Blurb: A travel writer takes a job with a shady publishing company in New York, only to find that she must write a guide to the city – for the undead!
Because of the disaster that was her last job, Zoe is searching for a fresh start as a travel book editor in the tourist-centric New York City. After stumbling across a seemingly perfect position though, Zoe is blocked at every turn because of the one thing she can’t take off her resume — human.
Not to be put off by anything — especially not her blood drinking boss or death goddess coworker — Zoe delves deep into the monster world. But her job turns deadly when the careful balance between human and monsters starts to crumble — with Zoe right in the middle.
Rating: 3 stars. The blurb made it out to be a lot more exciting than it actually was, so I was happy to set it aside and head out into RL every day.
When the book starts, we find Zoe in New York, trying to start her life again in a new city after a disastrous affair with her boss and consequences of it at her last job – Titanic levels of disaster. Like any sane person would, she leaves and promises herself never to look back. When the book opens, Zoe is doing something that is intimately familiar – looking for a job. These days, editors? Print in general, not in high demand, I think.
She stumbles into a bookstore, and finds the oddest ad for a job at a travel guide publishing company. However, before she can even apply, she finds herself being talked out of it by a man – now the owner – at the bookstore. Angry and more determined than ever, she succeeds in getting the position, and then realises she’s just been hired by publishing company run by a vampire, and her coworkers were an incubus, a death goddess, a water sprite, and a zombie.
Can I say, I would still like to work at this company?
From that point on, we’re taken on a wild ride with Zoe working with the company and learning the ins and outs of this new supernatural world she finds herself in. This, is exciting and to be honest a blast as Mur Lafferty’s imagination takes flight. Along the way, Zoe finds herself a mentor in Granny Mae, who begins to teach her self-defence and the dangers of the supernatural world. Granny confuses Zoe, but she never questions her enough for my satiasfaction in the book to get to the motives for taking Zoe under her wing.
It’s a small quibble in the grand scheme of things, I think, because soon enough Zoe’s introduction to this supernatural world takes a darker turn when a construct – a being made from the bits and pieces of other people, comes to work in HR. And he happens to have the head of one of Zoe’s ex-boyfriends.
Things only get worse from there, and soon enough Zoe finds herself at the centre of an upheaveal in the supernatural community – a powerful Zoetist is coming to wreak havoc in the city, and she already hates Zoe…
There’s a predictability to the story, though I appreciate that the author took the time to give Zoe some skills to survive this supernatural world in her training with Granny. This is in the end, a fun tale and a good way to kill a few hours. I did appreciate that the chapters all end with funny excerpts from the Shambling Guide to NYC – which Zoe eventually did publish.
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