An Absolute Blast
5 out of 5 stars
This is out of my typical genre (fantasy) but right up my alley when it comes to action and adventure. I’ve never read Grigsby before so when I saw that Mike aka Michael Patrick Hicks had reviewed it, I decided that I needed to give it a try. Man, am I glad that I did.
Smoke Eaters is a sci-fi and fantasy mash-up (something I didn’t really believe could be done well). Set 100 years in the future in a dystopian society where dragons have scorched parts of the Earth. So much so that there is a special group of people who are set out to dispatch them: Smoke Eaters.
Grigsby is a firefighter and it shows. The amount of fire-fighting knowledge and insiderness (if that’s a word) that he shows in Smoke Eaters really helps this book shine. He took something that he obviously loves to do – thought about it in a different way and wrote a fantastic book about it.
I read this on a trip to Florida and back and I highlighted so many passages. Mostly because they were funny, but I was really entertained by this book. I realized after finishing this that it’s been a long time since a book has taken me out of my comfort zone AND entertained me as much as Smoke Eaters did.
I won’t go into too much detail about the book because I really think you need to stop what you’re doing and pick it up. It was just a perfect combination of so many genres that I had a blast reading it. The scenes further into the book featuring the Great White North cracked me up considering how close I live to both the border and Toronto.
I don’t need another book in this series but I would not be upset if Grigsby chose to write one. It doesn’t even need to be from Brannigan’s point of view (but it still could be).
Book Description:
Smoke Eaters by Sean GrigsbyNarrator: T. Ryder Smith
Published by Angry Robot on March 6th 2018
Genres: Adventure, Fantasy, Science Fiction
Also by this author: Daughters of Forgotten Light, Ash Kickers (Smoke Eaters #2)
- Bellosio by John F. Shekleton (Narrated by Ray Montecalvo) - December 2, 2025
- Wake Up, Nat & Darcy by Kate Cochrane (Narrated by Jeremy Carlisle Parker) - November 13, 2025
- Fix Audible’s Virtual Voice Fast: Add “-virtual” to Your Search (2025/2026 Working) - November 9, 2025
This is high on my wishlist when I get paid!! It sounds awesome.