Sorcery Reborn

I’ve been beside myself with excitement for months because I NEED more Nate! Glad to say I’m not at all disappointed, if anything it was better than I thought it would be!

I worried that having Nate without powers for a large portion of the book would make for a boring story but it was anything but. (Spoiler alert, he regains them at around 64%, along with his father’s identity) It proves how good of a writer McHugh is because it’s still gripping and a beautifully woven story, with a protagonist who could be rather flat in the hands of a different author. Despite being human Nate is still utterly kick ass and it was still believable that he could take down those who actually had powers whilst he was mortal and sans power. It also shows that he’s the same good, kind, loyal man without magic, the magic doesn’t make Nate a hero, NATE makes Nate a hero.

The basic premise is that 2 years on from Nate’s ‘death’ at Mordred’s (still one of my favourite characters! Not enough of him and his game tunes though!) hand, Nate is living in Clockwork (great town name), Oregon (although I do keep calling it A Clockwork Orange in my head, but that says more about my intriguing brain than anything else) awaiting the return of his powers so he can help save the world. There’s a slight worry about his powers being a few months late, but he’s created a relatively nice, quiet life and managed to stay out of trouble....until some Nazis turn up - dontcha just hate that?! - and start harassing a family he is friends with. In fact two members of the family are some of the few who knows Nate’s backstory, so there is a definite worry that Avalon are about to stumble onto the man they were so relieved was dead. Sucks to be Avalon!

Robert, the cockwomble in charge of the Nazis, is the ex of one of the granddaughters of Nate’s friends, and he has the exact type of fragile masculinity that makes you just want to him kick in the area his balls should be, if he wasn’t such a little bitch. He disliked the fact that his ex Jessica, left him for another man due to his aforementioned cockwombling fragile masculinity. He’s trying his level best to destroy Jessica’s life by claiming her son as his, despite the impossibility of dates (and his lack of man parts, hence his over compensation - ok the lack of male genitalia isn’t actually IN the book, but having known a few like him, that’s what’s happening in my head) and generally making a nuisance of himself. Having his Nazi buddies harass her and her boss means Nate has to get involved, cos, well it’s Nate, and shit truly hitteth the fan. Turns out they’re working with Baldr. Who really does not like Nate, and has a mummy complex.

Nate defends the family and gets them to supposed safety in Portland, to Medusa (yes the snake lady, who in true McHugh style, is actually a goodie and the myths surrounding her were created by her enemies. Nice comment on history being recorded by the winners) and Isis who are protecting Baldr’s mum Frigg. Unfortunately, Jessica and her grandfather end up kidnapped by Bob and his merry band of bellends, leaving a swathe of unexplained bodies behind. Nate and Brooke, a deputy of Clockwork, set off to find them but are captured (and at this point the fate of the Aston Martin becomes uncertain, but if it’s destroyed I’ll be miffed) and taken back to Clockwork to hear Bob’s master plan. They’ve been using the blood of an intelligent creature called a grendel to power up humans, and are planning on releasing it at a mass protest against Avalon. The humans would then go beserk and Avalon would have leverage to force through legislation to ‘protect’ the world from these ‘terrorists’. Luckily, Nate’s friend/handler Chris (who is not Chris, but is actually another supposed mythological being - who picked his name of ‘Chris Hopkins for a VERY fun reason!) turns up to get him out, but it’s sadly too late for Brooke who is killed by her estranged grendel-fuelled twin sister Addison, who was pally with one of the Nazi boys. Nate and ‘Chris’ free the grendel but as they’re escaping Nate is shot - and he’s still human

To my complete and utter lack of surprise, Steve McHugh has done it again.

I’ve been looking forward to this book for MONTHS. I love The Hellequin and Avalon Chronicles so was desperate to find out what happened to these wonderful characters next.

Having post a spoiler filled review on Goodreads, I won’t repeat it here, but I’ll give my overall thoughts.

I worried that the story would feel a little slow or disjointed as we join the lead character, Nate, 2 years after the end of The Hellequin Chronicles, powerless and human while he awaits the return of his magic. My worry was totally misplaced however as McHugh is such a talented writer. He manages to keep the story interesting and cohesive, even when the main character doesn’t have access to the powers that form a rather large chunk of the storylines. Human Nate is the same hero as sorcery Nate, he still fights for the vulnerable and those who need him, even when he is technically outmatched in power. He’s a truly great protagonist, with buckets of humour and bravery, but never falling prey to the Superman character danger, where someone becomes a bland cliche ridden caricature - he isn’t a boring, purely good hero, he has his darkness and has made mistakes, but he always tries to own his s*** and keeps fighting for what he believes in.

The story starts to come back into line with Hellequin and Avalon at around 64% in, but it doesn’t feel like a slog to get there, and the remainder of the book doesn’t feel rushed. Lots of threads are woven together, including a small amount of split perspective, but even that doesn’t really affect the flow and pace. With such character heavy books it would be easy for it to feel too busy, but McHugh never allows himself to be bogged down. He has created wonderfully rich characters, who, even when only briefly appearing in a book, still manage to shine and steal scenes - Remy, Mordred, Tommy, Diana are some of these beloved characters, that, yes ok, I’d love more of, but their scarcity doesn’t hurt too much as the rest is so well done.

McHugh is definitely a ‘show not tell’ author which I greatly appreciate, and he is descriptive without becoming too flowery and over the top. I can’t stand writers who repeatedly wallop their readers over the head with descriptive passages, and I appreciate the fact that descriptions of characters aren’t repeated ad nauseum, which a lot of writers seem to do, not just in each new book in a series, but several times in a book. McHugh only briefly references Nate’s appearance, same with other characters that have been described in the previous books, and it makes for a much more pleasant experience. I also appreciate that he can actually write female characters, without reducing them to their cup size or their other sexual attributes, of which far too many writers seem incapable. His female characters are not weak, they don’t need to be rescued by their menfolk and his male characters (at least the good guys) treat women with respect. It never reads like tokenism, and he is very inclusive, there are plenty of LGBT characters, and none are used cheaply, nor is their sexuality used to labour a point.

Another of McHugh’s talents is social commentary, without crossing into preaching. A theme I see him repeat is history being written by the winners, or propaganda being used to smear people for ulterior motives. In this political era that’s all too relevant. The progressiveness never feels forced. His attitude towards racism and all discrimination is pretty clear without ever entering the ‘snowflake’ (gods I hate that term) territory, his points are valid and well stated.

This universe is truly one that I’ve fallen in love with. I’ve got my husband, father, and potentially, my aunt reading McHugh and they all love what they see. These books would make great TV or film, if in the right hands (Whedon I’m looking at you), but hopefully anyone who does choose to pick it up loves the universe as much as McHugh so they can do it justice.

To sum up, read it. Read all of The Hellequin Chronicles. Read all of The Avalon Chronicles. Read the novellas. Follow McHugh on social media (lovely man, very nice to his readers) and support him by preordering his upcoming works. You won’t regret it.