NetGalley Review: Slayers of Old by Jim C. Hines

Hey all, Sam here.

As soon as I saw the title and the cover for today’s book, I knew that I absolutely HAD TO read it. Add in the fact that I’ve loved every book I’ve read by Jim C. Hines and I knew I was in for a good reading time. And I was. But this book read so fast that it made me sad. Now I’m going to have to do a re-read of Jim C. Hines’s previous books because I want more and I haven’t read most of his books in a while.

Okay, this is a perfect time to release this book too, because it definitely fits into the Spooky Season reading atmosphere.

You know…this is supposed to be the intro to the review portion of the post, and here I am already starting to talk about why I enjoyed this book so much. Okay, let’s just skip the intro then and get right into the meat of the review. Oh, I guess one more thing: this book will be released very soon (October 21 in the US).

Buffy the Vampire Slayer meets Golden Girls in this humorous contemporary standalone fantasy about a group of former Chosen Ones coming out of retirement to save the world one last time

Three former Chosen Ones have joined together to spend their retirement in peace and quiet, running Second Life Books and Gifts in Salem, MA. A calm, peaceful, tourist-filled oasis, where they never have to worry about saving the world. Until some of the locals start summoning ancient creatures best left where they were…and they discover that their bookstore basement just may be the portal to the underworld. These ex-heroes may have thought they were done…but if they want to finish their retirement in peace, they’ll have to join together to save the world one last time.

Fun, funny, and heartwarming, this is a story of community, second chances, and the healing power of scones.

My Thoughts

Rating: 5 stars

This book had me at the title, but adding in the comps of “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” meets “Golden Girls,” and I was so ready to read it. Of course I made myself wait until this month to actually pick this one up, but I read it in like a day, and it was incredible. I’ve already purchased two copies: one for me and one for a co-worker who is a Buffy fan and also a reader. I think she’s just going to love this book.

So our main trio include Jenny, a retired Hunter of Artemis, so a goddess chosen hunter of evil, Annette, a retired Private Investigator (who has kept her license active just in case) and half-succubus, and Temple, a 99 year old mage. They’ve been living together for a while and run a book and gift shop out of the main floor of Temple’s house.

But things start to get weird in Salem, and not in the normal way, which ends up dragging our trio into the chaos for one more save-the-world mission.

This story was fun to read, reminded me of the vibes of some of those episodes of Buffy, while also having some commentary that directly reflects our current world as well. In the world of this story, it is known that demons and other beings are real, and there is a certain percentage of the normie population that have chosen hatred, bigotry, and violence against anyone they have deemed to be “other,” unfortunately. So that does play a part in the story.

There’s also family drama, between family by birth and family by choice. Plus our trio’s lives are upended a bit by a wannabe Chosen One trying to live up to a prestigious family legacy, but still has an awful lot to learn about the burdens of being a hero.

I read this book so quickly and had a blast doing so. It’s hard to say who my favorite character was, because Jenny, Annette, and Temple were all great. Honestly, if Jim C Hines wanted to bring the gang back for another not-quite-retired adventure, I wouldn’t be at all opposed.

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All right, well that is all from me for today. Thank you so much for stopping by, and I’ll be back soon with more geeky content.