The Last Adventure of Constance Verity

Constance Verity #1

by A. Lee Martinez

Constance Verity has been saving the world since she was seven, and she’s sick of it. She sets off on one last adventure to assassinate her fairy godmother and become the one thing she’s never been: ordinary.

Ever since she was granted a wish at birth by her fairy godmother, Constance Verity has become one of the world’s great adventurers. It all began at her seventh birthday party when she defeated a snake. She has become a master of exotic martial arts, a keen detective, and possesses a collection of strange artifacts gathered from her adventures. But Constance has spent the past twenty-eight years saving the world, and she’s tired of it. All she wants is to work in an office and date a nice, normal guy. And she is finally figured out a way to do it: she’s going to kill her fairy godmother and reset her life. The only problem, though, is that saving the world is Constance’s destiny. She’s great at it, and there are forces at work to make sure she stays in the job.

Then again, it’s also her destiny to have a glorious death.

Genres: Fantasy, Humor, Urban Fantasy, Fiction, Science Fiction, Adventure, Audiobook

384 pages, Hardcover

First published June 14, 2016

About the author

A. Lee Martinez was born in El Paso, Texas. At the age of eighteen, for no apparent reason, he started writing novels. Thirteen short years (and a little over a dozen manuscripts) later, his first novel, Gil's All Fright Diner, was published. His hobbies include juggling, games of all sorts, and astral projecting. Also, he likes to sing along with the radio when he's in the car by himself.

Reviews

[Mogsy · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 of 5 stars at The BiblioSanctum https://bibliosanctum.com/2016/08/21/...

It appears plenty of people are already aware of the awesomeness of A. Lee Martinez, and as usual I’m just way behind. I first heard of the author only earlier this year, when I saw the title and cover for The Last Adventure of Constance Verity. How could I not be intrigued? Is Constance the badass looking woman smiling smugly at the viewer, apparently after having taken down a bunch of cultists single-handedly? And why might this be her last adventure? I wanted to KNOW. If there’s one thing’s for sure, this book caught my attention right away.

Indeed the story does star our eponymous heroine, and things kick off with one hell of an introduction. Going incognito as “Connie Smythe”, our main character attempts to start her “ordinary” life by getting an “ordinary” job. However, the moment her would-be employers find out about her true identity, the seemingly everyday interview takes a turn for the bizarre as they try to dispose of Connie by sacrificing her to the Hungry Earth monster. Just another day in the life of Constance Verity. Trouble just seems to follow her everywhere, much to her annoyance. All she wants to do is live a normal existence, but just how is she to do that when disasters like alien invasions, time traveling supervillains, or space pirates just keep falling into her lap?

This has been the case for most of Connie’s life. Whether she likes it or not, she is destined for heroism and adventure, thanks to a wish granted to her at birth by her fairy godmother. But now Connie has had enough of all of that, and just wants to settle down. Clearly, the blessing (or curse?) isn’t going to let that happen, so she’ll just have to do something more extreme: Constance Verity is going to kill her fairy godmother and take back control of her life.

This book is the latest addition to what I have labeled my “fantasy comedy” shelf. Martinez goes to town riffing on our beloved tropes from classic action-adventure and pulp stories, combining the humor with paranormal elements. There’s even a running joke between Connie and her trusty sidekick Tia, with them always making references to her past escapades, each one sounding more outlandish than the last. Our heroine has seen it all, from foiling evil supervillain plans take over the world to escaping so-called inescapable sure-death situations James Bond-style. Despite this ostensibly cheesy shtick though, it really works. This story deftly toes the line between satire and homage, so that the premise comes off as being more witty than cornball.

And though Constance Verity is meant to be an amalgam representing a number of our favorite larger-than-life heroes and heroines from classic pulp, she’s surprisingly easy to relate to. Of course, no one can claim to have a life quite like hers, but her desire to achieve some balance between work and pleasure is something a lot of people can sympathize with. It’s also clear after a while that Connie is chasing a pipe dream. After having done the extraordinary things she’s done, there’s just no going back to “normal” for her; not now or ever. We’re along for the ride as Connie discovers this for herself through much introspection and surprisingly profound discussions about determinism and free choice. Is Connie destined to live the rest of her life saving the world every day until she goes down in a glorious death as promised, or is it really just a simple matter of her refusal to turn away from a bad situation knowing that she has the power to help? Whether she likes it or not, Connie has the heart of a hero.

