action. He is never going to stop trying to make amends for his role in the loss of magic. When Fetch finds purpose, he’s like a dog with a bone worrying away at a problem until he gets a result.

The denizens of Sunder City are an eclectic bunch. Amongst the bustling streets you’ll find highly educated vampires, chatty gnomes, thumb-less wizards1 and vocally challenged sirens. The Coda has affected every non-human race at a fundamental level. Lycanthropes have been struck mid-transition, trolls have fused with the earth and the mighty strength of ogres disappeared in a flash. We also get to learn what brought Fetch to Sunder City in the first place. Prior to the Coda, there were tensions between magical and non-magic species. The balance of power may have shifted dramatically but those tensions remain. This adds a nice political spin to proceedings. Can human and their previously magical counterparts co-exist peacefully? Fetch finds himself stuck slap bang in the middle of that particular debate.

If you are a fan of the Nightside novels by Simon R Green then I can heartily recommend you give The Last Smile in Sunder City a try. Luke Arnold’s confident debut is great fun, has a host of engaging characters and a premise that will leave you hungry for more. I’m always pleased when a new series comes along an immediately captures my attention. This first foray into the world of Fetch Philips blends together the best elements of crime noir and fantasy and makes for a genuinely entertaining experience.

My music recommendation to enhance your enjoyment while reading this novel is the soundtrack to I Still See You by the epically talented Bear McCreary2. Haunting, fantastical and suitably tense in parts this soundtrack feels like it was tailor made to accompany Arnold’s writing.

The Last Smile in Sunder City is published by Orbit and is available now. I’m sure I read somewhere that a sequel is set to follow later in the year. I shall look forward to that.

1Turns out the very best mages are such good magic practitioners they don’t need thumbs. Sounds like showing off to me.

2Yay! I managed to get through the entire review with only a very tenuous reference to Black Sails…until now…dammit.

An interesting self examination of the main character of Fetch Phillips. Not an immensely happy individual I have to admit. Fetch was a former soldier but now a private detective with what he perceives is an insalubrious past.The story begins where he examines how his life got to where it is and events which contributed to his current way of life. The narrative gradually gives us a grounding insight into what the world has degenerated into after the human races of the world have been instrumental into the loss of magic.
Most magical races have altered unimaginably due to the loss of magic but the city of Sunder has adapted to use more mundane methods to power the once magical constructs. Overall a sad poignant tale with overtones of a detective story with Fetch being the down at heels detective.
A fantasy dystopian tale with one or two twists. Well written with diverse characters. Interested to see where this leads. Excellent effort for a debut novel.

This is a hugely imaginative book about a hard-boiled drunk PI (aren’t they all and who keeps hiring them) called Fetch Phillips living in Sunder City. Tasked with looking for a vampire school lecturer who has disappeared, Fetch trawls the city, mostly in a drunken stupor and occasionally coming up against the local police force who dislikes him apart from one old army friend.
This ticks all of the boxes for a hard-boiled detective novel however what Luke Arnold has done is to create a fantasy world that has been robbed of its magic by humans. This is an interesting take on this genre and Arnold explores the effect of this on the fantastical creatures and how they have to adapt to normal life.
In parallel to the detective story are flashbacks of how Fetch arrived in Sunder City and his participation in the loss of magic from this world. Trying to provide a history to this world and our protagonists can sometimes take you away from the main story a little too often, leaving little to the imagination or back story for future books.
This is a gritty dark fantasy, detective story and one I enjoyed immensely.

Damned, this is a good book.

Luke Arnold has a gift for storytelling. The Last Smile is the first in the new Fetch Philips series and 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 oeuvre. 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

Actual rating: 3.5 stars

The Last Smile in Sunder City is a UF mystery, imbued with a unique personality, a moody atmosphere and a deep wistfulness.

The very first paragraph set the tone quite immediately, hurtling you into Fetch Phillips' melancholic thoughts and destroyed world. For the world, or more specifically the world’s essence, was indeed destroyed beyond repair six years prior when the humans decided they were done being the inferior race. Early on, we learn that the Human Army discovered the location of the source of magic and by trying to harness it for themselves, froze it instead. The immortal Elves withered, The Vampires lost their vigor and their fangs, the shapeshifters became monsters, neither beasts nor men, the mighty dragons fell from the sky. And Fetch Phillips, former soldier turned PI, believes he’s the one to blame for this tragedy. Racked with guilt and regrets, on a steady diet of opiate and alcohol, Fetch became a man for hire, working solely for non-humans.

"Life once felt so grand and meaningful. This new world is hushed. Diminished. Fleeting."


I should have loved this book. I used to enjoy mysteries and I was excited to revisit this genre in a unique Urban Fantasy setting. I was warned beforehand that The Last Smile was a slow book. No problem! Investigations tend to be slow and complicated. But Fetch’s was downright tedious and I felt the pacing suffered from multiple digressions. Fetch’s misery and guilt impeded his investigation and he became his own obstacle, turning in circles, ignoring promising leads, mouthing off, getting himself trashed and thrashed and trying desperately and unsuccessfully to redeem old sins.

"What had I become, when laughter felt like a lashing?"


If I'm being honest, this could have worked for me if I cared more about Fetch. Heck one of my favorite UF series mixes investigation and personal tribulations. But Fetch was not a likable character. He did his best to prevent you from liking him, especially at first. His investigation quickly turned into a meandering stroll down memory lane and was pervaded with so much misery and remorse that I had to consume it a little sip at a time.


It didn’t help that I also found the characterization wanting as Fetch had to take most of it upon his wary shoulders. It too much for a one character to carry, more so when said character was already weighed down with his past. The other characters came and went, too furtively and lacking depth to make a lasting impression. The only interesting ones were the ghosts (figuratively) from Fetch’s past and the missing person he was tasked to track. Neither of them had enough screen time to develop into well fleshed out personalities, even though their influence on Fetch's life and personality was tangible.

"A good man is made through a lifetime of work. Great men are made by their monsters."


Characters and pacing issues put aside however, I was thoroughly impressed by Luke Arnold’s writing and imagination. The prose was just perfect for the story and the atmosphere. Arnold’s words were straightforward, clever and raw and even felt oppressive when the situation demanded it. Following the unfolding story, it went gradually from dry and quite emotionless to quite evocative and engaging, capturing skillfully the subtle shifts that took place in both Sunder City and Fetch.

"I like books. They’re quiet, dignified and absolute. A man might falter but his words, once written, will hold."


Something I very much enjoyed as well were the detailed flashback sequences that Arnold incorporated into the narrative and that told young Fetch’s story prior to the Coda, the destruction of magic. Though these sections didn’t redeem Fetch in my book, they urged me forward to discover the real story behind the continuous hint dropping and made me appreciate the extent of the disaster that befell the world and its consequences. The world, post-Coda, was meticulously built, morbidly fascinating and one of the bleakest and saddest I’ve visited so far.

"We all fear the other, and if we ever make friends with our enemy, the first thing we do as allies is identify some new foe. There is no real peace, only the brief moments while we turn our heads from one adversary to the next. "


Despite my conflicting feelings about this book, Luke Arnold’s debut impressed me on many levels. It held a rough around the edges kind of charm and its conclusion left me curious for more.