I am a fan of Marshall Ryan Maresca. The land of Maradaine is his beat, and he covers it from many angles that each have their own world-sharing series: the magic-student avenger fighting the drug trade in his neighborhood, the constable-detective possessed of untrained magic whose partner used to be a spy and forged her way onto the force, the brothers who grew up in a criminal family and use their illegal talents to ferret out who burned down their neighborhood and why, and the warrior/society-protector unwittingly a pawn involved in plans to take over the government. It’s a combination of magic and steampunk, political thriller and swordplay, and Harry Potter and Ocean’s 11.

The latest entry in this mass of writing is The Fenmere Job, focusing on the Rynax Brothers and their Holver Alley Crew. After a delightful, convention-flouting chapter of Pass-the-Point-of-View, where the focus changes from one character to the next person they encounter, the story enters the world of Asti and Verci Rynax. Recently betrayed by the crime-mistress who had mentored them, the brothers are trying to go legit, with their bakery and the about-to-open Gadgetorium, marketing the tools and toys invented by Verci, thanks to some monetary help from a grateful government’s spy operations. Asti does his best to control the voices in his head and his ability to unleash a killing-machine beast unlocked by PTSD. Helene, the crossbow markswoman sells sausages and cheeses made by her brother Julien, the former muscle-for-hire whose gentleness comes out as a shopkeeper. Mila, the street-smart girl who used to lead and protect a band of younger kids, is preparing to start University classes. Kennith, driver and fabricator, has found a love from his racial culture. The apothecary/healer has a storefront, and the actors have a prosperous theatre company. Things are just fine…until a new, powerful drug enters the city.

The gang goes into caper mode to conduct a sting that will get the contraband off the streets. However, there is a complication—The Thorn, the avenger with magical equipment and a grudge against the pushers. Things get convoluted, of course, and action veers from heist to kidnapping to armed conflict with mages and mercenaries, crime lords and street gangs…and romance.

There are pitched battles, thwarted plans, betrayal, help from unexpected quarters, and some hilarious developments. All of Maresca’s series characters are coming together to a final resolution that will reveal all and boggle the mind. I plan to keep reading all the way to the end of the line.

One of the best Maradaine novels for sure. Great heist, great tie-ins with the other books. I love what happens with all of the characters here, as there are many developments that feel organic. Verci turns a corner in his sense of responsibility towards his wife and son, Mila is on her way to University, which allows for some great connections to the Thorn plotline without the latter being all about magical superheroes. From the mains on down, heck, even Lian’s husband gets a moment or two.
Well done! I can’t wait to see how this will all come together as the larger series comes to a close.

The Fenmere Job is the third installment in author Marshall Ryan Maresca's Streets of Maradaine series. It has been several months of peace for the residents of North Seleth after a fire tore through Seleth causing many deaths and untold damage that can never be repaired or replaced. The Holver Alley crew (Asti & Verci Rynax, Helene Kesser, Julien, Mila Kimber, Kennith, & Almer) have a sort of peace agreement with Josie Holt, the crime queen of Seleth. They don't mess with her operations, she leaves them alone. For the crew itself, things are becoming interesting.

Mila, formerly Miss Bessie, is catching up on years of schooling she missed thanks to Kimber who still holds hope for Asti. In just a few weeks, Mila will be attending the University of Maradaine thanks to a deal made with Major Grieson. Helene, who runs a meat and cheese shop with Julien, has found an admirer in Lieutenant Jarret Covrane who is trying hard to keep North Seleth free from gangs. Covrane is an interesting character in that he pretty much know what Helene has been up to, but the heart wants what the heart wants. Helene, like Asti, has seen hardship and bloodshed that can never unseen.

Verci, who helped save people from a Gearbox killer's deathtrap, is close to opening his Rynax Gadgetorium and is approached by a group with deep pockets who wants him to work with them. But, the bad news is that Asti is rapidly losing his mind thanks to what happened to him when he worked for Druth Intelligence. Asti has voices in his head pulling him apart. His primary plans are to insure that those who he calls friends and family are secure and safe when the day comes that he can no longer function. He eagerly looks forward to the day that Mila graduates and can leave Seleth behind. Even though he's not a fan of Verci's wife Raychelle, she still doesn't want to see anything bad happen to her or her child, Corsi.

