Review – Warping Minds and Other Misdemeanors (Guild Codex: Warped, Book 1) by Annette Marie and Rob Jacobsen (4/5 stars)

Reading Level: Adult
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Length: 246 pages
Publisher: Dark Owl Fantasy Inc.
Release Date: August 7, 2020
ASIN: B08BLJ8M34L
Stand Alone or Series: 1st book in the Guild Codex: Warped series
Source: Borrowed through Kindle Unlimited
Rating: 4/5 stars

“My name is Kit Morris, and welcome to my warped life.

Picture the scene: Me, an average guy with psychic powers—not that my abilities are in any way average—just trying to scrape by in a harsh world. So maybe I’ve conned a few people, but did I really deserve to be thrown in MPD jail alongside magic-wielding serial killers?

According to Agent Lienna Shen, one-hundred-percent yes.

But her hardass attitude and “Arcana prodigy” status aren’t enough to bring down my former best friend, who slipped through the MPD’s fingers and is days away from unleashing untold horrors upon the city. Or he’s going to steal something. I don’t really know.

Whatever he’s up to, that’s why I’m sitting in an interrogation room with Lienna. And that’s why I just offered myself as her temporary new partner for the purposes of thwarting my ex-accomplice.

And that’s how I’m going to escape. I might even help with the case before I cut and run..”

Series Info/Source: This is the first book in the Guild Codex: Warped series. This is a sister series to Guild Codex: Spellbound and Guild Codex: Demonized. I borrowed this book for my Kindle through Kindle Unlimited.

Story (4/5): This was a fun read and introduces us to Kit Morris, who worked in the guild that was destroyed by the Claw and Hammer. Kit finds himself arrested for a number of reasons and is trying to escape, he is also trying to figure out the full extent of his magical abilities. Most of this story is about Kit trying to escape multiple times by offering to help the MPD and then trying to pull one over on them. If you have read the rest of the Guild Codex books, you know how that ends up for him. The story was well done and entertaining. However, it felt pretty short and mostly just set up Kit for future stories.

Characters (4/5): I enjoyed Kit as a character; he is snarky and fun. The book was really focused on Kit and, although it did introduce some side characters, the side characters didn’t have much depth and we never really got to know them that well.

Setting (4/5): Most of the book is set either in MPD headquarters or around Vancouver. The setting wasn’t a huge part of the book and not a lot of time was spent on it.

Writing/Drawing Style (4/5): You can definitely tell that Marie co-wrote this book, the style is different from her other books. While I still enjoyed it, the story just didn’t draw me in quite as well as her other books. The action scenes were well done but I just didn’t feel quite as “sucked” into the story. I think part of it was that I just didn’t relate to Kit all that well.

My Summary (4/5): Overall this was a fun read and I enjoyed it. Pacing and characterization is a bit different from Marie’s traditional stories and I didn’t find myself quite as sucked into the story. I also felt like this was just mostly set-up to get Kit started into bigger stories, it felt very short and more like an introduction than a full book. Still I ended up enjoying Kit as a character and liked the new magic he introduces into the series. I plan on continuing the series.