Broken Roads: A Cormac and Amelia Story

Cormac and Amelia

by Carrie Vaughn, Neil Hellegers (narrator)

Cormac, a former bounty hunter of supernatural creatures, and Amelia, the essence of a Victorian wizard who survived her own execution and now shares his body, have settled down to a quiet life in the country.

Or so they think.

On a proverbial dark and stormy night, a visitor in trouble lands on their doorstep: Odysseus Grant, a magician with secrets. A dangerous demon has escaped his control, and he needs their help capturing it. Reluctantly, Cormac and Amelia agree --

And get thrown across space, time, and alternate dimensions, on a journey far outside their wheelhouse and abilities, full of weird magic, strange creatures, and even some old friends. All they can do is work together and hope they make their way home, sooner rather than later.

Genres: Urban Fantasy, Fantasy, Mystery, Vampires, Magic

Audio CD

First published January 18, 2024

About the author

Carrie Vaughn is the author more than twenty novels and over a hundred short stories. She's best known for her New York Times bestselling series of novels about a werewolf named Kitty who hosts a talk radio advice show for the supernaturally disadvantaged. In 2018, she won the Philip K. Dick Award for Bannerless, a post-apocalyptic murder mystery. She's published over 20 novels and 100 short stories, two of which have been finalists for the Hugo Award. She's a contributor to the Wild Cards series of shared world superhero books edited by George R. R. Martin and a graduate of the Odyssey Fantasy Writing Workshop.

An Air Force brat, she survived her nomadic childhood and managed to put down roots in Boulder, Colorado, where she collects hobbies.

Visit her at www.carrievaughn.com

For writing advice and essays, check out her Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/carrievaughn

Reviews

[Mary Heron · Rating 5 out of 5]

Always fun to catch up with these characters.

Cormac and.Amelia.just be two of.the.most intriguing characters ever devised in a work of fiction. Cormac is a former Mercenary/Hunter who made.his.living by hunting down supernatural creatures (mainly werewolves) and.killing them. His.life.changed forever when he accepted a contract to kill a female werewolf (the infamous Kitty Norville) which changed his life forever. Amelia is (for want of a better word) a witch, she was imprisoned and executed as a witch in the eighteen hundreds. The two "meet" when Cormac is imprisoned for manslaughter in the same prison Amelia "haunts" there is also a deadly demonic enmity killing inmates. Cormac agrees to work with Amelia destroying this demon if he agrees to help her leave the prison (something she is unable to.do alone) Cormac agrees not realising that in order to achieve this Amelia will have to enter Cormac's body. So..............ever since the two have lived together inside Cormac's brain. Cormac was very unhappy with this situation and took a while to reconcile to having a voice.in his head constantly monitoring his actions, but gradually he adapted and came to accept the situation till Amelia.became.an essential part of his.life. They now earn their.living.solving magical problems, hauntings, demonic possession that sort of thing. Very entertaining Cormac Is a great character.........as those who read the Kitty Norville series will know.......and it's great to see he (sort of) got his happily ever after...................

[Ami · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think, compared to the previous four novellas, this one brought more characters from the original Kitty Norville series (which I didn't read).

I didn't find it very troublesome though - I mean, there was a glimpse of information about these characters. Besides the event in which Cormac met them in this series was, well, through time travel. Which means they are NOT the characters that everyone meet in the Kitty Norville series.

I enjoyed the story ... it was fun reading Cormac and Amelia got thrown to different time and space, and trying to find their way back home. That epilogue also felt nice.

[Darcy · Rating 4 out of 5]

These Cormac and Amelia stories are always so fun, they seem to get into really weird troubles and this one is no different. When Odysseus Grant shows up at Cormac's house things go to shit pretty fast. Cormac ends up calling on other magicians for help and that ends with him and Amelia seemingly going through time, running into people familiar withing the Kitty/Cormac world, which is fun. More fun when after everything is said and done Cormac reaches out to these people to see if they remember way back when, wanting to know if things were real. Loved the last person Cormac was having a drink with and talking to. You know if they told Kitty, she would be so mad/jealous that she didn't get to hear the tales.

