Hell Bent by Devon Monk

Broken Magic, Book 1

Synopsis: Instead of the deadly force it once was, magic is now a useless novelty. But not for Shame Flynn and Terric Conley, “breakers” who have the gift for reverting magic back to its full-throttle power. In the magic-dense city of Portland, Oregon, keeping a low profile means keeping their gifts quiet. After three years of dealing with disgruntled magic users, Shame and Terric have had enough of politics, petty magic, and, frankly, each other. It’s time to call it quits.

When the government discovers the breakers’ secret—and its potential as a weapon—Shame and Terric suddenly become wanted men, the only ones who can stop the deadly gift from landing in the wrong hands. If only a pair of those wrong hands didn’t belong to a drop-dead-gorgeous assassin Shame is falling for as if it were the end of the world. And if he gets too close to her, it very well could be….

Review: I loved the Allie Beckstrom series, so when a spin-off series came out, I rushed to order it. It took me a little more time to read it though I confess. Despite the many wonderful reviews I had seen, I was a little anxious not to love this novel as much as the others. But I think I forgot to take into consideration that Shame is one of my favorite characters, so following him could only be a cakewalk. And of course it was! Then on top of that, it’s not as if we had totally abandoned Allie and Zay, since they also appear many times here. By cons, it is true that I was wondering if people who have not read the first series could read it without any problems … and now that I finished the novel I think it is quite tricky as the characters have a big common past and history following the end of the last volume in the Allie Beckstrom series.

So as I said, we find Shame and Terric here, some time after the war that has been triggered. Shame, as usual, has dropped his job as leader of the authority to Portland and all the liability are now on Terric, or rather were on him now that they were dismissed. Shame as you all know by now, is a character that I truly love! He isn’t not interesting in anything or at least in appearance and one thing is certain, following the rules is really not made ​​for him, even if his actions often put him in difficult situations. And now the government seems to want to kidnap soul complements to use as weapons and of course the only ones left in town are Terric / Shame and Zay / Allie. Trying to avoid them, our two friends will also have to investigate the death of several persons in the authority, thus highlighting former enemies. If only it was only just that, but Shame is followed by a young woman, a former agent for the government, who is determined to rally him to her cause so he could kill the man who murdered her brother. It might however be possible that at the end something appear between them even if they thought it wouldn’t be possible.

As I said I love Shame and Terric offsets him perfectly, giving hilarious situations at any time. Although Shame does not care about anything and does not hesitate to share this thought with everyone, we perfectly see that when his friends are in danger, he is ready to do anything to help them, even to kill if he needs it. However, even if he has a strong presence, we discover another side of this character which also mirrors Terric. Indeed, the powers they now have completely changed, and they often wonder if they are still human and if they will come to control them. It was really interesting and difficult at the same time to see what they thought of themselves as they are also so much more. They also have very good friends to help them and it was a pleasure to see Allie and Zay in several scenes of the novel, to see how they had changed in their lives and what they were doing now. Many problems are introduced here, and I look forward to read the second book to find out what the author has in store for the future. In addition, we also have many surprises during the book, although few are some good ones.

The whole thing was really a wonderful novel and I’m really glad I had the chance to find myself again in this world I really en joy. Plus, we find all the characters we grew to love all along the volumes. It’s a nice surprise for me and I’m sure fans of the series will love this spin-off!

4-5

mellianefini

18 thoughts on “Hell Bent by Devon Monk

  1. I loved the Allie Beckstrom series, but this spin-off didn’t immediately appeal to me. Even though it’s by Devon Monk and features characters I love. Having read your review I believe I will enjoy this new series, so I’m definitely adding it to my TBR list. 🙂

  2. I started to read this a couple of weeks ago not realizing that it was a spin-off :/ I read the first couple Allie Beckstrom books, but I never finished the series. Still it was enough to know that there were things in Hell Bent that were flying over my head. I put it away for later . . .

  3. I have yet to read any spin-offs, it seems to be a hit or miss with some of them but I am glad this one was a hit for you. I guess being familiar with the world and following your previously favorite character is awesome when they finally get their own story 🙂

  4. Ooooh nice review! I’m actually reading this now and find myself enjoying it too! I’ve missed Shame and I so enjoy being inside his head!

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