Jamie Schultz

This originally appeared at The Irresponsible Reader.
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I look around, though, and I ain’t stupid. How’s this end? Just keep going like this forever? Naw. People gonna die.

WHAT'S SACRIFICES ABOUT?
That opening quote sums it up—the story, characters, and events of this trilogy can't keep going. This ends—and not everyone is going to make it out alive. Maybe no one does.

After the end of Splintered, things were bleak—the team was, well, splintered. People were dead. Demons had infected (for lack of a better term) two of the team—and the biggest and most powerful one seemed to be working with the crime boss/would-be supernatural force that they'd been working so hard to get away from. But even Sobell didn't seem to be fully in control and might be in danger from this demon.

This brings us to Sacrifices, Karyn had a vision/prophecy that gave hope that there was a way to defeat Belial. If they could just figure out what it said—of course, Belial heard it, too, and was at work to prevent anyone from fulfilling it. The FBI is lurking around—they may be willing to help, but are more interested in slapping the cuffs on Sobell and anyone else they could.

Now it's just a matter of seeing what happens. Will their (literal and figurative) demons defeat them? Will Belial end up wreaking destruction on Los Angeles/the world? Will...actually, I don't know if the reader—or any of the characters, actually—really gets a picture of the ultimate stakes here. I don't think our minds could comprehend it—but it's big, nasty, and possibly apocalyptic.

The solution to all this may lie in the fact that demons have an enemy. An enemy even more terrible and awful (especially if you look at older definitions of those words). But what will have to be given up to secure their presence?

I'M SO GLAD THIS ISN'T A SCRATCH 'N SNIFF BOOK

It came to her that this was the world as it really was, just thin tissue floating atop an unknowable black ocean teeming with horrifying, malicious creatures— creatures at the command of the demon before her. For the first time, she saw him as much greater than simply another enemy, if more revolting than most. For the first time she really understood that he was also unspeakably ancient and filled with knowledge and power beyond reckoning. This was the type of entity she dealt with each time she delved into magic

Some authors will mention the smell of sulfur or something like that and talk about rot and decay when talking about demons. Other authors will basically make demons out to be Byronic hunks (the Cullening of demons). Schultz does not do that—either of them. He dwells on the rot, the decay, the blood, grime, disease, and filth that comes with demonic possession, power, and or presence.

His demons aren't misunderstood, they're not occasionally benign or honorable, and there is nothing to them other than destruction and power—they may seemingly aid a human for a time, but it's for a price. A price that no one should pay.

Schulz's descriptions of the demonic effects—and just the life in L.A.'s heat for those without much in the way of resources—are so vivid that you feel a little grimy just reading it. From the description of the clear bottle that one man uses as a spittoon, bloody sweatpants that have been worn for days, various wounds, and so much more—Schulz makes sure that your visual images of these events are real and substantial.

A QUICK PERSONAL NOTE
I'd fully intended on jumping on this book when it came out in 2016—and cannot tell you why I didn't. It's just been sitting there collecting dust on my Kindle since then—and it's been so long at this point, I didn't think I'd remember the story enough to make it worthwhile.

But within a few pages, I was right back—Schultz did a little bit of recapping, but not much. Mostly it was the tangibility of this world and these characters, just seeing them brought it all back to me, and it was like no time had passed at all. There are few authors that can pull that off, but he did it. And I'm impressed as all get out by that.

SO, WHAT DID I THINK ABOUT SACRIFICES?

“Funny, isn’t it? Lack of a demon isn’t usually a problem to be addressed. Quite the opposite.”

“I’m not laughing.”

Sobell made a clucking noise. “That’s your prerogative, but from my position, I’d have to say that if you don’t find any of this funny, you’ll find it unspeakably bleak.”

On the whole, this book is closer to the unspeakably bleak end of the spectrum, but there are a couple of moments of brightness (and maybe a little bit funny). And I do mean a couple of moments, a handful at best.

Even the more optimistic statements and moves come with the air of "This is probably not going to work, but it's something to do." The only characters that are operating without a sense of impending doom are those who are on the outside of the occult happenings in the city. The futility of every scheme, plan, and idea taints everything—but these people (and/or magical/spiritual entities) keep moving forward, scrabbling after the chance that someone will make it out alive. This is hard to read—I wasn't even sure the planet would exist when the book ends—but once Schultz got his talons into your brain, there's just no way that you stop reading—you have to know what's around the corner, even if it will leave you despairing.

This is a great UF trilogy, and one that I am so sad that didn't get the attention it deserved (including from me for the last 6 years). Pick up the set, you won't be sorry.… (meer)

Gritty, straightforward and refreshingly ambiguous, - these are the first words coming to my mind after finishing Premonitions.

