Brightblade

The Morgan Detective Agency, Book 1

By: Michael Suttkus, C. T. Phipps

Narrated by: Heather Costa

Psychic. Superhero. Spy. Detective. Bounty hunter. Ashley Morgan has been many things and failed at all of them. The 28-year old has her whole life ahead of her but has already resigned herself to working a dead-end job bringing in the debt-ridden supernatural criminals of New Detroit.

A chance encounter with the vampire sheriff reveals a secret that motivates her to change her life forever: Her long-missing brother Arthur is alive (in a manner of speaking).

Ashley sets out on a quest to not only find him but also deal with old lovers, treacherous criminals, a magic sword, and a quest to raise an ancient vampire from the dead.

Brightblade is set in the same world as the Red Room series, The Bright Falls Mysteries, and Straight Outta Fangton.

©2019 Charles Phipps; Michael Suttkus (P)2019 David N. Wilson

Great Storytelling

I loved the story, and it is a nice expansion to an existing world. Loved the story and narration.

A fantastic addition to United States of Monsters

I was ridiculously excited for this book and it was everything I was hoping for! Ashley makes for a wonderfully conflicted main character, and it was nice seeing a more human perspective to the United States of Monsters world. The similarities to Jessica Jones are mentioned in the intro, and it’s true, Ashley and Jessica have some things in common. But only with broad strokes comparisons in that they’re both PIs with a chip on their shoulder, and used to wear a costume in their past. It doesn’t take long getting to know Ashley to see that they are definitely different people.

I had previously read the ebook of this (why yes, that does mean I loved it enough to go through it twice in a matter of weeks) and so already had my own "voice" for Ashley in my head. Heather Costa is not at all what I pictured but she quickly grew on me and I was able to mentally adjust after only a few chapters. Heather does a brilliant job with all the characters and her pacing is spot on.

The Teenage Weredeer and Straight Outta Fangton books aren’t required reading by any means for Brightblade, but having that background I think does help enrich the world and some of the supporting cast. I had read some, but not all, of the books in the other series and I did sometimes feel like there were some background pieces I wasn’t fully seeing, but nothing that hindered understanding what was happening in Brightblade. And it was wonderful to spend more time getting to know Alex in particular, one of my favorite characters (besides Jane of course) from the Weredeer books. There are some minor spoilers for each of the other series as it does take place after those books in the same world.

The lack of a romance subplot was appreciated, I don’t mind it sometimes, but it’s nice when it can just be a story about a woman kicking ass and not also about who she is or isn’t seeing. There’s a nice low key sex positive vibe, despite not much sex happening, which is also appreciated.

No spoilers but I thoroughly enjoyed the twists and at least one was a major surprise for me. In general I would say it’s what they call a “page turner”, even knowing what was coming the second time around I was still eagerly along for the ride.

The humor is mostly snark and enjoyable geeky pop-culture jokes that had me frequently laughing as I went along, and as is often the case with C.T. Phipps and Michael Suttkus books, it also had me thinking about how the United States of Monsters world reflects our own. It’s not always the most flattering reflection, but it is one worth seeing and discussing. And doing so couched around the supernatural, and a wonderful story, is a great way to do it.
I’m already looking forward to book 2, and 3, and 4… and yeah, I can already tell it’s going to be a great series!

Fun new series in The United States of Monsters

This is the first book in a new series, but set in a very familiar world (Phipps has a lot of series set in this world, Secret Files of the Red Room, Bright Falls Mysteries and Straight Outta Fangton, which is dubbed The United States of Monsters Universe). Ashley Morgan is a PI and Bounty Hunter. Her parents were part of the Red Room. She also has a real dislike of vampires. And this most recent case, puts her right into the thick of them.

Ashley is a “bright”, which means she is more than human. She has very strong empathic power and is able to tell when people are telling the truth based on how they’re feeling when they’re talking. She even tried her hand at being a superhero for a bit, but that didn’t work out so well.

This is a fun story. I loved learning more about these characters and really want to spend more time with them. I also got to see some characters from other series. Peter Stone, the main character from Straight Outta Fangton. I love Peter and I will take any time I can spend with him, even if he has only a small part here. Alex, from Bright Falls series, has a larger part. He is Ashley’s ex-boyfriend and a wizard. Ashley also has a sword that is inhabited by an angel. I really liked the angel.

I do love an investigative type story (be it cop drama or PI style investigations). This one is a fun one with a paranormal style. You can read this story without having read the other series, though there are spoilers in this book that will tell you about events in other series.

This has the humor that I’ve come to expect from Phipps and Suttkus. Like always, I love the pop culture references. This is the first time I’ve heard a Smurfs reference in a book (it was my favorite cartoon as a kid. I still have a ton of those little figurines). Most of the pop culture references are a bit more on the nerdy sci-fi angle, but I love when there are others.

