Devine Enquiries 3
About
I know that Hilary comes to us for anything that he calls ‘Weird Shit’ but this is getting out of hand. First we have a murderous AI using werecats to create a criminal empire.
Then a mad faerie who blames me for his father’s death. To be fair I did kill him. So he starts capturing people and turning them into Zombies who capture more people to become Zombies, all the while hiding in Dreamspace protected by the Kraken, a monstrous beast that patrols Dreamspace scooping up anyone that wanders into it and throwing them into The Nowhere.
So we collected warriors from every realm, even some Imperial Police (IMPs but don’t ever let them hear you say that), SAS, the Wild Hunt. Invading Dreamspace, slaughtering thousands of Zombies but still there were more and more. We had to find the mad faerie Forensteildoranannaxdilvasset who was controlling them while avoiding the Kraken.
Sometimes I dream about a nice, simple case of infidelity.
Praise for this book
This is the third in the Devine Enquires series by Martin Hull, and, I’m pretty sure it’s the best. By book three the characters are fully formed and, as a reader, I understand their relationships, for better or worst, and the world that they live in. Most enjoyable!
It’s a different London than the one we know. Werewolves and vampires have been welcomed into society, and there are a swack of other magical realms that are accessible, but only if guided by spanners. Jason’s friend Ishaaq is one such spanner, and he plays a pivotal role in Devine Enquiries III. The action takes our heroes, Jason, Sam, and Gizmo from London to the realms of fairies, gnomes, trolls, yetis, goblins, demons, and into the horrific dreamscape.
There are two distinct and separate stories in Devine Enquiries III. The first involves a locked door mystery. People are being murdered in locked rooms. CCTV sees no one—or no thing—entering or leaving the crime scene—just the victim murdered in an inaccessible locale. There are rumours of werecats attacking the victims, a super criminal gang behind the murders, and AI gone amok. Not only do Jason and Sam have to figure out what is happening, they have to figure out how to stop it. And there’s a pattern emerging—any one who knows about Optimus dies. Who is Optimus? What is Optimus? Devine Enquiries has to find out and stop it.
In the second story, there are a series of bank heists. But not normal bank heists. These are heists where the perpetrators just disappear. They rob the bank, then—poof!—they’re gone. But these aren’t normal criminals either—they’re zombies. Strike them down, and more just take their place. Then people and beings start disappearing—not just from London, but from all the realms. And they are turned into—you guessed it—zombies. Our heroes are up against zombie armies, vengeful fairies, and the Kraken. Jason and Sam can’t fight that alone. They need help, lots and lots of help.
If you have read the first two Divine Enquiries, then number three is a must. If you haven’t, then it’s still a must. It’s an urban fantasy novel, played with humour and with an expected amount of murder and mayhem. The world building is subtle and revealed as the story progresses, so kudos, no info dump! And, surprisingly, it all makes sense. Sure Sam’s a vampire, Gizmo’s a demon dog, and Jason can control the minds of others, but it all makes perfect sense. If you want a fast-moving story with a myriad of supernatural creatures, a cast of the unusual, and villains galore, then you will enjoy Devine Enquiries III—it’s fun. And we can all use a little fun in our lives!