Restoration by Angela Slatter Blog Tour

Restoration

Author: Angela Slatter

Publisher: Hachette Australia

Release date: 14 August 2018

Pages: 387 pages

R.R.P: $29.99

Verity Fassbinder thought no boss could be worse than her perfectionist ex-boyfriend- until she grudgingly agreed to work for a psychotic fallen angel. And dealing with a career change not entirely of her own choosing is doing nothing to improve V's already fractious temper. The Angel is a jealous- and violent- employer, so she's quit working for the Weyrd Council and sent her family away, for their own safety. Instead of indulging in domestic bliss, she's got to play BFFs with the angel's little spy, Joyce the kitsune assasian... and Joyce comes with her own murderous problems.

The angel has tasked V with finding two lost treasures, which would be hard enough even without a vengeful Dusana Nadasy on her heels. And Inspector McIntyre won't stop calling: the bodies of Normal women who disappeared decades before are turning up, apparently subjected to Weyrd magics. Angelic demands or not, this isn't something she can walk away from.

And the angel is getting impatient for results...

My Review

Thoughts on the book: Restoration is the last book in the Verity trilogy by Angela Slatter. Verity has quit the Weyrd Council, has sent her family away to protect them, has had to cut herself off from her friends and is now working for a psychotic angel who wants her to find two lost treasures with basically no information on where they are. Her new accomplice is Joyce, the kitsune assassin who wants to murder her mother and is working and spying for the Angel. But of course that's not the only thing that is going on in the world of the Weyrd, women who disappeared years and years ago are suddenly turning up dead and a prominent member of the Weyrd community dies. Verity is stretched to her limits and struggles to deal with keeping everything in order while missing her friends and family. But as Verity gets closer and closer to the answers she is seeking a series of betrayals may cost her everything she has worked so hard for.

A massive thank you to Alana from Hachette for allowing me to be apart of this amazing blog tour, sending me a review copy to read and review and allowing me the chance to send some questions through for Angela Slatter to answer.  I was also lucky enough to to be apart of the blog tour for book 2, Corpselight last year where I was orginally introduced to Verity Fassbinder, having had to read book 1 beforehand, so when the chance came up to be apart of the blog tour for Restoration of course I jumped at the chance. 

Of course I loved the gripping, fast pace of Restoration, being thrown from one case to the next after each is solved and being back with our kick ass heroine and friend so Restoration was basically everything I could have asked for in the third Verity Fassbinder series except for the ending. To me it just seemed so rushed and I wanted it to be more drawn out, less than 100 pages for the main big fight ever that will basically be the ending of this series just wasn't enough. I know so much happened within those 100 pages and everything was basically wrapped up in the end which is a massive plus side for Angela Slatter as an author but I just wanted more fighting, more of Bella and Ziggi and more pages to read. 

I can't finish this review without saying how devastated I am that this is the last Verity Fassbinder book in this series and I really don't want this series to end. It is one of my favourite paranormal series that I have come across and I've really enjoyed being in the Weyrd world with some of my favourite kick ass characters. Hopefully we get some more from this fabulous world that Angela Slatter has created, maybe a series bass on Verity and David's daughter Maisie or a series based on Verity's father. 

Rating: 4/5

Q&A with Angela Slatter

Congratulations on your release of your third Verity Fassbinder novel, Restoration. For those readers who haven’t read it how would you describe it?

Thank you! Well, Restoration is an urban fantasy set in the city of Brisbane. There are two populations, the Normal and the Weyrd, and the Weyrd stay hidden behind glamours lest they end up on the wrong end of torches and pitchforks. The main character Verity is employed by the Weyrd Council to keep the peace, make sure that anything eldritch doesn’t spill over into the Normal world. As this is the third book in the series, I’d advise new readers to rush out and read Vigil and Corpselight, as there are quite a few threads that get tied off in this final book; everything will make sense if you’ve read the whole series! But in short: archangels, broken gods, kitsune assassins, grails, and sirens get stage time. Verity’s not meant to be working for the Council anymore but she keeps getting called on to investigate some gruesome murders ... oh, and she swears a lot and inherits a sword.

I’m devastated that Restoration is the last of the Verity books. What can we expect next? Maybe a series about a grown up Maisie or about Verity’s dad?

I, too, am devastated! But it’s down to the publisher’s decision, not mine. I do have a fourth Verity plotted out, called Bastion, but we’ll have to wait and see. Next up I’m working on a gothic novel called Blackwater, set in Ireland and colonial Australia, and I’m also finishing the third of the Sourdough world mosaic collections, The Tallow-Wife and Other Tales. Then there’s another gothic novel called Morwood ... and then I need to do a final-final edit on The Briar Book of the Dead, which is a Sourdough world novel.

I love Verity Fassbinder and am also partial to Ziggi. Who is your favourite character from the Verity books? 

Oh, that’s a hard question! It’s like asking who’s your favouritechild. I love Verity most, obviously, and am very fond of Ziggi, but I think I’m going to have to go for Inspector Rhonda McIntyre. She’s so hard-nosed, laconic, long-suffering, but she’s always reliable. 

What inspired you to write paranormal books?

I suppose a lifetime of reading them. I always horror and fantasy and science fiction as a kid, I loved ghost stories and weird tales, and of course fairy and folk tales, mythology and legends. That’s just the stuff that’s in my head now, and the only way to let it out is to write stories. I love telling stories, I love being part of a long line of storytellers who make and remake fairy tales.

Finally who are some of your favourite go to authors?

Ah, always Tanith Lee and Margo Lanagan. Cassandra Khaw, Sarah Pinborough, Zen Cho, Nnedi Okorafor, Nalo Hopkinson, Jane Gaskell, Kim Newman and John Connolly.