Very entertaining!

Cunning Devil, the first book in the Lost Falls series, is a cleverly composed urban fantasy. The storyline is well-written, fascinating, suspenseful, and action-packed, loaded with twists and turns. Chris Underwood is an excellent storyteller with an incredible imagination. He has done a brilliant job with the world-building, an essential element in the paranormal genre. Ozzy Turner, the main character, is compelling, canny, and engaging; I liked how his mind works.

Gary Bennett is a talented narrator, well-paced, and precise. His inflexions entirely suited the situations and characters — especially Ozzy, he sounded exactly how imagined him.

I was given a free copy of this audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

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Rather enjoyable

It did take me a while to get into this one, I did not immediately take to Ozzy (a cunning man - aka witch) who starts the book off by helping rid his sister of an unwanted house guest (it's more of a cellar dweller actually but you get the gist).

Ozzy removes the unwanted creature and takes it away, which is when things start getting stranger. Which brings me to the subject of 'Strangers' which is what all the wild beasties, ghosties and goblins are referred to collectively. They are The Strangers. Apparently from other planets but I admit, I may have that wrong, it could have been other dimensions. So, all your fae folk are here, goblins, ghouls, witches (not fae I know) hobgoblins and something called raggenwolf, which I admit, is rather puzzling, because all other field spirits (which the raggenwolf is one of) are missing, no mention of weizenvogel, roggenbär or, my favourite the troadhân), so I feel they may be included in future books, I just hope the traodhân will be making an appearance.

The story gets a bit interesting when the Dealer turns up at Ozzy's house, things all start to get a little clearer from here, it takes quite a while for Ozzy's story to emerge but most of it gets spat out eventually.

I particularly enjoyed the last third of the book, when events really picked up the pace and became most interesting with a rather 'cunning' twist at the end, most inventive Mr Underwood, I really enjoyed that one.

I did enjoy the narration from Gary Bennett but am not sure he's the best voice for Ozzy who is described as a large burly man who looks more like a biker than a 'cunning man' (I hate that phrase, it makes Ozzy sound like a weazly snitch) so I thought his voice might sound a little more burly too but either way, the narration is pleasant to listen to.

I recommend giving this one a try if you're a fan of sorcerers in society or mages in the machine or just fancy giving something different a listen, I think you'll probably be glad that you did.

I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request
and have voluntarily left this review.

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Out of the ordinary urban fantasy

I read this book on Kindle a couple of years ago. I failed to rate or review it then, but I must have enjoyed it as I have bought and read all the subsequent Lost Falls books.

The main character, Ozzie, is a Cunning Man or white witch:

“We were the ones you came to when your crops failed or your prized cooking pan went missing. We were there to track down your son after he wandered into the woods alone. We broke curses and protected against witchcraft. We provided magical assistance for the common folk, all at a reasonable price. And though we weren’t always trusted, we were always in demand.”

Ozzie is an finely drawn character with a troubled past that slowly comes to light as the story progresses. He and his mentor, Early, see themselves as the protectors of their community of Lost Falls - both of the visible human and of the hidden non-human populations - and that role of protector often puts them in the line of fire, whether from gun, curse, or some sort of magical strike.

The non-human entities are many and varied: hags, hobgoblins, vampires, goblins, ghouls, changelings, a roggenwolf, to name a few, and it is interesting to see how none of these - even those where the most evil has arisen - is portrayed as wholly bad.

The audiobook version, which I have just finished, has a good reader in Gary Bennett. His voice suits the character of Ozzie extremely well, and is pleasant to listen to. Most of the other characters are easy to distinguish, and I particularly enjoyed the voice he gave to the Dealer.

This is a novel that pulls together a complex series of seemingly unrelated incidents and characters, blending them into a startling finale and a satisfying conclusion. It is a good start to a series that continues to improve and enthrall.

The main reason I have not given a five star rating is the plethora of f-bombs, which I find irritating - particularly when I am listening to a book. I have recently re-read the other books in this series and don’t recall an excess of swearing in those, so I think the author must have been more creative in his language as his skills developed.

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Cunning Devil, good listen.

Good story, well told.
interested to see, where it goes.
Lost falls, seems to be, place to explore.

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Fab start to the series.

I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

Really enjoyed listening to this kept me entertained and I am looking forward to listening to more in the series.
Gary Bennett’s narration was really good too.