The Last Adventure of Constance Verity is sure to give you plenty of good laughs and some deeper themes to chew on. It’s unexpectedly charismatic and offbeat, and I think of all the fantasy comedy novels I’ve tried this year, so far this is by far my favorite. It’s funny and farcical without being puerile, entertaining without feeling forced. All in all, I had a wonderful time with this book, and I will certainly be looking into picking up more books by A. Lee Martinez!

[Lindsay · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm a fan of Martinez's work and have been for years. I enjoy his humor and I really love the way he skewers genre tropes, both by making fun of them and making them his own. He's in good form with this one, with Constance Verity being the embodiment of every pulp and adventure hero and her life story reading like a combination of Doctor Who, James Bond, Tarzan and Indiana Jones.

The story starts with Connie attempting to get a mundane office job, but that quickly goes off the rails into an adventure where the office is actually a cult and Connie is the next blood sacrifice to the monster in the mail room. Connie handles the situation as if she faces this sort of thing every day. Because she does face this sort of thing every day. No wonder she wants out.

From there it's all about why Connie's life is the way it is, what she has to do to get an ordinary life instead and how that affects her friends, family and the rest of the world/universe that she doesn't want to save every day any more. That's all a catalyst for some really interesting discussion about free will, destiny, empathy and selfishness and work/life balance in the most bizarre way.

For me this was laugh-out-loud funny on just about every page and Connie and Tia are both excellent characters, with some great supporting characters as well including Connie's minder and a ninja master. The quick digressions into different adventure-fiction tropes are absolutely brilliant, including things like Connie's musings on time travel, her time as a warlord for an alien species, Tia's kidnapping by musical pirates (led by Captain Sullivan of course) and so much more.

Brilliant story and heartily recommended if you like humorous speculative fiction.

[Choko · Rating 4 out of 5]

*** 3.55

“Jone-athan, I just want something to drink that isn’t coffee. I know that this offends your sensibilities, and I’m sure that any one of your coffees is this glorious wonderland of flavor experiences that will delight my senses now and forever. But I’m a Philistine, an uncultured fool who has been despoiled by a culture that loads me up with sugary beverages and processed foodstuffs. I could no more appreciate your unparalleled coffee nectar than I could understand the genius of whatever art-house auteur director you currently love or whatever obscure musical group you and exactly four of your friends listen to. I will never be cool like you. I will never understand the secret beauty of this world the way you do. So, give me a cider and your pity and/or contempt, and we can both get on with our lives.”

An entertaining, zany humorous look at the extraordinary life of a young woman, who had been chosen since birth to be an adventurer and save the world on multiple occasions. It's all fun and games, but she is tired of always having to deal with the newest, baddest threat and just wants to be normal! She wants a regular job, a normal boyfriend, a boring life! Is that too much to ask for??? Apparently yes. So she decides to be proactive and goes on a hunt for those responsible for her "curse"...

I have seen reviews ranging from one to five stars, and I find all of them justified. This type of humor is not fun for everyone, and even if you find it so, it could get too repetitive and wear on your nerves. I happen to have a pretty high threshold for zany, so I enjoyed that side of the story. However, I found that the author really, really wanted us to understand just how fed up Constance Verity was with her hyper-exciting life, so he spent a bit too much time in her wallowing about it, in my opinion. He made the point perfectly fine from the start, I think the several chapters he gives us of her self monologue, get a bit redundant... Other than that, I found the book entertaining and enjoyable, so I am going to continue with the series for sure! I hope you enjoy it as well 😃👍

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rated one star below the author's Monster because the wild humor that runs through that entire book gives way again and again in this one to long, repetitive discussions of free will, determination, and the purpose of life...though after each immersion in Deep Thought it snaps back to wildly funny escapades.

Unlike Monster, this novel has the advantage of two rather sympathetic characters, ones I found I could adopt as book-friends. Constance Verity, or Connie, has been performing all the good deeds of every superhero there is "since her seventh birthday party, when she defeated a giant snake," the blurb tells us. She's saved the world who knows how many times and even the universe once or twice, but most of her fantastic rescues are smaller and more personal, like only eleven people trapped in a...--well, what it is is that the universe seems to call on her with astounding regularity, though it allows her one or two rest days in between adventures.

And she sees that as a curse, laid upon her at the age of three months by her dastardly fairy godmother. You see, she just wants a normal life like other people. She applies for a very ordinary job under an alias, and guess what--it's a Hungry Earth cult looking for a sacrificial victim and once again she has to step up and defeat the evil ones. She decides she has only one option, her final adventure (see title): she will find and kill her fairy godmother.

