Sharon Stevenson, $0.99, ISBN 978-1005614539
Fantasy, 2017
Amnesia Bites is the first entry in Sharon Stevenson’s urban fantasy series Shady Arcade. It’s been a while since I follow one such series, so this one looks interesting, judging from the provided synopsis.
We have Zack, the bloke with amnesia. He has the ability to touch something and see visions linked to the object, so he wears a pair of gloves to prevent such unwanted contact with physical objects.
He can’t remember much about his past, but he must be somebody, since he has a bodyguard Bridget. She’s a vampire with attitude, by the way. Also hovering Zack is Chloe, a necromancer. He doesn’t remember, but she’s his ex, and she has reasons to keep that fact from him.
The whole thing begins when a teenage boy asks Zack to touch his dead sister’s purse to help him locate her killer. Zack is soon plunged into drama… well, I feel that it’s more of a soap opera than anything else, as the bulk of the story sees Chloe and Bridget hissing and snarling at one another over our guy.
So, this one has vampires, and vampires are countered by necromancers that can control undead, of which vampires are one such type. The two women are basically at a stalemate, and for the most part, I soon find their antagonism boring to follow.
Perhaps things will be more interesting if Zack had played a more active role in this story. Alas, he’s more of that guy that just sits there in the middle of all the drama, blinking in confusion. Because I don’t know him well at this stage, I’m not sure why I’m supposed to care so much about whether Chloe or Bridget gets a bigger hold over him.
What, is he some kid that needs a babysitter? From the looks of it, he’s an adult, and having amnesia and being under the woo-woo witness protection program doesn’t mean he has to be a passive bloke that only reacts to situations around him.
Seriously, he has a sister that only calls him, never the other way around, and he doesn’t feel a little curious about why this is the case?
Sure, there are vampires, necromancers, and woo-woo politics here, but the overall story resembles more of two women hissing at one another while playing table tennis, with the hero being the ball in the game. The hero is too passive for my liking and is on the nondescript side, while the two women are hissing cats number one and number two.
All in all, this thing doesn’t have me at the edge of my seat wanting to read the next installment in the series.
