Customer Reviews

All Eve's Hallows: A City Knights Novel

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Billie Stern isn't your average former-Marine. She sees trolls. The City Knights catch her just in time--before she decides to seek medication. You see, there really are trolls and they're the least of the Knight's problems.

An Evil Sorceress, Eve, is plotting to unleash a vast evil and take over the world.

And what they need to stop her is one bad-@ss woman.

If you love hard hitting heroes fighting against goofus bad guys, you've come to the right place. Smith serves up far more laughs than chills, but this light hearted romp is definitely worth a read and I wouldn't mind a sequel.

I was looking forward to reading this book after hearing a few good reviews about it and liking the premise. I was sorely disappointed. I felt like i was reading the rough draft of a novel, not the finished piece. It was in desperate need of editing, reworking of action scenes, and better explanation of the mildly ridiculous magic system. I was bored the entire time. But it did have some witty dialogue at times and it never took itself too seriously (definitely a good thing!). Maybe the next one will be better...

For the past millennium creatures of the night like goblins, fire exhaling dragons, and other so-called mythical beings have resided amidst humanity with few people aware of their presence. For the most part over the past few centuries, there is a peaceful coexistence, but at times conflict arises. Keeping the naive scientific-centric humans safe is the job of the ultra top secret City Knights.

Eve the darkest sorceress in centuries wants to come out of the closet and take control starting with New York City. She casts a spell to awaken and bind a monster so evil that malevolent sprites have watched over it. Now the sprites leave their subterranean chamber to cause havoc on the streets of New York. Former marine and recent City Knight recruit Billie Stein leads the counterassault against dangerous foes.

ALL EVES HALLOWS is a tongue in cheek fantasy that uses hyperbole to tell a good vs. evil tale. The story line is fun to follow though at times inane as Billie sees things like trolls, but wonders if the burger did her in until the Knights enlist her. Billie is a terrific heroine, kind of like an ex marine chick lit star stuck in a world filled with monsters that only she seems to see until she meets her peers. Fans who appreciate a kick butt female champion fighting insurmountable odds against powerful malevolent mythical cretins will enjoy this lighthearted urban fantasy.

Harriet Klausner

Good premise. I hope to read the next soon, but will probably wait until it is on e-book or heavily discounted. Read like a comic and was a disappointment for the price. Liked and disliked the short cuts taken for explaining magic and the use/learning of magic. This usually slows the story, but when you totally skip it, you leave something out of the whole verisimilitude of the world that is created.

So many good ideas!!! And yet, so little development. It almost seems like the author was racing to meet a deadline. Details are wrong (Red Guard are from China, not Iraq), the timeline is screwy (I couldn't figure out if it was day or night and a week went by with no sense of development), and there are at least 3 'first' chapters (the opening paragraphs read like the first chapter of the book). This could have been drawn out into three books worth of mystery and magic. Instead, it was slapped together like a meal at an expensive restaurant that will close a month after it opens in New York because the chef is a great cook but a bad manager.

"I haven't had such a good time reading a mixed-genre novel since Sapir & Murphy's DESTROYER Series!"

---- Joe Mauceri, NIGHT SHIFT, WBAI


"....an Anita Blake-type heroine with a cool job and a snarky wit...[an] enjoyable read..... (Oct., 288 PP., $13.95)"

---- Romantic Times On All Eve's Hallows