Flames Over Frosthelm (Inquisitors' Guild)

A highly entertaining read! Gives me slight Starsky and Hutch vibes. I love a cops and robbers book, this one is just that but with magic thrown into the mix. Marten and Boog have a need to prove themselves, they are bushy tailed and bright eyes, having just completed their training at the Inquisitors Guild. Eager to find the thief or thieves, they soon discover there's a lot more going on, a lot more! Brawn and brains is clearly defined here! They go from one dire situation into the next, at times I was wondering if they could get out of it but our heros prevail. I always enjoy a healthy dose of humour and there were moments when I couldn't help laughing out loud. I do enjoy a mystery and this book had me trying to work out whodunnit. Who would have imagined a simple theft would unravel and ancient evil and magical beings? Not Marten and Boog! When they do discover there's more going on, they stop at nothing to get to the truth and of course, save humanity at the same time. Loved the dialogue, very clever and Marten and Boog's relationship, whilst doggedly pursuing the truth, even when they were warned off. I found the female characters strong and courageous, although maybe a bit too strong, they didn't really have anything soft about them. I found myself turning the pages as fast as I could to see what Marten and Boog were up to next and what witty comments would leap out at me. And they didn't disappoint. The battles are credibility appropriate, well described and thrilling. A great fun read

This is the book that sucked me into Dave Dobson's work. It's amazing and leaves you wanting more. Fortunately, there are now three more books in the series. Great fantasy world-building, awesome characterization and plot development. I can't recommend it highly enough!

Flames Over Frosthelm (Inquisitors' Guild), my first read from author Dave Dobson. A well-written, entertaining read, not at all what I expected. with intriguing, well-developed characters that I read in a single setting. 400-pages. “I received a free Kindle copy of this book and am voluntarily leaving a review." The gifting of this book did not affect my opinion of it. Now I need to get The Outcast Crown (Inquisitors' Guild). (RIP Marley January 20, 2014 - July 24, 2018).

I really enjoyed this book. The author is imaginative, writes well, and presented a thoroughly entertaining story. I would easily have given this five stars but for two things which I will point out later.WRITING STYLE: First person and well done. The author combined action, adventure, mystery, and intrigue into a well written story. The book is decently edited and you'll find yourself reading right along at a fairly fast pace.PLOT: The plot was well thought out, kept me guessing in many cases, had some unexpected twists and turns. There were a few moments where I thought aspects were not developed all the way through and were tossed in as afterthoughts to explain why certain things happened the way they did. But overall, the plot will keep you guessing.The story is of a young inspector who stumbles into a sinister plot to free some demonic and ancient evil that would wreck chaos across the land. He quickly gets in over his head, struggles into his budding abilities to utilize ancient magic, and then seeks to put a stop to the menace that threatens him, those he loves, and his world.CHARACTERS: The characters are dynamic, likable, and fun to read about. There is significant humor throughout the book, the main character is relatable and not so needy or powerfully heroic that you can't simply put yourself in his shoes. Well done.But here is one of the two areas I disliked. There is not a drop of femininity in the entire book. Every woman seems to be a male accidentally stuck in a woman's body. It seems the author went out of his way to make sure the women in the story had as much presence as the men when it came to abilities to swing a sword or deliver a punch. In fact, it may be there were more masculine female soldiers and warriors than men in the story. It struck me as too overboard, too much to try to make the women equal to men in all things, including muscle mass, hairy chests and smelly armpits (the last two are impressions). I missed the femininity of the women. You could have simply changed "her" to "him" in nearly every case a woman is mentioned and you would find no difference in the story whatsoever. Didn't seem realistic.CHILD SAFE: Here is where I also found issues. Rated PG-13. There is certainly profanity (though I ran the book through a profanity filter first before I read it). The profanity is not overwhelming and would be what many call mild, but it is most certainly present. There are no sex scenes and only a small amount of romance. There was, however, at least one crude sexual joke at the beginning of the book.RECOMMENDATION: Outside of the profanity, I would recommend this book. I think you'd enjoy it, get a chuckle if not a full laugh occasionally.

