DNF’d at around 20%. I loved the iron druid series, thought it was hilarious, but I just couldn’t get into this one.

Very Interesting tale of a Wizard type, whose job as a Sigil Agent is to invoke magic through specially written Sigils in special Ink, that control the bad guys who are using magic and magical entities to do bad things. The entities range from a (reasonably innocent of evil) Hobgoblin to an evil Undine, and others who are mostly evil, including some from the CIA. The book is based in the United Kingdom, so Americans will also get to laugh at all the accents and different behaviors, while everyone else gets to laugh at the stupid and comic CIA and evildoers. There are also some useful, practical and GoodGuy Americans.

A Light-Hearted take on magic in the current world.

Review originally appeared in the January 2021 issue of SFRevu.

Sigil Agent Al MacBharrais has just learned that his apprentice, Geordie, has died. It seems he choked on his raisin scone. Al rushed to get there and make sure the police didn't find anything that would cause problems or reveal the existence of the fae. In Geordie's workroom, he found a hobgoblin in a cage who said Geordie was going to sell him. The hobgoblin escapes and MacBharrais manages to gather up the inks, notebooks, electronic equipment, anything that might help find out who Geordie was working with and who was teaching him sigils he shouldn't know.

The above is the start of the story. I'd heard of the Iron Druid Chronicles and even have a couple of the earlier books in my TBR pile. When Ink & Sigil became available, I was intrigued by a character cursed so that if he spoke to someone too often they would grow to hate him. Now I wish I had read those earlier works for I had more fun reading this story than I've had in quite a while.

The world is richly developed as is the sigil system, a system of rules and trades between our world and other planes, trafficking of the Fae political and cultural system and their interactions, as well as the usual power plays and greed. Add in a huge dollop of humor, sarcasm, and dry wit and you have a winning combination. I actually laughed out loud in some sections in others I shed tears.

One of the things I enjoy when reading is the characters pondering their world, their relationships, the future, and their past. How the world seems to work according to what they've seen and experienced, to me, makes a book that keeps me thinking about it and the characters who live in it. The references to other works of literature, present social media, modern culture, and wordplay were like finding presents buried in the story structure.

I will certainly look forward to future books in this series. It was easy to just drop in without having read any of the previous books set in this world and follow what was going on. Take a chance and just enjoy a good story with quirky, interesting, and annoying characters and sometimes ones that have characteristics of all three.

Ok so magickal beings...you already had my attention. Ibwas pulled into an incredible story that i couldn't put down.

What's not to love about this book?

"I have to do some research."
“Fine, but can ye no just use the Internet?” Buck asked.
"What do you know about that?"
“I’ve … heard of it.”
"I can use it for lots of things, sure. But there are people who can find what you need faster than an old man pecking around a search engine."
“Yeah? Who?”
"Librarians."
“Ohhh, aye. I’ve heard o’ them too. They always know where the secret room is with the treasure in it.

I rest my case.

Al MacBharrais has been cursed. No one knows by whom and no one can remove it. The better news is that he has magical abilities and can create sigils with amazing powers. Unfortunately his curse also means all his apprentices die from accidental deaths. He does what good he can but he hates his curses...

Del Rey allowed me to read this book for review (thank you). It will be published on August 25th.

He trades some sigils for information or favors. But when he goes to check on his latest apprentice, he finds that not only is he dead, he had access to inks and sigils he shouldn't have. He also has a hobgoblin caged.

Hobgoblins can be dangerous, so Al contracts him to make it safer. Then he tries to figure out just what his apprentice was doing. The more he learns, the scarier it gets. It appears the apprentice was capturing the magic folk and turning them over to someone. Why?

You'll meet a wide variety of magical folks. Not just fae but trolls and ogres and more. The hobgoblin helps him and so does his office manager but it's still very dangerous. As if the magic folks aren't enough, the CIA is involved, too...

Will Al and his friends be able to shut the illegal trafficking down? Will everyone survive? It's hard to tell...

The world was well-crafted and vivid. I was drawn in quickly and enjoyed the journey. Would read again, which is saying a lot on my tight schedule.

As the first entry in a new series the book successfully builds an attractive world ripe for expansion. Still, as a stand-alone read there was just a bit too much plot convenience for my liking. 4 stars from me

Kevin Hearne has quickly become one of my favorite authors. I love his wit! His characters are always strongly defined but something still might pop up to surprise you. I really, really enjoyed this new series and can't wait for the next one. I would highly recommend this one!

This book wasn't for me. While the author's command of literal machinations was eloquent and well-realized, I just could not get into the story or become invested in the characters. I'm happy to say I'm in the majority; this book is imaginative and worth your time.

After several attempts to get through the first half of Ink & Sigil, I've finally conceded defeat. While I love the entire premise and wanted to love the story, I really struggled with the writing style and just couldn't get into the book. I definitely believe this is a case of "it's not you, it's me" and still plan to check out the author's other books to see if perhaps it's just the way this particular story was told. Unfortunately this was a DNF for me.

