A review by aphelia88
Dying Is My Business by Nicholas Kaufmann
3.0
I picked this one up solely because of the Chris McGrath cover art - and the gargoyles on the cover! Although it was a very slow starter, it picked up a bit at the end. Unfortunately - aside from the gargoyles, which were evil villains characterized in an interesting and unusual way - and the mystery of Trent's nature (which isn't solved) - the story is pretty predictable.
Trent is a hired goon for a low-life crime boss who gets him to steal rare objects for collectors. Trent has retrograde amnesia, which means he is highly functioning but can't remember anything that happen more than a year ago. Every time he dies - which is a hazard in his line of work - he reawakens perfectly whole, having stolen the life force of whoever is nearest to him.
Because Trent is a cipher, even to himself, that makes him a hard character to like. His thoughts are full of questions that do not have immediate answers. Other characters compliment him on his quick thinking but he seems very slow witted. Over a year has passed and he's been content to be a junkyard flunky, living in an underground bunker and using his downtime only to watch old movies? This is particularly difficult to believe because Trent never sleeps, so that leaves a LOT of downtime. You think he might have gone to the public library or something. Instead, he pins his entire hope of finding himself on his manipulative, obviously untrustworthy boss. Why?
Set in New York, Trent's world is upended when a retrieval job goes awry and catches him up in real magic. After the normal freak out of "magic is real?" nonsense, he joins up with Bethany, a charm-wielding elf, and Thorton, a werewolf. They are part of a merry band of misfits lead by a mage named Isaac, and the group includes a sunglass-wearing vampire (Phillip) and a warrior woman named Gabrielle. They all live in a Batcave called the Citadel and Fight Evil.
So Trent joins the Scooby Gang. It's way too much superhero/X-Men for me, especially since Trent immediately feels like he's found a family, even though he's among - mostly hostile - complete strangers. Anyway, there are Ancient magical beings, with unknowably powerful magic. You know the drill; if you're an UF fan, you've read all this before.
A powerful necromance, Reve Azrael, is trying to reanimate the mad former King of the Gargoyles, who could - with his freaky magic - unmake the world. And that would be Very Bad. But the current King, the creepy Black Knight, is far more than he seems.
It's up to Trent (of course) and the Scoobies to uncover the Truth and Save the World. You know, a usual Tuesday. The ending is an obvious "twist" that is way too long in coming - but does set up the next novel nicely. There is a second book, [b:Die and Stay Dead|20613730|Die and Stay Dead (Trent, #2)|Nicholas Kaufmann|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1392856830s/20613730.jpg|39895066], but the third in the trilogy seems to be in limbo. A nice enough UF if you like the Scooby Gang approach and love that type of setup, but there isn't anything new or outstanding here.
Trent is a hired goon for a low-life crime boss who gets him to steal rare objects for collectors. Trent has retrograde amnesia, which means he is highly functioning but can't remember anything that happen more than a year ago. Every time he dies - which is a hazard in his line of work - he reawakens perfectly whole, having stolen the life force of whoever is nearest to him.
Because Trent is a cipher, even to himself, that makes him a hard character to like. His thoughts are full of questions that do not have immediate answers. Other characters compliment him on his quick thinking but he seems very slow witted. Over a year has passed and he's been content to be a junkyard flunky, living in an underground bunker and using his downtime only to watch old movies? This is particularly difficult to believe because Trent never sleeps, so that leaves a LOT of downtime. You think he might have gone to the public library or something. Instead, he pins his entire hope of finding himself on his manipulative, obviously untrustworthy boss. Why?
Set in New York, Trent's world is upended when a retrieval job goes awry and catches him up in real magic. After the normal freak out of "magic is real?" nonsense, he joins up with Bethany, a charm-wielding elf, and Thorton, a werewolf. They are part of a merry band of misfits lead by a mage named Isaac, and the group includes a sunglass-wearing vampire (Phillip) and a warrior woman named Gabrielle. They all live in a Batcave called the Citadel and Fight Evil.
So Trent joins the Scooby Gang. It's way too much superhero/X-Men for me, especially since Trent immediately feels like he's found a family, even though he's among - mostly hostile - complete strangers. Anyway, there are Ancient magical beings, with unknowably powerful magic. You know the drill; if you're an UF fan, you've read all this before.
A powerful necromance, Reve Azrael, is trying to reanimate the mad former King of the Gargoyles, who could - with his freaky magic - unmake the world. And that would be Very Bad. But the current King, the creepy Black Knight, is far more than he seems.
It's up to Trent (of course) and the Scoobies to uncover the Truth and Save the World. You know, a usual Tuesday. The ending is an obvious "twist" that is way too long in coming - but does set up the next novel nicely. There is a second book, [b:Die and Stay Dead|20613730|Die and Stay Dead (Trent, #2)|Nicholas Kaufmann|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1392856830s/20613730.jpg|39895066], but the third in the trilogy seems to be in limbo. A nice enough UF if you like the Scooby Gang approach and love that type of setup, but there isn't anything new or outstanding here.