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Double Trouble

Urban Rivals, Book 1

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Double Trouble

By: Nazri Noor
Narrated by: Zachary Zaba
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It takes two to tango.

Jericho “Echo” Frost can copy any spell he sees. His arcane duplication makes him popular with those who can afford his mimicking magic (and tolerate his motor mouth).

Theodore Morrow is a top Occultech field agent, tasked to collect enchanted objects for the mysterious corporation’s stock. His magical scrolls make him the perfect partner, doubling Echo’s firepower.

There’s just one problem: they absolutely cannot stand each other.

When enchanted objects go dangerously haywire in the city, the director of Occultech forces them on a mission. The two must decide whether to fly solo or stand together to survive.

Provided they survive each other, that is.

Double Trouble is a slow-burn enemies-to-lovers urban fantasy M/M romance featuring mouthy magical men, sassy banter, and a HFN ending.

©2026 Nazri Noor (P)2026 Nazri Noor Fantasy Romance Magic
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Double Trouble is book one in a new urban fantasy series from Nazri Noor, and if you’re familiar with his other work in the genre, you’ll know more or less what to expect here. We’ve got an odd couple, a quirky secondary cast, and an interesting, magical plot with some nicely done action set-pieces – but don’t go into it looking for romance or sexytimes, because there aren’t any. The potential for both those things is there, but there’s not so much as a kiss here – which is fine; in some of his other m/m series, the romance has felt a bit rushed, so maybe there’s going to be a slower burn in the Urban Rivals series.

Jericho (Echo) Frost, who describes himself as a “misfit mage”, undertakes magical missions for the arcane corporations (we’re back in the world of the Arcane Underground), mostly for Occultech. He has a very unusual type of magic which allows him to copy the magic and spells cast by those around him rather than creating his own – which gets him into big trouble later on in the story. Theodore Morrow is one of Occultech’s top field agents, and the two become very reluctant partners at the insistance of Morrow’s boss, who believes their different work styles complement each other (Jericho is scrappy, Morrow is by the book), and they’re tasked with investigating a spate of recent thefts of magical artefacts and magical distortions.

The story moves at a fast pace, and we’re into the action pretty much straight away. As always with this author, there’s some good banter and plenty of humour (I had to giggle at the two SeraphiCorps operatives named Angelica and Houston!) and the beginnings of a solid ensemble cast (the standout being Jericho’s bestie, Xavier (Xavi)/Xtra Xtra) as the plot unfolds to reveal a dastardly plot by a wannabe goddess. The story is told entirely from Jericho’s perspective, and I liked his snarky inner voice, but there’s perhaps a tad too much mental lusting over Morrow, especially as I didn’t feel there was all that much chemistry between them, although there are hints that Morrow maybe like likes Jericho (very subtle, but there). But I can’t say that it gripped me (I wasn’t jonesing to get back to it after I had to stop listening to go to do something else) – and I’m not sure if that’s because I wasn’t wowed by the narration or if it was down to the story itself.

Zachary Zaba is a popular and well-established narrator, but this is the first time I’ve listened to him in a whole book because samples I’ve listened to in the past haven’t enticed me to listen to more. But I was offered a copy of the audiobook to review and as I’ve enjoyed other books by this author, I thought I’d give him a try. I’m on the fence. He reads the narrative portions of the story expressively and with animation, and he differentiates reasonably well between the characters (although there were a few places I think he either got the two lead voices mixed up or I just couldn’t tell the difference between them) but there’s something about his voice that just doesn’t work for me. It’s smooth and pleasant, but sounds almost as though he’s trying to whisper-speak; it’s hard to describe, but it sounds a bit affected, and while it’s not a bad performance by any means, I’m not sure I’d rush to listen to him again. Eh.

In the end, Double Trouble is a solid series opener that I’m sure will appeal to fans of the author’s and fans of light-hearted urban fantasy in general. Liking or not liking a narrator is very much down to personal preference, so while I can’t wholeheartedly recommend the audio version, I’m sure there are plenty of people out there who will enjoy the performance more than I did.

A solid start to a new series - 3.5 stars overall.

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