Another Mercy Thompson book is coming! And can I just say, MAJOR props to Patty Briggs for coming out with new books on such a regular basis and havinAnother Mercy Thompson book is coming! And can I just say, MAJOR props to Patty Briggs for coming out with new books on such a regular basis and having them all be great reads. She and Brandon Sanderson are superstars....more
3.5 stars. I was chatting with one of my Goodreads friends the other day about Charlaine Harris's older books, which led me to Sookie Stackhouse #1 he3.5 stars. I was chatting with one of my Goodreads friends the other day about Charlaine Harris's older books, which led me to Sookie Stackhouse #1 here. When I realized the Kindle version of this book was only $2.99, I couldn't resist. This urban fantasy series features Sookie, a rural southern gal who waits tables in a bar for a living and considers her telepathy talent a "disability." In fairness, hearing people's thoughts does makes life tougher for her, and forget about romantic relationships.
Sookie is thrilled to meet a real vampire in the bar one night (they're recently come out to the public), and even more excited when she starts talking to Bill (Bill the Vampire? Okayyy...) and realizes that she can't read his mind. But she can see when he's about to run into some possibly deadly trouble, and takes it upon herself to save Bill ... which gets her into trouble herself, so Bill has to save her in turn, and so it starts. In the meantime, someone is killing women who sleep with vampires, and unfortunately Sookie's telepathy isn't doing her any good here. Also all of a sudden Sookie's boss Sam is acting interested in her ("Why now after all this time?" she insightfully asks him). There's something different about Sam too, and it's not just the bedroom eyes he's giving her.
It's kind of similar to Twilight (this book does predate that one by about three years), but with a lot more steam and a much less silly heroine. There are some pretty good scenes in it: "Bubba" the vampire was amusing, and Eric the Viking vampire was appropriately alarming. Sookie was a real character to me, but Bill felt rather flat.
Basically this is kind of an urban fantasy beach book, a supernatural southern murder mystery with a large side of romance. I prefer Kate Daniels and Mercy Thompson, but if this kind of thing is your literary jam, you could do a lot worse. I think I'll pass on the rest of the series, though....more
This review is part of the Blood Heir blog tour (#BloodHeirKD). Review first posted on FantasyLiterature.com:
Julie is returning home to Atlanta after This review is part of the Blood Heir blog tour (#BloodHeirKD). Review first posted on FantasyLiterature.com:
Julie is returning home to Atlanta after a long eight-year absence. Kate Daniels’ adopted daughter is now twenty-six, and she’s been busy the past eight years: fighting with the Canaanite god Moloch, the Child Eater, stealing one of his eyes for herself after he ripped out one of hers, being remade inside and out by the magical eye, learning about ancient powers and civilizations from her adoptive relatives … and still pining for Derek, the shapeshifter wolf she’s had a crush on since she was thirteen. But now she’s moved on. For sure. Definitely.
But it’s not the hope of seeing Derek again that brings Julie (now going by Aurelia Ryder) back to Atlanta, or even of seeing Kate. In fact, Julie most definitely does NOT want to see Kate. The oracle Sienna has seen a vision of the future, and Moloch is going to kill Kate if they meet, or even if Kate sees Julie, and all of Atlanta will then fall to Moloch. Julie is the wild card, the only chance of changing that horrendous future. And it’s probably a very good thing that Julie’s name, face, voice and even her scent have completely changed.
The immediate crisis is precipitated by the killing of a holy man in Atlanta, Nathan Haywood. Moloch’s priests are now in the city, searching for something unknown but powerful that is connected to the pastor’s murder. Sienna tells Julie that she needs to find this item before Moloch does, or all is lost. So Julie uses her connections to take over the official investigation into Pastor Haywood’s murder, but she’s competing not just with Moloch but with certain shapeshifters to solve the murder and find this mystery item.
