Firstborn - Legacy Book 1 (Legacy Series)

This series is great. Yes, i had a sense of the Dresden files as I read--but I love the Dresden files, at least until Butcher's books where the writing got dark. This character never gets dark. If anything, Erik is more flip and humorous than Harry Dresden. There is a great cast of characters. The talking demon cat is always good for a laugh. The sister not so much, not even as a foil. The bad guys are unique, dangerous, and suspenseful. And the cast of good guys keeps growing.

I read the whole series in four days.

I highly recommend it.

I was pleasantly surprised by Firstborn. It was nice to find a solid fantasy novel that's not YA but also avoids gratuitous sex scenes and girl characters that switch their brain off at the sight of a man. I've read too many of those.

If you like the Dresden stories, or snarky Urban fantasy, then this is worth a read. Especially as it's currently free.

This is a poor attempt at copying the Dresden Files. The characters are generic and what's more they are almost carbon copies of the characters found in the Dresden Files. All that being said, it is an enjoyable read so long as you don't think to much.

The MC is powerful God and nothing in the story ever has a chance against him. It made the story have no tension and be super boring.
Can't believe this was compared to the Dresden files. A huge disappointment.

This is awful, just... awful. First off, the whole thing starts like it's ripping off Dresden -- poorly. The initial set-ups are poor, the kind of plots a preteen would think up. Guns blazing in an elementary school that has kids in it? A possessed and hideously deformed elephant NO ONE else noticed in the entire open zoo? C'mon. At least have the zoo closed, or at night, or /something/. My ability to suspend disbelief -- which is normally very flexible -- can't stretch that far.

Our Main Character has a chip on his shoulder, family conflict, lots of baggage to go with it and power out the wahzoo. It started off a bit like a Harry Dresden novel but it soon segued into its own story. Not a bad effort, no editing, spelling or proofing faults. It'll be interesting to see what the second book is like.

A light humorous read. There were enough grammatical errors to bug me (a pet peeve). I had to read some sentences a second time to understand them. All in all, not a bad read and I will probably read more by this author.

I received a free e-copy of this book in exchange for a review. That in no way affected my review.

It's an okay read about a demon-fighting wizard, a la The Dresden Files. Needs a little editing. Almost no plot and very heavy on action; reads like an outline for a sci-fi/fantasy movie. A few technical matters bugged me, like could a melted gun really be repaired and the metal retain its integrity? Felt like too many characters.

An enjoyable enough story, but I've never been a fan of celestial being being treated almost like pets. Nothing presented in the story made me buy into that. But I'd be lying if I said I'm not considering getting the sequel. The main character is pretty cool.

Overall, this is a fairly good book. There is tons of action (possibly too much), a snarky cat-demon, and a built in mythology as well as plenty of other good and bad things. This review probably needs to be a pros and cons list to accurately review. So here goes:

PROS

-Funny protagonist who doesn’t take himself too seriously. In fantastical reads like fantasy and science fiction I always love it when characters are regular people who just have badass abilities. That’s Erik for you. What he does annoy me sometimes, overall I like him because he has constant banter with the characters around him and even with himself.

-The monsters. They are super weird and really creative. There is so much description on one of the epic badies that I had to go back and re-read it just to get a clear image.

"This guy was larger than the ship we were on. The torso was a solid barrel of muscle and thick, slimy skin like a squid’s. It had a pair of humanoid arms, each layer with muscles the size of a small car. Each finger ended with a thick, black hoof. Its head was a grey blog with a pair of pitch-black, saucer-like eyes and a row of dagger-like teeth. A pair of bull horns emerged from the sides of it’s head.

The Alpha’s lower half was just a set of eight tentacles, each as thick as the chimney on this tanker. Just one slap of those things and the ship would capsize. Its suckers had rows of teeth in them, which could probably rip off the metal sheets of the tanker."

-The Action. The plot is constantly fast paced with a lot of action.

