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Jonathan Shade #4
Anubis Nights
A STOLEN SPELL
A dead sorcerer in the Underworld named Henry Winslow, a contemporary of Aleister Crowley and former member of The Golden Dawn, steals a spell from The Forbidden Texts in order to fulfill the prophecy of the Thrice Born. He divides himself into three aspects and goes back in time to steal the Emerald Tablets of Thoth from the Great Pyramid of Giza. He wants true immortality and to change the course of history.
A MODERN CHAMPION
Jonathan Shade’s old friend, Sharon, shows up with the master of time, Chronos, to send Jonathan and his team into the past to find and kill Winslow.
First stop: ancient Egypt
Jonathan and Kelly arrive in Egypt during the reign of King Tutankhamun. As they appear from nothing, they are mistaken for gods, but when Tut is murdered during a chariot race, things get out of control.
At stake is, well, everything. Because if Winslow succeeds, the world as we know it will no longer exist, wiped from the sands of time…
A dead sorcerer in the Underworld named Henry Winslow, a contemporary of Aleister Crowley and former member of The Golden Dawn, steals a spell from The Forbidden Texts in order to fulfill the prophecy of the Thrice Born. He divides himself into three aspects and goes back in time to steal the Emerald Tablets of Thoth from the Great Pyramid of Giza. He wants true immortality and to change the course of history.
A MODERN CHAMPION
Jonathan Shade’s old friend, Sharon, shows up with the master of time, Chronos, to send Jonathan and his team into the past to find and kill Winslow.
First stop: ancient Egypt
Jonathan and Kelly arrive in Egypt during the reign of King Tutankhamun. As they appear from nothing, they are mistaken for gods, but when Tut is murdered during a chariot race, things get out of control.
At stake is, well, everything. Because if Winslow succeeds, the world as we know it will no longer exist, wiped from the sands of time…
298 pages, Kindle Edition
First published October 21, 2014
61 people are currently reading
66 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews
April 30, 2017
Anubis Nights (Jonathan Shade #4) by Gary Jonas takes Jonathan Shade and Kelly time traveling. This starts a three book series that I read in one day! I couldn't stop. I had to know what was going to happen next. I am so into these characters, esp. the ghost character Ester. She is my favorite. She is tied to a typewriter/ typewriter key now. There is so much suspense, action, a touch of romance, and heart break, and time travel that makes my head spin in a good way. Anything can happen and so many unexpected things do. Wonderful book.
October 23, 2016
I enjoyed the journey through time with Jonathan and friends. We start in Egypt and meet King Tutt. Cool! We get to see through many eyes as they live in different moments of time looking for our man who's in three aspects. We see through Jonathan and Kelly as they are in Egypt, Brand with Esther in 1870's, and Rayna in 1929. It's great as they all have important events that need to be shared and they all have personal troubles we want to know about.
****FULL REVIEW****
*This audiobook was provided by the author, narrator, or publisher at no cost in exchange for an unbiased review courtesy of AudiobookBlast dot com, at my request.
The one person Jonathan swore he'd kill if he saw again has arrived to call on Jonathan's payment due to the Ferryman. Sharon needs Jonathan to travel through time with the help of Chronos, the keeper of time, to stop three versions of sorcerer Winslow before he changes all that they know.
Joe Hempel is the voice of Jonathan Shade as he returns in this fourth novel. He feels to really be Jonathan to me with his emotion, sarcasm, and more that hits the mark with Jonathan's words. Joe's audio is clear and flawless to my ears. Not much more I can say but I enjoy his narration of Jonathan.
I like that we start with the characters where they are and how they feel now. Terrible things have happened to a few characters in the end of the last book, and they are dealing with the results. In seeing them now we also get a reminder of what happened, and how horrible it was for them.
Jonathan is definitely back to himself and moved through much of his concerns in the last book. I have to smile when the crew act up together. They all have an individual sense of humor that they all thrive off of, bringing more out of each person. When Sharon tries to explain about Henry Winslow they frustrate her with their wandering focus and jokes. But it's funny 'watching' them act as kids at this moment but know very well they are understanding and will get the job done when time comes.
This novel is in a different format from the previous books. We get POV from different characters - Jonathan, Kelly, Brand, and Rayna. They are in different areas and times in the world looking for our man who's in three aspects, this format lets us see what's happening in those places until they reunite. There is a lot of story of the different characters in their time, waiting for the others to arrive. All find troubles they need to struggle through, and stay alive, along with personal struggles too. I enjoyed the journey through time with Jonathan and friends. Jonathan and Kelly are in Egypt, Brand with Esther in 1870's, and Rayna in 1929. We start in Egypt and meet King Tutt. Cool!
I really started to worry that things would not work out or come to the end I was expecting. Gary is known for this in his previous books. So when I started to get nervous, I was also getting excited to see his twist to the ending ~ something Gary does not let me down at. The ending comes at us fast, and we are left on a bit of a cliffhanger here. The overall missions are not completed in this book and it leaves you looking for the next book (which is out in ebook and print). We do get through Jonathan's time frame completely though.
Oh, I'm waiting for the next book in audio, even though the ebook is out... hmm... maybe I'll get the ebook? lol. I will be looking for the rest of the books!
****FULL REVIEW****
*This audiobook was provided by the author, narrator, or publisher at no cost in exchange for an unbiased review courtesy of AudiobookBlast dot com, at my request.
The one person Jonathan swore he'd kill if he saw again has arrived to call on Jonathan's payment due to the Ferryman. Sharon needs Jonathan to travel through time with the help of Chronos, the keeper of time, to stop three versions of sorcerer Winslow before he changes all that they know.
Joe Hempel is the voice of Jonathan Shade as he returns in this fourth novel. He feels to really be Jonathan to me with his emotion, sarcasm, and more that hits the mark with Jonathan's words. Joe's audio is clear and flawless to my ears. Not much more I can say but I enjoy his narration of Jonathan.
