From beginning till end a fantastic, heartwarming and funny book. Slayers of Old follows three retired adventurers who have a second-hand bookshop. While they try to have a relaxing life, the next apocalypse is just around the corner.

I loved the characters in this book. They were funny and relatable and I got to read a perspective that is not usually found in fantasy books. Their love for each other was so heartwarming to read. A found family like anyone would wish for.

Definitely one of my favourite fantasy books I've read this year!

Wow, what an amazing book!! It really was Buffy the Vampire Slayer meets Golden Girls theme. For me, being a big Buffy fan, it was great to see what happens as these people age. It hooked me right from the beginning and took me back to my younger years.
I also loved that the story was more about who these people became giving us insight to how choices of the past and what they were asked to do affected them. Don't judge people (demons, etc) by what they look like or what you think they will do but for who they are.

I would give this 10 stars if I could.

This was my first Jim C. Hines book, and I loved the Buffy meets Golden Girls vibes.

Aside from the main characters, my absolute favorites were the animals. The mice in the house? How adorable and fighty. And Squidward—the cat on the cover? I’ll overlook them fighting her at first (cat harm = no bueno), because they redeemed themselves by making her a pet, as it should be.

This was a fun read from start to finish, and I’m left wanting more. I want more lore from the younger days of Jenny, Annette, and Temple. So many bizarre events were mentioned, and they’d be cool to read about.

I enjoyed the chemistry between all the characters—you could tell they really cared about each other.

I can’t get over how many oddities just made me laugh—the mice, the cat, the sentient house. And the van deserves a shoutout too.

This is a must-read for people who enjoy a little cosmic horror, magic, and fantasy

This is my first Jim C. Hines book and I just wanted to say: wow. Someone, please, tell me: where does this man get his ideas? because this book was full of unexpected and brilliant ideas.

This fast and action-packed story follows the three retired heroes Jenny, Temple, and Annette through their POVs. I have to admit that I had problems differentiating each of them at the beginning, but I enjoyed seeing the different point of view and their relationships and bonds with the other characters.

Aside from the main characters, my absolute favs were the animals, the mice in the house? How adorable and fighty; and the little cat on the cover... I need one! These little things were what made this book special because they helped to make this new world full of magic palpable. The little family of three is instead a big, huge family where everyone in the community forms part one way or the other.

I would love to come back to these characters and see how their relationships grow in a year time or maybe even a couple of years. I think there is more to tell and a big universe to explore here, I'm not sure if Hines has any intention to further develop this world, but I would be for sure interested to read it if he decides to do it.

Thank you to DAW, Netgalley, and Jim C Hines for letting me read this book in exchange for an honest review.

This was such a unique concept!!! I LOVEd every second I spent with this book, The characters were hilarious!

funny, contemporary, welldone book with some great feelings and interesting vibes and i would definitely recommend. each of the chosen ones is a well-done character! 5 stars. tysm for the arc.

Dnf'd at 30%

I had every intention of loving this one. I am humongous Buffy the Vampire Slayer fan and am old enough to have watched it as it originally aired. So when Slayers of Old was advertised i was IN.
So what made me so quickly, "out"? I think i went in having expectations of severe wit and snarkiness. I enjoy cozy fantasy so im not quite sure why this didnt check all of my boxes. Perhaps it was the writing style, perhaps it was that i went in expecting Joss Whedon dialogue, I'm not positive, but i can say that this cover was GREAT and the Buffy meets Golden Girls idea was a really fun idea to explore. It just didnt land for me at this time.

Thank you so much for offering me an ARC so that i could share my honest feedback.

I loved the libromancer series and when I saw that Jim had a new book coming out i was excited to read it. I did enjoy it. The book was busy in parts just as the libromancer series was but I caught up rather quickly and it wasn't that distracting. The thing that bothered me the most was the inability to distinguish what the moral compass was supposed to be. What was good was also evil but evil was good only if it was less evil than things that were more evil and evil was allowed to exist and continue to do evil but only if that evil was not intent on creating a cataclysmic event that would prevent the lesser evils from continuing to do evil and good was there somewhere and could hurt evil but was only an annoyance really and not a true force for good because the evil was truly the good and...well, you'll understand when you read it.
It was a fun read overall and the character building is incredible and what I feel that Jim C. Hines excellent at.
I have pre-ordered this book and I will be turning people on to it. I truly did like the book as a whole.

Thank you so much to DAW for sending me an arc of Slayers of Old, it was such a delight to read!

Slayers of Old follows a trio of former chosen ones, now all retired and living together running a bookstore. They're all still powerful in their own right, but have decided to turn away from saving the world to face other challenges: being a grandmother, struggling with arthritis, blurring lines between your mind and your sentient house (alright, maybe that last one isn't that mundane).