The other sympathetic character, for me, is Tia, the damsel in distress whom Connie keeps rescuing--Tia wants very badly to be promoted to sidekick. Connie finally agrees, and off they go into spoiler territory. Oh, there's also Connie's occasional lover Byron and a "ninja-slash-thief" named Hiro, who in his Loki-like way assumes he, Connie, and Tia are a trio but he vanishes and reappears at the oddest times. Tia and Connie are the only characters I'd describe as well-rounded.

If you skim quickly through the philosophical discussions, and your sense of humor is anything like mine, you'll get lots of laughs.

[Blake · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wanted to like this book a whole lot more. I liked the concept, and it started off really well, but then it got mired in conversation after conversation about whether Constance really wanted a normal life or if she could even have one followed by more conversations about whether we really have real choices in life or if all the big things are predetermined for us. Nothing wrong at all with characters having these types of conversations. Those were some of the main themes of the book. But it seemed at times that Constance had this same conversation with every other character in the book. At least three times I thought the Kindle app had screwed up and sent me back several chapters because I felt like I was rereading the same dialogue. Since this is the first of a planned trilogy, I hope Mr. Martinez got it out of his system and we get more of his usual wit and adventure in the next volume.

[Kobe · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

[Cathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Like all of his books, you can read it and just have a laugh, it's a fun adventure, somewhat silly, pretty exciting, lighthearted and fast-paced. And if you want to think about things a little bit too, there's actually a lot of meat on those bones as well. Some things about free will vs. destiny, an awful lot about friends and what we owe the people we love. The one thing all of his books have in common is a strong focus on friendships and relationships and what that means and how they function. And there's much more, it jumps from topic to topic as it goes from place to place in the crazy action adventure story. Connie's an intergalactic, time-traveling, impossible beast slaying, fantastical journeying Emma Peel/Susan Cooper (Spy). Martinez is still one of the wittiest writers I've seen, so clever and fun to read. But not hard to read, that's why it's so great. I like my thinking to be fun, thank you very much! No dark and depressing literary fiction for me, keep it light, keep it moving, sorry if I'm a shallow beast but life is hard enough without my entertainment dragging me down. If you haven't read any of his books, give him a try. The Automatic Detective is my favorite, but there isn't one that I haven't liked. Gil's All Fright Diner is probably the most famous, if you want one your friends are most likely to have read. The thing is, the books seem silly while you're reading them. Sometimes you wonder what the heck he's getting at and where it's going. But eventually the light bulb goes off and it's great. Plus when you put them down or after you're done, they linger with you. Some of the characters and their quests are truly unforgettable, and that's even with my world-famous horrible memory. He captures something deeply human and poignant underneath all of the quirkiness or exciting exploits. Even when the characters aren't exactly human. He posts a lot of free short fiction on his website too, if you want to check that out.

[Elaine · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is the first book I've read by Mr. Martinez and though I enjoyed parts of it, I didn't love it.

First, I enjoyed the magical, sci-fi qualities of the subplots we are never privy to; the zombie werewolves and ninja fights and overthrowing intergalactic governments Connie is always thwarting, subsuming and overcoming 10x a week.

But these varied and brief descriptions of her incredible adventures sometimes got to be...well...too much.

Secondly, Tia and Connie's friendship was underwritten, underwhelming and the second she slept with the ninja assassin, I almost threw the book out the window.

Is this what passes for friendship these days?

This is how you can tell a man wrote this book and plotted the character arcs.

No loyal BFF would tempt a man to sleep with her in order to stop him from hitting on Connie so she can put more effort in having an 'ordinary-extraordinary' life.

I dropped a star just because of that totally unnecessary and ridiculous subplot.

Third, I did like Connie, her tough ass demeanor and loyalty to her adventuring and magical abilities but mostly because she is flawed like the rest of us.

How does one be extraordinary and ordinary at the same time?

We don't want to be ignored or forgotten yet most of us feel like we aren't doing what we're supposed to be doing. Or are we?

I wasn't sure what tone the book was going for, sometimes it felt too jokey, then it got all metaphysical and serious and then back to jokey again.

It was like watching Jim Carrey change facial expressions on an old episode of In Living Color.

And what's up with all the typos? I counted a few missing prepositions.

