How in the heck did I miss book two coming out? This is a dark series. Book one coming out in 2020… well I wasn’t in a great place mentally for dark fantasy. But I recognized book one was darn good writing. Book three didn’t take me long to find the author really has found his mark. I’ve got book two in my to read pile now. I finished book three first though because I always read and review ARCs before their publication date.
This was well enough written to be a complete page turner despite me having a gap in the story between the books. Fetch is such a well written character his actions make perfect sense for the character even without having all the background. A definite series to read if you like fantasy unless grim isn’t something you’re in a good place to read right now.

One Sentence Summary: When Fetch comes face to face with the last Genie, who has been attempting to use her powers to save desperate magical creatures and failing miserably, he ends up setting out on an adventure with her, but at a cost.

Overall
One Foot in the Fade is the third in the Fetch Phillips series. It features Man for Hire Fetch Phillips, a Human working hard for the past seven years to bring the magic back. But, too often, he seems like the only one trying to bring it back, because Humans have taken advantage and have pushed the city forward, bringing the magical creatures along with it if they want to survive. Until Fetch meets Khay, the last Genie, and the hopes of bringing the magic back. One part mystery and one part adventure story, One Foot in the Fade mostly felt like it was focused on world building and character development, but leaves off on an interesting note that shifted quite a few things for me, and I look forward to what’s next.

Extended Thoughts
Man for Hire Fetch Phillips is just a Human trying to bring back the magic, but it’s been seven years. When an Angel, with feathers on his wings, falls from the sky, he thinks it might be coming back. But it leads him on a chase for someone who leaves burn marks on the victims, bringing him face to face with the last Genie. Khay believes she can use her powers to restore a magical creature’s powers, but might not have enough cursed jewelry to make it work properly. With Fetch at her side, and a small motley crew, they set off for the wizard city of Incava, stumbling across more than they expected with the future staring them down.

Where the first book, The Last Smile in Sunder City, felt more like it focused on world and character development and the second book, Dead Man in a Ditch, felt more like it was focused on the forward progress Sunder City as a whole was trying to make, One Foot in the Fade felt like a blend. The world was opened up in this installment and Fetch was forced through a few changes and shifts in perspective. There’s also a lot of forward progress the world as a whole is doing, finding a way to live without magic and letting go of the past. Fetch felt like something of a relic, but the focus on his character development went a long way to smoothing out the story for me.

Just like in the previous novels, the mystery is thin and actually solved really early on. Though it was a lot of fun watching Fetch stumble his way to that. No, One Foot in the Fade felt more like an adventure story to me. Half of it was set in Sunder City and half was basically on the road towards Incava. I did like how the murder mystery actually kind of bobbed and wove through the city. It faded completely in the middle, but I liked how it was set up and how it ended up being resolved at the end. Actually, the end felt like the strongest part of the novel for me. The first half felt a little slow, but I liked the focus on the mystery. Most of the second half was an adventure and it felt like it meandered a little to me, with forward progress constantly being hampered by small events. But the ending really pulled the story together with a surprising amount of feeling, as well as an interesting shift in not just Fetch, but also, possibly, the overarching story to this series.

I felt a little torn about leaving Sunder City. Fetch has wandered away from it before, but he was away for almost half the novel this time. It was nice, though, to get to see more of the world and experience the crazy place the wizards live in. It was interesting to get to see how they were trying to pull through in a post-magical world as well as how it might have an impact on the wider story. I also really liked the introduction of a secret society called the Bridge, which is dedicated to finding a way to bring the magic back. But I wish more of the story had been set in Sunder City. With Humans seemingly taking advantage and introducing all these nifty gadgets like guns and microwaves, I’m intrigued by how well the magical city is adapting to this new way of life. It felt like most were actually adjusting a lot better than Fetch was, which made me question why he was holding on so tightly. It also makes me wonder if there’s a darker undercurrent to what the Humans have planned. Still, it was nice to see so many magical creatures beginning to find their feet and a new purpose.

One Foot in the Fade often felt like its purpose was to further develop Fetch’s character. I found myself both frustrated and impressed by him throughout the novel. His reasoning for just jumping on Khay’s case was flimsy and not at all thought out. From the beginning it felt like a wild goose chase, so Fetch throwing himself into it was, well, within character, but also kind of head scratching to me as a reader. But it was a good launching point for Fetch to evolve as a person. The journey forced him into situations he was uncomfortable with, so it was nice to see shifts in him. By the end, he felt very different from where he was at the beginning, and it also felt like a shift in the overarching story was occurring at the same time.