This is the novel that I've been waiting for. In this story, the Holver Alley crew will encounter Veranix Calbert, aka the Thorn, the protagonist of the first Maradaine series. The crew and Thorn end up temporarily on opposite sides when Asti's plan to take Fenmere's drugs off the streets of Seleth goes wrong and Thorn seems to believe that the Holver Crew is working for his enemy. Thorn and Asti's crew put their differences behind to work against Fenmere and his new mage allies who are also, it seems, working with Josie. After the crew attempts to stop the flow of drugs (effitte) into the area, the consequences for everyone will have long lasting implications.

According to the authors web pages, the next book to be released, The People of the City, will return to the Maradaine Elite series. "Dayne Heldrin digs deeper into the underworld conspiracies that swirl throughout Maradaine, an investigation that will bring him together with the Thorn, Inspectors Rainey and Welling, and the Rynax Brothers." Meanwhile, this story brings together a whole bunch of secondary characters that readers of this series have met over the course of these 3 books in order to stand and protect their homes. The story is action packed as well as a nice story between Mila and Thorn. Oh, the possibilities! Will the author transfer Mila to Thorn's series? How cool would it be to have Mila, Thorn, & Kaiana working together? The ending of this story sheds light on what the future may hold for Asti as well as introducing new characters like Jhoqull who comes in handy.

The Fenmere Job is the latest in Marshall Ryan Maresca’s expansive Maradaine sequence. A sequel to Lady Henterman’s Wardrobe, which I said a lot of very nice things about a little while ago, it focuses on the further adventures of the Rynax brothers. Thieves, conmen, killers, and, surprisingly, general good sorts. This time around, the Rynaxes and their crew of loveable miscreants are doing their best to make an honest living – making bread, selling cheese, and staying out of trouble. It can’t last, of course, and they’re swiftly up to their necks in more trouble than ever. From there it’s a rip-roaring ride into an adventure involving drug smugglers, sinister conspiracies, mysterious allies, explosive magery, and some good old fashioned con games.

As usual, I need to take a minute and talk about the setting. Maradaine is a city at the centre of a federated kingdom, a melting pot where various ethnicities, religions, political groups and nationalities all come together in the hope of making a good life – or at least making some money. By now, the teeming streets of the city are an old friend, the blend of river and spice and sweat that marks out the Rynax’s home neighbourhood of North Seleth strangely familiar. The gang rivalries in street with no police presence have the authenticity of long standing, and the patina of the neighbourhoods is gently established. Passers by are just trying to get to their job on the docks, or open their small business, and you can see the character of a neighbourhood on the edge of something new. Whether that’s a descent back into gang warfare and decay, or a shift toward more gentility and gentrification Is another matter. But I’ll say this – North Seleth lives and breathes as much as its characters do, a vividly imagined backdrop for its citizens to live and work and scheme and fight and, yes, die in.

Which brings us to the Rynax brothers. I love these two. Asti, the fighter, the killer, the man fighting desperately to put aside the traumatic pieces of a shattered past, is driven by demons he can’t seem to exorcise. His pain is virulent and fierce, and looking through his eyes you can see that he’s holding himself together with both hands. While, also, yes, planning complicated heists and trickery and the odd on-the-spot escape plan. But there’ real emotional depth here, and growth, as Asti tries to come to terms with who he is now. This does, admittedly, have a tendency to display as a complex for sacrificing himself to save his friend, the ones he wants to have the normal life he feels he can never have. Though they tend to swiftly snap him out of it, this drive, this desire, this condition – it keeps him real to us. Asti isn’t just his pain, but also his love for his friends and his family, his courage and general decency. He’s a person, and we live his tragedies as much as his triumphs.