I like that we start with the characters where they are and how they feel now. Terrible things have happened to a few characters in the end of the last book, and they are dealing with the results. In seeing them now we also get a reminder of what happened, and how horrible it was for them.
Jonathan is definitely back to himself and moved through much of his concerns in the last book. I have to smile when the crew act up together. They all have an individual sense of humor that they all thrive off of, bringing more out of each person. When Sharon tries to explain about Henry Winslow they frustrate her with their wandering focus and jokes. But it's funny 'watching' them act as kids at this moment but know very well they are understanding and will get the job done when time comes.
This novel is in a different format from the previous books. We get POV from different characters - Jonathan, Kelly, Brand, and Rayna. They are in different areas and times in the world looking for our man who's in three aspects, this format lets us see what's happening in those places until they reunite. There is a lot of story of the different characters in their time, waiting for the others to arrive. All find troubles they need to struggle through, and stay alive, along with personal struggles too. I enjoyed the journey through time with Jonathan and friends. Jonathan and Kelly are in Egypt, Brand with Esther in 1870's, and Rayna in 1929. We start in Egypt and meet King Tutt. Cool!
I really started to worry that things would not work out or come to the end I was expecting. Gary is known for this in his previous books. So when I started to get nervous, I was also getting excited to see his twist to the ending ~ something Gary does not let me down at. The ending comes at us fast, and we are left on a bit of a cliffhanger here. The overall missions are not completed in this book and it leaves you looking for the next book (which is out in ebook and print). We do get through Jonathan's time frame completely though.
Oh, I'm waiting for the next book in audio, even though the ebook is out... hmm... maybe I'll get the ebook? lol. I will be looking for the rest of the books!
March 9, 2017
(Reviewed the audio version)
Woo, boy. First things first, I love Joe Hempel's narration. The man is talented, and has a silver tongue for sure. I would listen to him read the phone book. Bad news is that for the latter half of this book, I wish I had been. Spoilers, spoilers everywhere, though I'll try to keep them to a minimum.
It starts off fine, picking up where the last Shade book left off. Sharon, otherwise known as Charon the ferryman, appears to Jonathan with a friend of hers: Cronos. It seems a wizard by the name of Winslow has somehow split himself up into three pieces in an attempt to change history. Only someone "perfectly balanced" can stop him. Sharon says that Jonathan still owes her a favor even though she BETRAYED him which ended in his friends' deaths before and he went back in time through spirit travel to save them. Now, of course, the world is in danger from a time traveling wizard and Jonathan is tapped to go save it.
There is a long convoluted explanation of how to get magic to work with Jonathan which I don't need to go over here save that it requires his friends, so he can piggyback along with them. Amazingly, Esther, Rayna, Kelly, and Brand agree within two hours with minimal arguing to go.
Kelly and Jonathan go to ancient Egypt, Brand and Esther to 1877, and Rayna to the 1920's. It's set up in such a way that when Kelly & Jonathan kill the aspect of Winslow in ancient Egypt, they go forward to Brand in 1877, and when the aspect of Winslow there is dead, they all go forward to Rayna, pulling Jonathan along if he's in physical contact. Time passes normally for all no matter what time they are in. In other words, if Kelly and Jonathan take a week to kill Winslow, a week passes in 1877 and the 1920's as well. Yes, I have to explain this set up in order to explain why I'm so disappointed and upset in this book.
Yes, this is also incomplete. Instead of being one book, this is a trilogy within a series, which I think was a mistake. It's... it's very disappointing, and yeah, he does end this particular one on a cliffhanger.
The book is split into four narratives. As with Dragon Gate, those who are not Jonathan or Kelly are told in the third person POV. I have NO idea why it's split up that way. It's a little jarring until you get used to it. I am, however, very happy to see Brand and Rayna's POV so we know what's going on with them as the story progresses. The main focus is on Jonathan and Kelly though.
Initially, they arrived, passed themselves off as powerful visitors (and there was a whole thing about ancient Egyptian garb that took up a whole chapter and then it was just "Nah, we're going to go in our street clothes". Wat? Why waste our time like that?) and in general got along well with King Tut and his Queen. There's some sexual tension between them, which made my one eye twitch, but Jonathan kept reminding himself about his girlfriend Rayna. Good. Few days pass and Winslow arrives in the Egyptian court! Problem solved. Initially Kelly is all gung ho to kill him, but Jonathan wants to talk to him to get information. Not a bad idea! Winslow points out something to them that I had assumed was simply handwaving before because it was SO OBVIOUS. But evidently, something so vital such as returning to their own time warranted no questions from the gang to Cronos or Charon. Especially after Charon had already proved themselves unworthy.
Alright, fine, there's stuff happening in the other timelines that we see, so of course Kelly and Jonathan kill Winslow's aspect and get to Brand's time, right? To do the mission? No. Kelly convinces Jonathan to stay after King Tut dies to help out his Queen. She wants to help her find a new king not of the court in Egypt, but a foreign court in order to maintain power. Jonathan agrees. The time spent to do this? At least seventy days. Minimum. This is where I stopped listening for a while because it angered me so much. Brand and Rayna are in trouble. The audience knows this. No, the characters don't, but the audience does. So, staying for the thinnest of reasons for nothing that helps them on their mission and could change the timeline and perhaps cause trouble (maybe not, but maybe it could) while leaving their friends on their own for at least seventy days... was a terrible, selfish move. I read it as the author wanting Jonathan and Kelly a chance to be alone for that long so they could have a romance, but since it's through a character filter... to me it reads like Kelly is manipulating Jonathan, whether consciously or subconsciously, in order to meet her own agenda of getting together with Jonathan. Oh, his girlfriend? Who cares. Friends who are hunting down a dangerous wizard (his two aspects left) on their own? Who cares.
