Taryn St. Giles is a digger for patrons at ancient ruins near the town of Beccia where she lived with three faeries. The problem was that her patrons kept dying on her, so she turned to bounty hunting. But her first catch, Alric, was not quite as he appeared and neither were a number of others in town. And when her faeries brought home the object of a prophecy, she knew she was really in trouble. Luckily, she had friends who would stand by her. Now she just need to survive the end times and see if the "elves" of legend were really gone. I now need to find the rest of the series to see who things turn out in the end!

I am really into the fairies lately. this was fun, quick read. It's relatively light with lots of humor, and memorable characters. I'm thinking it would make a good summer year for anyone 12 and up. It's entertaining and a series! So I now have to go looking for the rest of the series!

Two and a half stars.

Taryn St Giles is an archaeologist down on her luck, forced to resort to bounty hunting to make ends meet. She is the reluctant owner of three fairies who can usually be relied upon to get drunk and start fights. As the book opens Taryn is hunting for a bounty, although she collars him relatively easy he doesn't stay collared for long - and that is the start of a crazy journey. Soon there are mysterious disappearances, dead bodies, mysterious strangers, gypsies, jinn, elves, trolls, dragon-like creatures etc, etc.

Where to start? First, I received this ARC back in January last year, so my bad for not reading and reviewing earlier. However, the book was first published in March 2015 so I really don't understand why my copy has so many words runningtogether missing the intervening spaces. Also, there appears to be no formatting of the chapter headings which makes it difficult to 'feel' the breaks between chapters as they just merge into one long chapter. Previewing the Kindle version on Amazon doesn't look that much better either.

Second, there is waaaay too much stuff in this book and not enough world-building/ development. It doesn't help that Taryn hasn't a clue what is going on. I think it took half the book before the eponymous Glass Gargoyle was even mentioned. Taryn has a backstory and a mystery about her species which are just barely glanced upon. There seems to be a cast of thousands and the purpose of most of them seems vague at best. Villains drop in and out and we don't know why. The book even ends on a sort of cliffhanger - sort of.

I don't know whether Marie Andreas has got the idea for the whole series in her mind and has written the series as if it were one long book, or if she had so many ideas that she couldn't bear to to drop any, but the book ended up as a series of occurrences with no real conclusion. I still have no idea what species Taryn belongs to, I don't know who/ what Alric is (although I do have a good idea), I don't know who hired the jinn, I don't understand the Marcos plot, I don't know what set off all of these events, I don't see the purpose of Harlan, Covey, Cirocco, Dogmaela or Foxy, heck half the time I couldn't tell whether they were friends or enemies (obviously not the ones who were marked as enemies). There are extinct/ mythical elves, older more ancient races, lots of new creatures that I've never heard of, magical powers, although Taryn is a null, potions etc AND NONE OF IT IS EXPLAINED.

I think there is a really good series possibly lost in this but I just can't summon up the enthusiasm to try reading the second book.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

I really can't decide between 2.5 or 3 stars. I've thought and thought, but I just can't. So, in honor of fat Tuesday being tomorrow, it gets 3 stars.

Taryn is an archaeologist. She loves spending her days digging up ancient Elven artifacts. After the death of her most recent patron (again), she takes up a bounty hunting job in order to havesome type of income, just until another patron picks her up. Unfortunately, her bounty the enigmatic named Alric, who brings her into his world of prophecies, kidnapping, a death. Good thing she has a couple of rowdy loyal fairies and friends to help her out.

So, this book wasn't bad. Not by a long shot. Who doesn't love time-bending artifacts? (The answer is no one. There can't possibly be anyone.) BUT, it wasn't exactly good either. The plot? Good, but carried out sparsely. The plot wasn't fleshed out and I was constantly confused about why things were the way they were, how things got to be, and why people and creatures were a big or small deal to the world in which they lived. No matter what, I was never pulled into the story. However, the book itself was good enough. The story wasn't a page turner, but not so bad that I'd stop reading. I'll admit I didn't actively pick it up, but I didn't think about DNFing it either.

Taryn is a mary-sue. She literally has no skills and is constantly getting kidnapped. I mean, sometimes she gets crazy mad skills if whisky gets thrown on her, but we seriously don't know why. She's constantly being saved by her friends, fairies, and Alric. I do feel bad though, for all she goes through, she takes it pretty well. You can't help but like her just a little. She's brave, adventurous, and faces her nightmares using rational and her skills as simple person, relying on her friends and what she could. The rest she let go, because she ISN'T super human. She has flaws and reminds us constantly. She has questions. SO MANY questions, and sometimes accepts that she isn't going to get the answers immediately. She knows that it's not worth putting herself in danger to get answers.

