Wish Bound, A Grimm Agency Novel By J C Nelson

by Terrance McArhtur

Details on how to win a copy of this book at the end of the review.

As a child, Marissa Locks was sold to Grimm, the Fairy Godfather in Kingdom, and is now a partner in his Wish Agency. The Black Queen, who was dead and/or confined in a thorn tree for several centuries, is back, and has claimed Marissa as her handmaiden. The not-so-normal realms are getting interesting in J. C. Nelson’s Wish Bound.

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Marissa’s worlds are rather unusual, what with her boyfriend with the dragon curse (They have scorched a number of sheets; luckily, she has protection from fire), a BFF princess who is now a yellow-eyed witch (and has a royal wimp for a boyfriend), an office intern who becomes an eight-foot-tall werewolf when he’s excited (and was supposed to kill Marissa), the office manager who insults Marissa constantly (because she knows things the readers don’t), the gnomes who have practiced Marissa-worship (and have gone native/tribal and taken over the post office), and the missing kazoo-whisperer of homicidal toy poodles……Oh, and there’s a malevolent wheel of cheese in the staffroom refrigerator.

Not only does Nelson create situations that are so off-the-wall that there is no ceiling left, his heroine may be snarkier and more smart-mouthed than the urban fantasy characters of Amber Benson (Tara on Buffy and author of the Calliope Reaper-Jones novels) and Seanan McGuire (October Daye books).

Image source: Ace

The Black Queen is determined to take over and destroy worlds over some daddy issues, so Marissa finally learns to not go it alone. She calls in all the chips that have fallen her way during the earlier books of the series to assemble a Magnificent Seven to the seventh power to do battle with giants who are made of giants.

The joy of this series is its willingness—nay, its determination—to take fantasy conventions and twist them until they cry Uncle, Aunt, and several Cousins two times removed. This is the end of the series, with a lot of loose ends finally woven back into the tapestry, unless legions of fans demand that the publishers give us more of Marissa Locks and the wild-and-crazy exploits of the Grimm Agency.

To enter to win a copy of Wish Bound, simply email KRL at krlcontests@gmail[dot]com by replacing the [dot] with a period, and with the subject line “Wish,” or comment on this article. A winner will be chosen October 31, 2015. If entering via email please include your mailing address.

Use this link to purchase this book and a portion goes to help support KRL & it supports an indie bookstore:

Wish Bound

Terrance V. Mc Arthur is a Community Librarian for the WoW! (WithOut Walls) Division of the Fresno County Public Library, roaming the Valley to meet the public's information needs.