Series: #1 (Cliffhanger of sorts)
Publication Date: 03rd Sep 2024
Genre: YA Urban Fantasy Romance (Romantasy)
3.5 Stars
One Liner: Good but not a standalone
Seventeen-year-old Tempest is just surviving as the days blend into one another. She had been grieving her parents’ death and struggling with it. However, it soon turns out that she has a lot more to worry about when the truth of her parents’ identities is revealed. Some people out there want to kill Tempest.
Jet (19) is a young officer of the League of Protectors (LOP), an organization that acts as a force to keep supernatural creatures from being harmed by humans and vice versa. His life ambition has been to join the higher ranks of LOP. When his talents uncover Tempest, he realizes the danger is much darker and more ruthless than expected.
The story comes in the first-person POVs of Tempest and Jet.
My Thoughts:
I don’t remember where I saw it mentioned this was first in the series but I’m glad I didn’t forget that point. The book ends in a cliffhanger in many ways. I prefer a standalone series, so this is a little disappointing but at least I knew this would be a series.
The dual POV is done well. I liked that both voices are easy to distinguish and neatly labeled at the beginning of each chapter. The story progresses with the POV shift, so the pacing is steady as well.
This is an urban fantasy about shape-shifters of all kinds who have their own universities, monarchy, police system, and obviously, extremists who want the purebloods to retain supremacy.
The fantasy elements belong to different religions (this is clearly mentioned by the characters). So, there is a naga, a mayura (peacock), dogs, cats, panthers, snails, magi, succubus, etc. I was quite tickled by the choice of making the Indian Deepti a nerdy succubus. I hope she has a meaty role in the coming books.
The main characters are pretty decent. Tempest’s arc is better and feels more aligned with her backstory. Jet is a younger version of the brooding dark and handsome hero with intense feelings and a tragedy in his past. I liked him enough but felt the protective instincts came out a little too early.
There is some romance (clean enough with just one kiss) and pining on both sides. It may seem slow burn in a way but not really. The saving grace is that it doesn’t dominate the plot. Tempest spends more time with the side characters than the MMC, so the angst is more internal and feels a bit too much (they even really know each other).
I liked some of the side characters. Some weren’t developed yet, so can’t say much. The setting is well done. My favorite is the magic library. I need a membership!
While a couple of questions get answered, we are left with many more. This can easily be a trilogy (I hope it won’t drag on to six or eight books). However, please do not bring love triangles. I’ll handle the rest but no triangles and quadrangles!
To summarize, A Trace of Something Stranger is an intriguing YA fantasy and is well done for what seems to be a debut novel. Another round of editing would have tightened it up a bit. I look forward to the next book.
Thank you, NetGalley, Victory Editing NetGalley Co-op, and Sungrazer Publishing, for eARC.
#NetGalley #ATraceofSomethingStranger
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TW: Parental death, death of a friend, violence and injuries
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