Premonitions by Jamie Schultz
Released: July 1, 2014
Urban Fantasy
Roc

Reviewed by May

Favorite Quote: “I don’t even know what a severed rhino dick is supposed to look like.”
“Like a severed elephant dick, only smaller,” Tommy put in.

This is the story of a group of friends that work together stealing artifacts- or whatever else a client wants. Each of them has their own talents (some of those more unusual than others) including Anna and Karyn who are the leads in this tale. When the group is hired by an especially shady character to retrieve a bone they can’t help but take the lucrative job. Of course things start going wrong, there are complications, and adventure ensues.

Karyn is interesting because she has these ‘premonitions’ and is meant to be a lead in this story. My problem is her ability never really made sense and it didn’t add to the story. If anything, it just made things odd as I tried to figure out what the world must be like through her eyes while also trying to understand the story and plot. When reading the official blurb Karyn is the lead- I wish that had been stronger in the actual book as she is by far the most interesting character.

Anna was totally lacking in personality and originality. She’s Karyn’s best friend, but at most times they almost seemed to have some kind of a frienemy relationship. They lead the crew into these jobs, which brings me to my next question:

Why are these people working together again? Are they friends?

The personal relationships and character depth really needed more work. As much as I enjoyed all the action of the plot, I wish some had been traded in for a bit more development of these characters. If I’m going to be following them through a series I need to have a better understanding and also be more invested in their fates.

There are other characters besides the two main ladies- but with the exception of the crime lord Enoch Sobell none stood out enough for me to write about. I believe getting his point of view and seeing all that he was going through and willing to do to continue his lifestyle was one of the best parts of this book.

I did like a lot about this book. It was definitely unique, and there was a lot of tension and action with all going on between the demons and the haunting visions and figuring out what was going on. The story also moved right along at a good clip, and I was unable to put it down.

The problem for me is that there was so much going on, that I didn’t have a clear vision on what the point was or where this series would be going. To be perfectly honest? I still don’t have a clue. My hope is that we will focus in more on Karyn, and that she will do more than run around being unstable and seeing creepy stuff.

If you want to read about a heist in a world where premonitions need to be treated with rare drugs and magic is dangerous and can lead to some pretty nasty demons and things – you might like this book a lot. I will definitely be picking up book two as I really enjoyed this author’s voice and unique world set up.

Grade: C

Goodreads l Author Website

Kindle l Nook