Rogues

Mr. Conroe’s novels come to us far too slowly, as they are always an enjoyable read. I hesitate to call this a “side-line novel”, as Declan has become a primary character. Better said, it broadens the scope of the “Demon Accord” universe.
This novel combines characters from many of John’s past novels, and associates them with the “College Arcane”, which is an attempt to combine “normal” and supernatural in an educational environment to explore the effects of recent “Forced Accent” revelations on an unsuspecting world, and perhaps find a path to move forward.

This novel reminds me of earlier novels of “Chris” — growth, painful lessons, etc. Declan has a similar personality and naivety, though he does have (a little) more experience with girls. Declan has many common college experiences, including the difficulty of maintaining a high school relationship in the broader college world. Declan also has several important steps in his “development” forced upon him, and not in good ways.

We again meet “Sorrows”, and are forced to consider whether the book itself is sentient, or if the book’s author has somehow placed a portion of herself within the book. We contemplate “AI” (Artificial Intelligence) and its potential effects on society. I caution the author not to go the route of “past movies” — the follow-on plot doesn’t demand a true artificial intelligence, but more of a “Watchdog program” that has been around long enough to get its “hooks” in all major governmental systems, and was “triggered” by a certain meteor strike. Too easy to fall into cliche and boring, if past movies and books are merely repeated.

All-in-all, a good read. John paints a detailed picture of (Declan’s) college life while maintaining Declan’s first-person point-of-view. We gain a great deal of understanding of Declan’s “mental make-up”, and insight into other characters as a reflection of Declan’s observations.
The action sequences are well-written, serious, but not nearly to the level of “Forced Accent”, which is good — time for things to calm down a bit as other plots unfold.

Recommended…

COLLEGE ARCANE is the second book in the Demon Accords series to feature Declan as the lead character, and it’s an unputdownable read, but, then, so is every book in this series – yes, even C.A.E.C.O. John Conroe just is a born storyteller.

There are heaps – heaps! – of books out there about supernatural academies, and, of course, Hogwarts towers over everything. But, in the span of a few years, I’ve read about Brakebills, Nuttall’s Whitehall School and Ben S. Reeder’s Charm School, Jane Yolen’s Wizard’s Hall, Richelle Mead’s Vampire Academy, Jen L. Grey’s Bloodshed Academy, JJ King’s Alpha Wolf Academy, Avery Song’s Tracker Hive Academy, Serena Akeroyd’s Caelum Academy… and those are just tiny sample sizes of how immense this sub-genre’s become.

Conroe’s COLLEGE ARCANE is up there in terms of the speed with which you flip the pages to find out what happens next. As far as male witches – or warlocks – go, I rank Kevin Mishnar from Glenn Bullion’s Damned & Cursed series as the only one to match Declan’s skills and badassery. Yes, there’s some concern from fans that Declan and Chris may be too powerful, with Declan stepping in as a deus ex machina plot devise. Except he’s written so well and is so likable that I found myself not giving a what that he’s too powerful.

How huge of an ego stroke must it be for Declan to know that College Arcane was founded essentially to nurture and support him? And his cybernetic girlfriend, Caeco, too, I guess. Except Declan isn’t about ego. He doesn’t have much of one. College Arcane is an experimental learning institution of which primary purpose is “to provide the children of the supernatural world with a unique blend of college education and training specific to their own unique natures.” As well, it’s a “pilot program designed to develop the abilities of a group of highly talented young people as well as build bridges and relationships with their families and organizations.” Yes, think X-Men Academy, think Hogwarts’ class, Defense Against the Dark Arts.

In a world where male witches have been historically not as powerful as the women, 18-year-old Declan is a blip, an anomaly. Part of the fun is the sense of gratification on the reader’s part when the smug instructors and the other students come to realize just how badly they’d underestimated Declan.

If you’d read the previous Demon Accords books, then some of these first-year students will be familiar. And if you were worried that you’d be without Chris and Tanya and that crew, they do pop in here and there. Fact is, Chris seeks Declan out for a remedy to something that happened in the last book, FORCED ASCENT. Well, a spoilers alert that Declan not only resolves that predicament, but, also– well, never mind.

This was a grand old read! Cliques in school had never been more dangerous. Lots of alpha personalities that clash and resort to power plays. EXECUTABLE was very good, but Declan was holding back in that one. Here, he gets pushed and tested and bullied to his limits, and a guy can only take so much before he loses his sh– and lashes out and proves most everyone wrong. I say “most everyone” because there are a handful at the college who suspect Declan’s potential. Like Arcane’s director, Gina, and, of course, Caeco, and even a certain impudent Irish teen witch Declan had ran into in EXECUTABLE.

