Review: White Trash Warlock by David R. Slayton

Title: White Trash Warlock

Series: The Adam Binder Novels: Book One

Author: David R. Slayton

Publisher: Blackstone Publishing

Length: 320 Pages

Category: Urban Fantasy

At a Glance: If you’ve ever finished a book, read its final words, and the best you could come up with in the moment was “Wow,” you’ve read a book a lot like White Trash Warlock left me feeling.

Reviewed By: Lisa

Blurb: Not all magicians go to schools of magic.

Adam Binder has the Sight. It’s a power that runs in his bloodline: the ability to see beyond this world and into another, a realm of magic populated by elves, gnomes, and spirits of every kind. But for much of Adam’s life, that power has been a curse, hindering friendships, worrying his backwoods family, and fueling his abusive father’s rage.

Years after his brother, Bobby, had him committed to a psych ward, Adam is ready to come to grips with who he is, to live his life on his terms, to find love, and maybe even use his magic to do some good. Hoping to track down his missing father, Adam follows a trail of cursed artifacts to Denver, only to discover that an ancient and horrifying spirit has taken possession of Bobby’s wife.

It isn’t long before Adam becomes the spirit’s next target. To survive the confrontation, save his sister-in-law, and learn the truth about his father, Adam will have to risk bargaining with very dangerous beings … including his first love.

Review: Adam Lee Binder’s life hasn’t been anything near simple, or anyone’s definition of normal, for that matter, since before he was committed by his mother and older brother to an institution for “talking to invisible people.” The behind-the-scenes conspiracy to bring his institutionlization to fruition unfolds over the course of the telling of his story, and everything that happens in between is nothing short of spectacular. This novel is filled with betrayals and secrets and magic and a variety of magical beings, some wonderful urban fantasy, if that’s your cuppa, all revolving around a twenty-year-old guy who thinks of himself as white trash, but he is, in fact, a pragmatic hero with a future that promises to be filled with more danger and strife. And, if Vic Martinez has anything to say about it, maybe a little love too.

“Won’t you come in?” Death asked.

When Adam is summoned by his brother, Bobby Jack—although, he’s Dr. Robert Binder now, having shed any remnants of his small-town Oklahoma past—to come to Denver to help with a situation not of this world, Adam considers flat-out rejecting Robert’s plea. Why wouldn’t he, after the brother he’d loved so much betrayed him so deeply? But Adam likes his sister-in-law, Annie, too much to reject her in a time of desperate need, so he packs up his car, says goodbye to his beloved Aunt Sue, and drives away from the rundown trailer park he’s known as home since he turned eighteen and signed himself out of the “school” where he’d been abandoned years before. Which is where Adam’s life becomes complicated in myriad ways, which is, of course, when things get intensely interesting beyond his family issues.

Author David R. Slayton offers readers a relatable hero in Adam, a man whose goal isn’t to overwhelm us with his magical prowess but to make us sympathize with him as an every guy; granted, one who’s more than average and has found himself in an impossible situation, but the author scores big points in the likability department. Adam’s magic doesn’t necessarily inspire the awe of a more skilled practitioner—he has just enough Sight to allow him to get into trouble, if we’re being honest—but it’s also enough to allow him to see the ancient being that’s threatening Denver and violating its victims in a bid to absorb power. As Adam delves deeper into the problem of how to eliminate the creature, we’re given further glimpses into his past, his abusive father’s disappearance and why Adam is searching for him, and the heartache over the abandonment of his first love, an elf named Perak. Adam is forced to make alliances and seek help from various sources, some of which he’s not altogether sure he’ll survive, but all of whom do their part to craft this otherwise ordinary reality into something extraordinary.

If you’ve ever finished a book, read its final words, and the best you could come up with in the moment was “Wow,” you’ve read a book a lot like White Trash Warlock left me feeling. Even the term warlock gets a makeover in this -verse, and now, only time will tell how Adam will be impacted by the changes his life will undergo after the events that led to the final confrontation in the introduction to his series. He’s on the move, still searching for the warlock who’s practicing forbidden magic, and what he’ll find when he returns home is anyone’s guess. This is an impressive debut for David R. Slayton, and a thoroughly entertaining introduction to an alternate world teeming with plenty of charm of the supernatural variety.

You can buy White Trash Warlock here:
[zilla_button url=”https://www.blackstonepublishing.com/white-trash-warlock-david-r-slayton” style=”black” size=”medium” type=”round” target=”_blank”] Blackstone Publishing [/zilla_button][zilla_button url=”https://books2read.com/White-Trash-Warlock” style=”black” size=”medium” type=”round” target=”_blank”] Amazon & Other eTailers [/zilla_button]