-The repertoire of mythological characters. You’ve got the seven deadly sins, Lilith, angels, elementals, etc…

-Amaymon. Erik’s demon familiar who is often a cat. A snarky, lusty cat. Best character.

CONS

-The action. I know this is in both sections but it’s important to address that while the story was action packed it also lacked a lot of the development that readers get during down time. After finishing the book I care relatively little about any of the characters because I saw very little develop even after Erik’s awakening scene.

-The Ushi-Oni. It’s the big Alpha that was described earlier. This CON is really me just being snotty. Ushi-Oni is a cow demon with eight legs like a spider not like a tentacle. (Sorry it’s the Japanese Language and Literature degree in me) – You truly can ignore this CON. I just needed to point it out.

-Needs to be more polished. Some typos bothered me a bit

-Weaponized Vagina. During a fight, a female antagonist who is trying to kill Erik during sex, has a “member” or tentacle slime out of her vagina. She wields said “member” as a weapon. I almost stopped reading it there and thought “Of course a dude wrote this.” Ridiculous.

I’m going to give this a three because of lack of development and the monster va-jj. I think that a lot of people will like it though.

Hidden away from the view of men, a war has been waging between heaven and hell, between angels and demons. Life on Earth depends on striking a balance between the two forces, and for ages it has done so. But now a new terror is emerging, tipping the delicate balance and threatening mankind.

In Ryan Attard’s debut novel, Firstborn, we are introduced to Erik Ashenborn, a hero for hire who specializes in supernatural phenomena. He is a wizard from a magical family, one whose familial bonds have been strained, and one that is pushed to its breaking point when an unknown threat emerges.

We begin as Erik is hired to protect an innocent college student, a young woman who has caught the attention of demons. As he tries to protect her, he finds himself pitted against his twin sister Gil, a warlock who has aligned herself with angelic beings. Confused by the strange partnership, he nonetheless attempts to protect his charge, only to discover that she has a secret, one that she doesn’t even know, one which puts her in mortal peril.

As the danger mounts against him and humanity, it becomes compounded by mysteries that need to be explained, yet he fights against all odds. All the while, he grapples with discovering the truth about himself, and his family, and the curse that both binds them together and that tore them asunder.

Erik will need to choose between pride and doing what is best, for the sake of the innocent he has been hired to protect, and the safety of the earthly plane, Can he make peace with his sister, his past, and his destiny, or will the threat consume him and the world?

Let me first say that I was skeptical when I began to read this book. My chief problem was that the book is a story about wizards and the supernatural. Mix in a few demons and angels, and it easily could have become a joke. The risk in dealing with magic is that it’s all too easy to turn to the magical arts as a method to solve a problematic scene.

Happily, my worries were quickly put to rest. He not only created a universe, populating it with a rich assortment of characters, but he wrote in constraints to the use of magic, rules which helped him create a believable world. I had no trouble in envisioning it.

The push and pull between Erik and his sister is familiar, as is the need for Erik to prove himself to her, his family, and himself. The story was tense and the dialogue was crisp. The jokes could be a little corny at times, but Erik as the narrator seemed to acknowledge it with a wink. Sometimes it became a little to self-referential for my taste.

Other than that minor issue, I only have great things to say. Firstborn truly was an enjoyable read. This book is one of my favorites that I have reviewed so far. Since this is the first of a series, we can look forward to the next installment, one that I hope will not be delayed for too long.

**I received this book for an honest review. **

Plot/Story:
Firstborn did not start out very well for me. From the start it reminded me of a story that I have been reading called The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher. There are a lot of similarities to the two stories, too many to call it a coincidence. I feel like the resemblance between the two may have tainted my own views of the story.

Erik Ashendale is a wizard, who, because of a curse, can’t perform magic without a conduit. We soon find out that this wizard has a twin sister, who may or may not be evil. Either way, as most siblings, they just don’t get along.