One for fans of urban fantasy that's heavier on the fantasy than the urban and those who like their magical crime procedurals to be by the book. It reminded me of the Alex Verus books by Benedict Jacka crossed with something more Discworld or Shadow of a Dead God by Patrick Samphire. A slow and steady read, it won't have too many surprises for followers of the subgenre but it was a surprising amount of fun anyway.Picture a Medieval-magical city full of ordinary humans going about ordinary business; some poor, some rich, some criminally inclined... That's where the Inquisitor's Guild comes in. Marty and Boog are on the case of a jewel thief who unexpectedly... Explodes. To find out what's what, their only lead is a mysterious mage woman who can pull a disappearing act and a symbol of a sun and moon combined that seems to mean something to her. The inspectors are drawn into a conspiracy that threatens all of Frostheim. Finding themselves stymied at every attempt at uncovering the truth by powerful people, it's up to these newly graduated investigators to prevent doom and death and possibly the end of the world.Yup, it's one of those old chestnuts: the influential people in a big ol' city full of corruption, evil cults, weird magic, and an unlikely duo needing to round up an oddball crew in order to save the day. It's nothing new, but it's well executed none the less. Slow, steady, not in a hurry to rush out reveals; it's one of those comfort type reads because you know where it's going and can settle in for the journey.Marty is our narrator, and manages to pull of the sarcastic humour without it becoming grating or acidic. He and his partner Boog are those rare things in investigative style stories: they are neither Too Clever By Half or Too Stupid To Live. Can we get a round of applause for that? The foreshadowing of the clues they uncover works in that it allows the reader to twig at exactly the same time as they do, and yes, they do run into fights against terrible odds, but to be fair they get beaten up enough (and *le gasp* require recovery time) to make their narrow escapes possible. I liked their easy banter and partner dynamic for how natural it felt.The world's pretty standard but again nicely done. We're told what we need to know when we need to know it, not after the fact (excuse me while I glare at some urban fantasy procedural series). Marty also doesn't play the "oh, I knew this about our world and so did everyone else and it was totally key to solving the case but I'm only telling you, dear reader, right at the end!" card (a depressingly common and irritating cliche in the boy-oriented UF crimes books). Again, it might not have held a lot of surprises, but there are some nice original parts to the usual fantasy setting in the form of ancient Auger magics that get expanded on as the characters learn more.The only thing letting it down somewhat are the side characters. There are a lot of them who just don't feel quite as fleshed out or shown-not-told as would have been nice (Lia and Gueran for example). The love interest again is told-not-shown, and much like a Marvel movie is conveniently just in the love the guy because... reasons? I'd like to have seen them interact, not just been told about it. The same goes for two Very Important Characters who have a lot of significance in the plot, yet those roles lack much impact because they're just reports of characters rather than characters shown in the narrative. I honestly wish we could have seen Marty and Boog with them, or witnessing them with others, just so that when they had their parts to play it'd have had some emotional impact. The ending also felt just that little bit quick and easy after all the effort it took getting there.Overall a well-constructed and engagingly written slice of fantasy crime drama. What it lacks in surprises it makes up for in being one of those cosy go-to books that's more about the journey than the destination.

This is a wonderful saga, with a lovingly created world, great real characters, ,lots of intrigue and treachery, magic and mystery, courage and fortitude, a slow burn romance, a world ending conspiracy based on an ancient prophecy. Two trainee inquisitors investigating a theft uncover a huge conspiracy involving the highest nobles, framed for murder they are forced into the borderlands. I loved the story, the world that the author has created and the characters. This is a long story but it is always engrossing, detailed and involving. The narration is good, the narrator has a good voice and range but is a little stilted sometimes with his delivery but this is not a major thing. I received a complimentary copy from Storyorigin and am leaving a voluntary honest review

Brilliant . Amusing and great plot. The characters were great

The usual trope of inept wizard finding his calling is well balanced between cynical humour and descriptive gore. The protagonist anti-hero is well backed up by stout buddy and clever girlfriend. An enjoyable read that travels at a steady pace.