Hi, everyone! Today, I’m excited to take part in the Small Places book tour! This is my first review tour with Storytellers on Tour, and I’m happy for the opportunity to work with them. Fellow book reviewer Lorraine (a.k.a. The Book and Nature Professor, I highly recommend checking out her blog and her booksta account!) has featured so many SOT books on her page, and every single one of them sounded amazing. So, I just had to sign up to be a tour host with them!
And, again, I’m happy I did because Small Places by Matthew Samuels was amazing. But keeping reading to find my review of the book and find out exactly what I loved about it. And be sure to check out my interview with Matthew Samuels; he had amazing answers for each and every question.
Also, there’s a little extra special something at the end of the post, so make sure you check that out!
Review
My two favorite kinds of urban fantasy are any stories that feature faeries or witches. So, it came as no surprise to me that I thoroughly enjoyed Small Places; both of those elements were central to the plot in this book.
I loved Samuels’ interpretation of all the different magical beings in the story. His take on the Seelie and Unseelie Courts was particularly interesting. I liked his descriptions of how one entered those realms, and I liked how he worked classic creatures like the banshee into the book.
As for his presentation of witches, I quite liked it. I normally prefer either soft, cottage-core vibes or dark, dramatic plots when it comes to witch stories, but Small Places had something a little different, which I appreciated. It wasn’t quite in between those two things, but it also was, in a way, so.
Of course, I also enjoyed the general plot of the book. It had a lot of excitement, for sure, but Samuels also spent a good amount of time fleshing out the magical world. The story also had some pretty surprising twists that I didn’t see coming, which I obviously loved.
Plus, I can’t say I disliked any of the characters; they were all relatively well-written and I enjoyed reading about them. Obviously, there were those characters who didn’t have much screen time and therefore had less development, but that’s to be expected in any story. And even those characters intrigued me; I’d give a lot to read a spin-off about any one of them.
So, in the end, I definitely recommend reading this one; fans of urban fantasy will almost certainly enjoy it. And if you do choose to read it, leave a comment below and let me know what you thought of it!
Blurb
Small Places is a no-nonsense urban fantasy fairy story. Jamie, a shy, lonely boy, runs an errand for a witch as a child, helping them ease a family friend’s experience of cancer.
Thirteen years later, Jamie’s own mother is suffering from terminal cancer as well, and he’s come back to his childhood village to spend more time with her before the end. He receives a card from the witch, Melusine, asking for his help – and casting his mind back to his childhood experience – goes to see her, hoping she can help his mother.–from the blurb about Small Places
Amidst freak earthquakes and storms, he’s drawn into working with the bad-tempered Mel in an effort to find out what’s wrong with Gaia, the earth spirit, as they visit the Seelie and Unseelie courts, finding the former racist and the latter paranoid, meeting stoned fauns and beer-brewing trolls along the way. It’ll appeal to fans of Ben Aaronovich’s Rivers of London series, Charles de Lint’s work or Clive Barker’s Abarat series.
Buy on Amazon US
Buy on Amazon UK
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Matthew Samuels
Matthew Samuels is a science fiction and fantasy writer based in London, UK. His first novel was the Sci-Fi Solarpunk / Hopepunk adventure story Parasites, the first book in the Navigator Series. He enjoys reading, gaming, running, walking, EDM, and perversely, quiet. Find out more in the interview here.
Small Places Book Tour Giveaway!
Click HERE to enter to win a physical copy of Small Places by Matthew Samuels!
