Podcast Review: Fires in the Snow

Fires in the Snow

Written By:  Starla Huchton

Format:  Podcast; 29:50 minutes

Genre:  Fantasy

Episode:  1 of 2

Synopsis:
A terrible arsonist plagues Inspector Hyosuke Saichi's city, and he senses something unnatural in the crimes.  When he meets the mysterious Koyuki Hara, his world is turned upside down by the discovery of magic.

My Thoughts and Summary:
Hyosuke Saichi has just come to the seventh building to burn to ashes, in just days, leading him to believe there is an arsonist in his city.  The remains look strange as they are restrained to the current building in a city packed of wooden shack homes and buildings.  Also, in winter the fires have burned far to hot.  When Hyosuke follows a cloaked person away from the scene of the latest fire, he will learn there are things in the world hidden from people, magic.  Koyuki wants Hyosuke's help from the information he has collected, in turn she will help him solve the case and save his city.

This is the starts of a short story set in The Gearheart world.  Koyuki is a Seeker sent to solve the mysterious fires in this city.

Hyosuke is introduced to magic, and he knows he can't mention it to his superiors or he will be called from the case and sent to see doctors, losing his job in the process.  Magic's not real, but what he learns from Koyuki... it is real.  I enjoy the presence of magic in the way of glyph's here in this world.  And each mage has a personalized glyph of their own in their own signature.

The potential person behind the fires is a surprise to Koyuki.  And there is more there to her past and what's here....

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Format:  Podcast; 24:23 minutes

Genre:  Fantasy

Episode:  2 of 2

Synopsis:
A terrible arsonist plagues Inspector Hyosuke Saichi's city, and he senses something unnatural in the crimes.  When he meets the mysterious Koyuki Hara, his world is turned upside down by the discovery of magic.

My Thoughts and Summary:
Koyuki looks at the map of fires again, drawing the lines in order of occurrence to predict the next place of fire.  If this fire is complete, finishing the design, there could be a bigger fire and trouble for the city with one targeted place at the center.  Koyuki's prediction is correct when they arrive at the wooden shack of a warehouse to find the arsonist Hyosuke has been looking for.

Oh, we get the pleasure of seeing a show down here, magic involved.  Things flaming and people rolling.

However, the person behind the fires is a bit of a surprise for Koyuki and makes me wonder as well.  Noriaki has a contempt for the Seekers, which makes me curious as to what happened years ago and again suspect of the Seekers ways, and mentions seeing things.  What he saw to bring him to this point, I want to know.

There is mention of a frost sphere gifted to Koyuki from a friend.  Hmm, wonder who that was from. ;) I have a very good hunch. lol.  Liked this mention, without names.

You do not have to listen to The Gearheart original story podcast to listen to this one.  This is a complete story.  And one to get an idea of what is going on in the world.

Ha!  I loved this ending.  I was a little worried it was going one way, but was greatly surprised with what happened.  A little dark, but just to my liking.  The story by Starla leaves me remembering the stories in The Gearheart, and looking forward to more tales from different agents and the ones we are familiar with.  Starla has captured the magic along with the feel of the world wonderfully.



Fires in the Snow is a free listen available for your enjoyment at TheGearheart.com, if you would like to go listen there is only 2 short episodes.  And while there, take time to enjoy The Gearheart: Artifice story, it is worth it.



***I listened to this story for my own enjoyment.