Jamie Schultz is not using many tropes and creates this major city magical underbelly that reader doesn't have trouble feeling comfortable with almost instantaneously. The lack of info dumping works here although I would have loved some sort of explanation for magic and how it works with demons taking over the body of a practitioner who's all used up. I would have liked it cleared out.

Also, do not believe the synopsis which makes us think that this book is told from Karyn's point of view. It works very much like Firefly, - all the crew members are involved.

Karyn works with Anna - her oldest friend, Tommy - a magic user and Nail - the mercenary as a team of thieves who are paid for helping certain magical artifacts change owners. Karyn is a seer, and she sees many variations of the immediate future every moment of her life. If she doesn't take "blind" - a very illegal, very expensive drug to diminish her premonitions to manageable level, she can't function at all, because she loses her ability to stay in present - she constantly sees the huge variety of distant futures and it drives her mad. It happens in the book, and frankly the way it's described I'm amazed Karyn manages to do anything at all.



But Karyn's POV is only a part of the book. There is Anna who organises every operation for the team, there is Nail with his limited POV and there is Genevieve - a newest addition and Anna's love interest.

However, there are also villains POVs. One is Enoch Sobell who is a fantastic villain. He is one of those subtle figures who we can't slot into a firm category of evil or good. If he is evil, it's a matter of fact evil. He kills with no remorse and with ruthless practicality, but he also doesn't derive pleasure from it. He is colourful and I found him the most interesting character in this story.

Another villain is Greaser or whatever manipulates him. He is the most trope-y unfortunately and lacks individuality, - you can clearly see that he just serves a purpose of driving the plot.

Anna and Genevieve are refreshingly understated, and actually the whole book has an understated feel. Nothing here is over the top, the humour is subtle and the story is utterly believable. Somehow it made me think of Firefly crossed with Kim Harrison - the story is painted in watercolours instead of oils, and it's quietly enjoyable.… (meer)

The Arcane Underworld series has it all. Demons. Fanatical cultists. Dark magic. Now throw in a group of down-on-their-luck thieves working for one Enoch Sobell, possibly the scariest and most powerful crime lord that ever lived. So what does it tell you when even the big boss man is rattled by a new threat entering the playing field?

If you like your urban fantasy dark with a touch of horror, Splintered and its predecessor Premonitions will be perfect for you. This sequel picks up shortly after the events of the first book, following the lives of Karyn Ames’ crew in the wake of their big heist to steal an ancient occult artifact. Ever since Karyn’s affliction has taken her out of the picture though, Anna Ruiz has stepped up to lead the gang, hoping to help her friend break free of the debilitating visions that have cut her off from reality.

Enoch Sobell, however, has further plans for the crew. No longer are Anna and her friends carrying out mere thefts for the crime lord. His demands have gotten more disturbing and extreme in recent weeks, as evidenced by their latest job, which involves shadier deals like kidnapping. But what they didn’t count on is that their target has a loyal following of acolyte mages who will stop at nothing to get him back. Now Anna, Genevieve and Nail find themselves in way over their heads, tangled in a web of violence and blood magic.

Like the first book, this one also features a great mix of urban fantasy, mystery and psychological thrills, but it takes off in some new directions as well. I love heist books, which is why I enjoyed Premonitions so much, but as it turned out, there’s a lot less thieving action this time around in Splintered. Still, the story makes up for this by being much darker, which suited me just fine. Many parts of the book even bordered on horror, including a bunch of messy scenes that featured demonic possession, the summoning of nightmarish monsters, as well as the brutal consequence of black magic.

Also, now that Karyn has gotten lost in her hallucinations, Anna has taken over as the head of the crew as well as de facto main protagonist. As a result we see a lot less of Karyn, which was slight disappointment since she was my favorite character in book one, as well as the member of the crew that I found most interesting. Because of the frightening and unpredictable nature of Karyn’s visions, Premonitions was a real head-trip, and I thought Jamie Schultz did a really good job giving readers a glimpse into the scary world that is her mind. Sadly, we lose much of that in this book.

The bright side though? This development gives us the opportunity to know the other crew members better. And what fascinating characters they are. Anna is doing her best to lead the group, but is finding that hard to do with Sobell breathing down her neck. Karyn’s plight is also always on the back of Anna’s mind, quite possibly affecting her job as well as her relationship with fellow thief and girlfriend Genevieve, whose loyalties are still on the fence. As the newest member of the crew, Gen is still a big question mark for me. I’m not willing to trust her fully just yet, and after this book things should get even more interesting.

But perhaps the biggest star of the story for me is Nail, the crew’s muscle and the guy who brings the big guns. In spite of this, he clearly has a soft side. Nail is the kind of man who would do anything for family – in this case, that’s his crew as well as his older brother DeWayne, whose gambling problem has gotten him in debt with the wrong people. For such a minor character, DeWayne stole the show for the brief moments he appeared, and I loved his interactions with Nail. I really hope we’ll see more of him in future books.

