Review copy was received from Publisher. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Hellbound Guilds & Other Misdirections by Annette Marie, Rob Jacobsen Narrator: Iggy Toma
Published by Tantor Audio on September 14, 2021
Genres: Urban Fantasy
Length: 8 hours, 12 minutes
Format: Audiobook
Source: Publisher
Goodreads
Amazon, Audible, Libro.fm
Agent Kit Morris. Has a nice ring, doesn't it?
It's a big step up from "wanted criminal" or "that weird con-artist guy with weirder psychic powers"—both of which recently applied to me. But my promotion to MagiPol agent comes with a few drawbacks.
First, supremely talented and effortlessly gorgeous Agent Lienna Shen won't agree to a dinner date with me. Second, my new assignment has pitted me against a guild with very bad taste in pets. Third, those pets are demons, and those demons want to kill me.
My psychic magic is great for conning people. It doesn't do jack shit against hellish orcs. If I screw this up, my dinner date will be with a demon—and I'll be the dinner. Even better, I kind of suspect this supposedly straightforward assignment is actually the tip of an unholy iceberg of power-hungry malefactors bent on destroying all law and order in the city.
I should probably mention that part to my boss.
I continued to enjoy the next story in the Guild Codex Warped. I’m not sure yet where this one fits in the overall Guild Codex Universe. It definitely is somewhere in the middle of the Demonized series. The overall story arc is connected and like most urban fantasy, I would read them in order.  I hope to re-read all the universe in order at a future date.
Hellbound Guilds & Other Misdirections shows us more of Kit and Lienna and their start in the MPD. Kit is busy torturing his cubemate, while hoping to pass his agent tests. The examiners know what his magic is, so it’s hard to fool them with his illusions. He’s tired of failing. He’s exhausted and begins to doubt he will make an agent. But the boss assigns him to work with Lienna which is exactly what he wants to do.
We get much more of Lienna’s history and why she would take a position in Vancouver, rather than Los Angeles where she was raised. Their boss is making things rough for her to stay. So Kit is trying hard to help her, as he is attracted to his coworker. It is also rough as someone keeps trying to kill them. There is plenty of danger, fast-paced action. They are also investigating a demon guild which is equally dangerous.
Kit and Lienna are just off beat enough, they make a good team and smart enough to figure out the criminals and proving their deeds with evidence. It’s hard to find evidence when most of your time is spent staying alive. Somehow they pull together enough skill, luck and friends to survive, and bring down the bad guys.
I really enjoyed the story after the action started. The team did a good job with directing their investigation and not just reacting to attacks. I loved seeing them interrogate Darius King. The cultural movie references were hilarious. There seems no end to the things to learn about the magic in this world.  I’m looking forward to seeing how they continue at the MPD.
Narration:
I’ve settled in with the narrator for this newer series. I enjoyed the distinct voices for males and females. I was able to listen at my normal 1.5x speed.
Listen to a clip: HERE
About Annette Marie
Annette Marie is the author of YA urban fantasy series Steel & Stone, its prequel trilogy Spell Weaver, and romantic fantasy trilogy Red Winter. Her first love is fantasy, but fast-paced urban fantasy, bold heroines, and tantalizing forbidden romances are her guilty pleasures. She proudly admits she has a thing for dragons, and her editor has politely inquired as to whether she intends to include them in every single book.
Annette lives in the frozen winter wasteland of Alberta, Canada (okay, it’s not quite that bad). She shares her life with her remarkably patient, comparatively sensible husband and their furry minion of darkness—sorry, cat—Caesar. When not writing, she can be found elbow-deep in one art project or another while blissfully ignoring all adult responsibilities.
About Rob Jacobsen
Rob is a Canadian writer, actor, and director, who has been in a few TV shows you might watch, had a few films in festivals you might have attended, and authored some stories you might have come across. He’s hoping to accomplish plenty more by the time he inevitably dies surrounded by cats while watching reruns of Mr. Robot. Currently, he is the Creative Director of Cave Puppet Films, as well as the co-author of the upcoming Guild Codex: Warped book series with Annette Marie.
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I read all types of books but my favorites are urban fantasy and romantic suspense.I like some romance and some action / adventure / mystery in everything.I like sex in my books but please, only between TWO people.Intimate conversation is equally important to the sex in a book.It lets me see the characters.The other thing I enjoy is humor.
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Reading this book contributed to these challenges:
- C21-Summer
This sounds like an entertaining read. I really need to read more of Annette Marie’s books. I’ve only read two so far but loved them both.
I’ve been enjoying them all on audio and they are just so fun! They are also feel good books.
Great review you have of this one here Anne. Sometimes you need the story to get really thrilling to get engaged.
Thank you! All the Guild Codex books are lots of fun.
That sounds like a lot of fun. I haven’t read this author but I do like pnr type reads.
All her series are really fun. I started the first one at the library on audio during a trip during 2019. I caught up and have been reviewing them on audio since then.
This sounds like so much fun! One of these years, I really need to start this universe. I have the first one (I think it’s the first one?) on my Kindle, but there are always other books shoving their way to the head of the TBR line.
The whole series is a lot of fun. There’s action and light romance. I like the magic systems too.
There are many series now… I’m re reading the French translations for the publisher so I re read the orginal series these days. It’s fun.
I have really enjoyed all the stories in the universe and hope to do them in chronological order for a Read-along one day.