That was the gutpunch. Not only did it destroy one of the best portrayals of a platonic friendship between a man and a woman in ANY piece of fiction I've ever read (Kelly & Jonathan's friendship), but it completely destroyed Kelly's character for me, and I loved Kelly! This was a betrayal on the level of Anita Blake's ardeur (or arduer, however it's spelled this week--if you don't know what I'm referring to there, you're lucky). Destroyed her character? Simply because she loved Jonathan? No. Because she completely disregarded Rayna's feelings on the matter, Jonathan's relationship, and the mission! It was like she was replaced with someone else entirely. Yes, she'd been through changes. Yes, she was more uncertain because of injuries, but would she make the huge, HUGE mistake to leave Winslow behind in the Egyptian court while they left for two months?! Would Jonathan? Where's his hard edge and his, you know, common sense? The last part of the book had me headdesking during the ancient Egypt section. They left their friends hanging for Two. Months. It was implied that more time than that passed, too. And you know what for? Nothing. It was all for nothing.
Rayna's voice also had troubles. The way she was written... she sounded more like a female Jonathan than her voice from Dragon Gate. Brand's segments were the saving grace for me (and the beginning, which was fine). Brand made mistakes too, but at least we got to see a different side of him which was believable, and then that side played into him making his mistake. He was more serious in this book, which I both liked and didn't like. I kind of like his juvenile sense of humor.
Unfortunately, the book ended on a cliffhanger which deals with my favorite character, Brand. Because of that and Joe Hempel's fantastic narration, I'll have to pick up Sunset Spectres, reluctantly. Again, it's akin to picking up Cerulean Sins after Narcissus in Chains in the Anita Blake series. Maybe it'll fix itself in the next one. Maybe things will make more sense. Maybe it'll all be OK?
You can tell how much it upset me by the length of the review. I still feel like I was sucker punched.
Woo, boy. First things first, I love Joe Hempel's narration. The man is talented, and has a silver tongue for sure. I would listen to him read the phone book. Bad news is that for the latter half of this book, I wish I had been. Spoilers, spoilers everywhere, though I'll try to keep them to a minimum.
It starts off fine, picking up where the last Shade book left off. Sharon, otherwise known as Charon the ferryman, appears to Jonathan with a friend of hers: Cronos. It seems a wizard by the name of Winslow has somehow split himself up into three pieces in an attempt to change history. Only someone "perfectly balanced" can stop him. Sharon says that Jonathan still owes her a favor even though she BETRAYED him which ended in his friends' deaths before and he went back in time through spirit travel to save them. Now, of course, the world is in danger from a time traveling wizard and Jonathan is tapped to go save it.
There is a long convoluted explanation of how to get magic to work with Jonathan which I don't need to go over here save that it requires his friends, so he can piggyback along with them. Amazingly, Esther, Rayna, Kelly, and Brand agree within two hours with minimal arguing to go.
Kelly and Jonathan go to ancient Egypt, Brand and Esther to 1877, and Rayna to the 1920's. It's set up in such a way that when Kelly & Jonathan kill the aspect of Winslow in ancient Egypt, they go forward to Brand in 1877, and when the aspect of Winslow there is dead, they all go forward to Rayna, pulling Jonathan along if he's in physical contact. Time passes normally for all no matter what time they are in. In other words, if Kelly and Jonathan take a week to kill Winslow, a week passes in 1877 and the 1920's as well. Yes, I have to explain this set up in order to explain why I'm so disappointed and upset in this book.
Yes, this is also incomplete. Instead of being one book, this is a trilogy within a series, which I think was a mistake. It's... it's very disappointing, and yeah, he does end this particular one on a cliffhanger.
The book is split into four narratives. As with Dragon Gate, those who are not Jonathan or Kelly are told in the third person POV. I have NO idea why it's split up that way. It's a little jarring until you get used to it. I am, however, very happy to see Brand and Rayna's POV so we know what's going on with them as the story progresses. The main focus is on Jonathan and Kelly though.
Initially, they arrived, passed themselves off as powerful visitors (and there was a whole thing about ancient Egyptian garb that took up a whole chapter and then it was just "Nah, we're going to go in our street clothes". Wat? Why waste our time like that?) and in general got along well with King Tut and his Queen. There's some sexual tension between them, which made my one eye twitch, but Jonathan kept reminding himself about his girlfriend Rayna. Good. Few days pass and Winslow arrives in the Egyptian court! Problem solved. Initially Kelly is all gung ho to kill him, but Jonathan wants to talk to him to get information. Not a bad idea! Winslow points out something to them that I had assumed was simply handwaving before because it was SO OBVIOUS. But evidently, something so vital such as returning to their own time warranted no questions from the gang to Cronos or Charon. Especially after Charon had already proved themselves unworthy.
Alright, fine, there's stuff happening in the other timelines that we see, so of course Kelly and Jonathan kill Winslow's aspect and get to Brand's time, right? To do the mission? No. Kelly convinces Jonathan to stay after King Tut dies to help out his Queen. She wants to help her find a new king not of the court in Egypt, but a foreign court in order to maintain power. Jonathan agrees. The time spent to do this? At least seventy days. Minimum. This is where I stopped listening for a while because it angered me so much. Brand and Rayna are in trouble. The audience knows this. No, the characters don't, but the audience does. So, staying for the thinnest of reasons for nothing that helps them on their mission and could change the timeline and perhaps cause trouble (maybe not, but maybe it could) while leaving their friends on their own for at least seventy days... was a terrible, selfish move. I read it as the author wanting Jonathan and Kelly a chance to be alone for that long so they could have a romance, but since it's through a character filter... to me it reads like Kelly is manipulating Jonathan, whether consciously or subconsciously, in order to meet her own agenda of getting together with Jonathan. Oh, his girlfriend? Who cares. Friends who are hunting down a dangerous wizard (his two aspects left) on their own? Who cares.