And then there’s Verci. Inventor, savant inventor and family man. Verci has a penchant for elaborate traps, and exciting gadgets with the potential to explode, or spray acid, or vent poisonous gas. Or maybe this time it’s a lock which doesn’t use a key, but some combination of spinning tumblers. Who knows? In his field, he’s as brilliant as Asti, if not quite as fluid-thinking on his feet. But his relationship with his wife grounds him; their day to day gentle affection, and the tension that arises when he steps off the straight path to respectability every so often in aid of a good cause, are an absolute delight. They’re instantly recognisable, emotionally honest, relatable, and real. Twinned with Verci’s obvious love for his brother, and deep affection for the band of good-hearted scoundrels they’ve put together, it gives the story a real emotional heart, one that makes us care about the brothers, about their crew, and about their goals.
The crew are multifarious, and growing outward in their own ways. Some are getting an education, and thinking about leaving the crew and crime life of the neighbourhood behind. Others are finding romance in unexpected places, or finally getting the chance to do what they’ve always wanted for themselves. There’s a sense that the crew, like the neighbourhood, is on the cusp of something new, creating the wave of potential but not yet quite sure which way it’ll break. Still, all your old friends are here. I have a particular soft spot for Helene, expert sharpshooter and now successful charcuterie owner, and her brother Julien, who can throw men around like rag dolls, but really just wants to talk to customers about the different kinds of cheese. But they’re all here – faces, spotters, fast talkers, muscle, wonder-workers. You’ll know them all, and if you have a favourite, I’m sure you’ll be as delighted to see them as I was.

It’s also worth mentioning the Thorn, who has a series of his own in the Maradaine univesre. He pops up here, in this grimier world of street crime and neighbourhood grudges, and adds a dash of colour. Watching the not-entirely-honest crew from Holver Alley getting to grips with a vigilante who has a rather stricter interpretation of the law than they do, as well as magical powers and a smart mouth, is a delight, and arguably worth the price of admission on its own. I won’t go into detail for the sake of spoiler, but the sections with the Thorn involved were a great deal of fun to read.

The story is, to sum up, a page turner. It’s filled with the trademark Rynax plans, which have a tendency to work like clockwork, right up until the point where they spring a gear, and everything falls into chaos. It has duels, and some genuinely impressive magic. It has narrative tension drawn as taut as a garotte, as well as revelations which will make you gasp in delighted surprise (well, I did, anyway!). It’s a con game, and a fight for survival, and a crime story, and a tale of a family looking out for its neighbours, and I devoured it whole over the course of an evening, utterly unwilling to put it down. I suspect, if you’re this deep into the world of Maradaine, you’ll feel the same way. This one is great, fellow fans of Maradaine. It’s absolutely worth your time, and I encourage you to stop reading this review, and go pick up a coy right away.

Verci Rynax had promised his wife he was out of the family business for good. From now on, the bakery would be their livelihood with no more thieving hijinks planned with his brother, Asti. The truce with their old ally, Josie Holt, is still standing and they are looking towards the future. Unfortunately, that peace is just a façade as Josie has struck a deal with someone else and is planning to move a drug similar to effitte, called efhan, into their neighborhood. Can Asti and Verci, along with the rest of the Holver Alley Crew, pull off one more heist in order to preserve the peace? And how will the appearance of the Thorn affect the balance of power?

THE FENMERE JOB is the third book in the <i>Streets of Maradaine</i> series and part of Marshall Ryan Maresca’s overall world in which he has four interrelated series set in the fictional world of Maradaine. Marshall Ryan Maresca has started to connect the various series and readers of THE FENMERE JOB will note the crossover with certain characters from the <I>Maradaine</i> series. THE FENMERE JOB is best appreciated in the context of the <i>Streets of Maradaine</i> series as a whole, as the action is quick with not a lot of chance for new readers to familiarize themselves with the various relationships between the characters. I would also recommend reading at least the first book in the <i>Maradaine</i> series, THE THORN OF DENTONHILL, in order to fully appreciate the antics of the Thorn and his quest to rid neighborhoods of the addictive and deadly drug, effitte.

Asti and Verci are the main focus of THE FENMERE JOB but I love that Mila is really stepping out on her own quite a bit! I can’t wait to see how Marshall Ryan Maresca incorporates her entry into the University of Maradaine. Helene isn’t as prominent in THE FENMERE JOB, but I’ll be curious to see how she is affected long term by the events of this novel. Marshall Ryan Maresca doesn’t hesitate to play with our hearts, either, as the cliffhanger hinted at in the end has me anxious for the next installment!

Wow! Marshall Ryan Maresca once again creates a captivating and enthralling fantasy novel set in the world of Maradaine where friendships and alliances can grow or wane as the political climate of the underworld changes. I love the complexity of the Maradaine world as a whole, as each series allows us to see things from the viewpoint of a different constituency of Maradaine. THE FENMERE JOB is another must-read for all fantasy fans as Marshall Ryan Maresca has crafted one heck of a world with his four interconnected Maradaine series!

*review is in the editing queue at Fresh Fiction*