The whole thing was all over the place. I had to keep going back to re-read parts because Erik seemed to go from one place to the next without much explanation. The beginning starts off with Erik helping the police in a situation, but the whole first and second chapter seems unnecessary. Or at least, the things that happened in the chapter seems unnecessary. There are things that we find out about the wizard in the first two chapters, but I feel there could have been a better way to expose all of this.

He goes from helping the police to helping his sister, and this is where I got confused. One second he is talking to his sister, in the next chapter he is chasing after some creature. I had no idea what was going on until later in the chapter when it was revealed he was helping his sister take care of some creatures that had escaped her lab.

To be honest, I always found myself falling asleep reading most of this book. It only got better at the last two chapters, and that was the only time I found myself interested in the book.

Characters:
I like the characters. Erik was hard to figure out. At moments he was like a teenager, other times he seemed more like a man in his mid to late 30’s. I spent most of the book trying to figure out how old he was, come to find out he was 23 and for some reason that just didn’t make sense to me.
My favorite character was Amaymon, the talking cat/demon. He was funny, crude, and everything you would imagine a demon being.

Romance/Kills:
There wasn’t much romance and most of the kills seemed downplayed. I found it hard to see what the author was trying to explain.

Writing:
The writing felt amateurish. At some points I felt like I was reading a book written by a high school student. There were a few mistakes that I picked up on throughout the book and one mistake that has my inner nerd ragging. There is a line spoken by Amaymon “Your so gay.” No, I did not use the wrong your/you’re, this was the mistake in the book. As you can imagine, it didn’t set well with me at all. I literally stared at this comment for at least 5 minutes, hoping and praying I was seeing it wrong. Of course, this is on top of the other errors throughout the book. There are missing words and extra words. I feel like the story needs a good edit.

Beginning:
The beginning worked for me. I was interested in the story, even with it reminding me so much of Dresden Files. But somewhere the story took a different route and I lost that interest.

Ending:
The ending was fantastic. Really, I loved the aspect of Erik building his own group of magic welders to take on the evils of the world. It’s the only reason I will even consider reading the next book.

Cover Art:
I am the kind of person that will judge a book by its cover. I can’t help it, I just love cover art. The cover art for Firstborn was simple but enough to draw me in.

Blurb:
I don’t think that the blurb on Goodreads really tells what the story is about. The whole heaven and hell battle doesn’t really play out until near the end of the book. I was well past the half way point before I even knew angels would have a play in the story. I felt like there were two or three storylines mixed in and played out before we got to the main story of the novel.

Other Stuff

Opening Line: Maybe it was the black trench coat.

Highlights: The ending made me want to read the next book.

Lowlights: Needs more editing.

Final Thoughts: Not horrible, but not good, read at your own risk.

Read original review at The Reading Bud. http://thereadingbud.com/2015/03/11/book-review-first-born

Fans of the fantasy genre are going to love Attard’s refreshing sense of humor. The dialog is snappy and contemporary with a cast of characters readers will enjoy meeting.

Erik Ashendale is a wizard for hire with magical powers he uses to rescue the innocent from evil monsters. His sidekick Amayomon is a talking cat, who Erik sometimes allows to morph into a street smart demon in human form. Armed with Djin,his special sword, Erik and Amaymon strike out on a mission to save the flirtatious succubus, Abigale, from evil demons and behemoth monsters. His estranged sister Gil enters the fight, taking it onto the high seas where some history behind their dysfunctional family of warlocks and wizards comes alive.

I thought “First Born” was a fun read, generally well crafted with a fast moving plot. I wouldn’t recommend it for young teens due to some of the language content. Unfortunately there were a number of copy edit errors. Though the typo errors didn’t distract me from the fun of the story, some readers may not want to read the other books planned for this series. I’m not going to let that hold me back though, I’m looking forward to reading more from this young creative author.

The publisher provided me with a copy of Firstborn in exchange for an honest review.

