For a while now I have been obsessed with the subgenre of Urban Fantasy. There is just something about taking classic fantasy elements and interweaving them into a modern world atmosphere that I find deliciously appealing. I guess it’s all those years of watching BUFFY and ANGEL. I devour every Dresden Book that Jim Butcher puts out, and recently I’ve decided to see what else was out there for me in my new favorite subgenre. And I’ve found a GEM.

Today we’re going to take a look at THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN TORC, by Simon R. Green which was first published in June 2007 and is first in the SECRET HISTORIES series. The main character of the story is Eddie Drood, a member of the Drood Family- the oldest and most powerful family in England who was long ago charged with the responsibility protecting humanity from the things that go bump in the night. The Droods operate like their own special forces, sending operatives into the world who are armed with a golden torc that allows the wearer to armor themselves with a  suit of living metal that makes him or her a superhuman ass kicking machine for the forces of good. Eddie is the black sheep of the family; an operative that broke away from living on the Drood estate and under the watchful eye of the family years ago. They don’t like him, but they let him get the job done his own way. When Eddie is suddenly labeled a renegade with a shoot to kill order on his head, he finds himself caught in a deadly game of cat and mouse involving the mysterious group, Manifest Destiny and the Drood Family. While trying to stay alive long enough to clear his name Eddie stumbles onto a terrible secret involving his golden torc and the family’s real agenda.

This book had me hooked from the first page. Eddie Drood is way different than Harry Dresden; he’s sort of a combination between King Arthur and James Bond and Green does a fantastic job of implementing both elements of fantasy and espionage thriller in this book. Along with the Torc Eddie has a whole armory of really cool weapons that are a marriage of magic and science, that Green has imagined up. The characters are not what they seem at all, as heroes become villains and black becomes white. I can’t wait to read more of the SECRET HISTORIES series.