Review: Night's Black Agents by Daniel Humphreys

Yesterday was Halloween, so we still have time for a ghost story.

If you don't recall, a few weeks ago, we reviewed Dan Humphreys first Paxton Locke novel, [easyazon_link identifier="B07D2XZ25Y" locale="US" tag="upstreamreviews-20"]Fade[/easyazon_link]. It was a fun variant of everything you love about Harry Dresden. Magic used in inventive ways. Much snark. Solid fight scenes. It's all in the review.

And now, we have the sequel, [easyazon_link identifier="B07F3FV6JH" locale="US" tag="upstreamreviews-20"]Night's Black Agents[/easyazon_link].

Let's just say we should all be grateful book 3 and 4 are already out.

Why? We'll get to that.

The story

SPOILER ALERT FOR FADE.

So, at the end of Fade, the creature that spawned Paxton Locke, his Mother, escaped from jail. With the support of her groupies, they had themselves a little jail break.

But Paxton has neither the time or the resources to hunt her down on his own. Not yet anyway. He's got a cop friend in Arizona with a problem that only Paxton can help with.

The book has two arcs. One is a subplot detailing the travails of Mother Dearest after her escape from supermax in the last novel -- as well as the hunt by Humphreys own version of the Monster Control Bureau -- only with a different mission.

Our main plot follows Paxton hot on the trail of a magical murderer. The book opens only a week after the end of Fade. (Even Harry Dresden gets more time to rest.) And it begins with "I was halfway through a stack of pancakes when the dead guy walked in the door." Probably the best opening line since "The building was on fire, but it wasn't my fault." (Yes, I hate to open with comparing it to a line from [easyazon_link identifier="B000WH7PLS" locale="US" tag="upstreamreviews-20"]The Dresden[/easyazon_link] Files, but really, it's one of the few works I can compare it to. One of the lines in the novel is literally "With the exception of magic, the only real talent I had was taking a beating." -- tell me that doesn't sound like Jim Butcher.)

We open with a random encounter ... which will become less random over time. Because this random encounter sees Paxton for what he is, and sees him as a snack.

And this is just the opening.

There are a lot of "oh crap" moments like this scattered throughout my notes. Looking at notes I made on the kindle, many of my comments even at the start of the book are "Oy." "Oh crap," "Aw f***", and "What do you mean she has groupies!?" et al. (By the way, a line for Larry Correia fans: "Forensic accounting, it seemed, was a class of sorcery all its own.")

It's even worse when Mother Dearest turns into Kilgrave from [easyazon_link identifier="B01LXDYRYO" locale="US" tag="upstreamreviews-20"]Jessica Jones[/easyazon_link], only creepier.

And all these comments are from Chapter 1. It just gets better from there.

Of course, Dan has great lines to put a backspin on tropes. As Paxton describes his world: "Sheer moments of terror followed by hours of law enforcement shouting." And there are a bunch of ... re-purposed lines from classic Star Wars (as opposed to EU novel Star Wars; as we all know, there were no other films).

And all of the one-liners are fun: "an orphaned teenager with sudden-onset wizard syndrome was a fertile field for the corrupting possibility of power," or even the casual "Buddy, you're about the ninth worst thing I've seen this week."

And the feds hunting Mother actually serves to tie the main arc plot very neatly back to the primary plot for the individual novel. Overall, it's a great balance of series arc and book plot.

(If the author is reading this review: "So, what, you think this is the end of the world?"

"Maybe. Dogs and cats living together, mass hysteria. Fire and brimstone."

Ahem.... smartass).

Now here comes the boom.

So, why did I wait so long to review this? Because this ends on a cliffhanger.

Imagine the first time you ever saw The Empire Strikes Back. Now imagine if it stopped at the point where Luke was dangling in mid-air in Cloud city, Han is still frozen in carbonite, and the last we saw of the Millennium Falcon, it was being chased by TIE-fighters into the clouds. That's what the end of this book felt like. The last note I made on the book was two words, and they are often favored by Samuel L. Jackson.

Don't worry. Lucky for you, book three is already out. So if you enjoy [easyazon_link identifier="B07F3FV6JH" locale="US" tag="upstreamreviews-20"]Night's Black Agents[/easyazon_link] (and you will) you can go straight into book three.

The characters

This time, Paxton Locke isn't carrying the book entirely on his own. There are some law enforcement types hunting Mommy Dearest.

Now, I really must compliment Dan on making an interesting federal agency to hunt black magic. These are obviously fictional feds, as the characters are colorful, interesting and entertaining. Also, to add to the humor, they're attached to ATF (or BATFE, if you want to be picky).  I guess black magic is a sort of firearm. They have their own R and D section, complete with the sort of mad tinkerers you'd expect to be working in Q's lab.

The world

Hell, to be perfectly honest, while I tend to skip the sections on the villains (which is a mistake I made for the Honor Harrington series... oops) Humphreys manages to make these sections readable and tolerable, but more importantly, relevant to the plot as a whole. This is the point where Humphreys fits in magical mechanics in a way that doesn't make your eyes bleed. Hell, who am I kidding? He actually takes the time and effort to MAKE MAGIC MAKE SENSE. (I'm not naming names, JK). Mother Dearest turns into a little bit of a Final Fantasy villain, but it makes more sense in book 3. Not to mention that the Mother subplot is put to great effect when the villain of the week is enough to make her nervous. And Humphreys does a great job of slow world building. Just casual references to gremlins on satellites, or magical abilities of X or Y person.

The politics

[easyazon_link identifier="B07F3FV6JH" locale="US" tag="upstreamreviews-20"]Night's Black Agents[/easyazon_link] likes cops who do their jobs, but not the government hacks who oversee them. Guns are considered a plus, if only because it helps to have stopping power when you're battling things from the abyss.

Content warning

This one is a little more of a horror novel than the last book.

Who is it for?

Anyone who enjoys Larry Correia's [easyazon_link identifier="B00APA1GJE" locale="US" tag="upstreamreviews-20"]Monster Hunter International[/easyazon_link] or Jim Butcher's [easyazon_link identifier="B000WH7PLS" locale="US" tag="upstreamreviews-20"]Dresden Files[/easyazon_link] will love this book. It makes good use of magics, weapons and tactics, and snark.

Why read it?

Like everything Daniel Humphreys does, it brings new and inventive ideas into Urban Fantasy, magic, and action, along with an uplifting, positive attitude fighting the forces of Hell