*I was given a copy of this book for free, in exchange for an honest review*

Eric comes from a long line of Warlock’s. His sister is still a warlock, while Eric chose another path. He uses his powers for the good of the world. A true super hero if you will. The story starts off with Eric doing some work for the local cops, stuff they can’t handle. For me the book didn’t start to get good, until it was half way over, when you finally got past all the fluff and got to the good stuff. When Lilith entered the picture and started rocking the boat, I was glued to the book. There was so much going on, Eric embracing who he really was, accepting his warlock nature and being okay with it finally! Just because he’s a warlock, doesn’t make his evil and he finally got that! FINALLY! Taking control of the situation like never before. In the last half of the book, you get to see Eric become a man!

That being said, I love Amaymon, the cat who is a demon and Eric’s familiar. I liked the feisty cat, better than Eric the first half of the book. He has a great personality and KNOWS who is he right from the beginning, never doubting it. But what I can’t see/understand is how he ended up as Eric’s familiar, they don’t seem properly matched. At the end they are a TEAM to be recon with.

Mr. Attard’s first novel is good, he is building Eric’s world for us. Showing his past and digging deeper into who Eric really is. The action is where I liked the book the best. The filler, kind of left me bored. But that is me. I like story’s the sweep me in. The last half of the book is where I got carried away.

Erik Ashendale decided not to follow in his father’s footsteps and become a Warlock. Instead, he’s a powerful wizard turned detective who helps others, for a fee of course – a wizard has to eat, you know. He also has a demon/familiar, Amaymon, who takes the form of a cat most times. After taking down some Lizardmen who were holding a school hostage, he’s been hired to protect a young college girl from forces out to take her for themselves. Erik realizes pretty quickly that this girl isn’t what she seems. His sister is also after the girl, but he doesn’t know why the larger forces of good and evil are involved. He’s got to find out the truth, fight the mother of all evil, and save the girl from the forces who want to use her.

In FIRSTBORN we meet Erik Ashendale, his demon/familiar Amaymon, and Erik’s sister Gil. The Forces of Heaven and Hell have come out to play and they’ll stop at nothing to get what they want – the fledgling succubus Abigale. I love Amaymon, a snarky demon who takes the form of a cat. I think we all know if cats could talk, they’d be super-snarky. The characters are well-written and the mythology is very interesting. I enjoyed FIRSTBORN and I am looking forward to the further adventures of Erik Ashendale and Amaymon. I think readers who enjoy magical noir and who are fans of The Dresden Files, The Occult Crimes Unit Investigation series, and The Nightside series.

I was caught off guard by the beginning of First Born. It is told in past tense first person and recounts quite a lot of action right off the bat. It honestly felt a little bit like someone's role-playing narration. There was just too much and this let to a bit of a WTF moment. But as I read on the voice became really distinctive. It reminded me a lot of the Guy Noir segments of A Prairie Home Companion on NPR. Do you know those?

In the skits Guy Noir is a private detective who recounts the events of his cases, some of them quite eyebrow raising, in an often placid tone. I sensed that here too. Erik blithely relates feats of his own death defying skill, strength and bravery as if they are little more than humdrum. It led to bit of a Lake Wobegone Effect. (This is the impression that everything about a person or place is superior to the average, even if it isn't really.)

But as I read the book more as a magical noir narrative like Guy Noir's, with the genre's known tendency to exaggerate events and flounce language, it put the narrative in context and made me laugh. I could see the humour in it, and there is plenty of humour. As the book progressed Erik also had a self-deprecating habit, such as referring to himself as the 'only wizard stupid enough to..." or readily referring to himself as brawn and not brains. This went a long way toward humanising him and countering the 'praise me I just saved the world' effect that the first person narrations of heroic events created. It also helped that as the plot established itself the lengthy and largely unintended descriptions of his own awesomeness became less frequent.

The story is really interesting and after the first couple of chapters Erik and his familiar are really likeable characters. They are witty and sarcastic, often throwing scathing one-liners at each other to dissipate tension. There are any number of laugh out loud moments. Erik is also dedicated to helping those unable to help themselves. You have to appreciate that.