As much as the adventure part of this story was a bit of a struggle for me, I really liked the group: Genie Khay, witch Eileen, Human financier with more to his story that anyone else knows Lazarus, and hired mercenary Theo. I loved the way they played off each other and carried their weight. They were a lot of fun, and just the right group for Fetch to be caught up in. But Khay was the most important one of the group. She was fascinating in that she was morally gray, trying desperately to do something good, but was she really? I loved that I couldn’t figure her out, that there were times when she leaned one way or the other. But I could certainly understand her desperation. It’s just that sometimes the creatures who were supposed to help her attain her goal were slowing things down too much for her. I never got the sense that time was running out for her, so it sometimes felt more like a walk in the park.

One Foot in the Fade offers an interesting and fun mystery and adventure story. It nicely widens the world and offers a little more history, as well as some fascinating revelations. But it felt more focused on Fetch’s development, which, honestly, was sorely needed to help keep this series fresh. I look forward to what’s in store for him next, as well as where the story and world are going. There were some things I had to suspend belief to get past, but, overall, I found this to be largely pleasant and a lot of fun.

Thank you to NetGalley and Angela Man at Orbit for a review copy. All opinions expressed are my own.

With the third and clearly not final installment of the Phillip Fetch Archives, this series has become the only fantasy cop series that I actually endorse. Many fantasy cop books I have read tend to be problematic from a conceptual standpoint. They love to take the fun part of detective tropes and meld it with cool worldbuilding, without actually acknowledging the problematic realities of real-life police enforcement. One Foot in the Fade is the third example that Luke Arnold is trying to do more with his series than be entertaining or edgy. They have substance, interesting commentary, and thrilling storytelling that elevate them over most of the other fantasy cop stories I have read.

For those of you unfamiliar with this series, please check out my reviews of the earlier books here and here. The general premise is a world where humans and magical fantasy creatures coexist. The humans were tired of being looked down on so they broke the magic of the world and it deformed and warped every magical creature alive. Fetch was a member of the magical UN who had a difficult life and for arguably reasonable reasons ended up defecting to the human side of the conflict (which he later comes to regret). After playing a major part in how the magic of the world was destroyed, Fetch starts a quest to bring the magic back for reasons both noble and selfish. Each book in this series follows a different lead Fetch has to revive the magic-using detective work. In particular, One Foot in the Fade is about Fetch following up on legends about a Djinn who may have retained their powers through the fall of magic.

The real bread and butter of this series is turning out to be moral complexity. Luke Arnold is really good at presenting very unpleasant and difficult situations that don’t feel like they have a clear right choice and then deep-diving into the options and the psyche of the characters making the choice. In this way, we are starting to see a very strange sort of character development for Fetch that is more akin to a descent into madness. Every decision he makes is carving off a piece of his soul and breaking a new part of him, and by book three, the fractures are clearly starting to add up. Fetch feels like a man who has been worn down by the world and in the context, it feels earned.

But something I really like about Arnold is that he doesn’t like to wallow in shock value or misery. His writing acknowledges the awful in the world and explores the damage it does, while simultaneously always looking for a solution and exploring a way upward. These books manage to be upsetting while not sliding into misery porn. The difficulties have a point beyond making the reader bummed out while making the sad stories more memorable and moving in hindsight. I also find myself enormously invested in Fetch’s story, no matter where it goes. He is a fairly difficult protagonist to like but I have come to understand and respect him despite his less than shining track record. This once again keeps in the theme of the book, moral complexity, that Arnold delivers on in every aspect of the reading experience.

The Fetch Phillip Archives is a detective series with a lot of modern substance and sensibility. One Foot in the Fade is yet another engaging step into madness for our protagonist Fetch and his story is both hard to read and rewarding to observe. I continue to like this series more and more as I read more of it. If you are looking for a cop/detective series that offers more than a mindless distraction, check these books out.

Rating: One Foot in the Fade – 9.0/10
-Andrew

Thank you to the publisher, Luke Arnold and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this eARC in exchange for an honest review.

This story follows Fetch Phillips's adventures in Sunder City, and is the third book in the series. The plot takes place the following year after the events of the second book - most of the city seems content to put the days of magic behind them and look to the industrial future provided by The Niles Company. However, Fetch is the outlier and tries to bring it back (despite trying to stop it earlier). In a tragic accident, an Angel falls to his death with regrown wings, Fetch draws the hopeful conclusion that magic may be returning. As a result, Fetch is determined to steal a crown for the last remaining Genie.

As with the previous two books, I thoroughly enjoyed the humor, adventure and mystery. The character development of Fetch is always great, as he is a three dimensional dark, brooding MC that you can't help but root for. The secondary characters old and new are also so well written and engaging. I would definitely recommend, and am looking forward to more books in the series.

