Holtur Stories by Cameron Wayne Smith

This is my third trip into the world of Cameron Wayne Smith and the horrors that plague this extremely unfortunate village and the slayers who rise up and keep them at bay. I've enjoyed the trips so far, as they're full of interesting characters, wonderfully creative and grotesque monsters, and epic feats of heroism. Let's see where this current trip to Holtur takes us.

Holtur Stories is a collection of short stories of the numerous horrors that have plagued the village prior to the events of The Holtur Enigma and The Holtur Curse. These tales feature the characters of the previous books, mostly Sonja and her band of slayers, and the new creatures they face and the horrors they battle on a mostly nightly basis, watching them grow and prepare for the events to come in the future.

This collection of short stories builds up the universe that Smith has created and allows for more hunts and monsters then the books didn't quite have time for. While most of the stories go to Sonja, there are several other protagonists through them. Kallum gets a story, Volk gets one, Rigst gets one...there are a lot of opportunities for some of the more minor characters to shine and develop more than they got to before. There's even a story from the perspective of a wyvern! Each story dives into their backstories, builds their characters, and gives us a bit of insight into what it's really like to be a citizen of Holtur.

While it is interesting to meet some of these new people, there is the unfortunate drawback of several of them just kind of being there for cannon fodder. Yeah, that's kinda the problem when writing prequels in general, but as death is a big theme in these books you had to have some casualties that excluded the people we know are in the later installments. But, honestly, that was just a bit of a nitpick. It's kind of like an episode of Supernatural where, if a new character is being introduced or doesn't contribute to the plot...well, the odds are not in their favor. In fact, this book really reminded me of the earlier episodes of that show. You discover a new monster, people die, the monster is defeated, we all go out for drinks afterward (btw, I would pay serious money to see the Bluwahlts and the Winchesters meet up for drinks).

Final Verdict
Kinda a short review, yes, but there's not much more I could say without going into spoilers so, with that said, this book was a ton of fun and a great way to kick off my month of monsters and mayhem! Any creature fan will like this book, it makes for a great companion to the other books in the series and it's very much worth your money at your local bookstore!

Have you read the book? What did you think? Comment below and share your thoughts. Please make sure to Follow Midnight Readings for instant updates. Have a book you'd like me to read or would like to make a recommendation? Contact me on goodreads at https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/65448711-michelle-beer

If you would like to read my book, Powerless, you can find it at:

Amazon:https://www.amazon.com/Powerless-Shelley-Miller/dp/1543482546/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1519062043&sr=8-1&keywords=powerless+by+shelley+miller

Xlibris: https://www.xlibris.com/Bookstore/BookDetail.aspx?BookId=SKU-001175242

Next Time: Beware button-eyed other mothers....