That was the gutpunch. Not only did it destroy one of the best portrayals of a platonic friendship between a man and a woman in ANY piece of fiction I've ever read (Kelly & Jonathan's friendship), but it completely destroyed Kelly's character for me, and I loved Kelly! This was a betrayal on the level of Anita Blake's ardeur (or arduer, however it's spelled this week--if you don't know what I'm referring to there, you're lucky). Destroyed her character? Simply because she loved Jonathan? No. Because she completely disregarded Rayna's feelings on the matter, Jonathan's relationship, and the mission! It was like she was replaced with someone else entirely. Yes, she'd been through changes. Yes, she was more uncertain because of injuries, but would she make the huge, HUGE mistake to leave Winslow behind in the Egyptian court while they left for two months?! Would Jonathan? Where's his hard edge and his, you know, common sense? The last part of the book had me headdesking during the ancient Egypt section. They left their friends hanging for Two. Months. It was implied that more time than that passed, too. And you know what for? Nothing. It was all for nothing.
Rayna's voice also had troubles. The way she was written... she sounded more like a female Jonathan than her voice from Dragon Gate. Brand's segments were the saving grace for me (and the beginning, which was fine). Brand made mistakes too, but at least we got to see a different side of him which was believable, and then that side played into him making his mistake. He was more serious in this book, which I both liked and didn't like. I kind of like his juvenile sense of humor.
Unfortunately, the book ended on a cliffhanger which deals with my favorite character, Brand. Because of that and Joe Hempel's fantastic narration, I'll have to pick up Sunset Spectres, reluctantly. Again, it's akin to picking up Cerulean Sins after Narcissus in Chains in the Anita Blake series. Maybe it'll fix itself in the next one. Maybe things will make more sense. Maybe it'll all be OK?
You can tell how much it upset me by the length of the review. I still feel like I was sucker punched.
October 5, 2018
Anubis Nights, Jonathan Shade, Book 4
by Gary Jonas
Boy, am I disappointed. I have been very much enjoying this series, and was looking forward to reading the remaining 7 or 8 books currently in the series. Now, I doubt I read any more of them. There may be *****SPOILERS***** following.
Okay -- what did I like. The story contains a very interesting premise, that of a mage who has managed to split himself into 3 aspects: one existing in ancient times, one in the latter part of the 19th century and one in 1926. Chronos and Sharon/Charon look to Jonathan and his friends to travel through time, disposing of each aspect before returning to the present.
There was decent flow, and decent plotting. No grammar or spelling mistakes that I noted. The consistency of characters was a bit iffy here and there, but I could have gotten past that. Plenty of action. Plenty of plot twists.
So what didn't I like so much that I only gave the book 2 stars?
One star came off for the disjointed way Jonas structured the story. I've read other novels that utilized telling the story through multiple viewpoints, each POV having it's own chapter (for example, the Midnight Louie series). But in this one, Jonas breaks up the POV even within the chapter -- always with a header telling you whose POV you might be reading, I'll give him that -- but that means that each POV is at most a couple or three pages long. Now remember that we are working on 4 different timelines, with Jonathan and Kelly in ancient Egypt at the time of King Tut, Esther and Brand in the latter half of the 19th century, and Rayna in 1926. The ability to travel forward to meet up is based on completion of each group's mission -- to find the mage Henry Wilson, and, in chronological order, to kill him. So Kelly and Jonathan must find and kill Winslow in ancient Egypt to be pulled forward to Brand and Esther, and then find and kill Winslow in that timeframe in order for them all to be pulled forward to Rayna in 1926, the supposition would be that once Wilson was killed the third time in 1926, the entire team would return to the present. Any deviation in the plan could strand the team in whatever timeframe they were currently in when the deviation occurred. It was a bit confusing, so one star off there (it also meant that there were multiple cliffhangers throughout the novel when one or more of the team is left in a dangerous situation while the author deflects readers to a different team, without the reader knowing when or if the story would return to the in-danger team members. That was also both confusing and infuriating. One star off for that.
The final two stars came flying off when a) Jonas ends the novel with the conclusion of the first leg of the journey (Kelly and Jonathan leaving ancient Egypt), which creates a cliffhanger regarding the remaining two legs of the journey, and b) thrusting them into a dangerous situation where they are unaware of what has transpired for Brand and Esther, and c) also leaving Rayna in mortal danger in 1926. Gaaaaaahhhh.
If you follow my reviews you know I cannot abide a cliffhanger ending, so you may be able to imagine how infuriated I was to be met with multiple cliffhangers. As I see no reason to expect that Jonas will deviate from this format, dragging this story out over at least two more books, and perhaps three if the return to the present is not as the team was lead to believe by Chronos and Sharon/Charon. And, yes, I do know that all of those possible books are currently in publication and I could just buy them and read it like one very long book. I've done that in the past. I don't think I'm doing it this time. I really do believe that resorting to a cliffhanger is admission on the part of the author that he has no faith in his own ability to tell a story to a logical conclusion, and on the strength of his writing entice readers to read more of his work. If he has no faith in himself, why should I have faith in him? So, yeah, I'm taking his books off my "to-get" list on Amazon and looking forward to series I follow that don't feel a need to leave stories hanging off that literary cliff.
by Gary Jonas
Boy, am I disappointed. I have been very much enjoying this series, and was looking forward to reading the remaining 7 or 8 books currently in the series. Now, I doubt I read any more of them. There may be *****SPOILERS***** following.
Okay -- what did I like. The story contains a very interesting premise, that of a mage who has managed to split himself into 3 aspects: one existing in ancient times, one in the latter part of the 19th century and one in 1926. Chronos and Sharon/Charon look to Jonathan and his friends to travel through time, disposing of each aspect before returning to the present.
There was decent flow, and decent plotting. No grammar or spelling mistakes that I noted. The consistency of characters was a bit iffy here and there, but I could have gotten past that. Plenty of action. Plenty of plot twists.
So what didn't I like so much that I only gave the book 2 stars?