For any Ilona Andrews fan, it’s definitely a treat to return to the KATE DANIELS world! Kate has moved off center stage for a well-deserved retirement (or at least a long break) after a ten-book run. But her world and its beloved characters continue to live on in two (so far) spin-off series, Hugh d’Ambrey’s IRON COVENANT series (beginning with Iron and Magic) and now Julie’s new AURELIA RYDER series, beginning here with Blood Heir.
Julie has grown up and become a tougher person with impressive skills and the will to wield them. She still has the power to discern different types of magic, but can now also wield many of the magical powers of Kate and her adoptive family, like blood armor, courtesy of Moloch’s eye and Kate’s blood in Julie’s system. Some other familiar characters, it turns out, have also been doing some significant changing. Not to mention the whole Atlanta pack and their internal politics, which are in turmoil. Jim, the Beast Lord, wants to retire, but there’s no clear heir apparent. Conlan, Kate and Curran’s son, has tremendous powers for his age, but he’s only ten. Ascanio, the beta of Clan Bouda (the hyenas), is gunning for the spot, but not everyone in the Pack supports him.
Blood Heir glosses over some complicated back history about Julie’s interactions with Kate’s father Roland, her aunt Erra, and Erra’s new kingdom that she’s been busy building on the west coast of America, where Julie is her heir and a princess. I would love to get a few more of those stories in more detail at some point. The story of Julie and Moloch’s eye, though, has been told in “The King of Fire,” which is attached at the end of Blood Heir and also appears on the Andrews’ website.
As always in Ilona Andrews’ novels, there’s a magical mystery with an exotic element, a slow-burning romantic subplot, great character interactions and humorous dialogue:
“The Witch Oracle had a vision.”
“Oh goodie. They always have visions. It’s always vague and it’s always bad. Just once I’d like a prophecy proclaiming that, without a doubt, everything is going to be fine.”
Blood Heir has many familiar characters from the KATE DANIELS series, a few new ones, and one or two real surprises. A few intriguing open-ended mysteries are raised — How did a certain werewolf get an entirely new appearance? How does Christopher’s and Barabas’s daughter Sophia exist? And what’s up with the alpha wolf Desandra and her son Desimir? — that, hopefully, will be answered (soon, please!) in a later book.
Dedicated Ilona Andrews fans will have seen some chapters of Blood Heir on their website before (most are gone now), but the final book includes the previously unseen last half of the story, as well as several new scenes and a lot of additional details that add depth and color to the story. It’s an entertaining read and a solid start to a new spin-off series.
This review is part of the Blood Heir blog tour (#BloodHeirKD). Here are links to the previous reviews if you’ve missed them:
The next Blood Heir review will be posted on Novel Notions. Thanks to Mihir at Fantasy Book Critic for organizing the tour! And thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC!...more
3.5ish stars. Kitty Norville is a werewolf radio disk jockey who is, in my mind at least, kind of like Mercy Thompson's and Kate Daniels' less well-kn3.5ish stars. Kitty Norville is a werewolf radio disk jockey who is, in my mind at least, kind of like Mercy Thompson's and Kate Daniels' less well-known little sister, which is a little unfair to Kitty since her first book predates both of the others'. But they all inhabit comparable urban fantasy worlds with werewolves, vampires and other magical goings-on. Kitty's world just never grabbed me quite as much as the others.
Kitty's Mix Tape is a collection of short stories set in this world, Carrie Vaughn's way of wrapping up the 16- book Kitty Norville series. Some of the stories are odd and ends (the two blue moon short shorts were kind of head-scratchers) or slice-of-life types of stories. Several of them star secondary characters from the series, like Rick the vampire master. There are some definite 4-star level stories in the mix here: I especially enjoyed "The Beaux Wilde," a Regency-era tale about a lonely young woman who's an empath and three "Wilde" brothers who unexpectedly move into the neighborhood, and "Defining Shadows," about Detective Jessi Hardin's efforts to solve a gruesome magical crime.
