You've never seen a wedding quite like this
Lustlocked: A Sin Du Jour Novel
by Matt Wallace
Macmillan-Tor/Forge
Sci Fi & Fantasy
Pub Date: January 26, 2016
Description
The staff of New York's premier supernatural catering company, has their work cut out for them in this outrageous follow-up to Envy of Angels.
Love is in the air at Sin du Jour.
The Goblin King (yes, that one) and his Queen are celebrating the marriage of their son to his human bride. Naturally the celebrations will be legendary.
But when desire and magic mix, the results can be unpredictable.
Our heroes are going to need more than passion for the job to survive the catering event of the decade!
Review
Lustlocked is a highly unusual novel with a very original premise. Stories always mention vast parties held by werewolves, fae, etc… but who does the catering? Sin du Jour is New York’s premier supernatural catering company. Catering for humans can be difficult, but for supernaturals — well the task is far from simple. Ingredients are rare and often dangerous, and even stirring the wrong way is potentially fatal. That doesn’t even consider what form retribution might take if an event fails or goes spectacularly awry.
Lustlocked definitely has its share of strange characters and magic induced mayhem. The story is entertaining in a “have to rubberneck and stare at this train wreck way”. How often are heroes required to avoid rampaging reptile lust fiends? Lustlocked definitely has novelty going for it, but it isn’t really funny. As a fan of humorous sci-fi and fantasy (Terry Pratchett, Douglas Adams, Alan Dean Foster, etc..) I normally delight in absurd machinations, weird characters, and unusual occurrences. Matt Wallace is a good writer, but somehow the book is more disturbing than funny.
The other weakness is the length and the simplicity. Lustlocked is more of a novella than a full novel. The plot is straightforward - cater wedding, spell is cast, human guests turn to reptile lust fiends, caterers get cure, guests turn back, party goes on. I liked the inclusion of the ingredient hunting story at the end, but perhaps it would have been better to integrate the two.
I was more intrigued by the references to action in the previous novel than what was happening in Lustlocked. Still, Matt Wallace has potential and I would be willing to try another of his novels.
3/5
Lustlocked is available for preorder and will be released January 26, 2016.
I received a copy of Lustlocked from the publisher and netgalley.com in exchange for an honest review.
—Crittermom
