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Demon Dance The Sundancer Mysteries Volume 1 Brian Freyermuth Books

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Demon Dance The Sundancer Mysteries Volume 1 Brian Freyermuth Books

original review @ <A href="http://jcbookhaven.blogspot.com/2015/09/review-demon-dance-sundancer-novel-1-by.html">JC's Book Haven</A>.

“I wish. Spending my hard-earned cash on dancers and cheesy shows sounds like paradise compared to the mess I’m in.” The minivan swerved to miss a slow-moving Honda, and my ribs began a riotous argument with my stomach. I gasped.
“Compared to the crap you’re always in,” Jake grumbled. “I thought you retired.”
“I keep trying to tell the monsters that. They won’t listen.”

The Good

Nick St. James is my type of hero. He’s far from perfect, isn’t all powerful yet he knows how to win. He’s the guy you root for just wanting something to go right and not blow up in his face. I personally really enjoy the detective style books involving the super natural. Plus there is plenty of action to go along with an entertaining story.

The Bad

The bad for me would be lots of interesting characters popping up throughout the book that I would love to get to know better. But if this leads to follow up books where I get to learn more about them count me in.

The Romance

While the romantic overtones are there between our hero and a young woman named Thelma, Nick is still haunted by the death of his true love Ann.

Conclusion

If you enjoy action and supernatural with an imperfect hero, then you will love this book. The main demon Nick fights with is new and interesting. I had little problem breezing through this one. It’s really a hard book to put down.


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Demon Dance The Sundancer Mysteries Volume 1 Brian Freyermuth Books Reviews

When I really like a book it is usually because of well built characters and a story you just have to keep reading to find out what happens in the end. This is one of those books. It is a paranormal genre of sarcastic, smart mouthed guy vs. crabby, nasties used as the straight man. When meanies and arrogant archangels aren't around, his friends step in to fill the void in order for the main character to keep mouthing off. This type of writing is the reason I started reading Dresden many years ago. The author fills the story with demons you are no doubt familiar with, gives them his twist and gives the main character just enough mystery to make you want you to keep reading after you finish this book.
I enjoyed this book quite a bit. If you're a fan of Simon R Green, Jim Butcher and others like them, Freyermuth should be right in your wheelhouse. The story is interesting, though I will say that I was a little concerned over the first 50 pages or so because it wasn't quite grabbing my attention. Then some of the secondary characters like Jake and Thelma were introduced and it really started to take off. My biggest complaint, and it probably cost the book a 5-star rating, is that I just didn't understand enough about the hero. He's called a Sundancer or some such thing, but why? What are his powers and how did he get them? It felt like there were several chapters of significant back story that really needed to be in the book to help me understand a little more about how the protagonist does what he does. Maybe it's the author's intention to reveal that later on, but for me it should have been part of this book. Still, if there is a follow-up to this novel I will definitely pick it up.
Nick St. James is trying to get away from his past life, which seems to have involved being a private detective with superspeed, super-agility and super-healing powers, who was friends with vampires and demons and voudun houngans and super-hackers, and, maybe a dragon and some retired gods.

Of that background we get next to nothing, except some tantalizing hints. This story reads as the later instalment of a story arc that happened prior to this book, where we were introduced to Nick, his friends, his back-story, his love interest, his world, and watched him in his world, which led up to a climactic confrontation in Boston, and this is maybe book 5 as he pulls together the pieces of his shattered life.

