This was 100% a Bookstagram made me do it read. I had a lot of friends who read and enjoyed the series it so when I saw the first two books free on Audible, I didn’t want to miss out.
Bookish quick facts:
- Title: White Track Warlock
- Series: Adam Binder #1
- Author: David R. Slayton
- Publisher & Release: Blackstone Publishing, 2020
- Length: 320 pages
- Rate & Recommend: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ for urban fantasy fans (I get into content a bit below)
The audio is narrated by Michael David Axtell and he rocks. It is 9 hours and 19 minutes run time thru Blackstone Audio, 2020, and I recommend that route if you like audio!
Here’s the synopsis from Am*zon:
The complex world-building, well-shaded depictions of poverty, emotional nuance, and thrilling action sequences make this stand out. Slayton is sure to win plenty of fans.”–Publishers Weekly (starred review)
Not all magicians go to schools of magic.
Adam Binder has the Sight. It’s a power that runs in his bloodline: the ability to see beyond this world and into another, a realm of magic populated by elves, gnomes, and spirits of every kind. But for much of Adam’s life, that power has been a curse, hindering friendships, worrying his backwoods family, and fueling his abusive father’s rage.
Years after his brother, Bobby, had him committed to a psych ward, Adam is ready to come to grips with who he is, to live his life on his terms, to find love, and maybe even use his magic to do some good. Hoping to track down his missing father, Adam follows a trail of cursed artifacts to Denver, only to discover that an ancient and horrifying spirit has taken possession of Bobby’s wife.
It isn’t long before Adam becomes the spirit’s next target. To survive the confrontation, save his sister-in-law, and learn the truth about his father, Adam will have to risk bargaining with very dangerous beings … including his first love.
My thoughts:
Overall, I agree with the starred review snippet in the synopsis but I have a few mixed feelings. White Trash Warlock is a very good urban fantasy with a great narrator and surprisingly serious tone, but I absolutely have no interest in reading so much (fairly tame, pretty vanilla) m/m content. I enjoyed the book quite a bit either way.
I am not a huge urban fantasy fan but have found myself reading a lot of it recently, and this is one of the better woven ones that I’ve found. The plot is interesting. There’s a spirit hovering over Denver, wreaking all sorts of magical devastation, and the family needs Adam’s help to fix things. It’s obviously a lot more complicated than that and we see everything from leprechauns to elves to Death herself on the search for answers. There’s good action and a sad but real examination of alcoholism, child abuse, and poverty. There’s a difference between poor and white trash and I’m glad he included this within! I loved seeing how the brothers started to work through their past, just, I can’t even imagine after that kind of childhood.
I liked the magic, both big and small. It wasn’t explained so much as just a part of the world. The magic ties into the various magical races a lot which I also liked. The characters are good too, Vic and Jesse are absolute treasures. I liked those two more than Adam and Robert, although I thought all of the characters are well done and I want them ALL to succeed and stop getting hurt! They have a lot to work through and show tons of development & acceptance as the book goes.
Plus there are all the twists and action you’d expect from an urban fantasy. I’d recommend this one for sure if you can do serious content considerations for child abuse, family dysfunction, and m/m romance.
And as a quick note on the audiobook, Michael David Axtell is a fantastic narrator! He did great voices and showed a lot of great emotional inflection, as well as making action scenes exciting and sad things, well, sad. I was impressed overall and especially really liked his voicing of Vic and Jesse.
TLDR: this is definitely one I’d recommend if you like or are on the fence about urban fantasy and supernatural books
Thanks for checking out my audiobook & book review of White Trash Warlock by David R. Slayton! I got the audiobook included through my audible membership and as always, all opinions are my own ♥️
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