Review – Grave Intentions by Nazri Noor

Posted January 8, 2020 by Carole in 2020 Audiobook Challenge, Book Reviews / 14 Comments

Grave Intentions by Nazri Noor
Narrated by Luke Daniels
Series: Darkling Mage #3
Publisher: Nazri Noor
Publication Date: December 17, 2019
Date Read: January 2, 2020
Length: 7 hours 4 minutes
Source: Author
★★★★☆

Something has stolen the darkling mage’s face.

Reports of arcane theft and violence are pouring in from all over Valero. They all have one thing in common: a perpetrator who looks exactly like Dustin Graves. But Dust has been hanging in the hideout, barely out of sight of his bloodthirsty companions.

An impostor is clearly on the prowl, and soon a vampire clan, the Lorica, and even Dust’s own allies are giving him hell for crimes he didn’t commit. There’s also the matter of finding an entity powerful enough to reforge Vanitas. But the darkling mage will pull through. Dustin always does. Well…except when he doesn’t.

If you like snarky heroes, snappy dialogue, and a bit of grit and gore, you’ll love the third book in Nazri Noor’s series of urban fantasy novels. Explore the Darkling Mage universe and discover Grave Intentions today.

My Review

I am really enjoying this series!  After enjoying the first two installments in this series, I was pretty excited to start listening to this audiobook.  I am happy to report that this book lived up to my expectations.  The story grabbed me from the very first paragraph and held my interest until the very end.  I am so glad that I decided to give this series a try.

Dustin starts this book out in a bit of trouble and finds more before everything is settled.  There are more than enough Dustins to go around in this book.  It seems that there are crimes being committed all over town by people who look exactly like Dustin, except they aren’t Dustin.  Things will be quite exciting until Dustin and his team are able to figure out exactly what is going on.

Dustin is a great character.  I love his sense of humor and how quickly he is able to think through almost impossible situations.  He is quite resilient and it seems that no matter how dire the situation he finds a way to make things work.  I am also really enjoying getting to know some of the other recurring characters a bit better.

Luke Daniels is one of my favorite narrators and he does an excellent job with the narration of this book.  He does a fantastic job of bringing Dustin to life and is able to add a lot of excitement to the story.  There are times that the dialogue in this book is rather comical and I think that his performance made everything even more enjoyable.  I think that the narration increased my overall enjoyment of the story.

I would recommend this book to others.  This is the third book in the Darkling Mage series which really should be read in order.  This book had the perfect combination of great characters, a compelling mystery, and just the right amount of humor.  I cannot wait to read about Dustin’s next adventure.

I received a review copy of this book from the author.

About the Author – Nazri Noor
(From Author’s Website)

Hi, I’m Nazri, a Filipino-Malaysian author based in California. I’m trilingual, but I really only write in English. I can also speak just enough Sindarin and Valyrian to impress absolutely no one. My urban fantasy novels focus on heroes who use wits, style, and their wildly unpredictable magic to save the day. Think sass and class, while kicking ass.

My influences come from horror and fantasy: HP Lovecraft, Anne Rice, George R.R. Martin, Chuck Palahniuk, Terry Pratchett, and Neil Gaiman. Growing up I was shaped by the Blood Sword, Fighting Fantasy, Lone Wolf, and Grey Star game book universes. I’m also inspired by video games, specifically the Castlevania, Final Fantasy, and Persona series.

Author Links: Website | Goodreads | Facebook | Twitter

14 responses to “Review – Grave Intentions by Nazri Noor

  1. Glad the narrator did an excellent job, and it sounds like I'll have to give this series a go! It also 'plays' like a bonus to me reading in the bio that the author gets inspired by video games I like, too, hehe 😉

  2. I often try an audible just because I really like the narrator. This series sounds good and I've yet to try this author.

  3. I've been enjoying your reviews and I am also a fan of Luke Daniels. I think I have bought the first 2 on audio with KU so I'll have to look for this one too. Fantastic review!

    Anne – Books of My Heart