Wednesday Book Review: Idle Ingredients

Title: Idle Ingredients

Author: Matt Wallace

Genre: Urban Fantasy

Book procurement: Received a copy from Tor.com for Gamecca Magazine Vol 8 Issue 91.

Synopsis:

Catering for a charismatic motivational speaker, the staff of the Sin du Jour catering agency find themselves incapacitated by a force from within their ranks. A smile and a promise is all it took.

And for some reason, only the men are affected. It’s going to take cunning, guile and a significant amount of violence to resolve.

Another day of cupcakes and evil with your favorite demonic caterers.

Review:

Got permission from my editor to post the Gamecca book reviews here. The reviews in the magazine have a max 200 word count so I’m expanding.

First Thoughts

You just have to love that book cover. I mean, it’s just epic isn’t it? And the story is just as epic. From the first page you are thrust into the seemingly normal life of a cook in a fast food restaurant with a knack for it. Unbeknownst to me, this was the fourth book in a series so I was suddenly neck deep in a story far more intriguing than I thought it would be. I need those previous copies!!

Story

Idle Ingredients is the fourth installment in the Sin Du Jour (translated to Sin of the Day) series by Matt Wallace. It follows the hidden demonic world around us, and the cooks who cater to them. That’s such a unique take on the prevalent urban fantasy genre, it can either go terribly or be spectacularly amazing and Matt Wallace blew me out the water. The characters are engaging and unique, the flow of the story swift, and at the end I wasn’t even sure how it would end. It ended with more intrigue than when it started (considering I was on the fourth without reading the first three).

Writing

A really well written novella that pulls the reader in using both character and setting. I could imagine what was happening and envision the locations where everything took place. The creatures that appeared were told in startling clarity that teased the senses. That’s some amazing descriptive work.

Final Thoughts

I’m personally biased negatively towards Urban Fantasy (thank you Stephenie Meyer and co). So I find it hard to enjoy those sort of books. Matt Wallace is slowly changing my mind and his Sin du Jour series may be game changer.

Rating: An appetizing 4 out of 5

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