With COLLEGE ARCANE, Conroe expands his Demon Accords universe, and it’s new lore that he uses to branch out even more in future novels. Another reason he wanted to feature Declan as the lead character is he wanted to show how other characters perceive Chris and Tanya, as well as the impact that Tanya’s fledgling, maverick Demidova Corporation is having on a world stage. Remember, too, the supernatural world was outed in FORCED ASCENT, and there are massive readjustments and crazy ramifications to that. It makes sense that there’s even a class dedicated to examining such ramifications.

There are immediate takeaways from COLLEGE ARCANE. I knew, after having read it some years ago, that Declan would figure larger in future stories in the Demon Accords saga. At this stage, his story arc was just starting. Speaking of takeaways, if you ever find yourself at an old industrial edifice on Pine Street in Burlington, Vermont, tread lightly. You don’t want to mess with the kids there. And if you should happen to espy an old ’72 Toyota Land Cruiser, looking like it might be an easy carjack, don’t even. And if you see a tall, gangly teenager who majors in computer science and who looks like a pushover, really, really don’t even.

Also, we’re introduced to Wytchwars which, for my money, is a school team sport that puts Quidditch to shame.

I was starting to get worried after the last book thinking Mr. Conroe might be writing himself into a corner. It seemed everything was coming together and only a book or two left. But, wow, this book was amazing! Opened everything right up. Not only did he bring in characters from his Black Frost book – the Fae and all their intrigue, he explored witches to a great degree bringing their intrigues. Further, this story stayed inside college arcane developing new characters, growing old characters, and meshing them all together. We’ve got the Irish witches, the Boklunds witches and several other circles involved. Getting kinda long winded here…..pretty much virtually every character ever mentioned shows up. Finally, we get introduced to a possible new villain…. 🙂 gonna have to read it to find out. All in all I cannot give this book enough praise. I absolutely love this series. Its both emotional and kick ass at the same time. On a side note allow me to be a bit presumptuous, I would love to see some possibly short stories or even novels exploring Chris and Tania’s childhood and teens years. There is tons of material mentioned particularly in the earlier books regarding Chris and Tania growing up. I think it would be fascinating to read how Chris was trained, and how his school years went or even before he was born and self-fallen. The same goes for Tania. Well, I could go on and on but will stop here. Oh, Mr. C., I believe the brother and sister are from Kentucky, not Tennessee but I could be wrong.

John Conroe can do no wrong for me. If I could make an author write a series of books specifically for me with characters that never make stupid decisions just for the sake of moving a story forward from one idiotic mistake to the next, are not embarrassed to be smart and powerful, and are kickass in every way, this would be that series. Each chapter in his Demon Accords are an automatic win for me. I am so grateful that the author has not bowed down to mumbling critics who moan that Chris’ character is too powerful, or too this or too that. There is nothing more heartbreaking than falling in love with a series only to find halfway through that a few critics has influenced the author and caused them to change that subtle thing that made the series literary crack. Each of Jon Conroe’s books deliver exactly what you expected: well thought out magic comfortably bedding down with science, smart and strong characters who use their brains as much as they use their muscles, loyalty, character and a story arc ever moving forward at a brisk, exciting pace.

My only concern was, with a character as lovable and awesome as Chris, can Jon Conroe ever equal him? Has he out-badassed himself? The answer is no. Declan is every inch as adorable, intelligent and powerful, yet in a completely different way. There is no danger here of feeling that this amble (okay, more of a brisk trot) down a side-road of the main storyline from the viewpoint of a different character will leave you feeling deflated. Declan is younger, more emotional and at times naive, but at no point less intelligent, considered or logical. His powers go from strength to strength, however we always understand that it is his mind that will make the difference here. All of this is tempered with the realistic reminder of what it was to be young, sometimes disempowered by those with societal authority over you (in this case professors and family) and to be caught in the rush of school obligations while still trying to make sense of peer interaction, falling in love and in Declan’s case the overwhelming push from the supernatural world. Each book in this series, whether from Chris, Declan or even Ian’s point of view contributes to the worldbuilding, setting up future events and interweaving mythology and science.

While we wait on the next instalment in the series, which promises to be as toe-curlingly enjoyable as every book preceding it I will do what I have done to date, I will have to go back and reread the entire series again.

I can thoroughly recommend books 1-5 and 7 of this series which focussed on Chris. I loved them; the characters, storyline and action are all a fantastic roller-coaster ride plus the books also have more depth than many in the genre. While some of this is also present in Dechlan’s books (6 and 8 of the Accords series) there was far more teen angst and discord so that I found those part of College Arcane heavy going. Yes I can remember and empathise with those years but I am just hoping that John Conroe is not going down the route of the McCaffrey Dragon series and the Valdemar series and focussing so much on the adolescent and ‘young adult’ readership that the books no longer have any appeal for adults. Having said that, the storyline is still strong, some interesting new ideas are introduced (presumably to be followed in future books) and the ending, although lacking the climax of some of the other books, very satisfying.

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