At first I thought it was a fluke but after the third one, I thought, nope, someone's slacking in the edit department.

I look forward to reading future installments of Connie's adventures, including the one where she battles an armada of ghost ships on Venus.

Now, I have to go wash my hair.

[Kayla (krakentoagoodbook) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Actual rating: 3.5 stars

[Brina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Superhelden gibt es mittlerweile wie Sand am Meer, da ist es besonders schwer, die interessanten Perlen für sich herauszupicken, von daher war ich schon sehr gespannt, wie mir "Constance Verity", der erste Band zur gleichnamigen Trilogie, gefallen wird. Hier hatte ich zunächst ein paar kleinere Bedenken, allerdings war ich am Ende dann doch sehr angetan von der Geschichte.

A. Lee Martinez besitzt einen oftmals recht eigenwilligen, aber dennoch angenehmen Schreibstil, der sich leicht und flüssig lesen lässt und gleichzeitig mit jeder Menge Wortwitz und schrägen Momenten überzeugen kann. Die Figuren sind vielseitig und gut ausgearbeitet und mit Connie, alias Constance Danger Verity, bekommt man hier eine tolle Superheldin, die trotz kleinerer Schwächen überzeugen konnte.

Erzählt wird hierbei die Geschichte von Connie, die als Constance Verity die Welt rettet und als Superheldin die Schurken bekämpft. Obwohl sie eigentlich mit dieser Rolle zufrieden sein müsste, sehnt sie sich nach einem normalen Leben mit den normalen alltäglichen Problemen, doch dies wird ihr vergönnt, da sie von einer Fee verzaubert wurde, die sie zur Superheldin gemacht hat. Für sie gibt es nur eine Lösung: Die Fee finden, sie umbringen und dadurch den Fluch brechen, doch auch Connie muss feststellen, dass man seinem Schicksal oftmals nicht entgehen kann. Gleichzeitig bekommt es Constance auch wieder mit einigen Superschurken und Geheimbünden zu tun, die sie stets auf Trab halten, die Constance jedoch wie immer mit einem flotten Spruch und ihrem Können aufhalten möchte.

Neben ihrem aktuellen Abenteuer und der Hoffnung auf ein normales Leben, wird in diesem Band auch in die Vergangenheit geschaut, sodass man auch ältere Fälle von Constance erleben darf. Gleichzeitig konnte mich der Autor auch mit tollen Nebenfiguren, wie z.B. Connies beste Freundin Tia überzeugen. Ich bin somit schon sehr gespannt auf viele weitere Fälle von Constance und hoffe, dass diese mindestens genauso spannend und unterhaltsam sein werden.

Das Cover ist toll anzusehen, ist im Comic-Stil gehalten und passt bestens zu einer Superheldin, die gut getroffen ist. Die Kurzbeschreibung ist ebenfalls gelungen und hat mich direkt angesprochen, sodass ich dem Buch sehr gerne eine Chance gegeben habe.

Kurz gesagt: "Constance Verity" ist ein spannendes Superhelden-Abenteuer mit jeder Menge Wortwitz, interessanten Figuren und einer starken Heldin, die mich bestens unterhalten konnte. Ich freue mich bereits auf die weiteren Bände.

[Rob · Rating 2 out of 5]

A good friend of mine said Martinez is one of his favorite authors and extremely funny, he was going to pick this book up and since I have never read anything by Martinez I decided to join him and start here.

Unfortunately, I either don't like Martinez's humor or this was not one of his strongest works. My said friend from above did say this was not one of his favorite books by him, so I may just give another one of his better books a chance to see how I feel.

The Last Adventure of Constance Verity just was too much over the top, which I believe that was the point, but I think it was too much. They just used every fantasy cliche and threw it into one characters life, a character who can not avoid adventures.

The goal of Constance is to have one final adventure, the one that will end the spell that was put on her to give her constant adventures. As she does this, she goes through countless cliche fantasy worlds, meeting uninteresting stereotypical characters. None of the characters had any life in them, just to be a stereotype, so you have no feeling for the characters.

I guess that would be okay, this book is meant to be a comedy after all right? Well.. I just don't think any of the jokes landed, I recognize that everything was a joke but very little amused me let alone make me laugh. I just did not find humor in the ridiculousness of everything and I love stupid and ridiculous humor.

This book is based on humor and for me, it just was not very funny. It was a quick and easy read, but not really worth more than that. I gave it a 2/5 stars.