I don't know what or who Taryn really is, but I loved the mystery around it. Though she didn't seem to care at all. I also loved her fairies. I loved their mystery and their prophecies. I loved Taryn's steadfast but loyal friends. They weren't just side characters to show the readers Taryn had friends, but actual characters who she relied on heavily.

Lastly...
For fuck's sake, who actually is Alric? Like literally, we still no absolutely nothing about him. Why does he carry a sword? Who is he? Is he even human? What is his agenda? What kind of magic does he hold? What's his agenda? WHO? WHAT? WHEN? WHERE? WHY? HOW?

Overall, like I said, not a page turner, but an interesting read if you're in a fantasy/urban fantasy rut. Will I be picking up the second book? Yes, most definitely, but definitely not right away.

From the beginning of the book, I was a little confused. I thought maybe this was a spinoff from another series, because there was absolutely no world building. There were all these different supernatural races, none of which were explained with any clarity except the typical, like fairies and trolls. Even the heroine was a bit of an enigma. We don't know that much of her heritage, except it's a little mixed, and as the book progresses, it appears that there is more to her than meets the eye--but it seems to be kind of thrown in, and has really no relevance to the story.
On to the story, there is a glass gargoyle that has the ability to destroy the world as we know it and give immense power to the wielder. It turns out to have been in the possession of squirrels? We don't really know how it came to be in their possession, were they really squirrels? Why did the fairies get involved? Are they not as dumb as they appear to be?? Any why do they have such ridiculous names?? This book was almost a DNF for me, but I stuck it through to the end. I don't think I will read the other books in the series.

This book was definitely gripping. I loved the many different magical creatures and all their unique personalities and traits. The story was fast paced and kept you guessing what was going to happen next. It was very complexed and had a few shock factors in the plot that was humorous. I already got the second book because let's face it, that ending made me, and I just can not leave a story untold if it somehow keeps my attention. That being said if you want a book that has a strong female character, that obviously has some quirks, keeps you guessing, with a dash of romantic intrigue, then my friends this is the book for you and you won't be disappointed.

This book was very fun to read, I could not put it down! I will be looking forward to more books in this series !!!

This book is creative, particularly in its definitions of magic and the lore that surrounds it. But I didn't really find myself desperate to read it when I put it down or anything. So while I think that the main character is fun and unusual, particularly in fantasy, it isn't one of my favorites. I think that it could really be a hit for people who love fantasy, but sometimes my appreciation of fantasy is limited, as I lean more towards Steampunk and Science Fiction as opposed to magic in most cases.

NetGalley Review
Not only did the synopsis grab the attention but so had the gorgeous cover. I was hooked immediately, even without having read a single page.
I don't want to spoil the book too much, but let me just say that it was an adventure. Honestly, there need to be more fantasy-mystery books for young adults. Forget dystopias!
The characters were unique, as was the plot. I found myself laughing numerous times throughout. The story progressed a relatively good pace, which is fantastic considering how much action it contained.
My only negative was the slightly confusing ending. But I guess I'll just have to read the next book to find out what happens next!

Excellent magic fantasy Secrets, mystery, fairies, elves, ancient artifacts. Great worldbuilding, and characters. "Medieval" setting. Read in one sitting. Thriller feeling to the book.

WOW!

Okay, I'm completely hooked on this series! This was a phenomenal read -- lots of action, mystery, amazing world-building, memorable and entertaining characters, adventure, excitement, and hot mysterious men that you aren't sure if they're good or bad. This book had it all!

From the moment you first pick it up, the action does not stop -- and I literally could not put the book down. Taryn is a strong and very likable heroine, who is part human and part dryad -- or is she? Alric, our sexy and mysterious stranger, keeps popping up in the strangest places -- and Taryn isn't sure if he's tossing her into danger or pulling her out of it. Regardless of this... there's definitely some underlying chemistry going on there.

The supporting cast of characters (particularly the fairies) were all fantastic, memorable and extremely creative. Marie Andreas has crafted a magical fantasy world that introduces some amazing new characters and species. I loved taking a step into the world she's created and I kept glancing at the percentage on my Kindle, trying to draw it out as long as possible because I didn't want it to end.

Luckily... there are more books in the series available and they're all going on my "To Read" list. This is a new author for me, but I can guarantee she's going on my "Watch List". I highly recommend this book for fans of Urban Fantasy. There were some moments that put me in mind of Kim Harrison's "The Hollows" series, and even of Jayne Castle's "Harmony" books. If you're fans of those authors, I think you'll enjoy this one too.

Now excuse me while I go download the next book in the series, The Obsidian Chimera...