The story bounces between the three protagonists and Hines does a great job differentiating each character's internal voice so that I was never confused even though the whole book is first person. I don't think I could pick a favorite POV: I loved Jenny's earnestness, Annette's snark, and Temple's occasionally grumpiness, all by themselves but particularly when they were all mixed together in a group. The characters all have depth individually, but with every conversation, you can also see how much history they have with each other.

Slayers of Old is incredibly funny, full of dry wit and acknowledgements of the reality that would underlie even the most magical of stories.

“She’ll be hungry after this. She’ll need something dead to eat.”

“Are you about to send me to forage for corpses and lingering souls?”
“I was going to grab the leftover pastrami from the fridge. I’m pretty sure that’s dead. But if you want to go grave-digging, don’t let me stop you.”

The writing overall was funny, but the dialogue was really where it shone through the most for me. It's occasionally absurd, often based in some sort of magical element, and had me smiling throughout the whole book.

“Pah, I refuse to die on a Friday.”

“It’s Saturday.”

“Saturday, you say? Maybe it’s good you woke me up. Saturday’s are tricky.”

While the characters and the humor are prominent, this cozy book also has an engaging plot full of action. I often struggle with cozy books that don't manage to mesh a larger plot with the comforting aesthetic. Slayers of Old does a perfect job balancing both, with the plot and the characters driving each other, meshing cozy and conflict amazingly.

The humor is woven throughout, but Hines also does an amazing job building a heartfelt story that had me holding back emotion even the second time I read through it. You can feel the genuine love that each character holds for each other, protecting their found family just as fiercely as they fight for the world.

“In my early years, I’d assumed I would die fighting monsters. I’d thought that assumption made me stronger. Somewhere along the way, I’d outgrown my fatalism and decided I wanted a life. I even began to believe I deserved one. I’d built a home and a family”

Slayers of Old is a story that pushes back on the traditionally teenage heroes and stories that end after the world is saved. The heroes are old, they're tired, but they're still as nuanced and powerful as ever.

Really fun read. Thoroughly enjoyed the story and would love some prequel books to see how all the characters got to where they were. Temple and Annette surely have a lot of stories to share.

I really had just the best time with Slayers of Old by Jim C. Hines. I was raised on Buffy and Golden Girls so I was immediately in and never disappointed. It's the perfect read for October, especially if you don't like horror but can handle a little gore. Weird to think of this as 'cozy', but with the Golden Girls/found family aspects, it really does feel that way. It reads like urban fantasy but reverses a lot of the tropes, which was fun. I laughed a few times, which I wasn't expecting. And you know I'll eat up anything with a bookstore setting. Pair that with a sentient house? Perfect. So give me all the retiree books, I like my 45+ MCs!

Every wonder what happens to all the Chosen Ones/Scooby Gang when they grow old? Well now you can find out. A used bookstore built into a very old house that has been in Temple’s family for generations and infused with all of the previous generations magics. Temple is a very old sorcerer living with two roommates; Jenny and Annette. Jenny is a former Hunter of Artemes, she was taught at a young age to hunt all monsters but now she heals them in the kitchen and works in the bookstore. Annete is a half succubus retired PI that is working on repairing her relationship with her son and keeping her two grandchildren in her life. When a young man shows up in the store the morning after an attack on one of the friendly local monsters everyone goes on alert that he is the one attacking them. The POV rotates between the three and each of them have regrets about their lives. The story uses a lot of urban fantasy mythos and is a fun read. I’m really hoping there will be more to read about in the future.

I love the premise of the story. 3 former "heroes", Temple, Annette and Jenny are the residents/owners of the Second Life bookstore. The home is a character in itself being sentient and a protector to residents. The cast of characters begins with the unlikely trio of a wizard, a succubus & a hunter as they are thrown back in the ring due the prophetic dream of a young hunter who has recently arrived in the city of Salem.

For me is a cozy, nutty, wholesome read.

Please give us more books like this, this humorous fantasy version of a magic Thursday Murder Club featuring fleshed out and adorable senior magical characters, cats, big evil, and action.
I laughed a lot and I would be very happy to read another book featuring hunters, succubus, and a magical house
Witty, gripping, and a lot of fun.
Please make this a series!
Highly recommended
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine

While I was a little young to watch Buffy the Vampire Slayer as it aired, it is a show I've grown quite fond of over the years. I find myself missing the days of television where a season could be 20+ episodes long, allowing you to really get immersed in a setting and enjoy a large cast of character. For these reasons, I was immediately drawn to the premise of Slayer's of Old. A "Buffy"-esque story where the Slayer has managed to grow into middle age? Sign me up!

