Royal Street by Suzanne Johnson

Premise: Drusilla Jaco is a junior sentinel and Green Congress wizard, trained in ritual magic, apprenticed by her mentor Gerald St. Simon, who is a physical magic Red Congress wizard. Together they protect New Orleans by investigating breaches in the barrier between the mundane world and the Beyond, where vampires, fae, elves, and the historical undead reside. Drusilla (who also goes by DJ) is busy sending the pirate Jean Lafitte back to the other side when Hurricane Katrina hits, causing much more damage than mere flooding.

The hurricane damages the barrier between two worlds, causing rifts that allow greater access into our world to the undead. Someone is using the chaos to kill soldiers and relief workers in voodoo rituals, all in the name of Baron Samedi, the voodoo deity. During this time Gerry goes missing and DJ is assigned a new partner, the enforcer Alex Warin, who turns out to have some secret powers of his own.

Not only must DJ learn the ropes of her new role assigned to her by the Elders, she must discover the whereabouts of Gerry, uncover who is behind the ritual killings, and protect herself from the relentless attacks of the undead. All of this must be done while New Orleans recovers and she unearths family secrets in Gerry’s journals that have been kept from her for her entire life.

Themes:Royal Street is a mystery with twists and turns, making new revelations around each corner. DJ must investigate Gerry’s disappearance, the barrier destroyed by the hurricane, and the mysterious killings of aid workers and soldiers.

Loyalties are put to the test in this story. As details about her past are revealed, DJ will be forced to choose between her allegiances to family and the promises inherent in performing her duty as a wizard.

Though it didn’t really feel like a romance novel, Royal Street is sprinkled with it throughout, as DJ encounters two cousins with different personalities and with vastly different histories. Even with these two men entering her life, she also is an empath with the ability to sense others’ feelings, including Jean Lafitte’s, with whom she has an ongoing embattled relationship.

Pros: The characters in Royal Street are all fun, including the antagonists. I kept wanting to hate someone, but even despite double-crosses from pirates and voodoo demigods, I found them all likeable, which made picking the enemy that much more difficult. Drusilla is a strong but flawed female character who can take a punch, but who also struggles with showing her emotions, especially at the most inopportune times. I loved the use of magic in an almost mundane manner, like it is just the daily grind for wizards.

Cons: For such an independent female protagonist, DJ seems to entertain the affections of men a lot. The payoff in the end of the story suffered from too much foreshadowing. When we finally arrive to the conclusion I felt like I already knew what was going to happen. Without spoiling anything, I was screaming at DJ to just get it over with.

Recommendations: Royal Street is a lighthearted magical journey with characters that are fun to sit back and watch interact with each other. With an untapped setting people can relate to with recent events, this is an entertaining debut novel from Suzanne Johnson. I will definitely give the sequel a go, with the hopes that DJ will be strong on her own and not feel the need to be in a relationship, and with a greater payoff when we reach the end. And hopefully Louis Armstrong will be there too. Now I’m going to listen to some jazz.

Suzanne Johnson’s website
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Monster Hunter International by Larry Correia

Premise: Monsters are real and there are competing organizations, including the government, out there fighting them in secret. Owen Z. Pitt is an accountant who is attacked by his werewolf boss one day and discovers he has a penchant for killing creatures, which leads him to be recruited by the private organization: Monster Hunter International. His size (he’s a big guy), upbringing with firearms (dad trained him from childhood with guns), and cage fighting past (he was also a bouncer) doesn’t hurt. This book contains just about every monster you can think of: vampires, werewolves, zombies, wights, ghouls, and even the mythical Wendigo.

The Monster Control Bureau is the secret government organization in charge of monster eradication. While not the primary antagonists in this story, they aren’t exactly shown in a pleasant light. They are what you might think of when you hear talk of “the Feds” with coverups and secret missions. They are a fine counterpoint to MHI and lead to some additional conflict throughout the story, even when the two organizations are forced to work together to fight the evil Cursed One, bent on not only ruling the world but destroying it.

Themes: One of the main plot threads through the story is love. Owen finds in Julie his soul mate: a beautiful woman who is still somewhat of an outcast because of her profession and her love of guns. Owen is immediately enamored with her for all of these things, even to the point of putting himself in harm’s way to protect her. The story behind how the Cursed One came to be gives us an insight into his motivation, with love at the center yet somehow still not truly being a motivating factor. For the Cursed One, love is simply another tool to be used to gain power. Love is a strong enough motivator for many of the characters to be willing to do anything to protect it.

Faith is prevalent throughout Monster Hunter International. Owen isn’t necessarily a religious person, but there are characters, like Trip and Milo, who are. At one point this theme is quite obvious, with Milo using his faith to fight a vampire directly. At other points the theme of faith is more subtle, with Owen’s team putting their faith in him to figure out how to save them even when he doesn’t know how to do so.

One more theme is the idea of finding your calling. Owen is an accountant, and has also been a bouncer, a cage fighter, and a competitive shooter, but he finds these things all leading him to his true calling of being a Monster Hunter. He also discovers his calling through the prophecy behind the Cursed One which leads to the final battle to save the world.

Pros: Monster Hunter International is a story for gun geeks and classic monster stories. If reading accurate descriptions of just about every firearm and weapon you can think of is your thing, then this book is for you. MHI abounds in splattering monsters from volleys of bullets. Again, if that is your thing, this is your book. Not only does the author prove he has done his research and knows his stuff, he also gives the reader some good characters and intense story pacing. This is a fun read with 700 pages that go by quickly, almost too quickly.

Cons: If your idea of vampires is sparkling and wooing teenagers then you will probably want to pass. If you aren’t into the gun porn, this isn’t your book either. If I had to have a complaint with this book it would be that I could see how the gun descriptions could grow tiresome to some readers after a while. I will say that Correia did back off the gun descriptions as the story progressed, but there were perhaps still too many for those sensitive to violence and guns. I also found some typos but those can be found in just about any book, even with the most diligent of editors.

Recommendations: If you want a fun, shoot ‘em up monster story with a new flavor, look no further. Correia’s Monster Hunter International delivers, and not just with the premise. He proves in this book that he’s a good storyteller and writer.

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