Full review to come. Thanks to Tachyon and NetGalley for the ARC!...more
A woman goes hiking with her dog in th4.5 stars. On sale this week! Final review, first posted on FantasyLiterature.com:
The Call of the Wild (Singer):
A woman goes hiking with her dog in the northern California mountains, searching for the hidden settlement her father calls home. After a long search she finds the encampment — really a small town — but her father is gone, along with every other person who lived in Wild Sign. Some time later, two FBI agents pay a surprise visit to Anna and Charles Cornick in Aspen Creek, Montana. The agents lay their cards on the table: The FBI is looking for an alliance with the werewolves, and because of past interactions they’ve concluded that Anna is likely the Marrok, the werewolf who rules them all (which leads to an amusing scene with Bran Cornick, who is).
The agents suggest that the werewolves might be interested in helping to investigate the disappearance of the town of Wild Sign, especially since part of the town was located on land now owned by the Marrok’s pack, and originally owned by Leah Cornick, Bran’s mate. What the FBI agents don’t know, but Bran does, is that Leah has been singing disturbing music ever since April, the time of the last communication from someone living in Wild Sign.
Some type of great power is in the area of Wild Sign, and has been for at least two hundred years, Bran explains to Charles, bringing death and misery to the humans it meets. And now it’s waking up again.
So Anna and Charles, along with a third werewolf named Tag, who has some barely-controlled berserker tendencies but also a useful resistance to magic, take a road trip to the northern California wilderness to investigate the mass disappearance of the inhabitants of Wild Sign, and find out what it has to do with the long-ago, dark history of their alpha’s mate, Leah, and the mysterious werewolf Sherwood Post, who’s been haunting the pages of the last several books in this series.
Wild Sign is the sixth novel in Patricia Briggs’ ALPHA AND OMEGA fantasy series, or the seventh if you count the 2007 introductory novella, Alpha & Omega (which you should) … or the eighteenth if you include the closely-intertwined MERCY THOMPSON series (which you also should). It’s a pleasure to see the way Charles and Anna have grown and changed, individually and as a couple, over the course of this series. Anna has grown far more confident, and she plays a vital role in increasing not just the peacefulness, but the happiness, of Bran’s entire wolf pack. Even when events occur in California that almost literally take her back to her time with the abusive werewolf pack in Chicago, where we first met Anna in "Alpha and Omega," the set-back is temporary. Charles has always been Anna’s protector, but he’s able to watch Anna take the initiative and take pride in her strength.
Tag is an interesting character in his own right, though I didn’t feel that we really got to know him all that well in Wild Sign. The real illumination for readers is in Leah’s newly-disclosed backstory and the insights given into her thoughts and personality. Leah, who’s always been defined by her selfishness and harsh coldness, is clearly in the process of getting a redemption arc here which, well, Briggs has bitten off a lot there. But it’s working for me. Leah’s story is both painful and humanizing for her character.
There’s also a cameo appearance or two by a new magical race in California that (I’m slightly embarrassed to admit) made me squee out loud. They’re a delightful addition to this series, and I hope we meet them again. Less pleasant, but equally compelling, are the black witches, including more of the Hardesty clan that has caused so much trouble for the werewolves in the last few books. They are truly, irredeemably evil … even to their own.
Wild Sign is a fascinating story, hard to put down. But, fair warning, the darkness and horror vibes are especially strong with this novel. The horror includes trigger-warning types of events, like (minor spoilers here) (view spoiler)[scenes with a mind-controlling rapist and with another old enemy of Charles whose backstory includes horrible crimes against children, incest is implied at another point, and something happens offscreen that I can best describe as tentacle sex (hide spoiler)]. Briggs grapples with serious issues in this series and this book in particular, and she never lets favorite characters off the hook. Still, there’s an underlying optimism and hopefulness that ultimately carries the day in Briggs’ books.
Some highly interesting events happen at the end of Wild Sign, especially with the epilogue, that open up all sorts of intriguing options for later books. I’m glad Briggs comes out with these MERCY THOMPSON and ALPHA AND OMEGA books about once a year! They make up one — or maybe two, depending on how you slice it — of my very favorite urban fantasy series.
