Eye of the Sh*t Storm by Jackson Ford || Sarcastic Narrator Meets Endless Action

Eye of the Sh*t Storm (The Frost Files, #3)

Teagan Frost might be getting better at moving sh*t with her mind - but her job working as a telekinetic government operative only ever seems to get harder. That's not even talking about her car-crash of a love life . . .

And things are about to get even tougher. No sooner has Teagan chased off one psychotic kid hell-bent on trashing the whole West Coast, but now she has to contend with another supernatural being who can harness devastating electrical power. And if Teagan can't stop him, the whole of Los Angeles will be facing the sh*tstorm of the century . . .

Content Tags:

Perfect for readers who want:

• Fast-paced urban fantasy that’s packed with action.
• A sarcastic narrator with dark humor.
• Reluctant heroes who would rather be doing … well, pretty much anything else.
• Urban fantasy with superpowers.
• An examination of how things aren’t always as they seem.

Many thanks to Orbit and NetGalley for an eARC in exchange for an honest, unbiased review. Quotes are taken from an unfinished version and may differ from the final product.

Book three! Of The Frost Files! I’ve been dying to read this one since the moment I set down book two. This series quickly became one of my favorites, so I was super freaking excited to get an eARC of this book. I showed mucho restraint in not immediately tearing through it, okay? I deserve praise for that. Instead, like a good blogger, I waited until it was actual around the release date so I could excitedly jabber about this book with you all. What a sacrifice, right? You’re welcome.

Eye of the Sh*t Storm is an absolute roller coaster ride that immediately grabs a reader and refuses to let go. With the same sarcastic narrator, and some fun new superpowers, the third book of the Frost Files takes an introspective look at humanity and friendship and all the messy things that go with both.

For some reason, I had thought this series was a trilogy, and that made me sad? Maybe it’s because I’m so used to trilogies in fantasy right about now. Thankfully, that’s not the case, and a fourth book, at least, has already been confirmed, and I couldn’t be more excited about it! I mean, it’s obvious by the time you reach the end of this book that there will be at least one other, and thank goodness for that. I am so not ready to leave this world and these characters. If you’ve read the first two books of this series, book three ratchets the action factor up to 11 and then adds all these icky, nasty feels that will hit you in a completely different way than the feels from the second book did!

Eye of the Sh*t Storm opens with a bang (sort of literally) and the action never lets up. I couldn’t put it down!

The book opens with a car chase scene involving drugs and guns … and obviously everything goes sideways, because when China Shop is involved, nothing can be easy. That’s just a given. This isn’t a “can’t come up for air” sort of action. There are plenty of snippets of downtime to catch your breath, but not enough to take off the pressure. After all, everything is sort of culminating in this book, and you should feel Teagan’s desperation and everything China Shop is going through. Ford does this exceptionally well with his pacing, where the pressure is never quite relieved and there’s always an underlying sense of urgency.

Urban fantasy is often characterized by a lot of action, but if you want something that’ll hold your attention and force you to keep turning pages to find out what’s next, this book delivers on that and then some.

Teagan Frost is back with a vengeance, and she’s the sarcastic narrator/reluctant hero we’ve all been waiting for.

If you’ve read the previous two books, you’re likely already well familiar with Teagan. And if you haven’t … what are you doing here? You could be reading them! Go! Off with you! You won’t regret it!

Teagan’s trademark sarcasm and witty narration is back for another run, and the minute I opened the book, I realized how much I had missed it. It felt like coming home. I’m not going to say Teagan is a great example of humanity, because she’s probably not, but you know what? She’s a freaking real example of humanity, with hopes and dreams and flaws and stupid adulting things that she’d rather not do but has to because that’s what adults do, even though adulting is waaaay overrated. I’ve always loved how relatable and realistic Teagan is, and this book was no exception to that.

Teagan has been through a lot in the previous books, and you know what? This book isn’t exactly smooth sailing for her, either. She’s forced to question a lot about who she is, what she wants, and the people around her. She’s struggling with memories of her childhood—which wasn’t all terrible, now that she thinks about it—and where exactly she belongs in the world. In other words, our little Teagan is growing up! I’m really curious about where this will take Teagan in future books.

In fact, the whole gang is back, but their dynamic is shifting, now more than ever, especially following the events in book three.

It isn’t just Teagan questioning what she’s doing and where she wants to be. In fact, that’s pretty much the theme of this entire book. The team has been in situation after situation, each one seemingly more harrowing than the last, and it’s worn on pretty much everyone’s nerves. Not to mention that half of them didn’t actually choose this job.

A lot of soul-searching takes place in this book. Since I’ve grown to love the characters, it’s hard watching them go through it. Reggie, in particular, takes a spotlight in this book, and this was the best thing ever, okay? First off, Reggie is a bad bitch. No one can deny that, especially after everything she’s been through (which you’ll read more about in this book, of course, in case there was any doubt). Reggie is one of the greatest hackers ever. She also happens to be confined to a wheelchair, along with having muscular issues that sometimes make it hard to breathe. And sometimes, just sometimes, Reggie feels useless, like she can’t help her team when they need her.

First, I absolutely love the extra screen time that Reggie gets. She’s such a fascinating character in general, especially combining all her life experiences. More than that, though, I love the complexity of her character and the things she struggles with over the course of this novel. It’s emotional. It’s real.

In between the action, this book is stuffed full with a deeper narrative about the nature of humanity, especially following natural disasters, about coming together and falling apart, and all the dark, squishy feels that make humans … well, human.

In case you’ve forgotten, in book two, things kind of went … sideways. Sometimes literally. Los Angeles is still reeling from the devastation wrought by the earthquake, and in the wake of that, a different power dynamic is rising. Gangs are taking over parts of LA, buuuut … it’s not quite what you think! There’s also a large population of homeless and displaced citizens, as you might expect.

I appreciated the fact that it wasn’t the case that bad things happened in book two and then people just … forgot about it in book three? That sometimes happens in books, where the plot just rushes on. Instead, Ford moves the plot along just fine, but also acknowledges how things have changed, and those changes act to further shape the plot.

Because big changes have happened to Teagan Frost’s LA, and the characters aren’t always sure how to grapple with them. The whole city has settled into a haze of unsurety about what the future holds and how to even get there. Being able to see that aftermath and growth is just *chef’s kiss*. As someone who has lived through several natural disasters (none as big as what happened in book two, of course, but still), it’s so refreshing to see the process portrayed with such honesty and rawness. I’m all the more eager to find out what book four has in store because of it!

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