Fluke and the Faithless Father: The Fantastic Fluke, Book 2

I have a love/hate relationship with series. The first book can only generate interest in a second if there's significant character development, but if the author develops the characters too much in that first book, there's nowhere to go from there.Fortunately, the second book in the Fluke series is still strong and compelling. If it's any less successful than the first, it's only because we meet all the main characters in the first, so there's organically less introducing to do this time.That said, we do get two new characters, Jordan and Freddy, who are both useful to the story in different ways (trying not to give spoilers here). Other reviewers have mentioned plot points, so I'm just offering my assessment.The writing is strong, the editing good. As an author myself, I know how maddening it is after 15 rewrites and countless times proofreading to discover an error has still made it into print. I saw only one actual error ("Freddy" is once written "Freddie"), and perhaps there was a tad too much overexplaining and overapologizing near the beginning, but Sam Burns is a strong writer and has competent beta readers and editors. Many writers, both indie and traditional, never have that.As for the plot, I did NOT see the big event coming. While it wasn't difficult to predict how that scenario would play out once it did occur, it still did so in a satisfying way.I've already purchased the third book in the series and am hopeful the series will continue to develop successfully.

Fluke and the faithless father wasn’t as interesting as the first book in my opinion where everything was fresh but does have its moments.Romance - the romance between the two main men was cute but nothing out of this world. I enjoy their banter the most but I do wish there were more moments that their relationship was tested or new (since they just met). It often feels like Gideon was all in from the start which felt unrealistic and fast where as Sage often had so little faith he questioned it all the time. The dynamic was unequal. If I was honest, I wish Sage was abit more flawed. It doesn’t seem as though he ever makes mistakes that were recognized by any other character and his life does abit too perfectly.Plot - the plot wasn’t that exciting. I think one big reason was because the characters often weren’t driving the plot. In fact, majority of the events occur from sage living life normally, something big happens, he’s shaken and makes a promise to practice magic more, doesn’t practice magic, another major event happens and he makes the same promise again. The magical theory in this world was great. I like that there are different kinds and I like the concept of arcane. But often, instead of it being more fleshed out, it boils down to a plot device. Despite saying so many times. Sage does NOT put in any effort to learn self-defense despite that one moment he put up an anti fire Barrier in his house (but pretty much everything happened outside his house). The plot was also kind of easily predictable in terms of betrayal because too much was given away by the side characters which I will get into. Finally in the last part, the villains were underwhelming. They had a very muahahhaa evil villain mindset with no insight into their motivations besides “grrrr, arcanist bad”. I was hoping for more. I was however super surprised by the turn around of Alan. Though I wished it was more in depth, it was a sweet moment.Side characters - Fluke and Iris made the whole story so much better, especially fluke. Their easy banter and cute reactions and behavior made the social structure of the story flow more easily. Though I have to say that in regards to Roger, I found Iris behavior disappointing. Roger was also a comically hateful character without any good insight into why. It’s even more baffling when Iris (as his mother) does NOT care at all about him, even going as far as to ignore his existence and mock him. While Roger is a douchebag, I would think there would be some nuance surrounding a mother and her child but Iris’ character didn’t really follow through with that. The only consideration of this is when sage thinks of it in a single line in his head (I’m sure she loves him still) but none of the actions support that. Iris literally treats Sage more like a son in the TWO WEEKS she knew him over the years with Roger.But however, while it annoyed me, I can overlook this. The character however, that annoyed me the most was Beez, the best friend. Beez was annoying in two regards. One, both in this book and the previous one, she was too much of a “alarm siren”. Basically, she treats every hidden bad guy like garbage and every good guy very well. It makes predicting the betrayers so much easier. Two, she’s just pretty unlikeable. She spends most of her “on screen” time being nice to Sage and being a complete savage to every other person even unnecessarily so. For example, in the first book, the betrayer, wasn’t a bad person at first. He literally got his organization to pay for Sage’s medical bills. Often enquired about his health and was a nice long term customer. However, because of instinct or something like that, she always treats with him with suspicion and snaps at him. It made the reveal lose its impact since the author pointed too hard at the character. It’s not that the bad guy is a good person, but it’s unrealistic when the guy does only good things in front of you and you treat him like garbage. Basically, I never look forward to having Beez in the scene. Jordan was an interesting character. I liked the dynamic where she’s still kind of new and naive but does things unethically if she believes in it enough for the greater good. However, I did find every characters treatment of her too negative and often without good reason. Which of course gave her away.Conclusion - fluke book 2 was an enjoyable enough read with good banter and interest side characters. However it’s downsides such as certain poor side characters and also lack of nuance in relationships between those side characters causes the story to become less in depth than it could potentially be.

It’s hard to put into words how much I love this series. So many of the books in this genre are convoluted, filled with unsatisfying plots, and one dimensional characters. This is one of the few that breaks the mold. I love the characters, the plot, the world, and I’m so happy I decided to read it.I think my only little criticism in this one is that I wanted to see more development with Gideon and Sage’s relationship. Only about a week has gone by since the events of the first book, and I thought there would be a little more focus put on the pair of them figuring things out now that they could officially be together. Instead it kind of felt like Gideon’s role in this book was more of an afterthought (which was strange considering how important he was in the first one).But this is a really minor critique and it didn’t detract from my enjoyment of this book. I’m really excited to see where the next book takes us, and I would love to see more from Sage’s cousin, Freddy. He was such an unexpected yet lovable character. Overall, the book is fantastic.

Great story telling, easy story to read, serious and light setting at times. Great continuation with this story and the hateful people that murders arcan mages. We see Gideon trying to save his lover, Fluke managing to find his kidnapped master, a quaestor being used then turning better when learning the truth. We end the story on Iris being courted by the Dominus (political equivalent of a president of all mages) that supports arcan magic but still doesn’t know the MC is one. The fight hasn’t ended because all the zealots haven’t been uncovered and stopped. We will see what happens! Thanks for the books!

Finally finished, and I loved it. Sage is just golden, and his reactions so relatable. I also adored Sage and Gideon together. And - this book certainly didn't lack in action, twists or excitement. Definitely recommended!

Excited to see a sequel and get to have more of Sage and Fluke's story. I really enjoy this type of adventure where the drama isn't about doubt and miscommunication between the main couple. Looking forward to buying this series in physical form and adding them to my library.

You will need to read the first book in this series to understand this story as this book continues straight after the first book finishes.This story focuses on the release of the man who murdered Sages mother and the consequences of it. When the investigation into David's death begins things spiral out of control and when someone is kidnapped the truth comes out. What are the consequences for Sage, Gideon and the rest of his family. Read the book to find out.I hope another book is in the making as I love this series so much. Highly recommended.

Although this is very light fiction, the balance of characterisation and plotting is excellent. I wish they were a bit longer and a bit more layered but it kept me reading at a fast pace and the romantic elements are well balance with the plot.