This is a mash-up of science fiction and fantasy. It's a blazing debut, well worth your time. The Smoke Eaters fight dragons and dragon-fires with high-tech gadgets in a post-collapse 22nd century America. It's a bleak future vision. Firefighter captain Cole Brannigan is pressed to take up service with the Smoke Eaters after 30 years in the fire service because they discover that he can breathe dragon smoke without choking on it. He'd been planning his retirement with his wife, but now his future looks very different. Dragons emerge from below, destroying neighbourhoods and eating the population. They've destroyed the infrastructure, made travel by road too dangerous to contemplate, and turned the USA into a collection of autonomous, isolated city states. And then there are the wraiths, ghosts of the consumed who manifest electrically and attract dragons like I attract mosquitos in summer. Brannigan goes from being a seasoned firefighter to a Smoke Eater rookie as he has to learn the job all over again, but he brings with him thirty years of firefighting experience, a stubborn attitude and a deep hatred for the mayor who seems to be intent on sacking public servants and replacing them with droids and drones. Brannigan is a great character. Strong on attitude but weak of bladder. How nice to have a sixty year old hero who gets the job done out of sheer cussedness and commonsense. The author is a firefighter and it shows in the detail and the knowledge – and very probably the attitude. Loved it. NOTE: I had this as a pre-release review copy from Netgalley.

Dragons have returned, and they...aren't friendly. The US has virtually collapsed into separate states with no overall governing body, and Canada has closed it's border with us. People are dying, and the only help available - are the Smoke Eaters. Those few folks who can, for whatever reason, inhale dragon smoke and not die. Now, Cole Brannigan - on his last week of work before retirement after 30 years as a firefighter - is discovered to be a Smoke Eater. And whether he wants to or not, he will become one officially. What the Smoke Eaters don't know is that they will never be the same.

Such a fun, engaging story - with a few actual laugh-out-loud moments. Characters are drawn pretty well, and the idea of a special fire department in the future specifically to fight a nemesis from stories in the past? Unique and enjoyable, all the way through. I would definitely be happy to return to this world in the future, should the author choose to do so!

https://solothefirst.wordpress.com/2018/02/07/review-smoke-eaters-by-sean-grigsby/

This book absolutely lives up to its hype. Well written, clever, unique and just a damned fine read. It’s out in March of this year (2018). I got my hands on an advanced copy and all I can say is, buy this book!

Sean Grigsby has come up with a unique story idea that simply jumps off the page. Dragons and Firefighters? Sign me up. I wanted the book straight away and it didn’t disappoint. Sean’s experience as a firefighter shows in every beat of each fire scene. (I was wondering by the end if he also has experience with fighting dragons!) Set in the future, the technology is very cool but the threat that comes with it is way too scary! And then there are the dragons. Dragons have returned to the world and they are pissed!

The main character Cole Brannigan is not your typical hero… he’s nearing retirement age, an experienced firefighter and full of attitude to boot. To find out he is a Smoke Eater is not what he wants to hear. Getting drafted into the brotherhood is also not in the plan. I loved this character from his crotchety behavior to his experience and inability NOT to help when he can. I want to see more of this character. Sean has created an amazing world that is fully believable and as scary as hell. And I want more of it. Great book Sean.

Genre: Fantasy
Publisher: Angry Robot (03/06/2018)
Paperback: 336 pages
Audiobook: TBD, but narrated by T. Ryder Smith (Sander Cohen in Bioshock)

5/5 Stars
First things first: Thanks to Angry Robot and NetGalley for providing an e-ARC for review. Being provided this ARC in no way, shape, or form influenced my thoughts on this novel.
I also want to thank Peter McLean for his advanced praise of Smoke Eaters. His words definitely influenced this novel being at the top of my TBR when I received the ARC and held true throughout my reading experience.
Think Ghostbusters meets Reign of Fire…
Cole Brannigan has only one thing on his mind: retirement. Thirty years as a firefighter has taken its toll not only on his body, but his mind. Not to mention that, over the past decade, most of the fires he is tasked with extinguishing were started by dragons. Yeah, you heard that right: DRAGONS. Not the glorious winged beasts you see flying around in Game of Thrones; these are flightless lizards that come up from beneath the ground, laying waste to homes and entire neighborhoods.
On what Brannigan thought would be his last fire call, he becomes oddly aware that he can breathe dragon smoke without all of the disgusting, and sometimes fatal, side effects. Well, he can go ahead and kiss retirement goodbye because he is now being recruited as a Smoke Eater: a fighting force endowed with the same ability and equipped with some of the latest in high-tech weaponry.
Now on the bottom of the pecking order, he must quickly learn how to combat these beasts with his fellow company before his goose is cooked, literally.
Smoke Eaters is a crazy AF, edge of your seat thrill-ride that will have you begging for more. Dragons, wraiths, laser weapons, and fire… LOTS OF FIRE. What more could you ask for?
Grigsby does a fantastic job drawing the reader into the story with his introduction to Brannigan on his last fire call. Brannigan is officially one of my favorite characters of all time and, IMO, Smoke Eaters is prefect for those looking for a hangover read after Kings of the Wyld because of this fact. Think grizzled old vet, coming out of retirement to do something completely BA in a post-apocalyptic world. Just don’t expect world-building here as a majority of the story takes place in Ohio. Come for the dragons, stay for the character building. You won’t regret it.
Smoke Eaters releases on March 6th of this year and needs to be at the top of your TBR.