Initial post: I've been approved for a NetGalley ARC, cheers!! I always get so unreasonably excited when I get a new Patricia Briggs book. Or maybe it's reasonably excited. :)...more
A village girl, Suss, has the unusual power of shapeshifting into a wolf. Suss loves her time as a wolf, in large part because her severe chronic pain completely disappears in that form and she’s free to run and explore and feel truly alive. But she feels guilty because of her dead mother’s scolding, and she doesn’t want to lose her connections to her best friend and neighbors. More, there’s the problem of valuable livestock in her village being killed by a canine predator, and Suss worries that she’s losing touch because she has no memory of doing this in her wolf form.
As with much current speculative fiction, diversity is a prominent feature in this story, but it’s an unusual one — Suss’s unexplained chronic pain — and it’s well-integrated and even integral to the plot. Sarah Gailey’s writing is engaging: the reader understands Suss’s physical pain and stress, and it feels like these villagers are real people.
Nan is the oldest person either of us have ever known. She tells people that she’s three hundred years old, and I believe her, if only because I don’t know for sure that spite can’t pickle a person into immortality. She’s tall and hale with broad shoulders and all of her original teeth, a fact she’ll tell anyone who will listen.
The central conflict in Away with the Wolves felt like it was resolved a bit too quickly and neatly, but I still enjoyed this warmhearted story and the way it stresses the importance of friendship and interpersonal connections — whether you’re a human or a wolf. Or both....more
ETA: My college-age daughter read this a couple of days ago, and I quote: “It’s not worth the time.” She has good taste in books, so I’m going to go wETA: My college-age daughter read this a couple of days ago, and I quote: “It’s not worth the time.” She has good taste in books, so I’m going to go with that.
Initial post: Me two days ago: I wonder if Stephenie Meyer is working on writing anything new? It’d be interesting to see a Host sequel ... I’d even read a Renesmee novel.
Stephenie Meyer: You thought Midnight Sun had been permanently shelved? Hah, suckers!...more
Subterranean Press is reissuing Connie Willis’s moody and bleak 1991 novella Jack, which w4.5 stars! Final review, first posted on Fantasy Literature:
Subterranean Press is reissuing Connie Willis’s moody and bleak 1991 novella Jack, which was a finalist for the Nebula and Hugo awards and has appeared in several anthologies over the years. It’s set during the London Blitz in WWII, one of Willis’ favorite settings for her works, including the time-travel novels Blackout and All Clear and the Nebula and Hugo award-winning novelette "Fire Watch". Once again, there’s something peculiar going on during the Blitz … but this time it’s not just time travelers visiting from the future.
Jack Harker is part of a squad of air raid wardens, charged with helping to put out the fires caused by German incendiary bombs and digging survivors out of the rubble left by explosive bombs. Their group is joined by a new part-timer, Jack Settle, who proves to be unusually good at finding live people who are trapped under the rubble. But Jack Harker can’t help but think there’s something suspicious about the new Jack. He never shares the group’s food, even when it’s a special treat; he works during the night and disappears at dawn.
Jack has a sense of mystery about it, although Willis doesn’t try especially hard to hide the answer. On rereading Jack for the first time in many years, I noticed all of the hints that Willis strews around like so many breadcrumbs. References to churches, the “walking dead” (exhaustion caused by lack of sleep, poor nutrition and anxiety), allusions to places and even characters’ names (seriously, take a hard look at the names!): all combine to create an increasing sense of anxiety and dread, compounded by the Nazis’ constant bombing.
But in the final analysis it’s not the particular mystery of “who or what is Jack Settle?” that Willis focuses on, but how the events in this novella affect Jack Harker and those around him. The name “Jack” isn’t all he shares with the man of whom he is so distrustful. And there are many ways for people to be monstrous, as well as human. The ending is gut-wrenching. It’s a finely crafted novella.