I suspect that there are going to be a lot of books in this series, probably seven if I had my guess. So there is plenty of time for the plot to progress and characters to carve their own niche. This one took a couple of chapters to settle, but rolled along nicely after that.

FIRSTBORN is an imaginative and well-written novel. The main character, Erik Ashendale, is a superb character and he sets a firm foundation for a long-running series if that’s the author’s intent. Erik is confident on some levels and a buffoon on others. His relationship with Amaymon adds a mix of wonderful humor and one-liners that are memorable. The world that Attard builds isn’t completely unfamiliar to readers, yet it has its own flair to individualize it. And the action scenes are well done. If you like The Dresden Files, I think you’ll like this novel. I for one can’t wait to read more in the series.

Firstborn - legacy book 1 by Attard. I quite enjoyed this foray into magic and goodies and baddies. The protagonist, Eric, is a likeable character who is not too sure of his powers - human, in fact. The big scene occurs on a tanker with Lilith doing her damnedness to annihilate Eric. Will he win the day and find employment for the succubus before she turns 20?

A beautiful blend of urban fantasy, detective pulp fiction, and action movie goodness! Firstborn brings together all the elements you would expect to see in an urban fantasy novel and more. With a few plot twists along the way to make things even more interesting, I was hard-pressed to put it down to go to work. If his future books are anything like this one, I’ll keep coming back for more.

Loved it! Very tongue in cheek. A bit like Fawltey Towers meets Harry Potter by way of Terminator. Eric is a brilliant character and so are all the supporting cast. Can't wait to read more. If you like off beat, quirky reads then this is a must.

Firstborn tells the story of Erik Ashendale, a wizard and all-around badass. He spends his time fighting monsters, demons and other such things that go bump in the night. When we first meet him, he has been brought in by the police to fight "lizardmen" who have infested a school. An easy job, except that one of them seems to be magically enhanced and almost too much for him. Luckily, Erik is able to heal quickly. He also carries guns that he can infuse with magic and a magic sword. The next job Erik gets changes things. A young woman is being hunted down by someone or something. It has attacked once, almost killing her. Now Erik needs to prevent them from attacking again. It doesn't take long for Erik to realize that the girl is a succubus, slowly coming into her powers.

That's not the only issue that Erik has going on. For starters, he has a demon familiar named Amaymon that takes the form of a cat and issues a constant stream of snarky advice. Who doesn't love a snarky talking cat? Amaymon is one of the brightest parts of the book, at least for me. He's really fun. Erik also has to deal with his sister Gil, a warlock who has allied herself with angels. Gil is none too pleased that her brother has promised to protect a succubus. They discover that the person hunting the succubus is the personification of Lust, one of the Seven Deadly Sins. The mastermind behind that? Lilith, the mother of demons and sin.

This was a fun read. Erik is a very self-deprecating anti-hero and, as I said, Amaymon is hilarious. My main complaint with the book is that towards the end, Erik becomes a little bit too powerful. It seemed a little bit too easy. The mythology was interesting, although I would have liked to have just a bit more world-building. Not a huge complaint, that one, but it seems like there could be more detail given regarding warlocks and wizards and demons. Still, it was a good debut that I completely enjoyed. It will be interesting to see what happens next.

Even in the Book Description there's errors. "I dropped by gun" just doesn't sell it as well as 'my gun' would have. Also, repeating 'the sky swirled' was redundant. And again, this is just in the book description. There are many more errors in the book itself, otherwise it's not bad.

It's sad when a book is jarringly difficult to get through merely because of poor editing, but this is yet another case of exactly that.

Loved it! Very tongue in cheek. A bit like Fawltey Towers meets Harry Potter by way of Terminator. Eric is a brilliant character and so are all the supporting cast. Can't wait to read more. If you like off beat, quirky reads then this is a must.