I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This is the third book in Luke Arnold's Fetch Phillips Archives. The series is set in a world where a calamity known as "The Coda" had killed all the magic in the world. The Coda took place just five years before the start of the first book, "The Last Smile in Sunder City," where we find out more about that disaster as Fetch Phillips, "Man for Hire," takes on a missing-persons case that quickly spirals out of control. In the second book, "Dead Man in a Ditch," we see how some humans are exploiting the remnants of the magical world, and the weakened magical creatures who managed to survive the Coda, all for the sake of "progress" (and profit). Against that backdrop, Fetch is called on to help in the investigation into a death that could only have been caused by magic. But how is that even possible in a world where magic no longer exists?

"The Last Smile in Sunder City" was a classic noir mystery, which is probably why it's my favorite novel in the series so far. "Dead Man in a Ditch" had mystery, too, but in that book, Fetch became much more focused on investigating cases of suspected magic use in his quest to find a way to undo the damage caused by the Coda. It's a darker, more serious story than "Last Smile."

In "One Foot in the Fade," Fetch, the human "Man for Hire," is struggling to make ends meet while also investigating the theft of magical artifacts. His investigation is interrupted by the report of an angel who fell out of the sky. In a world without magic, how could the Angel fly on what are undeniably magic wings? And despite his miraculous flight, what made him fall? Is the magic coming back? Is there hope for the other magical creatures who survived the Coda? Fetch's obsession with that tantalizing possibility leads him on an epic fantasy-style quest to find a magical artifact that offers hope for bringing the magic back.

I think if you liked the first two books in the Fetch Phillips series, you'll like this one, too. It has the same gritty, noir vibe of the earlier entries in the series. To be honest, I didn't like this novel quite as much as the first book in the series, but it's still an entertaining tale. I give this book 3.5 stars out of 5 (rounding up to 4)..

I was excited to return to Fetch Phillips's adventures in Sunder City and One Foot in the Fade did not disappoint. A year after the events of the last book, most of the city seems content to put the days of magic behind them and look to the industrial future provided by The Niles Company. But Phillips is still determined to bring back the flow of magic that he was instrumental in stopping years ago. When an Angel falls to his death with regrown wings, Fetch can't help but see the hope in the tragedy: could magic finally be returning. Soon he is setting off on an adventure with allies old and new to steal a crown for the last remaining Genie.

This book was a lot of fun. The humor of the previous two books is throughout, as is plenty of adventure, detective work, and tragedy. Phillips is a flawed, but sympathetic character and there's some great supporting cast here as well. I especially liked the werewolf Phillips hires to go on along on the quest, and I hope that he returns in future installments. There's some interesting developments in both plot and character here, with some new questions being raised about Phillips's heritage and I look forward to getting answers as the series continues.

Arnold is a beautiful writer and managed to craft a novel with few flaws. The characters, the pacing of the plot, the world building - it all shines. It is a hard thing to craft a fictitious world with a gritty sense of realism, but Arnold does so with ease. This was a greatly enjoyable read!

I'm the type of reader who binges on large quantities of books and then takes time off. This is horrible for retention. I read and loved Luke Arnold's first two books. With this third one, I was struggling. The story separates into two sections. This first takes place within Sunder City and the second is an eventful road trip/mission adventure. While in Sunder, we are plunged right back into the world that by now we are expected to know. Not bad, except I couldn't remember who most of the people were. There are lots of characters in a short period. Occasionally we are reminded of Fletch's past interactions with them but I still couldn't go "Aha!" which was largely disappointing. Again, this is on me.

Once the adventure starts, the book turns from good to incredible. I thoroughly enjoyed it. The traveling party was unique. The suggestions of intentions and the for-the-greater-good storyline were also spot on. So, this got better and better as it went on.

I got this somehow missing that it is part of a larger series. That said, it holds up and makes sense, even on it's own. I love a reluctant hero, so long as they aren't too down on themselves. This fits the bill nicely. We get a ragtag group of adventures on a fetch quest. There are enough clear motives to make me care about each character and enough surprising twists to keep me reading. It's a fun romp that makes you want to explore the world Arnold creates even more.