I received a free copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley. Thanks!...more
Apparently the market for breathless YA romances with sexy vampires isn't fully saturated yet, becausFinal review, first posted on Fantasy Literature:
Apparently the market for breathless YA romances with sexy vampires isn't fully saturated yet, because Crave, a new paranormal romance thriller by Tracy Wolff that cheerfully admits to being inspired by Twilight — check out the blatant knock-off cover — offers readers a slightly updated take on the genre.
When her parents are killed in an automobile accident, high-school-aged Grace reluctantly leaves San Diego and travels to the remote, icy interior of Alaska, where her uncle Finn is headmaster of an exclusive boarding school, Katmere Academy. Grace’s cousin Macy, who picks her up in Healy for a ninety-minute snowmobile ride to the luxurious, castle-like prep school, is anxious to help Grace fit in. The problem is, almost all of the other students at Katmere seem to be hostile to Grace — especially Jaxon Vega, the hot, dangerous-looking guy who is the first person Grace meets upon her arrival. Grace is (at least at first) determined not to let herself fall for Jaxon, although there’s something in his eyes that makes her think he’s as lost as she is. Their relationship runs hot and cold, but there's something or someone at Katmere Academy that seems to want Grace dead, and she may need all the friends she can find.
Crave promises to deliver an updated version of Twilight, but other than a stronger erotic element and the addition of plenty of F-bombs, it doesn’t really deliver on that pledge. Heroine-wise, Grace is a slight improvement over Bella, but not markedly so. She makes far too many impulsive, rash decisions. Crave’s Alaska setting isn’t drawn in any detail, other than that it's freezing cold there. Though it's set in an inaccessible prep boarding school, shades of Hogwarts, I don't recall any particular mention of any classes or teachers. The focus is on the social scene at Katmere, the romantic tension between Grace and Jaxon, and the mystery about who wants to kill Grace, and why.
Grace and the book take an inordinate amount of time to get clear about the paranormal nature of Katmere’s students, although the book's cover and blurb spill the secret up front. There's some interest for readers in finding out what type of powers each of the different cliques at Katmere have (hint: it’s not just vampires and werewolves). The romance stays in PG-13 territory, though the erotic bloodsucking scene was somewhat of an eyebrow-raiser. Crave’s mystery element adds some intrigue to the romance-driven plot, but readers should know that the book ends on a major cliff-hanger. Add to the above issues a first-person, present-tense narration, something that's difficult to pull off well even in much better novels.
Twilight was a guilty pleasure at the time I read it, sending me scrambling for the next book in the series. Crave wasn't nearly as much fun for me. Crave is a book I'd recommend only to readers who are still enthusiastic about paranormal romances and Twilight-type plots, and who are on board with adult language and steamier romance.
Initial post: Receives ARC of book. (Nice publicity package BTW!) Scratches head. “Is another Twilight knock-off really what we need?” Reads book: = Twilight with more smoldering gazes and making out, more F-bombs, colder weather, a slight upgrade to Bella (not as much as I hoped), and erotic bloodsucking. And bonus! told in first person present tense. Another bonus! Cliffhanger ending....more
3.5 stars. It's a shorter, quicker and less meaty read than the prior novels in this series, but still good fun. Review first posted on Fantasy Litera3.5 stars. It's a shorter, quicker and less meaty read than the prior novels in this series, but still good fun. Review first posted on Fantasy Literature:
Sweep with Me, the fifth book in Ilona Andrews’s INNKEEPER CHRONICLES series, finds Dina DeMille fretting with her boyfriend Sean about an upcoming official review of Dina and the Gertrude Hunt, her magical inn for interstellar travelers. The innkeepers’ Assembly is concerned about some of the goings-on at the Gertrude Hunt and whether Dina and Sean have been keeping their rules, like, say, not letting anyone on Earth know that their inn isn’t an ordinary one. Or maybe the "no crazy stuff that will draw the attention of otherwise unsuspecting natives" rule. Or possibly the "no nukes" rule. (Actually, that one wasn't their fault.)