One star came off for the disjointed way Jonas structured the story. I've read other novels that utilized telling the story through multiple viewpoints, each POV having it's own chapter (for example, the Midnight Louie series). But in this one, Jonas breaks up the POV even within the chapter -- always with a header telling you whose POV you might be reading, I'll give him that -- but that means that each POV is at most a couple or three pages long. Now remember that we are working on 4 different timelines, with Jonathan and Kelly in ancient Egypt at the time of King Tut, Esther and Brand in the latter half of the 19th century, and Rayna in 1926. The ability to travel forward to meet up is based on completion of each group's mission -- to find the mage Henry Wilson, and, in chronological order, to kill him. So Kelly and Jonathan must find and kill Winslow in ancient Egypt to be pulled forward to Brand and Esther, and then find and kill Winslow in that timeframe in order for them all to be pulled forward to Rayna in 1926, the supposition would be that once Wilson was killed the third time in 1926, the entire team would return to the present. Any deviation in the plan could strand the team in whatever timeframe they were currently in when the deviation occurred. It was a bit confusing, so one star off there (it also meant that there were multiple cliffhangers throughout the novel when one or more of the team is left in a dangerous situation while the author deflects readers to a different team, without the reader knowing when or if the story would return to the in-danger team members. That was also both confusing and infuriating. One star off for that.
The final two stars came flying off when a) Jonas ends the novel with the conclusion of the first leg of the journey (Kelly and Jonathan leaving ancient Egypt), which creates a cliffhanger regarding the remaining two legs of the journey, and b) thrusting them into a dangerous situation where they are unaware of what has transpired for Brand and Esther, and c) also leaving Rayna in mortal danger in 1926. Gaaaaaahhhh.
If you follow my reviews you know I cannot abide a cliffhanger ending, so you may be able to imagine how infuriated I was to be met with multiple cliffhangers. As I see no reason to expect that Jonas will deviate from this format, dragging this story out over at least two more books, and perhaps three if the return to the present is not as the team was lead to believe by Chronos and Sharon/Charon. And, yes, I do know that all of those possible books are currently in publication and I could just buy them and read it like one very long book. I've done that in the past. I don't think I'm doing it this time. I really do believe that resorting to a cliffhanger is admission on the part of the author that he has no faith in his own ability to tell a story to a logical conclusion, and on the strength of his writing entice readers to read more of his work. If he has no faith in himself, why should I have faith in him? So, yeah, I'm taking his books off my "to-get" list on Amazon and looking forward to series I follow that don't feel a need to leave stories hanging off that literary cliff.
January 11, 2021
On wow, one book wasn't enough to contain this story. I normally like to have a totally different book between stories, so I don't get the story confused and it makes the series last longer but that will not be happening with this book and as soon as I have finished writing this review I am off to start the next book. It helps that it ended with such a cliff hanger that it doesn't feel like a new book, so he prepared if you listen to this book you will have to get the next book and what a book it is. The story jumps around in time and is told by the different characters as they face different struggles and situations on there own. I missed the camaraderie between the characters but still really enjoyed this book with all the different twists that take place. The idea of going back in time to three different locations was interesting and Egypt as a starting point was a good choice. Can't wait to see how the other locations play out.
Sharon is back and despite betraying Jonathan, when he most needed her, she still expects him to help. Henry Winslow has divided himself into three and sent each part of him back in time to find the tablets of Thoth in the hopes of gaining immortality but by doing this he is going to change history and destroy this time line. Unless Jonathan and his team each go back to a different part of time and stop him. But things with Sharon and even wizards are never that easy and each will face there own perils. Can Jonathan and Kelly survive Egypt and make it back to Brand and Ester in the 1920's?
I really like Joe Hempel as the narrator he is very talented and a pleasure to listen to. Good job because I am off to listen to him again.
I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.
Sharon is back and despite betraying Jonathan, when he most needed her, she still expects him to help. Henry Winslow has divided himself into three and sent each part of him back in time to find the tablets of Thoth in the hopes of gaining immortality but by doing this he is going to change history and destroy this time line. Unless Jonathan and his team each go back to a different part of time and stop him. But things with Sharon and even wizards are never that easy and each will face there own perils. Can Jonathan and Kelly survive Egypt and make it back to Brand and Ester in the 1920's?
I really like Joe Hempel as the narrator he is very talented and a pleasure to listen to. Good job because I am off to listen to him again.
I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.
August 21, 2018
I really enjoyed Jonathan getting to go back in time to Egypt. It was really different getting to follow everyone to the different time periods and see the different kinds of trouble they get into. I'm really enjoying the different twists to this series and seeing the different times is pretty awesome. This is another entertaining addition to a great series and Joe narrating just makes it all the more entertaining for me.
July 7, 2017
Disapointing
Main thing that irked me was the fact that allot of the story seemed forced and irrelevant, bad things happening just for the sake of drama without any specific reason. I skipped over at least a few chapters worth of text with no ill effect. I love the series, but I feel this has shaken my trust in further books unfortunately.
Main thing that irked me was the fact that allot of the story seemed forced and irrelevant, bad things happening just for the sake of drama without any specific reason. I skipped over at least a few chapters worth of text with no ill effect. I love the series, but I feel this has shaken my trust in further books unfortunately.
August 1, 2017
Jonathan, his ghost friend, and live friends are split up and sent to different times to find and eliminate 1 person.The joke may be on them...or not.Joe Hempel narrates this trip back to the time of King Tut nicely.I was provided this book free by the author,narrator or publisher for an honest review.
July 1, 2023
Shade and company are sent back in time by Charon to kill a sorcerer who upon his death split himself into 3 aspects, 1 to Egypt in the time of Tut, 1 to 1870 America and 1 to 1926.
Shade and Kelly go to Tut, Brand to 1870 and Reyna to 1926. Interesting concept of time travel, a bit of humor and of course events don't go as planned. Story continues to the next book.
Shade and Kelly go to Tut, Brand to 1870 and Reyna to 1926. Interesting concept of time travel, a bit of humor and of course events don't go as planned. Story continues to the next book.
October 21, 2025
This series is going to be intense
How do you know if you can live in the past and then in your own time? And then what would you do if you can't get out of the time stream your in. Sounds like a bad dream. Or maybe if you are stuck in the past you can make some money, and other investments .
How do you know if you can live in the past and then in your own time? And then what would you do if you can't get out of the time stream your in. Sounds like a bad dream. Or maybe if you are stuck in the past you can make some money, and other investments .
