Today I’m sharing my review of Shami Stovall‘s Time-Marked Warlock as a part of its Blog Tour with The Write Reads. I have been so thrilled about this book since I first saw an email pop up about it. A hardened warlock PI helping a young witch after her mother is murdered? Color me very intrigued. The whole synopsis and the noir aesthetic of Time-Marked Warlock had me hooked before I even finished the first page. I just knew this was going to be a great book.

Goodreads

Synopsis:

Adair Finch is the most powerful warlock in the world, and one of the best private investigators for hire. He has dealt with corporate vampires, murderous werewolves, and even fae royalty. Everything was perfect until he lost one case—the case where he also lost his brother.

So Finch retired. From magic. From PI work. From everything.

Bree Blackstone, a twelve-year-old witch, doesn’t know or care about any of that except Finch’s reputation. In the middle of the night, she bangs on Finch’s door. Her mother has been murdered, and now the assassin is after Bree as well.

Reluctantly, Finch agrees to help, only to discover something sinister has been brewing in town while he ignored the world… He’ll need to dust off all his old skills and magic before it’s too late.

Review:

If you’re a fan of mysterious urban fantasy, this is absolutely the book for you. The writing in Time-Marked Warlock is incredible, and the pacing of the murder mystery is so dang good. The lore and magic system for both witches and warlocks was fascinating, and the differences between how witches and wizards use and perform magic set up a really cool dichotomy between the two. The element of time is incredibly important and comes up again and again throughout the book.

Finch and Bree both make incredible main characters. Neither is very trustworthy in the beginning, but I love a well written unreliable character. You can tell right off the bat that Finch has been through some stuff, even if he isn’t too open with that part of his life. Time-Marked Warlock is a great read for noir mystery lovers, urban fantasy readers, and those who love both great characters and interesting magic systems.

I’ll also add that I love the quality of these paperbacks. They’re nice a floppy with the softer cover. There are also nice headers with clock designs on each chapter header page. These may sound like silly things to mention in a review, but things like this are important to me when buying a physical indie book. I’m happy to report this a great one!

About the Author:

Shami Stovall is a multi-award-winning author of fantasy and science fiction. Before that, she taught history and criminal law at the college level, and loved every second. When she’s not reading fascinating articles and books about ancient China or the Byzantine Empire, Stovall can be found playing way too many video games, especially RPGs and tactics simulators.

Website: https://sastovallauthor.com/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/GameOverStation/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SAStovall/

Email: s.adelle.s@gmail.com

Thanks to the The Write Reads for organizing this tour and to the author for providing me with a physical copy of the book for review!