Ami's Hoard

The recap is put under spoiler tag for MY sake -- so I could remember what happened. It would also reveal down the major plot so best not to click except if you have read the book or don't mind being spoiled.

"Lies Ripped Open" is another thrilling installment from McHugh's Hellequin series, which has been one of my favorite new urban fantasy with male protagonist series that I found last year. While McHugh's storytelling might be a little repetitive in style -- meaning, Nate and co. gets attacked and they kill the attackers, rinse and repeat, in almost every chapter -- but it doesn't mean it is less fun.

The entertaining thing about this series is that Nate almost always have a bunch of 'friends' with him in every quest -- my friend, Tina, calls Nate 'the misfit gatherer -- from werewolf and vampire in book 1 to Hades and Persephone in book 4 so it's not all just about him when they are dealing with bad things.

Now Nate is teaming up with a thief sorcerer as well as fox creature (which is probably my favorite secondary characters here) as they work out clues (and killing Reavers) to find out who is responsible towards everything. Nate even lets out his nightmare Erebus to come out and play (I actually loved that guy). McHugh's keep the story moves forward (even during the 'past' portion, it never slacks) as revelations come out one at a time.

I also thought that this series have great ass-kicking female characters that can hold their own fights and sometimes even help Nate from being killed. It is pretty awesome for an urban fantasy with male protagonist.

Lastly, after five books, we finally have the full story on how (and why) Nate Garrett, Merlin's right-hand man Hellequin, decides to leave Merlin and Avalon in the first place.