Sean Grigsby makes a scorching debut with Smoke Eaters, a fun sci-fi romp set a hundred years hence in the ashes of America's Midwest.

It's the early 2100s and dragons have returned, these massive creatures of myth churning their way up from the Earth's core to wreak firey havoc all across the world. The US is divided into a series of nation states, Canada has built a wall to keep Americans out, and robots are taking everyone's jobs. In Ohio, an elite team of dragon fighters, known as Smoke Eaters, are attempting to keep the peace despite an unsympathetic populace. After responding to a fire, firefighter Cole Brannigan is confronted by a dragon, discovers he's immune to smoke, and quickly gets drafted into the Smoke Eaters.

Grigsby, an Arkansas firefighter, does an excellent job depicting the chaos of firefighting, as well as the mundane, sometimes comical, calls of false alert. Although there's plenty of dragon-fighting action with power suited Smoke Eaters going mano-a-mano with various species of scalies, one of my favorite scenes involved Brannigan and his team responding to an emergency call from a distraught woman whose home has been invaded by a decidedly non-dragon creature.

While there's a few cliches (Brannigan was supposed to retire before getting roped into his new calling, a well tread plot device that had me waiting for Danny Glover to remind us all that he's too old for this shit) and some moments of silliness that didn't quite work for me, Grigsby makes the story as a whole work well. The various plot threads of political corruption, dragon invasions, and robotic workers all come together in an exciting and violent climax of pyrotechnics.

If you're looking for some fun, action-heavy, big-screen ready SFF, or if the premise of firefighters versus dragons appeals to you (and let's face it, it is a freaking awesome premise that should be appealing to everyone with a pulse), Smoke Eaters is an enjoyable way to go. This is a solid debut, and one that leaves me hoping I'll get to take another ride-along through Parthenon City with Brannigan and his company of dragon slayers.

[Note: I received an advanced copy of this title from the publisher via NetGalley.]

Many thanks to NetGalley and Angry Robot Books for a digital galley of this novel.

Captain Cole Brannigan, firefighter, almost 60 years old, retiring at the end of the week. Remember all of that because you are going to be seeing a lot about Brannigan if you pay attention to books and chatter about books. This is one humdinger of a fantasy novel. There is practically an adventure on every page. When I finished reading I was huffing and puffing from the non-stop action so much you would have thought I had been running in a race.

Okay, so the story starts like this: Brannigan goes into a burning house to rescue his crew members who should have already made an exit from the house because it's obvious now that there is a dragon in there. They don't come out so Brannigan goes in to get them. That's when he survives breathing the toxic dragon smoke, that's when he finds out he is a smoke eater. Oh, did you get that bit about dragons? Well, these are mean and nasty dragons who prefer humans as their tidbit of choice. Brannigan finishes up with his firefighter career only to begin all over again working in his new career as a smoke eater. They get all the cool toys!

Absolutely an adventure on every page. At some point I was wishing for a little less action so I'll tell you now not to hold your breath waiting for that. This debut story by Sean Grigsby features an adventure junkie in the form of Cole Brannigan and all kinds of futuristic goodies Grigsby's imagination invented and made realistic for Parthenon City, Ohio, in 2121. There are fire-breathing dragons and wraiths and corrupt politicians and a robot dog that is programed to speak Korean and that's just some of the things this novel is packed with. There is also more profanity than I'm used to seeing in fantasy novels but, hey, this is dangerous work so I just ignored it. This is going to be BIG down the road so get your copy of the book and read it now. Then you can be all smug when your friends try to tell you about it because you read it before they did. Soon to a toy store and motion picture theatre near you. Oh, and surely there will be book two, right?