Aloysius MacBharrais aka Al is a Sigil agent with a magnificent white mustache. Al is in his sixties and quite a feisty dude. And he is also a cursed man. The more someone hears his voice, the more they grow to hate him. So Al communicates most often via text to speech apps on his phone and computer.
The book opens with Al finding out his apprentice has recently become deceased. He's got to hightail it over there to collect the tools of his trade - especially the inks and any sigils that may be lying around. Al and Gordie practice sigil magic which involves writing symbols in different inks on paper that may be sealed and used later when someone views them. But, it turns out Gordie is into more than sigils when Al finds a hobgoblin in a cage in Gordie 's workroom.

Al must now investigate what Gordie was up to. In order to succeed and survive, he will need the help of the hobgoblin and others. He will have to use his quick wits and knowledge of the Fae as well.

I found the characters interesting. Al as an older main character, the hobgoblin, and Nadia - Al's office manager were especially interesting. The Fae and their hierarchy were also important. The interactions between humans and Fae were well done.

I liked that the author didn't rely on infodumps. Instead what you needed to know was gradually revealed to you in a show rather than tell fashion. The closest he comes to an infodump is Nadia's origin story. But it's well done and still done in a show rather than tell way.

This was my first foray into the world of the Iron Druid. I felt there was enough worldbuilding to make it clear how things work without needing to refer to the other series.

I gave this book 5 out of 5 stars. It can be read as a standalone, but it says it is book one. I look forward to reading more about these characters in this world. I would recommend this book to fans of the Iron Druid series as well as those who enjoy urban fantasy. This book was published August 25th, 2020 by Del Rey Books.

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley. This did not effect the content of my review.

Oh my-lanta! Beth Cato recommended this book on Twitter and I'm so glad I was able to snag a copy of this one so I could spread the word about it. Now, I remember back in the old days of LiveJournal when there was a Holy Taco Church. Beth was the High Priestess of Churromancy and Kevin was the Taco Pope. I think it was a group of authors who came together to promote their work and if you liked the works of one author you were likely to enjoy the others. It was silly and fun. And a great way to get the attention of people who enjoy reading similar types of books. But I haven't read anything by Kevin until now. 

This novel is just about perfect. I'm sure there's a flaw somewhere but I haven't seen it yet. It's a great escapist read and was something I really needed. Apparently this is set in the world of his The Iron Druid Chronicles series. This series consists of 10 books, and lots of short stories, and novellas. I have no idea if any of these characters make an appearance in the series.

The chapters go back and forth between the past and the present very seamlessly. I was floored with the worldbuilding - he's obviously spent a lot of time with Al and his cohorts. Buck, the hobgoblin, is new to Scotland and the world of humans which leads to some funny interactions. Buck's humor is juvenile but he also has some wonderful ideas. Nadia, the accountant/office manager, makes Al's professional lives (magical and non-magical) run smoothly. Perhaps it's Al's age (he's in his 60s), or that he leads a double life, that he has an open mind and very little surprises him. 

Now, just because it's set in modern times (there's cell phones, surveillance cameras, etc.) doesn't mean there's no action scenes or sword play. Expect the unexpected, put on your safety belt or harness, and enjoy the ride.

In this story a beleaguered, ordinary mortal man from Glasgow, Scotland named Aloysis, “Al,” MacBharrais is charged with the responsibility of enforcing the treaties that determine how and when supernatural beings may visit the earth. Goddesses and gods down to ogres, leprechauns and sprites, all are subject to his authority . . . but aren’t under his control. Al is a sigil agent. He’s one of five in the whole world who have the knowledge and the ability to concoct rare, exotic inks, and draw sigils—magic signs and symbols that have the power to amplify strength, heal wounds or tear apart mountains for example. There are many others. But Al is handicapped as well. There’s a curse on his head. The more he speaks aloud to someone, the more that person hates him. He’s been able to work around it however, by using his cell phone. Then there’s the problem with his apprentices. They keep dying. He’s lost six thus far, and the seventh, named Gordie, dies in a freak accident just as the story begins.

But Gordie had a secret. To Al’s horror, he finds Gordie was trafficking in Fae folk by luring them to earth with promises of work, trapping them using sigils, then selling them to unknown buyers. It’s a horrific scheme Al is duty and honor-bound to set right. He rescues Gordie’s last victim—a peevish, foul-mouthed and troublesome, three-foot tall hobgoblin who says his name is Buck—and recruits him to track down the buyers and find the trafficked victims Gordie sold, as well as shutting down the other, Fae side of the scheme, in which some higher authority had to be complicit.

And so begins a delicate and dangerous process between two realms in which the aging widower and sigil agent has to dodge hard-pressed detectives who’re determined to learn the facts about Gordie’s life and death in the earthly realm . . . while at the same time not annoying vengeful goddesses or falling into the jaws of the ghostly hell-hounds that appear from black smoke and tear their quarry to pieces.

