Book Review: Isn't It Necromantic by C.I. Bond

Title: Isn't It Necromantic?
Author: C.I. Bond
Publisher: CreateSpace
Release Date: 01/26/2011
ASIN: B004L624VW







Cassie isn't evil ... probably. She just lacks a few things: a boyfriend, a family, a soul. Convincing the "Others" she isn't evil has never met with a lot of success. It usually starts with a local coven of concerned witches (humanity's self-appointed protectors) making accusations and then there's shouting, a chase, and in one case, a stabbing which turned out badly-although, to be fair, how many stabbings turn out well? So now she keeps a low profile, tries to avoid all contact with "Others" and moves every two years. This philosophy worked well enough in her life until she got to Seattle and formed a commitment to finally settle down. Nine months into her rainy new life, things start to fall apart ...

First, something kills Harry-not that he didn't deserve it, but still, it isn't a good sign. Then Mr. Abbey, obviously a Dark Other who has been dead for over a century, tries to hire her to find some missing property and won't take no for an answer. A dark-haired stranger with vivid green eyes, also dead, is forcing her to ask difficult questions of herself like "If he eats people but he's hot can you still date him?" Normally this is when she would cut-and-run, but the seer's warning was clear: if she leaves Seattle, she dies. Of course, there are no guarantees that this won't happen anyway....

Overall this was a decent first novel. Bond has a decent idea here & that I can't immediately guess what type of supernatural critter Cassie is supposed to be is a plus. It ruins the fun when you can immediately tell what someone is since it usually gives you a good idea of what will happen later on in the series. I have to admit that part of my desire to read the next book is because I'm pretty curious about what Cassie will end up being.

Unfortunately this tale suffers the growing pains that plague most first novels, with some unwieldy shifts between scenes (some of which left me wondering if I'd missed a few pages or paragraphs) & underdeveloped characters. I enjoyed the book but I couldn't help but wish for just a little bit more world building & character development. What made so much of this so frustrating was that so much of it could have been fixed with a sentence or paragraph here & there.

This wasn't a bad read though & I'm optimistic that as Bond gets more writing experience she'll even out her writing style & get more polished as the series progresses. This isn't a New York Times bestseller by any means, but it deserves at least one read through. I can't help but worry that with the huge amount of UF flooding the genre, the flaws in this book might cause readers to get disconnected & float over to the next new book being released.


Final Diagnosis: The book is in want of a good hard edit, but there's a lot of promise to the series.

(Reader copy provided by author)