While I think you could follow along if you started with this series, I would probably recommend starting with the Bright Falls Mysteries or Straight Outta Fangton if I were to give you a recommendation on where to start this Universe.

Narration
This is my first listen from Heather Costa. I really liked her narration. I thought she did a good job bringing out the personality of the characters. If I was going to fault her, it would be that the voice of the sword sounded female to me. It was later when I heard Ashley refer to it as “him” that I realize it wasn’t a female angel. That being said, I really liked her narration and would listen to her again.

**I received a free copy of this book and voluntarily chose to review it.

pretty good, but not really for me

I thought this was ok, but over the top. I honestly think some readers will love it. It's chocked full of pop culture, geek references. So, anyone who really loves that will love this book. But, while I appreciate a little geekery in my books, there was just too much for me. Similarly, I think there was too much crammed into this plot—secret psychic spy schools, gods, angelic swords, sorcery, men in black, strippers/prostitutes, monsters, weres, vampires, etc. etc. etc. I don't feel like it allowed any aspect of the plot to develop fully.

I did like the characters and I loved that there was some casual queerness, racial diversity, a hero will autism, and a mild exploration of personal bias/racism (in regards to vampires, but I felt that was just a proxy).

All in all, not bad, but better suited to a different, maybe younger (though not too young, re strippers/prostitutes referenced above), reader.

Note: I received a free copy of this book. I chose to listen and review it.

A great new entry into a wider universe.

I have been a huge fan of the various books C.T. Phipps and Michael Suttkus have co-written. When I heard that Michael would be taking lead on a new series set in the United States of Monsters universe, I was ecstatic, and happily took an offered review copy. I can happily say that not only does it fit into the universe, but charts in own course, adding new layers to what they have been creating in other books in the universe.

PLOT SUMMARY

Ashley Morgan is a bounty hunter working with her partners at a bail bonds in New Detroit, which is where the vampires made their base of power after they came out into the open when they bailed out the government in the economic crash of 2008. With the vampires and other supernaturals gaining legal status, the Red Room, who policed the hidden supernatural world, find themselves out of a job. This leaves people like Morgan's family suddenly without support and at loose ends. In Morgan's case, she took her status as a Bright, which means she has mental abilities, and tried to become a costumed superhero. Having telekinesis and being an empath apparently weren't enough to get the job done, so she quit that.

Morgan's firm specializes by bailing out supernaturals. Unfortunately, when they skip bail, it means vanilla humans cant go get them. Its up to Morgan and her team to bring them back and collect. After the capture of a bail jumper goes sideways, the vampire sheriff shows up to take him into custody, in exchange for information about where Ashley's missing brother is. Planning on following up, Ashley has to take an artifact they were paid for a job to the supernatural's bank for deposit. Unfortunately, that's the exact moment three supernatural's decide to rob the bank for another artifact. This leads to a battle between Ashley and the three robbers, who manage to get away, with Ashley being injured.

Ashley wakes up in a strange room, feeling unusual. It turns out that she's at her brother's apartment over the club he owns. She also discovers that she almost died, and had to be saved with vampire blood from her brother, who is now a vampire, thus making her a dhampir. This is awful news to Ashley, who was raised to hate vampires. Ashley finds out the reason for the bank robbery, which was to get an artifact that can raise a dead vampire lord, who can use the wand to turn vampires human again, something the vampires will do anything to avoid. This leads Ashley and her brothers group into conflict with a powerful vampire family bent of gaining power, who will stop at nothing to gain it. It doesn't help that one of the main conspirators is one of Ashley's ex's, who apparently was even worse than she seemed. Ashley and crew must stop them before they bring about the end of the vampire nation, all while keeping Ashley from turning full vamp herself. Ashley needs all her abilities, both old and new, to survive until the end, with a lot of twists and turns along the way.

CHARACTERS AND WORLD BUILDING

Like anything having to do with Michael Suttkus and C.T. Phipps, characters are what drive the story. Ashley is such a well written character, strong, determined and vulnerable by turns. She has deep prejudices ingrained in her by growing up in the Red Room environment, but struggles to be honest and fair. Her hatred of vampires is so at odds with what her brother has become, and it's that conflict that helps driver her actions. Her bonding a mystical weapon also creates some funny moments, as she now has a rather loud "conscience" pushing her to do the right things. The other characters are also so much fun. From Arthur, Ashley's vampire brother, to Alex, her wizard ex, the secondary characters get so much care and development. they get fully fleshed out. The villain of the story actually has very little face time in the book, so doesn't get as much first hand attention, but is discussed at length throughout the book.