Nick is hiding out in Seattle's Fremont district. He's writing for a living and he seems to be fairly well-known as a writer, although if he writes fiction or non-fiction isn't clear. Nick is accosted by a shape-changer who gives cryptic warnings and gives him a dragon scale. He demonstrates his super-speed. He visits his favorite coffee shop where his possible love-interest, Thelma, works, where he is attacked by a demon, which he defeats because of his "super-powers" and Thelma's quick decision to grind coffee beans. He asks Jake, a blind voudoo houngan for assistance in tracking down the person who called the demon on him, and it turns out - what a coincidence! - that Jake is Thelma's half brother. Cate, the sister of Nick's dead wife, who is now a vampire asks for help on some kind of investigation, but Nick says no, then she's killed by a demon, and Nick is tasked by a committee of heaven and hell - Michael, Baal and a red-shirt - to find an escaped fallen angel named Azazel. Nick is snarky and uncooperative, but feels dragooned into that assignment while he pursues his own mission of finding the killer of Cate. Nick locates the demon making an attack on the nice lady who runs the "Arms of St. Padre Pio" homeless shelter and her daughter. Nick defeats the demon this time - without the assistance of any coffee grinding barrista - with the assistance of a piece of urban art, aka the Fremon troll. Mysteries abound Who killed Cate? How has Azazel managed to evade the divine/demonic Marshall's Service? Will Nick find Azazel? Will he avenge Cate? Is there supposed to be romantic tension between Thelma and Nick? Why is Nick so special?

The resolution of the plot points make for a fun and exciting read. The lack of resolution of the points about Nick and his background is fairly annoying.

My main complaint with this book is that this is the first book of the series, and we are offered a fully developed character and setting and are treated like we already know who Nick is and why he is call "Sundancer" (which occurs at least once in this book for no apparent reason) and why the trickster god Coyote opens the book to give him a dragon scale from a friendly dragon and then disappears never to be seen again. This all frankly imposes on the reader, and suggests that the author, Brian Freyermuth, must have some other manuscripts in his files. Freyermuth obviously has worked out the implications of his system of demons and angels and magic, but for readers who haven't been along with Nick as he's learned the rules, the plot development seems at times to smack of ad hoc invention, i.e., of course, a dragon's scale will ward off the attacks of an air elemental....D'uh. Another small point - I hope that someone corrects Nick's reference to "St. Padro's" in a future edition. I don't know what "Padro" means, but "Padre" means "Father." Padre Pio was "Father Pio." He can be referred to as St. Pio, but referring to someone as "Saint Father" is just a clunker for those of us who are Catholic or who know who Padre Pio was.

That said, I liked Freyermuth's generally clean and engaging writing. Freyermuth delivers on action and coincidences, and stays within the paradigm of Urban Fantasy. I particularly liked his use of Seattle's Fremont District as a setting. The Troll under the Bridge apparently exists, and my sense was that Freyermuth nailed the ambiance and locations of this "artsy" part of Seatle. One of the things that I like about Urban Fantasy is the notion that the fey and mysterious may be hiding just under the surface of the reality we perceive, which is why setting the story in a real place makes the story more satisfying to me.

The mystery plot line was also well-done, albeit the resolution of the story was a bit "inside baseball" given the fact that we haven't experienced Nick's life prior to this point.

It's a fun read. I enjoyed it. I would recommend it to people who are looking for some escapist reading in the Urban Fantasy genre.

I would like to see Nick's backstory, however.
original review @ <A href="http//jcbookhaven.blogspot.com/2015/09/review-demon-dance-sundancer-novel-1-by.html">JC's Book Haven</A>.

“I wish. Spending my hard-earned cash on dancers and cheesy shows sounds like paradise compared to the mess I’m in.” The minivan swerved to miss a slow-moving Honda, and my ribs began a riotous argument with my stomach. I gasped.
“Compared to the crap you’re always in,” Jake grumbled. “I thought you retired.”
“I keep trying to tell the monsters that. They won’t listen.”

The Good

Nick St. James is my type of hero. He’s far from perfect, isn’t all powerful yet he knows how to win. He’s the guy you root for just wanting something to go right and not blow up in his face. I personally really enjoy the detective style books involving the super natural. Plus there is plenty of action to go along with an entertaining story.

The Bad

The bad for me would be lots of interesting characters popping up throughout the book that I would love to get to know better. But if this leads to follow up books where I get to learn more about them count me in.

The Romance

While the romantic overtones are there between our hero and a young woman named Thelma, Nick is still haunted by the death of his true love Ann.

Conclusion

If you enjoy action and supernatural with an imperfect hero, then you will love this book. The main demon Nick fights with is new and interesting. I had little problem breezing through this one. It’s really a hard book to put down.