Supernatural creatures have roamed the Earth since the beginning of time. There was a time when humans would not tolerate having vampires and other creatures in their midst, stealing their young and killing their fellow human beings. These humans took care of business with pitchforks, sharpened stakes, and fires. As the centuries passed, the supernatural creatures learned that they needed to hide in order to survive. As they did, humans evolved, and after a few decades, humans no longer believed the tales from mythology and folklore. Then the creatures became more bold again, showing themselves when they should have stayed hidden.
In 1945, the assistant director of the FBI suffered a horrible tragedy, which he learned later was supernaturally related. He created a small branch of the Department of Justice called the Bureau of Supernatural Investigation – the BSI. Little did he know that there were already men and women policing the world of the supernatural – or the “Fae.” The only difference was that this other group had a huge advantage over the humans running the BSI; they were also immortal, just like the creatures they policed.
Should the BSI and the Immortals work together to keep the peace? Follow agents and Immortals from the four supernaturally busiest places in the country – San Francisco, Chicago, New Orleans, and Washington D.C. and watch the BSI evolve. Vampires, shapeshifters, succubae, and Immortals. What is the Justice Department hiding? BSI: Bureau of Supernatural Investigation is an Enchanted Immortals novella, approximately 36,000 words, with an excerpt of Enchanted Immortals at the end. This novella may be read in any order in the series. – Amazon Synopsis
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BSI: Bureau of Supernatural Investigations Review
I did not like this book. I wanted to like this book, as I was hoping to get turned on to a good urban fantasy series, but something about the way it was written completely turned me off. I became aware about halfway through that while I was reading, my lips were drawn back in a sneer of distaste. I don’t know why I kept going after that. I think mainly because it’s a short book and I just kept hoping it would improve. The idea behind the series is fantastic, and in the hands of the right writer who can infuse the plot with tight action sequences, snappy dialogue, and actual internal drama, it would be a sheer pleasure to read. However, with tense changes, incomplete sentences, boring dialogue, and flat attempts at drama, it’s a struggle to read, let alone think of enjoying.
BSI: Bureau of Supernatural Investigations was definitely hampered by the constantly switching POV between the various agents. For as short as the book was, the author really should have concentrated on one or two agents at most. It would have given it a much more grounded feel. Instead it felt like the author was trying to shove several full stories into one teensy book. That just never works out well. I understand this is because this is a novella that’s part of a larger series. I do. However, as it’s showcasing the ‘beginning of it all’, it needs to easy to follow, well-written, and entertaining enough to make the readers want to read more in the series. In trying to introduce readers to a lot of the main characters in the story, Pinard instead manages to just irritate and confuse. I should not feel like I needed to take notes to keep track of all the characters in a novella. This has scared me off reading any of C.J. Pinard’s other works, especially since a lot of the stuff that bothered me should have been caught by even a halfway decent editor.
Overall, even though the actual series (according to a few Amazon reviews I glanced through) is supposed to be much better than this book, I can definitely say I won’t be trying out any more of the Enchanted Immortals series. If I’m irritated reading a novella, there’s no way I’m going to commit to any full-length works. Especially with subpar writing. So, I can’t recommend it, but if you want to give a try, it’s on Amazon now.
Title: BSI: Bureau of Supernatural Investigations | Series: Enchanted Immortals (prequel) | Author: C.J. Pinard (site) | Publisher: Self-published | Pub. Date: 2013-10-31 | Pages: 232 | ISBN13: 9781492887867 | Genre: Urban Fantasy | Language: English | Triggers: None | Rating: 2 out of 5 | Date Read: 2016-6-9 | Source: Kindle Freebie