Now, here’s the deal: Splintered was a great sequel. But as much as I enjoyed it, I think I still have to give the edge to the first book. I love the darker, grittier feel of this book but I just have to confess, I simply love heist stories way too much, so Premonitions will always have a special place in my heart. I also thought Splintered faltered with a plot that was difficult to follow at times, especially when I was trying to figure out how all the different plot threads – the search for Karyn’s cure, Van Horn’s kidnapping, and Sobell’s job on Mona Gorow’s house, etc. – were supposed to fit together. In the long run though, I suppose it mattered little because the conclusion tied it all up, not to mention the final show down was all kinds of awesome.

With the stakes remaining this high, you can count me in for book three – especially if it means getting to find out whether or not Karyn gets back in the game. I’m burning for more dark urban fantasy in my reading, and Jamie Schultz definitely knows how to bring it.… (meer)

I have a thing for heist books. That’s what Premonitions is and more, mashing up the best elements of urban fantasy, mystery-noir and dark psychological horror. Be prepared for lots of thrills along the way as things spiral rapidly out of control on a high-stakes job, leaving a rag-tag gang of professional thieves floundering in a situation none of them could have imagined in their worst nightmares.

This is the story of Karyn Ames’ crew, who thought they’d hit on the ultimate score when the notorious crime lord Enoch Sobell offers them two millions dollars to steal an ancient occult artifact – just some piece of dusty old bone. But as it turns out, that bone once belonged to something evil, vengeful, and not even of this earth. And it just so happens to be in the possession of a fanatical cult, who will stop at nothing to protect their precious treasure.

There are two main reasons why I love heist stories. One is that they are essentially a problem solving mission to acquire a quest item, with the characters using everything at their disposal to gain their goal, very often leading to some creative solutions. The second part of it is the characters themselves. After all, what’s a heist story without a diverse crew made of individuals with “special” talents? Premonitions shows us how it’s done.

First up, we have our leader, the one who heads up the crew and decides which jobs to take, and that’s Karyn Ames. But Karyn isn’t your typical mastermind who calls all the shots. She has a condition which allows her to hallucinate slices of the future – a useful power when you’re the one responsible for the safety and wellbeing of your crew, but it can also be overwhelming and debilitating when the visions get out of hand. To keep her hallucinations in check, Karyn relies on a very rare black market drug called Blind, which unfortunately is also very expensive. Without Blind, her visions can get very unsettling. It becomes difficult to tell the present from the tangled mess of near or even far future possibilities.

The author has done an incredible job here portraying Karyn’s struggle with her visions coming and going, as well as evoking powerful responses from me with the things she sees. Imagine experiencing scary moments like armed gunmen kicking your door in, not knowing if it’s really happening or if it’s something that will happen in the future (not like that’s any more comforting). Or having gruesome hallucinations of things like bullet holes spurting blood in the middle of your friends’ foreheads even as they are in front you talking like nothing is out of the ordinary. Jamie Schultz ends up capturing the disturbing nature of this very well, and I think it’s one of the best aspects of the book.

Karyn’s predicament with her condition makes her the most interesting character, but the rest of her crew are no slouches either. Anna is the second-in-command and best friend, ever competent and dependable. Then there’s Nail, who is most definitely the guy who brings the big guns. He’s the expert on ordnance and how to dish out the punishment. Finally, there’s Tommy, the eccentric and somewhat creepy practitioner of dark magic arts, probably because his line of work involves doing some pretty unsavory things. A mid-mission addition is Genevieve, liaison extraordinaire and a love interest for Anna, and pretty good at some of that sorcery herself. And of course we also have to talk about the client, the ruthless criminal overlord Enoch Sobell himself. Is he the crew’s ally or villain? Both or neither? There are so many surprises when it comes to this mercurial character, you’ll just have to read and find out more.

All told, there’s plenty of delicious twists and turns in this one, a treat for fans of the urban fantasy genre who are especially looking for a touch of something darker and more ominous, but without sacrificing the action and the fun. Premonitions ends up being a lot more than the sum of its parts, although it does stumble briefly on a couple of bewildering segments. Perhaps my only issue with the story is the jumble of factions involved in the main conflict, at times causing a few instances of confusion when it’s not clearly explained who’s going after who and which group has taken over which other group. In the end it’s not an issue that I found overwhelming, and I enjoyed the overall story in spite of it.

Ultimately, Premonitions ended up being a pretty damn good read. Considering how the book has been on my radar for a while, it didn’t disappoint. With this, the series is off to a great start and I’ll very likely pick up the next book because I think I’d like to know more about this world and its characters.… (meer)