I've loved this series, but I've fallen out of love with the main character.
This series is about a man looking for redemption. The main character, Fetch, has always been a broken man, that's sorta of his thing. He is literally responsible for helping end the world and killing millions of magical beings. He has a lot to feel guilty for, and I liked how the first book showed this guilt. From drinking too much to feeling he has to "white knight" as penance to an obsession with keeping something specific preserved for all time, Fetch shows an eerily accurate portrait of a man who never processed his guilt.
One of the questions of the first two book is "Should he?", should Fetch process his guilt or does he deserve the pain he's causing himself because of his sins? This book tries to answer it, and I don't like the answer.
Fetch meets a new character who adds a love interest, and an old character comes back and helps save the day, and there's a new group of people who do the same thing as Fetch but with less self-hatred. There's a chase scene through a Mardi Gras parade, a sword fight with a Jeff Bezos character, and a crazy hobo with a great backstory. The book has a lot going for it, but the final few chapters made me think someone wants to have their cake and eat it to.
Fetch spends a lot of the book being a royal asshole, then tries for redemption at the end. I don't think he found it.
He explicitly admits to himself he is using a "friend" for his own gain; Fetch finds the character unemployed and depressed but only reached out to him to get something he needs. At the end of the conversation, Fetch then abandons him immediately to find a character "more useful". He finds excuses for a serial murderer; as in a literal murderer, someone who kills to ensure their own survival. This continues until the obvious epiphany, where Fetch realizes the error of his ways and then everything is fixed by killing the "right" person.
One of the trends this series does well is to have Fetch do something stupid/illegal/immoral and then have Fetch criticize someone for doing that, then learning from his mistake. But in this book of the series, it gets a bit obvious and heavy handed. For example, when the Jeff Bezos equivalent says the "ends justify the means", Fetch tells him he's wrong. In Act 3, Fetch spends a bunch of energy defending his ends are so important, his means are excusable. Until they aren't, and Fetch has to do the thing he should have done several chapters ago. You know, the thing several people told him he should do.
The ending isn't bad, just doesn't find the closure Fetch is looking for. Everything is broken and hope is gone but we'll cook some breakfast and everything will be ok.
I'll give the next book in the series another go, we'll see if Fetch can fix himself before worrying about others.
**I received an advance copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I found this book very interesting and very much enjoyed it. I hadn't realized it was the third book in a series until I was done reading, though I started to suspect with enough mentions of Hendricks and cameos of other characters, but I found the book fine to read without having read the first two. This is a bit different from what I think of as a typical fantasy, in that the plot furthered no cause and the only thing the main character prevails in is admitting he's wrong. You basically just spend some time with a floundering, struggling man, Fetch, as he tries to find some purpose. He is trying to make up for wrongs he's done in the past by being a better person and maybe even making the world a better place. I could understand the sentiment, even though I wasn't that clear on what those past wrongs were. He hasn't figured out how fix anything, and really never gets any closer throughout the book, but he does seem to undergo some personal growth, and certainly goes on quite an adventure in a very intrepid manner. I found Fetch likable and relatable, and the story well told.

A new entry in Arnold's Sunder City series, One Foot in the Fade has some clever moments, some very predictable plotting, and an overall feeling of the author not quite knowing how to deal with the fictional world he's created. There's magic and the mundane, and a lot of violence, and a mostly frustrating ending. Despite the occasional flashes of wit or references, these are too much of a fight for me to keep reading.

"Welcome back to the streets of Sunder City, a darkly imagined world perfect for readers of Ben Aaronovitch and Jim Butcher.

In a city that lost its magic, an angel falls in a downtown street. His wings are feathered, whole - undeniably magical - the man clearly flew, because he left one hell of a mess when he plummeted into the sidewalk.

But what sent him up? What brought him down? And will the answers help Fetch bring the magic back for good?

Working alongside necromancers, genies, and shadowy secret societies, through the wildest forests and dingiest dive bars, this case will leave its mark on Fetch's body, his soul, and the fate of the world."

Luke Arnold should be gleeful for the Aaronovitch comparison, and not just in cover design.

NOTE: I received early access from NetGalley, for this manuscript, in exchange for writing an impartial review. Completed on March 13TH , 2022.

Let me start by saying that when I agreed to review this, I had no idea it was actually book 3 out of a trilogy. I really went back and forth as to whether or not I could provide an honest review, with that much previous history lost. I decided to give it a shot anyway, and worse case scenario being it would end up as a DNF, or I would end up hating the fact that I was completely lost the entire time.

I can truly say, neither of these things came into play. I finished the book, and I was very rarely at a loss, scratching my head thinking, " hmm, what does that mean, or what happened before, or who is that??"

I must admit, I have mixed feelings on the ending. It's not "a happily ever after" one, that's for sure. If I had read all 3, I'm not so positive I would've been too happy with that.

I also felt there were a few loose ends that could've been better explored and expanded upon. This makes me wonder if, like every other author out there today, if it's intentional, in order to take this from a trilogy to more. I guess only time will tell.

This is the third volume in The Fetch Phillips Archives. Ever since I read Tad William’s Bobby Dollar series, I have been on the lookout for other amazing urban fantasy books and they are not easy to come by. This series is one of the few that scratches that itch. There isn’t any ooey gooey romance or chapters full of fae and boring information. Just straight adventure and Fetch’s grim world view perspective.

Fetch finds himself in a new case after an angel falls out of the sky and seems to have regained all it’s magic before dying. Someone has been stealing priceless magic artifacts from homes. A genie hires Fetch on to steal a magic item from a castle full of wizards. Some old characters are here and Fetch continues to find his meaning.

This is as strong as the first two books and I hope Arnold keeps writing these.