First Lines Fridays is a weekly feature for book lovers hosted by Wandering Words. What if instead of judging a book by its cover, its author or its prestige, we judged it by its opening lines?
- Pick a book off your shelf (it could be your current read or on your TBR) and open to the first page
- Copy the first few lines, but don’t give anything else about the book away just yet – you need to hook the reader first
- Finally… reveal the book!
Got it? Okay let’s go! Here is the quote…
“While this wasn’t the first time Isolde Wilby had broken into a shop, it was perhaps her most spontaneous invasion.”
Do you know this one?
This is the second in a series
It is a fantasy mystery
Have you guessed?
Yes? No?
Give up?
Here it is!
A Tangle of Time
Goodreads Summary:
As the nation’s foremost investigators of the paranormal, Isolde and Warren Wilby are accustomed to bumping up against things that go bump in the night. They have made quite a name for themselves as the detectives of the uncanny, the monstrous, the strange. After a decade of wedded bliss and dozens of fantastical adventures, there is little in the world that can still surprise them.
But when a famous artist dies under suspicious circumstances, Isolde finds herself investigating a murder that may not have happened, and a crime scene that seems to shift beneath her feet. Not one to be easily thwarted, Isolde is compelled to take greater and greater risks in pursuit of her elusive answers. Meanwhile, the laws that govern magic appear to be breaking, and those cracks are spreading to the everyday world.
The mystery will carry the devoted duo to seedy underworlds, enchanted gardens, and subterranean military zoos. Old friends will come to the Wilbies’ aid as they infiltrate secret societies, battle vicious imps, and flee from a pack of venomous wolves. Equipped with Isolde’s hexes, Warren’s muscle, and an enchanted bag full of magical relics, the Hexologists will have to risk life and limb to unravel the riddle at the heart of A Tangle of Time.
I enjoyed this second book in this series, although it did drag a little bit in the middle. It also could have used a bit more of the dragon Felivox. The plot was deliciously hard to figure out, although I did get there a little bit before Isolde did. This is not so much a time travel story as one of divergent timelines. But that is what made this such an interesting story. I enjoyed watching Isolde figure out what exactly was going on. The relationship between Isolde and Warren was also a lot of fun. I love how they work together. The ending on this one was quite exciting and I was a bit worried that Berbiton and everyone who lived there wasn’t going to survive. A very well done second book in this series, and I am really looking forward to reading the next one, hopefully next year.
If you have not yet read the first book in the series, The Hexologists, then check out my review here.
Until next time…
Confessions of a Serial Reader 