Spellbound: Book II of the Grimnoir Chronicles

This is part of the review I wrote about Hard Magic, book one in the Grimnoir Chronicles by New York Times bestseller, Larry Correia:"Imagine X-Men crossed with the 1920's period show by HBO, Boardwalk Empire . . . The world building is top notch and well researched . . . the alternate history alone makes this worth the read . . . . There's airships, superhero smack downs, lots of guns, and great writing. If you enjoy lots of action and have a special place in your heart for super heroes, this is the book for you."Now onto the review of the even more awesome book two, Spellbound.I just finished reading Spellbound, book two in the Grimnoir Chronicles, and loved it even more than the first one. The series is so much fun. In Spellbound the heroes from Hard Magic, mostly Grimnoir Knights, are put in serious danger as they are blamed for an assassination attempt on the president--Franklin D. Roosevelt. Those with magic, (called Actives) are then targeted by the government, mostly by the `F' BI, and a secret government organization called the OCI, and soon Jake Sullivan, a kick ass Grimnoir Knight, is public enemy number one.The opening of this book, and the first few chapters are so entertaining. I particularly loved the scene with the machine that Thomas Edison invented--a telephone that can contact the dead. The man on the other side wants to talk to Jake Sullivan--the man who killed him--and the message he gives Jake is bad, bad news. Something is coming to devour the Earth, and without certain preparations, there is no hope for the world. The hints of this were in book one and now it's all put on the table.We knew that Jake was a bad ass. He's called a "Heavy" and can spike gravity all around him, and ruin anyone's day, but the big news is that we learn why the teenage girl from Oklahoma, Faye, is so powerful. She's a "Traveler" who can teleport at will and is the most powerful "Active" on the planet, which we knew because of what she did at the end of book one, a truly spectacular feat that amazed and terrified everyone. I think of Faye as the "Ninja Assassin Queen." You do not want to mess with her. Ever. She will teleport behind you and put a bullet in your head before you can blink once. Seriously.The characters are great, and Spellbound is an epic story, and has so much action and lots of fascinating alternate history world building. It's actually 1933 in book two, and one of my favorite parts of world building was a letter posted at the beginning of a chapter that was from Robert E. Howard to H.P. Lovecraft. I was in Nerdvanna after I read that. Robert E. Howard wrote the Conan stories and Lovecraft invented the Cthulhu mythos.It's worth noting that the year 1933 was the year that King Kong (the original movie) came out and Larry Correia's love of monster movies carries over into this book in a pretty spectacular way at the end of the book. The King Kong parallel was awesome, and all the historical details, small and large, were so great.The Grimnoir series is the real deal. Hard Magic was no fluke. Spellbound ups the ante with dangerous villains, fantastic characterization, brilliant world building, intense action, and a great story that will enthrall you from beginning to end.I highly recommend The Grimnoir Chronicles. Five Stars.Paul Genesse Author of the Iron Dragon Series/Editor of the Crimson Pact anthology Series

Speelbound is the second of the Grimnoir Chronicles by Larry Correia. Correia caught my attention with his excellent series Monster Hunters International, a series you don't want to miss. Correia has created his own special universe where history and magic exist. He takes known events from our time and puts them into his timeline but the reasons for these events are different from our time. For example, the great drought of the 30's is not caused by natural events but, by wizards trying to change weather patterns,i.e. make it rain.Now Correia has created a "new" style of literature in my opinion. In Steam Punk you have olden times with modern inventions introduced[ a rather simple definiton, but one that works for the layman]. Here we have the 30's with things from the past that should not be here or went out of style, i.e. blimps as mass transportation, with things from the future, a death ray a.k.a. Peace Ray. Now mix in various famous people who would not normally be seen together, Black Jack Pershing, John Browning. J. Edgar hoover, well you begin to see a style emerge that is different from what is out there. Correia has created a niche style that I call "retro decco."This style plus characters that are fleshed out to people you care about makes for an enjoyable read. However Correia ups the ante by creating fantastic action scenes worthy of Matthew Reilly. he doesn't cheat the reader with a short book, no this is 425 pages of demons, actives, wicked governments, Japanesse swordsmen, FBI agents, distruction of Washington, and finally pirates, air pirates at that.All the characters from the first novel are here: Sullivan, Faye, Heinrich, Fransis, as well as new characters such as Hammer and my favorite Toru. This last one I like because I feel Correia is paying homage to the Charles Bronson movie RED SUN'However I do have one strange complaint about the book, not the writing, the book-the art work didn't work for me, I found it cheap looking and not fit for the grandeur of the story/. Oh well!

Larry Correia has done a solid workmanlike job on this, and if you enjoyed Hard Magic, you'll probably enjoy Spellbound.

Great fun. A well imagined world. Plenty of action and humour. Have now read the entire series. I had misgivings about the series having found them after reading the monster hunter international books. Not really into 'magic action books', or at least I wasn't.

Absolutely first class.

I just finished this book, sequel to "Hard Magic", and I'm speechless.I already knew that Correia was good, but this is ridiculous!The characters, the plot, the world building... it's like a perfect clockwork mechanism.I can't wait to read the 3rd book.

follows the story line well..