Ink & Sigil is an epic romp in an adult never-never land that will transfix your attention, engage your mind and provide a few laughs too. It’s the perfect antidote to real life and the news!

i really enjoyed reading this book, the characters were great and I really liked the story and the world that was built.

Aloysius MacBharrais is a man knowledgeable about his whiskeys. He employs a war mage and converses with Fae and every now and again he feeds a steak to a Bhargest. When you are one of the few things standing in the way of otherworldly beings who sometimes misbehave you make strange friends and enemies. But Al is not a afraid of a little conflict or a curse that kills those around him. Life is full of surprises but sometimes it's Al who surprises it.

This is a spin off of Hearne's Iron Druid series but Al is definitely more than capable of standing up on his own merit as he tries to solve a mystery that could change the balance of power in a war that has been brewing for some time. Along with finding out who has destined him to lose those he cares about, Al now needs to figure out the reason Fae are being kidnapped and who the person behind the scenes is, even if that means looking closer to home than he knows.

Definitely recommend even if you haven't sunk your teeth into the Iron Druid series yet. Ink & Sigil promises to be entertaining and captivating.

I had a really good time with this book! Even though I haven't quite finished reading the Iron Druid Chronicles, I was excited to see that Kevin Hearne was writing more stories set in the same world. I had originally planned to read this book on my e-reader but I ended up with the audiobook since Luke Daniels does such a good job with this author's work. I was not disappointed. I am so glad that I decided to give this book a try.

This book is set in the same world as the books from the Iron Druid Chronicles. Fans of that series will be happy to be back in the world and will enjoy seeing some familiar characters but this is also a great place for new readers to jump in. I really enjoyed getting to know these new characters and found the whole idea of the sigils to be very interesting.

Al is a great character. I love that he is an older guy just trying to do what needs to be done and get through each day. He takes special precautions to protect others from his curse. The more I learned about Al, the more I liked him. Buck added a nice touch to the story. I was quite entertained by this hobgoblin and thought that he added a really fun element to the story. The two of them make a great, but very unlikely, pair.

I thought that the story was very well done. I was really invested in the mystery and couldn't wait to see how things would work out. The sigils added a nice element to their quest to get to the bottom of things. I found the police to also be well done. I found the book to be really exciting and quite often hard to put down.

Luke Daniels did a fantastic job with the narration. I liked the different voices that he used and thought that he did an especially great job with the voice app that Al often uses. He added a lot of excitement to the story and was able to capture each character's personality in his reading. I am glad that I decided to go with the audiobook for this story.

I would recommend this book to others. It was a very well done story with a new spin on some familiar elements. I cannot wait to go on future adventures with Al and Buck!

I received a digital review copy of this book from Random House Publishing - Del Rey via NetGalley and purchased a copy of the audiobook.

Yup, Keven Hearne still has it in him. Hearne’s Iron Druid Chronicles was amazing and if one has not read them I advise you to do so. These new series is within the Iron Druid world but is a new cast of characters and different in terms of plot, story, and the “ink” magic which to me is fascinating. Once again the world building, the characters, the humor, etc. is all these and I love it. Now, if you are not a fan of Hearne’s Iron Druid then I would say you may want to pass on this one.

Kevin Hearne is at it again! Ink & Sigil is what happens when an author takes his love of beautifully crafted pens, potent ink, tasty tipples, characters full of shenanigans and infuses them with both the delightfully complex Glaswegian accent and magic. Chock-full of adventure and liberally flavored with humor and clever word-play, this is an absolute gem of a story!

Set in the same universe as the Iron Druid series, the characters are amazingly multifaceted and nuanced. Al is an unusual protagonist for urban fantasy. He's in his 60's with the gray hair and the arthritis of a life well lived, he's a widower who misses his wife, but isn't wrecked by the grief; and while he's lost relationships due to a curse which has made him functionally mute, he's built a family regardless. There's Nadia the accountant who moonlights as a pit-fighter, Saxon Codpiece the hacker, and the recently hired Buck Foi, hobgoblin and Fae refugee.

As the blurb states, Al MacBharris has a magical talent. He's one of only 5 sigil agents in the world, people who use the power in special inks and ornate designs called sigils to enforce magical contracts and to augment physical objects. Gordie was the latest of Al's seven apprentices to die, all by odd misadventures. When Al discovers the hobgoblin Buck Foi in Gordie's flat in a cage, the latest victim of apparent Fae trafficking, he cannot let it continue. Unfortunately, Buck implicates one of the gods of the Fae and Al's own investigations uncovers that a human black ops lab is involved.Trafficking, human or Fae is a convoluted problem and Al and Buck need to work together while avoiding the police's interest.

Due to the heavy use of Glaswegian slang, the author kindly provides a pronunciation guide at the beginning. If accents in writing are not your reading taste, I highly recommend the audiobook. Narrated by the highly talented Luke Daniels, this is a story that is a absolute delight to the ears!

Such a creative story that allows old magics to exist in the modern world. Great characters and developed well with a plot that continues to move from beginning to end. I will definitely read the next book in the series.