Annie Bellet is an author that now primarily writes Urban Fantasy. Like most indie authors, she started writing a variety of things across a few genres while following the advice of one of the big names in the industry, go so far as to take some of his classes to learn the ins and outs of the industry. I won’t go into too much detail, but she got away from his advice and started following the advice of some others and gave her writing a reboot. Today, she is one of the top names in the genre on Amazon thanks, in large part, to her Twenty-Sided Sorceress series. Recently, I’ve read the first three books of her series and was pleasantly surprised.
Bellet is not afraid to throw pop-culture references out when the situation calls for it. After all, her series title does it on its own. Her main character, Jade Crow, is a sorceress who runs a game shop in Wylde, Idaho who tries her best to keep her presence hidden from Samir, her ex-lover and rival who just so happens wants to kill her and eat her heart.
Most of the characters in the book, aside from Jade, are shifters. Shifters are people who have the ability to shift between one animal form and their human form. Unlike some urban fantasy, Bellet brings in a wide variety of creatures into the mix. From fox to tiger and yes… wolves.
In the series, Jade finds herself in a unique predicament. She finds herself constantly in situations where she needs to use her power, yet hesitates knowing that doing so may tip of Samir to her presence. Most of her magic is drawn directly from the Dungeons and Dragons Player’s Handbook, with a few tweaks worked in for good measure. In short, sorcerers can create anything their minds can conceive, and being a gamer, Jade’s mind is drawn to the RPG arts. It works well, because while definitely fantasy, the magic is grounded with a sense of reality. While I feel Jade is much more powerful than Bellet lets on, she constantly reminds herself what is at stake if she uses too much (an early confrontation with Samir.)
Justice Calling starts off with the mother of one of her shifter friends apparently stuffed and mounted. While trying to figure that out Alek, a tiger shifter who also happens to be a justice, comes in to kill Jade believing she is a threat to all shifters. With a little help from her friends, she is able to convince Alek she is on his team and they work together to figure out the mess.
I don’t want to go into too much detail, to avoid spoiling the book, but overall I enjoyed the story. Urban fantasy often crosses into paranormal romance, and while I enjoy the later if done well (Twilight) I don’t like it when the romance is the focal part of the story. In this series, a romance is definitely present (after the first book) but not once is it the focal point of the series. It does shape Jade’s decisions, as any good romance should, but not in a way that makes her actions unbelievable.
Overall, I enjoyed the story and look forward to reading more. It’s fair to mention that I got the book as part of a bundle of the first three books in the series. While the bundle runs $6.99 at the time of this review, you can try the first book out for free. You can find a link below.
Bellet just released the sixth book in the series this week, titled Thicker Than Blood.