"People of the City" By Marshall Ryan Maresca

 Review by Terrance Mc Arthur

Some authors turn out book after book about one character (Sue Grafton’s Kinsey Millhone alphabet mysteries), some are known for two sets of repeating characters, and then there’s Marshall Ryan Maresca, who has four series of novels that all exist in the world/land of Maradaine. They are about:

    Veranix Calbert—a magic student at the Maradaine University, trained as an acrobat in a circus family; he turned vigilante (known as The Thorn) to fight a drug kingpin he holds responsible for his mother’s hospitalization.

    Satrine Rainey and Minox Welling—Constabulary Inspectors. She lied her way onto the force; he is an untrained mage with an injured, but magic-filled, hand.

    Asti and Verci Rynax—raised on the wrong side of the law, Asti is a former spy with magically-induced PTSD; Verci is a mechanical genius. Trying to go straight, they use their criminal talents to uncover the conspiracy that burned down their neighborhood.

    Dayne Heldrin and Jerinne Fendall—Tarian Order warriors-in-training. Dayne is a towering man with a compulsion to do what is right, and he is the unofficial mentor to the young woman. 

Each storyline is a series of its own. There have been crossovers, but all four haven’t been combined in one book—until now.


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Image Source DAW
People of the City
throws the characters from each set into one crazed adventure. Magic fantasy, steampunk, vigilante, YA superhero, conspiracy, intimations of paranormal time-travel—all of these genres mashed together in one amazing book.

The mysterious disappearances of children from different parts of Maradaine come together with the child-taking Giant, deformed cewatures, The Brotherhood, The Grand Ten, intrepid journalists, a cloistress who knows things, and subterranean chambers.

Groups from all the books weave in and out of the tunnels and the city above in fragments of chapters, a kaleidoscopic effect that builds its own rhythm. You’re in a river, an opera house, a grotto, a church, a hidden temple, a factory manufacturing Death. You need to stop and gasp for air, but you can’t stop because so much is happening, and you don’t want to miss a thing!

This should be the last book that ties up all the storylines and sends all the heroes and heroines out for a final bow, but it’s only the curtain of Act One. Not all the conspiracies are revealed. There are many adventures to come…and I can’t wait.

 Lead on, Maresca!  

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Terrance V. Mc Arthur is a Librarian in Fresno County, California. He is also a storyteller, puppeteer, magician, and maker of pine needle baskets. On top of that he writes stories that range from rhymed children's tales to splatterpunk horror. He's an odd bird, but he's nice to have around.

Disclosure: This post contains links to an affiliate program, for which we receive a few cents if you make purchases. KRL also receives free copies of most of the books that it reviews, that are provided in exchange for an honest review of the book.

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