[Garnet Hughes · Rating 5 out of 5]

Time travel when least expected

Odysseus Grant comes to Cormac and tells him a monster that had been magically locked up had escaped and was hunting him. Cormac goes to Judi and Frida for help returning the monster to its own time. While they are doing a spell to communicate with the monster, Grant mucks up the spell and sends Cormac and Amelia into the past. Trying to return homd, they end up in multiple alternate realities and meet some good and bad people along the way.. A grear story. Hopefully more Cormac and Amelia stories to come in the future.

[Mike Kanner · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is another great story about one of the unique pairings: a former mercenary vampire hunter who has a 19th-century English witch coexisting in his head (that is as simple as I can get). Caught in a spell gone bad, they end up jumping across time.

My only complaint is that I would have liked more time spent during each of their jumps. Each storyline is intriguing, and I would have liked to see Vaughn explore them further.

[Theresa Materazzi · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was actually read in one sitting on a vacation flight to Cozumel!

I can not get enough of these!

I want more!! I love my Kitty books but these Cormac and Amelia stories have me just not putting the books down until I finish the book!
Thank you Carrie for another fab story!!

[Nancy · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Cormac and Amelia stories have been an extremely satisfying post-Kitty Norville venture. Carrie Vaughn is able to write different characters in extremely different voices, which is really not something everyone can do. Looking forward to this saga continuing.

[annapi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cormac and Amelia are thrown back in time and have to try to make their way back home. They meet some interesting people on their journey, including vampires they are acquainted with in the present. I enjoy this novella series and hope that one day Vaughn will write a full length novel for them.

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really nice vignette

Cormac and Amelia are interrupted in the middle of a storm by Odysseus Grant, asking them to help protect him from a demon. Of course, nothing is as it seems, and they end up taking an unexpected trip through time and space to put things right. Good story!

[Pedro Marroquín · Rating 3 out of 5]

El peor libro de esta serie. Un continuo viaje en el tiempo buscando volver a su vida y al mismo tiempo huyendo de un enemigo mágico. Y los viajes son aburridos y el enemigo un alma de la caridad. Evitable. Solo destacable los encuentros con los vampiros. C-

[Spiderorchid · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Cormac and Amelia stories keep getting better (and they already started great with that amazing setup) - can't wait for the next one! :)

[Bonny Fuller-Fells · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cormac is sent back in time

Taking part in a ritual with other magicians. Cormac steps forward when it starts to go wrong. He finds himself in the past and has to go home.

[Warren · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful

A great story with the right amount of magic and supernatural. As with any short story you want more. Lots more.

[Caz · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a rollercoaster

Fantastic absolutely loving these books need more much more. It’s quite wonderful seeing the story unfold from both perspectives. Highly entertaining. Enjoy

[Trish B · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve really enjoyed the previous Cormac & Amelia books, and this latest one was just as good. Cormac and Amelia agree to help out an old acquaintance/ friend in trouble, but things don’t go quite to plan… This story takes a slightly unusual turn from the ‘typical’ urban fantasy, and was very entertaining. Nice to see references to characters from previous books too.

[Theresa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Broken Roads (A Cormac and Amelia Story)
by Carrie Vaughn
Magic has its cost. Cormac and Amelia are drawn into an adventure that spans centuries to try to help an new acquaintance. They have to face the best of poetic drama, the largest of their adventures, only to free something otherworldly at a temple. This book leads connection to other books by Carrie Vaughn, and hits at some of the history of her more popular characters.
The audio book is a great production with good voice, and presentation.

[Glennis · Rating 4 out of 5]

review to come

Another great story about Cormac and Amelia. When Odysseus shows up at their place, the trouble he brings may be more than they can handle. Part of the fight to contain the demon has them traveling back in time and when they do that, they bump into vampires from the Kitty universe books. A good story and the ending of the story is great.