[Lauren · Rating 2 out of 5]

I've been a fan of A. Lee Martinez for quite a few years. I've read all but two of his books and I was so excited for this new one. Before I get to my reasons for the 2-star rating, I'll briefly say what I liked. I think Connie will grow to be a great character in the next books. She's likable and funny. I also liked the one-off examples of her past adventures, villain names, locales, etc.; although, it did get a little excessive, which was the point, so I'm not faulting it. Now, with the rest of the book I was incredibly disappointed. Connie and Tia's friendship was *horribly* written; it was so contrived and one-dimensional. Tia is the worst kind of "friend" to Connie and I really couldn't figure out why Connie didn't get rid of her. The biggest fault in my opinion was that, unlike all of Martinez' earlier works, this book's plot structure is so loose. Most of his other books are so nicely woven and clever that this one had glaring plot holes. The final thing that bothered me was editing. Whoever edited/proofread this book at his new publisher did not do a great job. I've rarely found errors in his books. Pretty disappointing.

[April · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this. Quirky, snarky, trope-twisting plot with a delightfully strong and confident lead woman. Constance Verity just wants to be normal. Boring, even. Have a dull job she slightly dreads and a good dental plan, maybe. But adventures just keep getting in her way. So she decides her last adventure will be to make herself the boring life she thinks she craves.

This is a lot of fun. Think, woman Indiana Jones trying to "give up adventuring" but getting dragged into an adventure anyways. I can't recommend this enough to anyone who loves a good laugh, great characters, and a lot of fun.

[Soo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mini-Review:

3.5 Stars

Narration by Cynthia Farrell. I'm on the fence about the overall narration. She does a great job on the main character Connie but I feel rather blase about the other voices.

This is an absurd anti-hero story that is about a real hero. It makes light of the incredible & the incredulous. No topic is off limits and expect sardonic sarcasm on all fronts. I would love a TV series based on these characters. Done right, it would be a hilariously clever ride.

[Andrea · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked this... it has that same tongue-in-cheek meta self-referential attribute that I like so much in The Princess Bride. It was funny and exciting and the dialogue was clever. This was a fresh and original voice and story... looking forward to the next!

[Ken · Rating 5 out of 5]

http://nethspace.blogspot.com/2017/03...

[Chris · Rating 1 out of 5]

I found it unreadable and only made it a few chapters in.

[Wiebke (1book1review) · Rating 3 out of 5]

A solid fun urban fantasy adventure.

[Brendan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I tend to struggle beginning Martinezs books, not out of boredom, the books just have a very visual world building style. I'm a little confused why Martinez has decided to use Constance Verity as the launching block for a series, I enjoy the one shots and this seems to be a backwards step to his style. I enjoyed the story, Connie was an interesting but deeply flawed heroine. The character of Hiro was the real fun and I found the story picked up the pace with him around. The usual Martinez out there storylines are present and it keeps everything fresh, I did find the final 160 pages the most engaging out of everything.
Connie has further adventures planned and as building blocks go, this wasn't a great introduction but it is far from terrible. I don't agree with this becoming a franchise but I'll be one of the first in line to read another twisting Martinez novel.
The red button might have been pushed but it does not mean the universe is safe, the engine didn't destroy everything but I can safely assume there is another idea coming to shake everything up.

[Marc Jentzsch · Rating 5 out of 5]

Martinez has a way with light, comedic fantasy that clicks for me better than just about any other writer out there. Since Monster, I've been enthralled with everything he's written. Then I found out there is going to be a series? Sign me up.

Constance Verity is snarky, action-packed fun featuring a heroine with at least as many adventures predating our acquaintance as Raymond Reddington has accumulated. But Connie is a superhero, a superspy, a mystery...woman. She's in the mold of Remo Williams, the inheritor of a legacy of hyper-competence and magic and boundless adventure.

Very little I can say will do this book justice. It's full of wit and humor, easter-eggs, dragons, living planets, cults, murderous fairy godmothers, doomsday machines, and ninjas. Oh, and a poetry slam.

I don't know what to say about this other than get it, read it, experience the joy that is Martinez and Verity. And look out for Tia. She may just steal the show.