In the meantime, though, it’s the annual Treaty Stay holiday for earth’s galactic inns, and the tradition is that no innkeeper may turn away a guest during Treaty Stay. So, naturally, Dina and her inn are asked to host a set of particularly troublesome guests: the Drífan liege lord of Green Mountain, originally an Earth woman who’s now the powerful leader of a mysterious and highly magical people, and who is being harassed by her unscrupulous multi-millionaire uncle; two feuding groups of koo-ko, who consider themselves philosophers and look like oversized chickens with hands under their wings; and a Medamoth, a wily hunter and natural predator who ostensibly just wants to visit the Alamo, but makes Dina nervous about whether the plump and presumably delicious koo-ko are safe from him.
This volatile combination of guests causes all sorts of trouble, but it’s fun to watch Dina and Sean (a particularly powerful werewolf) and the magical semi-sentient Gertrude Hunt inn rise to the occasion. The most interesting of the subplots involves the Drífan, a magically-talented ruler who is not entirely happy with her life: she’s hemmed about by well-meaning but strict advisors, she’s homesick for a lot of things about her Earth life (including fast-food burgers and fries, which is making chef Orro's brain explode) and she’s concerned about her upcoming meeting with her ambitious uncle, a man who’s made a living out of ruthless corporate takeovers. And Uncle Rudolph’s actions, like sending mercenaries to attack the inn where his niece is staying, certainly show that the Drífan has good cause for concern.
On the other hand, it seems clear that the koo-ko — or as Sean calls them, the “space chickens” — are there for comic relief, but I never really connected with these chicken-based philosophers who spend far more time squabbling than philosophizing. Apparently my brain is fine with space werewolves and vampires but balks at accepting space chickens.
Sweep with Me is a novella-length book, quite a bit shorter than the prior books in this series: it clocks in at about 140 pages. All of these INNKEEPER CHRONICLES books are light sci-fi/fantasy mixes, but the first three books still had a sense of emotional depth and intricacy that I didn’t get with Sweep with Me (or, for that matter, with the prior book, Sweep of the Blade). There are several ongoing story arcs in this series, like Dina’s search for her missing parents, but none of those progressed in Sweep with Me. It’s still an engaging and fun read, though, and I’d certainly recommend it to fans of Ilona Andrews.
Initial post: WHAT?! An Innkeeper novella by Ilona Andrews that I haven't read? How did I miss this? I'm on it tonight....more
99c Kindle sale, June 15, 2020. 3.5ish stars. Final review, first posted on Fantasy Literature:
With Sweep of the Blade, the fourth installment in Ilon99c Kindle sale, June 15, 2020. 3.5ish stars. Final review, first posted on Fantasy Literature:
With Sweep of the Blade, the fourth installment in Ilona Andrews’ INNKEEPER CHRONICLES series, there is a new main character: Maud, sister of Dina, the previous main character and the innkeeper of this light SF series. We met Maud in the prior book in this series, One Fell Sweep, when Dina convinced Sean the werewolf and Arland the vampire — these are both alien races, by the way, though distantly related to humans — to help her rescue Maud and her five-year-old half-vampire daughter Helen from the desert prison planet Karhari. In the first few chapters of Sweep of the Blade, Andrews retells these scenes from Maud’s point of view.
Arland has fallen head over heels for Maud — her sword-fighting skills are as good as any vampire’s, which is a major turn-on for Arland — and after just a few weeks at Dina’s inn he asks her to go to his planet Daesyn, marry him, and live with him there and help him lead his vampire clan, House Krahr. Maud is a widow who was previously married to another vampire, however, and she’s completely soured on vampire society and afraid of what the likely rejection from Arland’s family will do to Helen. But Arland is tremendously attractive (think “Thor with fangs”), deeply in love with Maud, and a good guy in spite of being, you know, a vampire, so Maud agrees to go to Daesyn with Arland and see how things go with him and his extended family, without making any formal commitment yet.
