Witchy Review: Fraterfamilias by Judith Doloughan and Paula R. Stiles

Info:

Title: Fraterfamilias

Author: Judith Doloughan and Paula R. Stiles
Publisher: Innsmouth Free Press
Length: 330 Pages
Release Date: December 2010
Misc: ARC
Kindle edition given by publisher in exchange for an honest review.


Synopsis:
French artist Paul Farrell kills four people in Paris and walks into a hail of police fire at JFK Airport. A Russian history professor and shaman with a dark secret steals the body. Police on both sides of the Atlantic are on the case, but they each have secrets of their own. And a powerful enemy watches from the shadows, one who could destroy them all.

****

Review:

"It takes longer for the mind to heal itself than the body." Time, space, and vague but honest ignorance intertwine in this crime story set in the shadowy area of NYC. Opening with an intriguing and semi-violent scene that takes place in a crowded airport, we meet a large cast of characters, each an individual in their own right, who not only has their own particular demons to face but takes on the stress of an international, mass murder investigation, a missing "dead" body, and more and more unanswered questions.

The heart of the story are two supposed cousins; worn down and made weak by life. One smartly eludes the investigators while the other lay in a cheap motel in hopes to regain conscienceless after a fight with a police sniper's bullet. The story, and all it's supporting characters, run around NYC and the world in hopes to answer their questions, and satisfy their foreboding suspicions.

Fraterfamilias is not a quick or easy read. The narrative is more thick than the plot which required careful and sometimes lengthy reading sessions. Each character is developed with their own stylized choice of point of view so the reader has to pay attention and have the ability to switch between voices and tone. If you like a semi-heavy plot reminiscent of Victorian Era story telling (but not nearly as long) and international sensibilities glittered with supernatural notions, then Fraterfamilias is a must read.

****

Witchy Rating: 4 Black Cats

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Witchy Review: The Mighty Quinn by Paula R. Stiles

Title: The Mighty Quinn
Author: Paula R. Stiles
Publisher: Dark Continents Publishing, Inc
Length: 242 Pages
Release Date: September 2012
Misc: ARC
Kindle edition given by publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Synopsis:
There's a milk truck on the US/Canadian border with a detonated nuclear bomb that didn't explode and a pile of mummy dust for a driver. Vermont Homeland Security Agent Nan Carreira is having quite the morning and she hasn't even met her witness yet. Quinn Bolcan just got out of Vancouver, in a hurry and under a dark cloud. The last thing he was looking for in Vermont was trouble and that's the first thing he found. Soon, he and Carreira will be neck-deep in black helicopters, low-rent necromancers, zombie suicide bombers, and vengeful were-bikers. And that's just the beginning because Quinn is a wild card in a league all his own.

***

I was thrilled by the first paragraph of "The Mighty Quinn." Hell, by the first sentence, I pegged the novel as a page turner, one I couldn't see myself putting down. I could not have been more wrong. The reader is dropped into the middle of Quinn fleeing town after getting caught in a grow-op situation armed with a warning of "wares" as he travels and with a package that needs to be delivered across country. What began so strongly is quickly weakened by too many twists and turns, completely unnecessary subplots, and the confusing and exhausting constant first-person to third-person to first-person storytelling. Over and over and over again without a stitch to thread it all together.

Stiles fails the reader by getting too excited to bring in every aspect of the occult and every potential horror trope she can imagine. We have werewolves, ghouls, humans casting spells, demons, vampires…does the list end? Every trope has it's own subplot and the worst part? They don't resolve. It seems like this book could have been split into three different novels, all which I probably would have loved. Stiles is an incredible writer--her descriptive imagery puts pictures and scenes into the reader's mind that Hollywood would have sincere problems recreating visually and I often lost myself, thinking I might be feeling that breeze, or smelling that scent she so adequately describes.

Overall, would I recommend this novel? Yes, but with caution. The writing is both incredibly strong and incredibly weak. If you love the kind of authors who can get your mind turning with imagery, Stiles is the author for you. If you are easily annoyed by back and forth storytelling, pass. 

***  

Witchy Rating: 2 Black Cats

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