[Z.A. · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was kinda cute sometimes. I think it’s supposed to be funny. I’m surprised it’s marketed for adults considering the language feels more appropriate for young or middle readers. Even the references to sex and occasional swearing feels very juvenile and utterly pointless.
The main character doesn’t even want to be I. This book, her boredom and sarcasm is constantly expressed in her voice, which seems to be what’s supposed to be funny. Unfortunately every other character in the book has the exact same voice, so there’s no contrasts therefore no comedy. The whole thing just seems to be a list of cliched tropes from genre fiction with zero attempt to use them in a new or creative way.
I’m disappointed. I wanted to like it more.

[D.L. Morrese · Rating 4 out of 5]

Constance Verity is very good at saving the world. She can't really help it. It's a curse...literally, and she intends to track down the fairy godmother who cursed her. Thus begins her "final" adventure as a hero.

I always enjoy Matinez's books. They tend to have likeable characters, and they're funny without being overly absurd. Fairly absurd, perhaps, but not completely silly (e.g. the Xanth stories by Piers Anthony). And sometimes there is just a little bit more than you might expect. This story, for example, touches on the age old philosophical question of free will versus determinism. Not bad for a light bit of fantasy fiction.

[Debbie · Rating 1 out of 5]

ho hum....started out lite, funny, but got boring. I kept putting it down and last night I went looking for a book to read because I forgot I was reading this one. I like lite and funny - those following my reviews will know that I am enjoy the various adventures of librarians and historians but this one just had no 'there' there - all cardboard. I am sorry to say that next month I probably won't even remember reading it. Not for me.

[Zora]

I think this is better than my abandoning it suggests. I've been reading a lot of serious nonfiction lately, and I think I just couldn't bear the fluffy comedy nature of this in comparison.

[Sandra · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm pushing myself and wondering why since I really don't like it. DNF 50% Just not my sense of humor, and there's nothing under the humor to enjoy.

[DaughterOfPoseidon · Rating 4 out of 5]

So, my sister never finished this book, so I was like: “Hey! Why not do it for her?”

Things I enjoyed:

1. The comedy was absolutely hilarious, and I loved how Connie had a comeback for everything. Reading this was like watching an action/comedy/sci-fi movie. Which is right in my wheelhouse.

2. The characters were awesome, and actually relatable. I could somehow connect with both Connie and Tia, because both had traits that matched me. And, of course, there was the hot dude that HAD to be in it. I mean a ninja thief . . . YES. I loved the sentence “The teenage girl in us likes him.” (Or something along those lines) because it totally makes sense (?)

3. The over all plot was like reading/watching Dirk Gently, which I loved. The plethora of twisting plots was awesome, and really enjoyable.

Things I didn’t like:

1. Even though it was like Dirk Gently, the part where everything connects in the end . . . Never really happened. It’s obvious to me that Martinez took a lot of inspiration from Douglas Adams, which again! isn’t a bad thing. I’m just saying, it would me nice to see where it all connects. You know, when you talk about the “inter connectedness of all things” and the “Universe train” or whatever.

2. It dragged on, and I love fast paced books, but this just . . . Took forever.

Again, I loved this book, and it was over all an amazing story. I am definitely going to read more of A. Lee Martinez’s books. One of the best sci-fi stories EVER. Definitely waiting to get book two.

[Cindy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have not read the second book which is how I discovered this first book. I liked it but the level of "snark"was ramped at like from 0 to 100 in one second flat! Made me think of Buffy the Vampire Slayer on steroids style! I'm not saying that this was bad, just bit extreme at times. The plot being Miss Verity wanted "normalcy ", it would have helped the story go even more smoothly if, there had been a few moments of clam and not more/more/more, piled on. IMHO, eventually to the end as the story was being wrapped up it felt like the throttle was being eased up a bit and surprisingly enough it made me enjoy the book more at the end like I had in the beginning. I guess it's the middle that wore me out, almost. :-)

[Roger · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Last Adventure of Constance Verity had me from the dedication: "...And to Doc Savage, the Man of Bronze." So of course I had to read it. I would have read it anyway-A Lee Martinez is a favorite author of mine. He knows how to mix action and comedy in satisfying proportions to craft a good story. I can still unhesitatingly give this book four stars even though the titular character's never ending whining about wanting to be "normal" preyed on my nerves. This is apparently the start of a series-I am looking forward to tracking down the second book.

[Danielle]

DNF at 23% when this book first came out I tried to read it, but wasn’t in the right mindspace. I tried again a few years later and just wasn’t in the right mindspace. Again. Fast forward to now and I can’t finish it because I’m just not in the right mindspace. I have a feeling it’s not my mindspace that’s the problem. So I am going to let this one go.