When they reach Daesyn, House Krahr is in turmoil: they’ve been asked to host a large wedding featuring a couple from two other hostile vampire clans. House Krahr’s leaders suspect a trap, but vampire clans are big on honor, and there’s no graceful way to refuse the request. Luckily Maud is not only a kickass warrior, able to hold her own with almost any vampire, but also a highly intelligent, well-informed woman with a vast knowledge of galactic society generally and vampire society in particular. She soon gets ample opportunity to prove her value (and Helen’s) to House Krahr.
Sweep of the Blade, originally published on the Andrews’ website in serial form, is a fast-paced adventure spiced with a little romance. Helen is delightful, it’s fun to be in Maud’s head as she figures everything out and shows those vampires her own chops, and Arland is satisfyingly tough and adoring of Maud. There are several great scenes; one of my favorites was a banquet where Maud realizes that the vampires are unintentionally insulting the tachi, a giant insect-like alien race, by feeding them the wrong type of food with no artistic presentation whatsoever (the horror!), and immediately sets about making things right.
Maud plucked the blue kora fruit from the bowl, peeled the thin skin and carefully cut the fruit into even round slices. She managed eight slices, seven perfectly even and one slightly thicker. She placed the seven slices around the cubes. The eighth was a hair too thick. She pondered it.
The tachi pondered it with her.
Better safe than sorry. She reached for another kora.
The tachi to her left emitted an audible sigh of relief and then crunched his mouth shut, embarrassed.
There are some weak parts to Sweep of the Blade. This novel’s genesis as a weekly serial is apparent. While the Andrews team has added more detail and backstory to the final published version of Sweep of the Blade, it still feels episodic, with the scenes pieced together in a way that the seams still show, and the plot doesn’t quite have the depth of the best books in this series. Maud herself is so improbably accomplished and wonderful at Every. Single. Thing (except relationship commitment, which is understandable). She speaks numberless languages, including “more Ancestor Vampiric dialects than most vampire scholars.” She’s a devoted parent, an excellent diplomat, peerless fighter, highly intelligent, and even diligent about keeping her vampire armor in top shape. It all makes her a little hard to believe in and fully sympathize with.
The vampires in the INNKEEPER CHRONICLES series aren’t at all bloodsuckers in the traditional sense. They’re more like Vikings or Samurai warriors who very occasionally take a bite out of their enemies. No sensitivity to sunlight or aversions to garlic or crosses here. At least the werewolves in this series actually shapeshift into wolves.
Sweep of the Blade is fun reading if you like the Andrews’ brand of urban fantasy-flavored science fiction. It’s a light space opera romance that goes down easy, with lots of gory fighting to spice it up, but doesn’t really stick with you....more
4.5 stars! 2021 reread, just for fun, since I just picked this up on a Kindle deal. Review first posted on Fantasy Literature:
Kate Daniels, after nine4.5 stars! 2021 reread, just for fun, since I just picked this up on a Kindle deal. Review first posted on Fantasy Literature:
Kate Daniels, after nine novels’ worth of fighting magical villains, romancing Curran the Beast Lord, developing her own über-magical powers and preternatural sword-fighting abilities, and magically claiming all of Atlanta as her territory (and that’s only a start), gets an ending to her story in Magic Triumphs, the tenth and final book in Ilona Andrews’ popular KATE DANIELS series. Well, kind of.
Kate is married to Curran now, who’s passed his title as Beast Lord on to Jim. After a very brief prologue in which Kate gives birth, the story jumps forward in time thirteen months, when their son Conlan is a precocious one year old whose antics keep his parents hopping. He still hasn’t started shapeshifting, which is causing Atlanta’s Pack to fret, but Kate is nevertheless something of a helicopter parent, anxious to protect Conlan from any threat … of which there are plenty, so her concerns aren’t without a basis.
