A Feast of Phantoms
Kat Ross
(Lingua Magika, #1)
Published by: Acorn Publishing
Publication date: February 18th 2020
Genres: Adult, Fantasy, Steampunk
Lingua Magika is Kat’s latest series, a fast-paced Western steampunk fantasy with a dash of romance and adventure! A Feast of Phantoms is Book #1, with at least two more to follow.
THE JOB
It was supposed to be simple.
Help Marshal Sebastian Hardin escort his prisoner one stop on the railway to Charter Oak.
Just one stop.
But when that prisoner is a savant who talks to ghosts, even the simplest plans have a way of falling apart.
THE LAW
Sheriff’s Deputy Ruth Cortez always does the right thing. Lucky Boy is a company town, dependent on the rich and powerful Carnarvon family. Besides which, the charismatic Sebastian Hardin isn’t an easy man to say no to. When his transport derails in the middle of the prairie, Ruth begins a relentless manhunt that leads straight into the dark heart of the Carnarvon empire.
THE FUGITIVE
Lee Merriweather favors sharp suits and fast trains – especially when he’s stealing them. At the ripe old age of 18, he’s managed to become the most wanted criminal in three territories. Lee can’t resist playing cat and mouse with a small-town deputy, but what starts as a game becomes deadly serious.
THE FIXER
Sebastian Hardin is the Carnarvons’ right hand, loyal to the death and willing to keep any secret to protect the family. They want Lee alive, but with the young savant’s disturbing abilities it won’t be an easy proposition. Whoever catches Lee gets the keys to the kingdom and the Carnarvons aren’t the only ones hunting him down. Sebastian has enough problems without falling for Deputy Cortez – but you can’t always choose who you love.
THE PHANTOMS
They terrorized the settlers until Calindra Carnarvon learned to speak their language. Her empire relies on controlling their telekinetic powers, but Lee Merriweather could destroy it all. And not even Lee suspects the shocking truth of the phantoms’ real nature.
Review:
What to tell you guys, if you read my blog then you already know that I am a huge fan of Kat and avid reader of all of her books. I am happy to introduce in this post her most recent series called Lingua Magika and A Feast of Phantoms being book 1 of the trilogy (it is confirmed as 3 books).
As I have not being doing well lately due to me losing my job and worrying about how I am going to afford food and rent, I was not really in the best mental place when I started reading this book. I never really thought before this on how my mental state could potentially affect how I would react to a book I am reading.
I will admit, that I enjoyed the second half more than the first, it is very possible because it was the most exciting part with the more action, more fast paced and the greater progress in the storyline. Again bearing in mind that this is the first book and Kat is trying to establish everything from scratch, it does make sense. But if you are one of my readers, you know I tend to prefer a faster pace and more ass kicking action.
Saying that, I have a very strong feeling that the following book will deliver in that regard and that I have to be patient. Now let us talk about the main characters, for me there are 3: Ruth, Sebastian and finally Lee; but I should also mention Calindra as she is quite complex and we do not know about what is going on in her head a lot, so I am hoping for more in the future.
Ruth is clearly our main girl and I really enjoyed her character quite a lot, she is well-defined and likable. I didn’t expect her to be a female deputy in a western, but to be fair I am not really familiar with that era so maybe it is more common than I thought.
Is it?
But saying this, I really enjoyed that she had imho a more unusual profession and at her core devoted to her family and town. On the other hand, we do not know a lot about Sebastian but we do a little more about Lee is our antagonist, but saying that is a bit unfair as I am expecting a lot of surprises coming from him in the future. For the being the “bad guy” here, he is a very sympathetic character and also likable. I really liked him a lot as he is full of surprises and flash.
He entertained me quite a bit, friends.
But going back to the book overall, I really had a good time and I will admit that it took me a little while in the beginning to get into it. I think the fault lies more with me being stressed out of my mind than in the book itself. So keep that in mind.
On thing I did not mention is that this book is not connected in any way to the other series Kat has. So if you have not read her previous books (OMG how could you not???!!!) then no need to worry and you can focus on this baby.
As an intro this book was a little slower than what I tend to prefer, but I am predicting fireworks in books 2 and 3. I do believe if I recall correctly that book 2 will be available in December. Hopefully I am not mistaken.
So as a huge fan of Kat’s I am not going to be able to be very objective here though I try, as expected I will very Highly recommend A Feast of Phantoms and hope you will love it as much as I did.
I do not believe I read many westerns, but this is a great one to start with. I also would recommend reading all of Kat’s other books and if you can find them here or just by typing her name in the search field.
Please let me know what you think…
Author Bio:
Kat Ross worked as a journalist at the United Nations for ten years before happily falling back into what she likes best: making stuff up. She’s the author of the Fourth Element and Fourth Talisman fantasy series, the Gaslamp Gothic paranormal mysteries, and the dystopian thriller Some Fine Day. She loves myths, monsters and doomsday scenarios. Check out Kat’s Pinterest page for the people, places and things that inspire her books.
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