October 7, 2016
I have received this book in audio format from the narrator in exchange for an honest review.
Jonathan and his team are approached this time by Sharon and Chronos, the god of Time, to look for Henry Winslow, who has performed the spell of the Thrice Born, and has three aspects of his being scattered in the past with an evil plan to end the world. Jonathan and Kelly will have to go to ancient Egypt in the time of Tutankhamun, Brand and Esther to 1870, and Reina to the roaring 20s.
I kind of expected this book to have a clear end, mostly like the previous books, but although there are three clear story lines, just the one in Egypt is fully developed. As they will need to kill the three Winslow's aspects in order, this book is just about the first. This is not a negative aspect, it is just that as soon as you finish the book you will want to have the next one at hand as soon as possible.
The story is as fast paced as Jonas has us used to, with fully detailed information and cheeky comments from Jonathan. The characters gain some more depth in this book, and some things will be changed forever before the end is near. After reading the previous three books, I think this one is my favorite so far. It really is a page turner, and once I started it I could not stop listening. The three story lines keep the book going without pause or moment of boredom. Gary Jonas has build a great world and story here.
Apart from the story and the plot being great, with very charismatic characters, Joe Hempel narrating this book is a real pleasure. You will never get bored by a book narrated by him. He does become Shade in these novels, but he is also great at portraying the rest of characters, even when making female voices. I have been into audiobooks for about a year, and Hempel has become one of my favorite narrators, and if you put together a great book like this one and his talent I am not able to say no. What I say is: I really need to listen to the next Jonathan Shade book!
Jonathan and his team are approached this time by Sharon and Chronos, the god of Time, to look for Henry Winslow, who has performed the spell of the Thrice Born, and has three aspects of his being scattered in the past with an evil plan to end the world. Jonathan and Kelly will have to go to ancient Egypt in the time of Tutankhamun, Brand and Esther to 1870, and Reina to the roaring 20s.
I kind of expected this book to have a clear end, mostly like the previous books, but although there are three clear story lines, just the one in Egypt is fully developed. As they will need to kill the three Winslow's aspects in order, this book is just about the first. This is not a negative aspect, it is just that as soon as you finish the book you will want to have the next one at hand as soon as possible.
The story is as fast paced as Jonas has us used to, with fully detailed information and cheeky comments from Jonathan. The characters gain some more depth in this book, and some things will be changed forever before the end is near. After reading the previous three books, I think this one is my favorite so far. It really is a page turner, and once I started it I could not stop listening. The three story lines keep the book going without pause or moment of boredom. Gary Jonas has build a great world and story here.
Apart from the story and the plot being great, with very charismatic characters, Joe Hempel narrating this book is a real pleasure. You will never get bored by a book narrated by him. He does become Shade in these novels, but he is also great at portraying the rest of characters, even when making female voices. I have been into audiobooks for about a year, and Hempel has become one of my favorite narrators, and if you put together a great book like this one and his talent I am not able to say no. What I say is: I really need to listen to the next Jonathan Shade book!
March 20, 2020
Book four in the Jonathan Shade series and the start of a three part story line. Sent back in time, Shade and Kelly find themselves in ancient Egypt. Two other storylines are present for the next two books. Good story, that moves at a nice pace.
July 31, 2025
Great read, Great series!
Something for everyone in this magic and history fantasy. Travel the world with the most balanced neurotic smart ass ever created. Jonathan will keep you laughing and bring you along on his Adventures.
Something for everyone in this magic and history fantasy. Travel the world with the most balanced neurotic smart ass ever created. Jonathan will keep you laughing and bring you along on his Adventures.
January 19, 2017
Another very good book!!
Love this series. The best part is I got my husband hooked on it too and he hates to read!!!
Love this series. The best part is I got my husband hooked on it too and he hates to read!!!
December 28, 2016
Another great addition to the series
September 19, 2016
Note: This is Book 4 in the series and I recommend reading the previous books as there are major things that happened in previous stories that affect characters’s decisions in this book.
Private investigator Jonathan Shade starts his day off having a serious argument with a witch and the ghost of her son. Things only get worse when Sharon and Chronos show up at Kelly’s dojo and force Jonathan and his friends into taking care of a little problem for them. Henry Winslow, a powerful magician, is attempting to become immortal. To do so, he split himself into three aspects and placed each one at a different time and place in the past. Now Jonathan and his friends must travel back in time and kill each aspect.
This was a fun addition to this urban fantasy series that I have enjoyed so much. Jonathan has done a smidge of time travel before (a fact that he keeps hidden from his friends) but this time he and Kelly (a magically constructed warrior) are sent back into ancient Egypt to find Winslow and kill him. Meanwhile, Brand (also a magically constructed warrior) and Esther (a ghost who is tied to these old typewriter keys) go back to the 1870s. Reina (who isn’t of this world and has some special abilities) heads to the 1920s.
Let me get my one criticism out of the way. We have three main ladies in this series now: Kelly, Esther, and Reina. For some reason, the author chose to write them all as being in love with Jonathan and that really comes to the forefront in this book. It’s silly and not really necessary for the plot. Plus, there are other interesting men, so why not spread the joy?
OK, back to the good stuff. Most of the book is spent on Jonathan and Kelly in ancient Egypt. I really enjoyed the scenes where everyone was getting ready for their trip and had to dress the part. Reina got a flapper dress plus some practical wear. Brand had some rough yet really durable clothes. Meanwhile, Kelly and Jonathan were given revealing (by today’s standards) clothing that was the norm for King Tut’s time period. Eventually, Kelly and Jonathan rebel and a compromise (sort of) is made. In the end, it didn’t matter much because the two of them materialized in front of people and therefore, folks thought they must be deities.
We get a little bit of time with Brand and Esther in the 1870s. They soon land in some serious trouble with Priscilla and Edward that they weren’t expecting. Brand used to be a very strong warrior, but at the end of the previous book, things changed for him. Now he finds himself in a next to helpless position but I think he’s too stubborn (or dense) to notice. He keeps on thinking, bidding his time, quietly flexing those muscles.
