Book Review | White Trash Warlock @WriteReadsTours

First review of February and what a good book to kick off with.

Guthrie was a good place to be from, but it wasn’t a great place to live, not when you were like Adam, in all the ways Adam was like Adam.

Adam Binder hasn’t spoken to his brother in years, not since Bobby had him committed to a psych ward for hearing voices. When a murderous spirit possesses Bobby’s wife and disrupts the perfect life he’s built away from Oklahoma, he’s forced to ask for his little brother’s help. Adam is happy to escape the trailer park and get the chance to say I told you so, but he arrives in Denver to find the local magicians dead.

It isn’t long before Adam is the spirit’s next target. To survive the confrontation, he’ll have to risk bargaining with powers he’d rather avoid, including his first love, the elf who broke his heart.

The Binder brothers don’t realize that they’re unwitting pawns in a game played by immortals. Death herself wants the spirit’s head, and she’s willing to destroy their family to reap it.

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I haven’t read an urban fantasy in a while and I have to say that this is a really amazing dive back into the genre. I really loved the atmosphere in this book, there is something raw and gritty about it that immediately drew me in and straight away you get a sense of Adam’s life and struggles, especially with his gifts.

The concept of White Trash Warlock is fantastic, the story is, at its core, very simple but is expanded upon with such imagination that it becomes this complex and fascinating tale where I really had no idea what kind of creature or scenario I would come across next. The story surrounding the Spirit and everything to do with the Spirit world is so clever, I was in wonder at how effortlessly all the different layers of each world fit together and how easy it was to conjure up the images of each place due to the rich description. I also really liked the style of Adam’s magic in this book, it isn’t big and flashy it’s understated and that actually gave the book a lot more suspense, the same with the Spirit that is causing all the issues, it didn’t need to be in your face to still feel entirely menacing.

Adam is a brilliant character you can really feel that all his life experiences have had an impact on him and his magic but he still has this drive to do the right thing even when people don’t understand him. I liked that he was sensitive and vulnerable in certain ways but also had such a good sense of himself which actually made him a powerful character. I enjoyed the evolving relationships between Adam and the Elves, Argent and Silver, and also between Adam and Vic, this kind of tentative budding relationship adds some lighter moments but also adds some interesting obstacles and I’m looking forward to seeing this explored more in the next book.

Adam’s story is a captivating one and whilst there was enough tied up to make it a satisfying end to this book there are still enough questions that I have to say I am already excited for the next book in this series. Amazing characters and a clever, complex and interesting story with fantastic pace, well worth a read.