Hotter than Helltown (Preternatural Affairs #3) by S.M. Reine

There’s a serial killer in town – their victims are horrendously mutilated and increasing in frequency. Worse, all signs point to something supernatural doing the killing – which makes it Cesar’s and Suzy’s job to catch the killer. And Cesar does not do bodies

Almost as intimidating, the boss is in town. She has an ultimatum – because Cesar accessed information he shouldn’t have in a crisis, he needs to become Aspis to Fritz’s Kopis. Shield to his Sword. The fighter’s witch guardian – and there’s a test involved. A complicated test that is rather beyond Cesar’s skill level

And if he fails… well, being fired from the agency may have consequences

I do like how Cesar has grown in this book, including his powers and abilities. This is somewhat odd for me because I can be quite scathing when we have protagonists who constantly level up every book, finding new depths of special powers. But with Cesar it worked because it was very subtle. Also because he’s very much behind the curve of his colleagues. Suzy has awesome power, his boss, Fritz, is a skilled Kopis who can clearly throw down and Isobel has some very specialised magical skills – Cesar often feels like the odd man. In some ways, it works because he’s the one who will think about the mundane before the magical but other times it’s a hindrance because he needs to be reminded of the magical.

It also fits really well with his past and development – Cesar is surrounded by major talents and has grown up around major talents. He has thoroughly absorbed the idea that he’s not very good simply because he’s been surrounded by people who are totally awesome and has internalised his own incapacity because of that. It’s really well done to see not his growing ability, but him being forced to look past his instinctive “I can’t do it” initial response to any challenge.

This fits really well with the ongoing theme of Cesar finding his feet in the new department and having to learn quickly as well as him stepping up to be Fritz’s Apis. Cesar has spent the whole series being thrown into situations well beyond his experience and comfort zone and having to rise to the challenge

I’m looking forward to seeing him and Fritz bounce off each other as well – they really do work together

Beyond the characters, I really love this world. Especially how it is connected with several other of the author’s series in the same world – allowing us to see everything through different lens. So we can see Elise viewing the Union as an imposing threat and demons as not-all-that-worrisome unless they’re higher up in the Descent Series and then here we have Cesar working for and closely with the Union while fearing even the most minor demons as terrifying enemies. The different series have also worked to make a really wide and rich world full of different denizens with different views of them all. This is built on a magic system that is both individual but also has a solid sense of rules and procedures that speaks to deeper world building that I always appreciate

Silver Bullet (Preternatural Affairs #2) by S.M. Reine

Cesar and Suzume are on their first mission – an investigation to discover what’s behind a sudden demonic power spike. But with few resources in the Union, both of them are being thrown in the deep end, forced to question and face off against demonic powers they barely understand with so little experience

And then the werewolf shows up, and is further complicated by a cult that may have infiltrated the highest levels. If that weren’t dangerous enough, they all pale next to what happens when the Bosses suspect there has been an information breach.

Facing angry werewolves, fanatical cultists and insidious demons are bad enough – but your boss trying to take you down as well…

I like Cesar as a character – he is so perfectly balanced. He is out of his depth – grossly out of his depth – he has no experience with demons, he’s a middlingly powerful witch at best. He has no experience with demons and is a long way from ever being comfortable around them. He’s floundering, he’s more than a little lost and he’s desperately doing his best which isn’t quite good enough.

But he’s also capable, competent, intelligent and with a basic skill set and determination that means we can see his potential. After all he has been chosen for this roles – and it would be ridiculous if he was utterly incapable. He’s been thrown in early, he certainly needs more training but he isn’t inept. That’s an important difference in making the character fit the story; an out of his depth character works, but if he’s drowning then it wouldn’t make sense for him to be there at all.

It also fits with this very broad and varied world – we have a vast array of creatures in it and there’s rarely, if ever, a chance to just charge in and kill it ‘cos they’re evil. Including a plethora of demons and halfdemons – who don’t all need killing – and some angels who may certainly need avoiding. There’s a lot to learn here.

It also helps deal with the story being inherently reactive. Cesar, Suzume and Isobel are pretty lost in this book, reacting to events, trying to catch up, losing the thread and constantly in salvage mode. It says a lot that their original mission gets completely lost in the rush to try and deal with events that rapidly spiral out of their control. And it works – because they are new at this, because this mission their first and perhaps the protagonist shouldn’t win every one.

Witch Hunt (Preternatural Affairs #1) by S. M. Reine

Cesar is a witch, a witch who investigates demons, other witches and any of the other magical things out there doing things they really shouldn’t. He’s doing well and seems to be on the fast track

Until he wakes up one morning to find a dead woman in his apartment – and absolutely no idea how she got there. The mundane, non-magical police naturally think he’s the one who did it. He waits for the magical people he works for to find the truth – only to find out that they, too, suspect him

Escaping  to prove his innocence seems to be the only choice – but as he follows the clues and hones in on the truth it becomes horrendously possible that maybe they’re all right. Maybe he’s guilty.

This book is a classic example of a good book 1. The introduction to a new series set in a world that the reader won’t be very familiar with (in this case, I am familiar because it’s the same world that is carried through all of S.M Reine’s books but this is from an entirely different angle from the previous books I’ve read. I actually love the way the different series come together, you don’t have to have read each series, but in reading them all you expand the world and context of all of them, adding a lot of texture), bringing in the main characters that I have a feeling are going to be with us for the whole series.

Where this book is a good book 1 rather than a merely solid one is that it didn’t let the introduction stand as a replacement for an actual interesting story. Not only that, but we didn’t even get a generic, decent-but-nothing-that-original story in book 1 that we often get (so readers can focus their brain power on the world and characters). This story is involved – it’s a story of investigation but, far more, it’s a story of betrayal and paranoia. Cesar needs to find out who framed him so he can clear his name and he needs to keep one step ahead of the powers that be – both magical and mundane – to remain free in order to do so (especially since the magical forces seem to have written him off and the mundane forces are clearly incapable of proving anything given the circumstances). But both of these vital, involved elements rest on a very shaky foundation – who can Cesar trust? There is, afterall, an apparent agent framing him – who could this be?

And this is where the book excels – because I honestly suspected EVERYONE. Even when Cesar trusted them I didn’t. Everyone was presented as a potential murderer and traitor – and that certainly includes Cesar himself. There are twists upon twists, suspect upon suspect and it’s truly shocking how many people seem to be the ones behind it – then maybe not – then back in the frame again. And yes, that includes Cesar. His memory loss, the witness statements and the very reality of what people claim he has done mean that, yes, there’s a very good chance Cesar may have been the killer himself. His attempts to prove himself innocent may, in fact, be just exposing his actual guilt.

The story is very action heavy, the investigation and cerebral elements rapidly overshot by having to flee another threat, or facing more confusion and danger. It’s very much an action book and it’s well written enough and visual enough to make that work and keep it exciting and flowing, making the story one to pull you in and hold you right to the end.