Meanwhile, Reina goes to the 1920s. She doesn’t know much about this time period and she’s never been to New York city. We only get a smidge of her story and she swiftly finds herself in trouble. I was surprised at how quickly she was subdued and also a bit disappointed. Not much is being done with this character that has so much potential.
It’s a swift moving plot with fun characters and I like that Kelly and Jonathan continue to be at the heart of the story. I also like that things between Jonathan and Sharon are unresolved. Her previous betrayal still rankles him (as it should!) and I look forward to seeing how the author deals with that. The ending was great! I loved the last big fight scene and how things in Egypt resolved themselves. This book does leave us on a cliff hanger, so I’m really looking forward to having Book 5 in audio.
I received a copy at no cost from the narrator in exchange for an honest review.
The Narration: Joe Hempel continues to be the perfect Jonathan Shade. Also, he’s the perfect Kelly Chan, with her light Chinese accent. He really pulls it off well. I also liked his ‘dumb jock’ voice for Brand (which suits his humor and character well) and I continue to like his light Southern drawl for Esther. All around, it’s a great performance.
Private investigator Jonathan Shade starts his day off having a serious argument with a witch and the ghost of her son. Things only get worse when Sharon and Chronos show up at Kelly’s dojo and force Jonathan and his friends into taking care of a little problem for them. Henry Winslow, a powerful magician, is attempting to become immortal. To do so, he split himself into three aspects and placed each one at a different time and place in the past. Now Jonathan and his friends must travel back in time and kill each aspect.
This was a fun addition to this urban fantasy series that I have enjoyed so much. Jonathan has done a smidge of time travel before (a fact that he keeps hidden from his friends) but this time he and Kelly (a magically constructed warrior) are sent back into ancient Egypt to find Winslow and kill him. Meanwhile, Brand (also a magically constructed warrior) and Esther (a ghost who is tied to these old typewriter keys) go back to the 1870s. Reina (who isn’t of this world and has some special abilities) heads to the 1920s.
Let me get my one criticism out of the way. We have three main ladies in this series now: Kelly, Esther, and Reina. For some reason, the author chose to write them all as being in love with Jonathan and that really comes to the forefront in this book. It’s silly and not really necessary for the plot. Plus, there are other interesting men, so why not spread the joy?
OK, back to the good stuff. Most of the book is spent on Jonathan and Kelly in ancient Egypt. I really enjoyed the scenes where everyone was getting ready for their trip and had to dress the part. Reina got a flapper dress plus some practical wear. Brand had some rough yet really durable clothes. Meanwhile, Kelly and Jonathan were given revealing (by today’s standards) clothing that was the norm for King Tut’s time period. Eventually, Kelly and Jonathan rebel and a compromise (sort of) is made. In the end, it didn’t matter much because the two of them materialized in front of people and therefore, folks thought they must be deities.
We get a little bit of time with Brand and Esther in the 1870s. They soon land in some serious trouble with Priscilla and Edward that they weren’t expecting. Brand used to be a very strong warrior, but at the end of the previous book, things changed for him. Now he finds himself in a next to helpless position but I think he’s too stubborn (or dense) to notice. He keeps on thinking, bidding his time, quietly flexing those muscles.
Meanwhile, Reina goes to the 1920s. She doesn’t know much about this time period and she’s never been to New York city. We only get a smidge of her story and she swiftly finds herself in trouble. I was surprised at how quickly she was subdued and also a bit disappointed. Not much is being done with this character that has so much potential.
It’s a swift moving plot with fun characters and I like that Kelly and Jonathan continue to be at the heart of the story. I also like that things between Jonathan and Sharon are unresolved. Her previous betrayal still rankles him (as it should!) and I look forward to seeing how the author deals with that. The ending was great! I loved the last big fight scene and how things in Egypt resolved themselves. This book does leave us on a cliff hanger, so I’m really looking forward to having Book 5 in audio.
I received a copy at no cost from the narrator in exchange for an honest review.
The Narration: Joe Hempel continues to be the perfect Jonathan Shade. Also, he’s the perfect Kelly Chan, with her light Chinese accent. He really pulls it off well. I also liked his ‘dumb jock’ voice for Brand (which suits his humor and character well) and I continue to like his light Southern drawl for Esther. All around, it’s a great performance.
September 17, 2016
This is the fourth Jonathan Shade novel I have read and I really enjoyed it. I loved the sarcastic wit of the main character. All the characters are pretty fun. I highly recommend reading the previous books in the series before starting this one as it is more a continuation, rather than a stand alone book. There are fantasy, humor, and supernatural elements throughout the book. One thing that really made me like this book is that part of it takes place in Egypt, and anything about Egypt fascinates me. Beware, though, that this book ends with a cliff-hanger. Now I can't wait to find out what happens in the next book.
I listened to the Audible audio version of this book narrated by Joe Hempel and I liked his narration. He does a good job giving a unique voice to each character, his pacing is great, and he makes the story come alive.
Overall, this book (and the rest of the series) is a fun read, and if you enjoy paranormal fantasy, I recommend this book.
I listened to the Audible audio version of this book narrated by Joe Hempel and I liked his narration. He does a good job giving a unique voice to each character, his pacing is great, and he makes the story come alive.
Overall, this book (and the rest of the series) is a fun read, and if you enjoy paranormal fantasy, I recommend this book.
September 20, 2016
( Format : Audiobook )
""Because dead people don't get up and walk ...""
Poor Jonathan Shade: for the son of wizards without any magic of his own (other than being impervious to the magic of others), he does seem to find himself having to save the world rather frequently. This time he and his companions must go back in time to stop another dead wizard from gaining immortality and changing everything as they know it. And not just once, but three times.
