With
The Holver Alley Crew, Maresca spins a totally new
tale in his fantasy world that focuses on the streets of Maradaine.
At its heart, The Holver Alley Crew is a heist novel with
some cool contraptions and plenty of fistfights thrown in
for fun. Though the overall world of the novel has magic and
mages, they play little part in this particular tale, which
focuses on friends, family and brains. The Rynax brothers
grew up as thieves and conmen, but they had high hopes of
going straight with the opening of a gadget shop and the birth
of Verci's son. But this is not a family that can ever count
on plans going exactly as they’d hoped. The shop is
burned down, along with most of the businesses on the street.
Families lose everything, including loved ones. The Rynax
brothers almost immediately begin to suspect there was more
behind the blaze than accident. And they are looking for revenge.
For anyone enjoying a good caper, the story involves two of
them, both complicated and neither working out as planned,
but sometimes even the best plans can get skunked. Though
the brothers are great, heroic characters, it was really the
women in the story I enjoyed most. Asti can't understand why
Verci chose Rayche as a wife, but it's not long before the
reader sees there's a fundamental strength mixed with flexibility
in the young woman. She's not from their world of conmen and
thieves, but she's not the weak link either. I also loved
the young girl Mila, who never lets her size or youth turn
her into a victim, and Helene, whose devotion to family is
only matched by her own fierce temper and pride. The Holver
Alley Crew is an interesting mix of characters with plenty
to carry them through whatever adventures await in future
novels.
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