Format: E-Book, 400 pages
Release Date: October 3, 2017
Publisher: Penguin/DAW
Source: NetGalley
Genre: Urban Fantasy
The third installment in Marshall Ryan Maresca’s urban and epic fantasy Novels of Maradaine series.Summer and the Grand Tournament of High Colleges have come to the University of Maradaine. If the heat and the crowds weren’t enough to bring the campus and the neighborhood of Aventil to a boiling point, rumors that The Thorn is on the warpath—killing the last of the Red Rabbits—is enough to tip all of Maradaine into the fire.
Except Veranix Calbert, magic student at the University, is the Thorn, and he’s not the one viciously hunting the Red Rabbits. Veranix has his hands full with his share of responsibilities for the Tournament, and as the Thorn he’s been trying to find the source of the effitte being sold on campus. He’s as confused as anyone about the rumors.
When the Thorn imposter publicly attacks the local Aventil constables, the Constabulary bring in their own special investigators: Inspectors Minox Welling and Satrine Rainey from the Maradaine Grand Inspectors Unit. Veranix must find out who the imposter is and stop him before Welling and Rainey arrest him for the imposter’s crimes.
Series Overview: A gritty-yet-epic series of novels set in Maradaine—a city where you only survive as long as you can fight with wit, will, and magic.
The Imposters of Aventil, by author Marshall Ryan Maresca, is the third installment in the Maradaine series. This is a story that surrounds a yearly event called The Grand Tournament of the High Colleges. Protagonist Veranix Calbert leads a double life. By day he's a magic student at the University of Maradine. By night he is the crime fighting superhero known as The Thorn.
Thorn has become a notorious vigilante who has riled up a whole lot of enemies while targeting a particular drug called Effitte and a particularly bad man who has brought the drug to Maradine and to the campus of the University of Maradine. The Thorn's main nemesis is Willem Fenmere who we really don't see much of until the final chapter. Which is why you should definitely have read The Thorn of Dentonhill and The Alchemy of Chaos before starting this book.
There is a whole lot of things that you must understand before jumping feet first into this series. Thorn is a marked man. He has stuck is nose into places that the gangs of Aventil don't take kindly too. Including one that his cousin Colin belongs to. He gets himself into tricky situations that takes extraordinary talent to evade capture. So, when Thorn impostors start creating chaos all over Aventil, the real Thorn and his group of friends (Delwin, Kaiana, Jiarna, & Phadre) must step up and stop them with a bit of help from Rainey and Welling.
I felt like an idiot after reading this story. When I saw the cover had Inspector Third Class Satrine (Tricky) Rainey, and her partner Inspector Third Class Minox (Jinx) Welling on it, I jumped to the wrong conclusion. A conclusion that I am happy to rectify by requesting books 1 & 2 from my local library. Maresca is an author who currently has (3) series going on at the same time. Maradine, The Maradine Constabulary, and The Holver Alley Crew. When I say they are all current, I mean they take place concurrently and in the same time frame.
If you are a reader who loves epic fantasy, then you will love these series. You will love the world building. You will love the characters of all three series. You will love the danger & action & adventure. All three series are set in what the author is calling Maradine. Maradine is a dangerous place to be which is why those like Raine and Welling are out on the streets trying to keep innocents safe. Which is why those like the Thorn and his group have made it their mission to stop the sell of a drug called Effitte into neighborhoods. So, while Rainey and Welling are players in this story, it is Veranix Calbert aka the Thorn and his group whose story this really is.
I loved having the crossover aspects of this story. The addition of Rainey and Welling to the story was a brilliant move by Maresca. The addition of Welling's brother and sister was also a plus. I also loved the curiosity of having a mage like Welling, who has no formal training and is considered an outcast, meeting with someone like Veranix who is going to school for magic but isn't as brilliant as say someone like Jiarna. You can truly see the differences between who has had training and who is considered dangerous because he is an unsanctioned mage. I would think that the author is going to have to explain that particular aspect sooner rather than later since Welling has a target on his back.
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