Angelina

The Dead Realm #1

by Joel Shepherd

Angelina is Ulani. A breed of magical assassins, created by the Pope a thousand years ago to protect the Church from power-hungry magicians. At age twelve, Ange ran away from Milan to London. The Ulani wanted too much from her. Starace in particular, the clan patriarch, saw potentials in her, dark powers, that she was not prepared to entertain. In London she lived like a wealthy street kid, learning English, making her way as the hired help of an overworked police force. Something evil crawling about your neighbourhood that the cops can't handle on their own? That'll be five thousand pounds, please. She made friends in London, and a life. Powered by dark magic and a darker sense of humour, it's more than many had expected of her. But then her best friend Lacey was killed in a fight between the two great magical alliances of the time, the Togova, and the Shtaal. Shtaal magicians yelled 'Leventhal!' as they entered the pub, blasting away with wands and staves, and leaving Lacey dead in their wake. For Eli Leventhal, the leader of the Shtaal Alliance. Leventhal lives in New York, in some great midtown tower, high above the common people. One of the richest men in the world, and one of the only two surviving Grand Magisters, of a class and power far beyond the imaginings of regular magicians. He's been alive for over two thousand years, it's said, and all in that time, many people have tried unsuccessfully to kill him. No matter. Ange likes a challenge. For a tall street-kid Ulani possessed of dark power and darker rage, moral things are always simple. Why, then, does everyone insist on making her mission of revenge so difficult? Like Meisha Wing, Leventhal's blind magician lawyer, who would be sweet if she weren't so deadly. Or Andrew Crosby, Leventhal's mean bodyguard and personal assistant, rescued from the magical streets of Chicago where if the gangsters don't get you, the vampires will. Or the mysterious boy Jamie with the heart-melting smile, whose twin sister Tori, a friend of Leventhal, died under suspicious circumstances. But Leventhal is not alone among wizards in Manhattan. Down the road lives Riley, the world's other remaining Grand Magister. He's the Mayor of New York, and the leader of the Togova Alliance, against whom Leventhal has been at war for a thousand years. And when ancient, prophecised forces appear that will up-end the magical world for good, it begins a struggle for supremacy between the world's last remaining great wizards that could destroy reality itself. Reviews

"Joel Shepherd is one of the most dynamic writers working in the field today. Each of his books blends pulse-pounding action with mind-blowng concepts and a deep understanding of the complications of the human heart. He is one of our very best." Lou Anders, author of Frostborn and Hugo-award winning editor.

Cover Model

Karina Bik

Genres: Fantasy, Urban Fantasy

288 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 16, 2023

About the author

Joel Shepherd is an Australian science fiction author. He moved to Perth, Western Australia with his family when he was seven, where he later studied film and television arts at Curtin University. He now lives in Adelaide.

Reviews

[Ricki]

Are you sure Joel Shepherd wrote this, because it’s not very good.
Cliched and clunky

[Dale (Aus) · Rating 5 out of 5]

great new world

This is a great new world by one of my favourite authors. Loved the characters and the setting. The world building was interesting and the story has lots more to look forward to. I will be reading more of these if they come.

[Dave · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF

[Johan Kristensson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not my cup of tea. Rather bland opening and middle partly saved by some nice twists towards the end.

[Vladimir Tsurkan · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's probably good for 12 year olds?

It was wrong for me to buy this book - not sure where but it should be indicated that this is children's book (maybe early teens).

[Tony Hisgett · Rating 1 out of 5]

A great first chapter, I would definitely give it 5 stars, unfortunately it starts to go downhill after that. Apart from Angelina being a bit stupid, I really didn’t like the way the story was going. The author wanted Angelina to be part of Grand Magister Leventhal’s organisation, but he could have found a better way than slavery.
The big problem was the story lost its way, or I should say it turned into one I really didn’t want to read, too comic book and dumbed down.
At some point somebody says;
“this is like being back in high school. No, primary school."
Unfortunately that is pretty much where the book went. To be fair after the first chapter the rest of the book was probably always going to be a disappointment.