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Strong start to this series

In many ways this book follows the template for your typical urban fantasy hero, but the tweaks that the author adds to Ozzy Turner help to provide him with a sufficiently distinctive character and personality that he does not seem derivative. Besides the main character, the author builds a compelling supernatural world centred around the town of Lost Falls, populated with an interesting supporting cast and a well-realised set of supernatural races.

While generally seeming to be a competent investigator, the main character does seem to have a number of glaring blindspots that the author makes ample use of when the plot needs to be progressed a bit further, but while this is perhaps a little too convenient, the story still works well overall.

The narrator's overall performance was a good one that nicely enhanced the story, with his tone for the main character seeming to be a particularly good fit.

Overall, an interesting listen and some good world-building for any subsequent books in this series.

[Note - I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.]

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This is what happens when you trade with a Dealer

A slow start but it soon picked up pace. Not my usual book selection but I liked it, thought it was very entertaining and a good read. I suppose one thing that sometimes puts me off books in this genre is that the subject matter, vampires, goblins etc can be written for a certain age group. But this was well written, well thought out and with a lot of knowledge as Chris immerses you into his fantasy world. I liked that the focus of the book wasn't just about casting spells and charms, but that it was also submerged in mystery with a feeling that the storyline could lead in any direction at any time as the story unfolds. It also didn't include typical characters like in some books of this genre which always include vampire and werewolf main leads. The narrator did a good job overall, sometimes I wondered how he managed the high pitched hobgoblins voice, while reverting back to the very calm 'Ozzy' voice, with the 'Dealers' voice being very creepy. Considering what 'Ozzy' goes through within the story I thought his voice was a little too calm and laid back for my liking. I was given a copy of this book for free of my own choosing and have voluntarily left this review.

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WOW 😮 KAZ Bedford 😊 LOVED THIS ❤️🥰

This has got to be one ☝🏽 of the best books 📖 i’ve heard since The Dresden Files it’s full of magic and magical creatures from goblins to vampires 🧛🏽‍♂️ & so much more I literately couldn’t stop listening 🙉 from start to finish it’s absolutely brilliant Wonderful lead characters and fantastic story line i’m giving this 10 outta 10 Can’t wait for the next book 📖 huge Thank You 😊 to this great new author LOVED ❤️🥰😍🥳😊 IT!! KAZ 🥰💙🖤💙😍😊

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Different in a good way

Great plot well planned with many twists and turns cannot wait for book 2. The people are believable and the action fast and brutal keep it up

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Secrets lurk beneath the sleepy suburban facade...

One of the things I most enjoyed about this series was that rather than being a mage or magician, the protagonist, Osric 'Ozzy' Turner, was a cunning man. Ozzy's abilities are in large part thanks to his mentor, Early. (Early reminds me very much of Abraham Whistler from the Blade movies, crossed with Bobby Singer from Supernatural.)

It can be tricky to settle into a new series, but I liked Underwood's world-building as he led us around Lost Falls, and introduced us to the creatures with which it was populated.

Considering this book compares itself to The Dresden Files in the blurb, I was expecting more of the humour that is common to most of the slick urban fantasy books. There's a quieter and less brash feel to Ozzy than his peers in the genre, and this book has a much better attitude to its female characters than the Dresden Files has ever achieved. In Cunning Devil, the women are mostly treated (gasp!) just like any other character.

Fortunately, though Ozzy was oblivious to most of the convenient plot points, the mystery had enough twists and turns to remain well paced despite the obviously side-stepped 'clues', and the ultimate reveal provided a satisfying conclusion.

I really liked this audiobook's ethical underpinning, and the way this felt like a very natural part of the 'cunning man' philosophy in a way that is unlike the traditional wizard of popular culture.

The narrator, Gary Bennett, was new to me but did well with this book. I felt he was a little too neutral at times, especially at the start. His style was very laid-back, and I am more accustomed to urban fantasy being a bit livelier. Bennett created good voices for the characters, but there wasn't a lot of differentiation between Ozzy and Early at times, especially at the start when they were both still unfamiliar.

I'd recommend this book to anyone who has enjoyed similar books in the genre, such as Shadow Magic by Nazri Noor, or Demon Moon by Brad Magnarella.

*I received this audiobook free of charge in the hope of an honest, unbiased review.

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