The world building is definitely sold. It expands upon the world created in Straight Outta Fangton, Esoterrorism and I Was a Teenage Weredeer. The fall of the Red Room is explained more in this one than the others, with some more of the ancillary work done there explained. New Detroit is expanded on past where its been shown before, really giving a look into the various territories the city is split into. It is definitely an expanded world ripe for future stories.

NARRATION

Narration duties are handled well by Heather Costa. She really brings the characters to life using various tones, accents and cadence. Her narrative pacing is spot on, and she really gets you hooked as she goes.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Any time you spin off a series with new characters, it has a chance of failing. Luckily, they took what worked with the other books in this universe, namely excellent characters, snappy dialogue and a fast paced plot and created a great addition to the universe. If you like any other books by these authors, you'll like this one. I think it has a lot of appeal for any fans of urban fantasy, and has lots of potential places to go.

Fantastic book

I haven’t enjoyed a book some much in ages! This book had me laughing at loud at times. The jokes and sarcasm are spot on. The narrator is great and made the book even better.

I received a copy of this book in return for my honest opinion which I have given.

Exciting and fun

Full of enjoyable pop references loved by all SciFi geeks, and action a plenty! It may not be literature, but it entertains and scratches that itch to take your own destiny in hand in the form of a flaming angel sword.

another great book

it was pretty good. there was one part when everyone is talking to each other and I got lost and had to redo about a minute. I will be getting the next one.

Thrilling Urban Fantasy

I’ve listened to the Straight Outta Fangton books by Phipps and this runs in the same world, a world where humanity is dealing with the supernatural like vampires and shifters, but Brightblade follows a different character. Ashley Morgan is a 28 year old with some powers of her own, like telekinesis and the ability to read emotions. She was trained in secret by the government to hunt and dispatch things like vampires and shifters, but now that they are part of society that program is a wash. So with her training and a couple of sidekicks she’s become a bounty hunter. What appears to be a mundane criminal pick-up job goes sideways fast. She learns her lost brother is still alive and in New Detroit. Things keep going from bad to worse and the stakes climb higher and higher. She has to team up with her ex, who is a powerful wizard, her brother and his vampire wife, and a sword inhabited by an angel, to fight their enemies and an ancient power on the rise.
There’s lots of great pop-culture nods and humor throughout. I liked the character of Ashley and her being a little older than the typical “chosen one.” Rather than a coming of age story, it was more about coming to terms with regrets and figuring out where she fit among those she was trained to despise. No romance or sex scenes, but there was some talk of the loose morality of vampirekind. Overall I really enjoyed the book and the epilogue was a great cliffhanger and teaser into the next book. I look forward to more of Ashley’s adventures.
The audio narration was well done though the narrator didn’t have a wide range so some conversations were a little hard to follow. She did a great job capturing emotion and attitude.

Brightblade is a shining exemplar of the genre

See what I did there? Anyway. I liked Brightblade a lot… or more accurately, I liked Ashley Morgan, the snarky, sassy, superpowered anti-heroic protagonist of Brightblade. Usually, I’d try to summarize the plot in a review, but unlike some other books that use their characters as a way to push the narrative forward, Brightblade is all about the characters. That means the real joy in reading it is all in the interactions, character building, and dialog. There is a story there, and it's a decent one... but you’ll read the book for the characters in it. So the plot? What’s the book about? It’s about Ashley Morgan. And the one hell of a night she just survived. Well, that she mostly survived anyway.

I’m usually not into urban fantasy, but Brightblade reads more like a vampire story. But not a dark, victorian-style vampire story or a teenage romantic gag-inducing vampire story. Instead, it’s an entertaining, irreverent, gothic-punk vampire story where the masquerade is dropped, and the vampires are all out doing their vampire thing. It’s got lots of vampire family politics, vampire lore, vampire strippers, and everything else you could want in a vampire story. From what I understand, it’s set in the same world as the other books in The United States of Monsters series, and now I want to read them all. Damn it, maybe I do like urban fantasy after all.

Overall, Brightblade is a lighthearted story with some darker subtext. It’s humorous and fun with its tone and pop culture references, but like most of Phipps’s work, it’s also intelligent in its use of social commentary and the development of alternate world cultural dynamics. I appreciate these deeper elements built into the world that Phipps and Suttkus have created.

As for the audio version of the book: I’ve never heard any of Heather Costa’s performances before, but I think she did a great job with Brightblade. Her character voices fit the narrative's tone and various situations within the book. All the female characters had unique, distinct voices -- which is an accomplishment, as there was quite a large cast of female characters. However, the male voices didn’t have the same variety and were a bit more challenging to differentiate. It’s a minor critique, though, as it didn’t hinder my enjoyment of the book or the narration.

Special thanks to C.T. Phipps, who provided me with this book at my request.