This book is obviously the precursor of a series within the series (this is book four) as only part of the task is here attempted, with Shade and the fearsome fighter Kelly being transported back to Ancient Egypt in search of the villainous Harry Winslow. As in book three, the story is told from the alternating perspectives of the protagonists, which not only drives the story forward but adds extra insight into the characters themselves. Although mostly concentrating on Kelly and Jonathan, the rest of the gang - Esther, Brant and Rayna, - also make welcome appearances and we learn some especially I interesting details about Esther's past which are sure to resonate in later books. As always, the narration is superb, with Joe Hempel's adroit voicings of each protagonist such that he becomes each character he assumes at the time.
I was fortunate in being gifted a complimentary copy of Anubis Nights, via Audiobook Boom, in exchange for an honest review. My thanks, as this is a fun book in a very enjoyable series, with great characters, fast paced action, quirky situations and comedy, too. Best if read in series sequence, though not totally essential.
I am looking forward to book five
""Because dead people don't get up and walk ...""
Poor Jonathan Shade: for the son of wizards without any magic of his own (other than being impervious to the magic of others), he does seem to find himself having to save the world rather frequently. This time he and his companions must go back in time to stop another dead wizard from gaining immortality and changing everything as they know it. And not just once, but three times.
This book is obviously the precursor of a series within the series (this is book four) as only part of the task is here attempted, with Shade and the fearsome fighter Kelly being transported back to Ancient Egypt in search of the villainous Harry Winslow. As in book three, the story is told from the alternating perspectives of the protagonists, which not only drives the story forward but adds extra insight into the characters themselves. Although mostly concentrating on Kelly and Jonathan, the rest of the gang - Esther, Brant and Rayna, - also make welcome appearances and we learn some especially I interesting details about Esther's past which are sure to resonate in later books. As always, the narration is superb, with Joe Hempel's adroit voicings of each protagonist such that he becomes each character he assumes at the time.
I was fortunate in being gifted a complimentary copy of Anubis Nights, via Audiobook Boom, in exchange for an honest review. My thanks, as this is a fun book in a very enjoyable series, with great characters, fast paced action, quirky situations and comedy, too. Best if read in series sequence, though not totally essential.
I am looking forward to book five
September 28, 2016
Another enjoyable story in the Jonathan Shade series. It can be read as a stand-a-lone but you will get much more from it if you read the books in order as there are threads that do continued to build from one book to the next. Shade is a well developed, appealing character; he is funny, sarcastic but he is true to his friends and has a strength that shines. The secondary characters are also appealing and you can not help but grow fond of them as you follow them all through the various dangerous situations that Shade seems to manage to get into. In this book the friends are split up and sent to different eras in order to stop a master wizard but things are not as simple as they thought or go as straightforward as planned. I think it is the humour I like most about this series and the narrator portrays that sarcasm and humour very well. He gives individual voices to the characters and his inflection brings out emotions well, I especially like how he does Kelly's accent, it shows her personality perfectly. Humour, suspense, great characters and interesting snippets of history draw you along and keeps you listening but it does have a cliffhanger at the end. I'm not really a lover of cliffhangers (hence the 4* rating) but I can put up with them as long as it isn't forever until the next book comes out. Having said that, this is still a really enjoyable, entertaining story and I will defiantly listen to the next audiobook when it is released. I received the audiobook in exchange for my honest opinion.
November 27, 2016
I am a huge fan of the this series so far, and I bought this one as soon as I could after seeing it was released in audio. That being said, this book was my least favorite of the four books I've listened to. I'm not great with history, and I feel like the setting wasn't the best for me. However, I definitely still enjoyed the story, and seeing what our awesome cast of characters have gotten into this time. The characters are all split up in different time periods during most of the book, so we get to see things from a few different perspectives. Some very interesting romantic relationships occur, and I enjoyed one in particular but I don't want to spoil the story for anyone else.
Joe Hempel provided the narration for the audiobook version again and as always, was completely perfect. If you have never heard this man's voicing before, you are missing out! I love the collaboration of Joe and the author, Gary Jonas, and I hope they continue to work together many times in the future! The book ended with an awesome cliffhanger, and I'm dying to know what will happen next. I highly recommend this series, and the audiobook version in particular. Go buy the first book in the series now, you will not regret it!
Joe Hempel provided the narration for the audiobook version again and as always, was completely perfect. If you have never heard this man's voicing before, you are missing out! I love the collaboration of Joe and the author, Gary Jonas, and I hope they continue to work together many times in the future! The book ended with an awesome cliffhanger, and I'm dying to know what will happen next. I highly recommend this series, and the audiobook version in particular. Go buy the first book in the series now, you will not regret it!
December 6, 2015
This book and the next two are tightly connected for a major quest that our hero is on. There are some fun historical facts throughout all of them and are a fun take on time travel and its impact - it doesn't take the popular view that many other authors do with parallel time streams. It's more the Doctor Who world of things-are-meant-to-be.
August 14, 2016
Pretty awesome followup to the previous book, though it sets up a series of three. We see things from multiple character's perspectives (For the first time), and it only draws you in further. The ending in this particular one is a cliffhanger, though you already know what's happening (While some of the character's do not.) Some odd choices, but overall, very well written.
July 16, 2015
Auntie Nights
I don't know what people are complaining about. The book was good, even with the changing points of view. The cliffhanger ending was fine. I'm not sure why it annoyed some people. I am looking forward to the next book.
I don't know what people are complaining about. The book was good, even with the changing points of view. The cliffhanger ending was fine. I'm not sure why it annoyed some people. I am looking forward to the next book.
Read
August 16, 2015After 3 great books in this series, I was very disappointed in the change in the story line. Sharon returns, tells Johnathan to get over his hatred of her and he has to go do a mission for her, and he just shrugs and agrees. Could not get into the book. Did not finish.
September 15, 2015
I discovered this series a few days ago & have been reading it as fast as I can download them. That being said I didn't like this one as much as #'s 1-3. The characters seemed 'mopey' about love & the story doesn't finish in #4, it is continued in #5. Seemed like kind of a cheat IMO.
March 19, 2016
Interesting beginning
Reads like three separate books which can be annoying at times. Undoes some of the character development from the previous book.
Reads like three separate books which can be annoying at times. Undoes some of the character development from the previous book.
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