Member assessment:
(7 votes) —
Recommended by Chris Poirier, Sarah Suleski, and 8 other members.
Winter’s Mercenary
A serialized novel, presently on hiatus.
Set in modern day America. James Damian has just recently been recruited by the Queen of the Winter Court of the Fae. His mission is to track Summer’s new recruits. However, the entrance of a beautiful hit-woman may bring to light some interesting new facts.
Winter’s Mercenary
A story about Vampires, Mages, and Supernatural Pissing Contests
— contains some graphic violence and harsh language —
Tags: action fae first person humor modern supernatural online novels past tense romance urban fantasy vampires
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Editorial Reviews
Root for the "Bad Guy"
We’ve all met the atypical brooding vampire. Vampires with souls. Vampires tormented by their bloodlust, striving to be better people. Vampires in love with mortals and deathly afraid of killing them, or turning them.
James Damian is not that kind of vampire.
Winter’s Mercenary is good old supernatural fun, with snark, action, and charmingly twisted undead romance. James has a job, and killing is its name. He’s not ashamed of it, and yet, for all that he is the walking damned, I have to remind myself that he’s probably, technically, by most standards . . . the bad guy.
The plot centers on James’ current job, as hitman for Queen Mab, and the complications that arise when an agent of the mysterious Department 7 comes barging into his life. I’m looking forward to finding out more about the fae aspect of the story as it progresses.
Looks into James’s backstory add more depth to his character, and hints about the story to come, without plunging him into full on emo angst. Don’t get me wrong, I like me some full on emo angst, but I also find James’s insouciance refreshing and a strong point of the story. The first person narration serves the character well.
On a site design level, I like the layout — the Hemingway theme for WordPress is a great template for web serials, giving plenty of room for the text and not distracting from the story with busy sidebars.
I dislike white/gray text on a black background as a rule, though. It just hurts my eyes in large doses. Since I’m caught up and only read the story on a chapter by chapter basis, it’s not a problem, but I’m still glad I don’t have to catch up on the archives (which I invariably try to do in one sitting).
That said, whenever a color-scheme or layout presents too large of a problem, I can always just disable styles in my browser with a single click and read it as black on white — so it’s of secondary concern to an enjoyable story
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A different type of vampire
Once upon a time, vampires were monsters.
Now, they are beautiful "people" who, much like Romeo and Juliet, frequently find themselves falling in love with their dessert and, once they find themselves in such a predicament, begin to loathe their monster nature where all and sundry are invited to their own special little angst ‘n’ pity party.
The whole theme is a bit old, and, honestly, I wasn’t expecting anything different when I began to read Winter’s Mercenary.
I was wrong.
I found a smart ass vampire who likes what he does. Who doesn’t angst and moan, and doesn’t mind throwing the occasional fire ball.
And, above all, it was entertaining. The writing made me smile more than once. Sometimes the prose could use a bit of a polish, but overall it’s pleasing to read. The plot continues to thicken and I am always looking forward to what happens next.
It’s popcorn lit — delicious and entertaining.
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Most Helpful Member Reviews
A Solid Supernatural-Action Yarn
When I first encountered “Winter’s Mercenary”, I wasn’t too certain I’d be interested being that I understood the title was about a vampire who works for Queen Mab—for those not in the know, she’s got a lot of names in fantasy but is commonly the Faerie Queen of the Winter Court. Since I’m a strong reader of Irish and Celtic lore her appearance tends to lend a sense of gravity to anything I read.
Fortunately, this work held a bit more of the gravitational rather than gravitas. It begins, not with a bang, but with a punch. In media res is a good way to catch my attention and then it managed even to hold it. The story comes out in literally bite-sized-chunks that any vampire reader can readily sink their fangs into. And it manages to punctuate the plot with both jags of action and spikes of off-the-cuff humor.
From where I’m reading right now it’s only up to chapter nine, but I’ll probably be putting this into my list while I’m looking for something to read. The small bites are easy to digest; and while they tend to end with cliffhangers—every so many chunks does this—I really don’t mind that in the least. I remember reading Sherlock Holmes stories published in The Strand magazine that did much the same.
People who like magic, guns, and a scoundrel of a main character will certainly enjoy this as much as I have.
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Modern vampire, solo assasin
I’ve read about monster vampires, slutty vampires, angsty vampires, indifferent vampires. We’ve all seen vampires hunted down by silly teenage humans in cheerleader dresses and vampires struggling with their bestial nature, always wanting to be human. Friendly neighborhood vampires so clean and piteous they squeak and undead abominations so monstrous no one would empathize with them.
So, what was missing from that list? Ah, yes, the Smart Vampire. That’s exactly what Winter’s Mercenary offers. James Damian is witty, practical, unscrupulous and really, really funny to read about. So what if his wisdom score is a bit low for a five-hundred-year-old semi-immortal? It merely adds to the experience.
The prose is fairly well-written and flows very, very well. That has a lot to do with Winter’s Mercenary having a humorous take on things even in the worst situations. It also has a lot to do with the intriguing yet not overly-convoluted plot that has you turning page after page. The protagonist manages to make the reader care for him despite being a villain engaging in a list of horrendous activities ranging from theft to arson to homicide without even a hint of remorse.
There were some things I didn’t like about the story though they are mostly technical aspects or matters of personal preference; The size of the letters might make reading difficult, being too small, and the site is an unrelieved white and dark grey which could use some additional color. The story focuses a lot on a single character and I found myself wanting to learn about secondary characters a bit more than their name and appearance.
But as I said, personal preference. The story warrants a solid 4-star rating anyway.
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Intriguing
Despite several great reviews on the Web Fiction Guide and umpteen star ratings I very nearly missed out on this one.
I enjoyed the first episode and the next couple had me a bit perplexed as to the type of story I was reading. It is worthwhile sticking with though because it is a great read, the main character is a riot and the story is developing well.
Personally I found the site design a little boring and I would like to see a link to the current chapter easier to find.
I am unsure what the author’s thoughts are with regard to comments because despite leaving several he has yet to acknowledge any. I know that I am not the only commenter in this position and accept that it is nothing personal. It does leave me feeling rather unappreciated as a reader though.
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