Well, it’s been a little while since my last review, and I still have plenty of books to recommend, so it’s time for another You Should Read This. Today, I’m going to talk about Envy of Angels, the first of Matt Wallace’s Sin du Jour stories.
Now, unlike the other works I’ve recommended so far, this is actually a novella, so it’s actually pretty short – you could probably read it in a few days.
Also, the author, Matt Wallace, is a friend of Mur Lafferty (author of The Shambling Guide to New York City, the first book I reviewed for II), and they co-host the podcast Ditch Diggers, where they discuss the business and professional aspects of being a author.
(Note: while I heartily recommend any aspiring authors out there listen to Ditch Diggers, as well as Lafferty’s other podcast, I Should Be Writing, be aware that Wallace doesn’t exactly sugar-coat his language, so the podcast is very much NSFW.)
Why do I bring up Wallace’s relationship to Lafferty? Because, like the Shambling Guide books, Wallace’s Sin du Jour stories also take a very different approach to the urban fantasy genre – only instead of writing guide books for supernatural tourists, Wallace writes about a catering business that serves the supernatural.
Blurb, courtesy of Amazon.com:
In New York, eating out can be hell.
Everyone loves a well-catered event, and the supernatural community is no different, but where do demons go to satisfy their culinary cravings?
Welcome to Sin du Jour – where devils on horseback are the clients, not the dish.
To be honest, this is probably one of the best things I’ve read this year, both in terms of enjoyment and writing craft. The book is short, but there’s so much packed in to every page and scene – no space is wasted, and there’s not a single ounce of filler. Every scene accomplishes something, whether it’s developing character, setting, or plot.
And on top of all that, it is damn funny, in a twisted kind of way. No spoilers, but let’s just say that after reading this, I’ll never look at Chicken McNuggets the same way again.
Juracan on 5 July 2016, 20:39 said:
So according to Goodreads this is the first in a series; will this book work as a one-off adventure, or is it one of those that doesn’t work unless you end up reading the entire series?
Either way, I’m adding it to my to-read list (as I did when you recommended Shambling Guide, which I quite enjoyed).
Apep on 5 July 2016, 21:08 said:
I haven’t read any of the following works (the third came out two weeks ago), so I can’t say whether or not you need to read them in order to understand what’s going on or if you can just pick them up wherever you please. However, since they’re fairly short, it won’t be too hard to catch up, and with them being available as ebooks, picking all of them up won’t be any real difficulty.
swenson on 7 July 2016, 08:39 said:
That sounds like a really clever premise for a series! I did end up getting the Spider Goddess book but haven’t had a chance to get into it yet—I might have to add this one to my to-read list too.