This story could easily be adapted into a long-standing TV series, with this story in particular playing out over a several episode arc. I was instantly drawn to all three of the main characters who share the narration of the story. I was drawn in by the magic house that most of the story takes place in, and the book had a good mystery that eventually led to some fun, action-packed scenes.

This was a great, fast-paced summer read that I would highly recommend fans of Buffy take a look at. I hope to see more stories from this author set in this world and with this great cast of characters.

4.5 Stars

*I received an e-arc of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

This book was advertised as Buffy the Vampire Slayer meets Golden Girls, and after reading I can tell you it very much reads as "what happens if you let Buffy Summers grow up?". We alternate between 3 POVs - 1) Jenny, a "Hunter of Artemis" who is a thinly veiled reference to Buffy Summers, to the point that many of her past adventures read like Buffy fan fiction (I do not mean this in a bad way, but the character of Hope is clearly meant to be Faith; Alex is clearly meant to be Xander; etc.). 2) Annette, a succubus turned PI turned grandmother, trying to do right by her grandkids (and who, to me, reads as a grown up Anya from Buffy the Vampire Slayer). and lastly 3) Temple Finn, an elderly Merlin-like wizard past his prime. Each of our MCs have retired from saving the world...until they are dragged back in. A teenager with prophetic dreams (and I really wish we saw more of him I loved him as Jenny's apprentice); teenagers messing with magic they shouldn't - including Annette's grandkids; an old friend from Jenny's past who's decided to go Scooby-Doo villain; and something is weakening Temple's magic.

This is definitely a cozy fantasy, and I really enjoyed the characters. The ending was a bit rushed (compared to how slow the build of the first half was), and it was a pretty predictable resolution, but it was a fun and cute story about building (and rebuilding) your life, about living with your past mistakes and making a better future (and a little bit about breaking the cycles that made you). The side characters and world building were very fun.

I highly recommend this read for fans of cozy fantasy and/or Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

The premise of this book was an instant slam dunk for me, though it ended up surprising me in a lot of ways too. From the book blurb and title I was expecting a stronger Buffyverse influence/vibe — don't get me wrong, the references and parallels are definitely there, but they stay fairly surface-level (think Watchers=Guardians, Slayers=Hunters, Scooby Gang=Slay Team, Xander=Alex, and so on) and the inclusion of Greek goddesses and a very different menagerie of MoTW threw me for a loop at the beginning and made for a slower start.

That being said, the three main characters really grew on me, and the second half of the book dug its tentacles in and wouldn't let go. We've got action, suspense, snark, genuinely emotional moments, magic, and an eldritch cat. What more could I possibly ask for? Well, a sequel/series would be nice! Now that the world and characters have been established, I would love to see them taking on more Big Bads or even just having minor adventures around the bookstore. (Especially if there is more eldritch cat.)

Thanks to DAW and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this ARC.

Perfect for fans of a cozy mystery/ fantasy!

This book definitely grew on me, I went into it pretty intrigued but not expecting it to be really high on my list given my track record with books in the cozy mystery genre. But this book definitely wow-ed me with the three POV characters and the wide array of side characters and creatures.

I loved all three of them and their distinct personalities, Temple was my favourite. Honourary mention to the sentient house (this is a trope I absolutely LOVE). I loved the connection the three of them had with the house and it's protectiveness towards them. I liked their internal conflicts as the plot progressed.
The humour in this book was also pretty good, it's not something I usually notice in books but I found myself laughing at Annette's humour quite often.

A particular thing I liked was the fact that even relatively unimportant aspects of the overall magical fantasy elements in this world were scattered through the story, making it feel fleshed out.
Despite this not being a genre I usually rate highly, this book proved to be really good.

That was a fun read!

Slayers of Old follows three “retired” heroes who find themselves dragged into adventure when the world starts falling apart—again. The trio of main characters had great chemistry, especially with their shared history. The story strikes a nice balance between action, adventure, and meaningful character work. Fans of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Supernatural, and Scooby-Doo would enjoy this story.

I received an advance copy of this book through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

1990s and early aughts nostalgia is running rampant—and this title just runs with the it. This is an urban fantasy described accurately as “Buffy the Vampire Slayer meets Golden Girls." What if a few Chosen Ones had retired, and banded together to open a magic bookstore, in a living house in Salem Massachusetts—but they need to come out of retirement to save the world again. This is fun, often funny, and plays withthe notion that it's hell getting old. TImely with "Buffy" and urban fantasy in general rebooting.