The threat level gets amped up when Kate’s power-hungry father Roland ― after a fairly lengthy period of non-aggression ― starts to manufacture confrontations in Atlanta again, aiming at disrupting Kate’s claim to Atlanta and gaining power over her children, Conlan and her adopted daughter Julie. Meanwhile, something or someone is mysteriously murdering entire communities of people in the Atlanta area in a particularly gruesome way, for some unknown but doubtless malicious purpose. An ominous, evil-smelling box is left on Kate’s doorstep, causing thirteen-month-old Conlan to suddenly erupt into a new shape (or two), making Kate even more nervous, Curran joyful, and life exponentially more difficult.
Magic Triumphs is actually one of my favorite books in the KATE DANIELS series, and a great wrap-up to the series. It has a fun, exciting and delightfully complex plot, this time with an ancient Irish mythology spin to it. Lots of old friends from earlier books in the series play a role in the story, and much of the impact of those appearances will be lost on the reader who hasn’t read all of the prior KATE DANIELS books. What one might not expect is that it’s also fairly important to plot understanding and continuity to have also read Iron and Magic, the recently published spin-off novel featuring Hugh D’Ambrey, Kate’s old enemy.
Conlan is an amusing and adorable addition to the cast of characters, and Kate manages fairly well in combining her ass-kicking magical investigator and problem-solver ways with capable parenting, though her spin on it ends up being, well, different than most parents’.
"Look, Daddy killed him dead. All dead.”
Conlan giggled.
Dali was staring at me with a look of pure horror.
“I don’t want him to have nightmares that the bad man is going to get him,” I told her. “This way he knows that his daddy killed him … We are a family of monsters and he’s our child. People will always try to kill him and we will always protect him. He better get used to it.”
Along with the family bonding, there are a few heartbreaking moments in Magic Triumphs, so the Andrews don’t pull all of their punches here. After fudging a little with the ongoing, high-stakes conflict with Roland in Magic Binds, there is an ingenious resolution to the Roland Problem in this novel, which satisfies the need for a wrap-up but still leaves room for possible adventures to come. As Iron and Magic evidences (not to mention the epilogue in Magic Triumphs), Ilona Andrews isn’t yet finished with Kate’s world. Kate is probably happy to take a back seat at this point and let some other characters do most of the driving and monster-slaying. Though I’ll certainly miss Kate’s point of view, I’ll always be deeply interested in whatever adventures in this world may come from the fertile imaginations of the Andrews team....more
4.5 stars for this Mercy Thompson fantasy, brimming with black magic. Review first posted on Fantasy Literature:
Storm Cursed, the eleventh book in Pat4.5 stars for this Mercy Thompson fantasy, brimming with black magic. Review first posted on Fantasy Literature:
Storm Cursed, the eleventh book in Patricia Briggs’ MERCY THOMPSON urban fantasy series, kicks the series up a notch with some clashes with black magic witches, and no one is safe. Mercy, a coyote skinwalker and the shapechanger daughter of the god Coyote, is back in the Tri-Cities area of Washington state after her hair-raising adventures in Europe in Silence Fallen.
Storm Cursed begins with a seemingly tangential event: Mercy has tagged two of her husband Adam’s werewolf pack, firefighter Mary Jo and computer nerd Ben, to go on a goblin hunt with her, tracking down a goblin suspected of killing a policeman. She calls Larry, the goblin king who we met in Silence Fallen, to help. What this event discloses about Mercy’s evolving relationship with Mary Jo, and about a secret power held by goblins that is apparently unique among the fae, may have important repercussions in the future.
Indirectly this goblin hunt leads to a police request to help with a bunch of pygmy goats that someone has turned into zombies using witchcraft (interestingly, the pygmy goats are still adorable even though they’re dead and zombie-fied). When Mercy calls the witch family of Elizaveta Arkadyevna to help with the zombie goat problem, a strange woman with a soft Southern voice answers the phone and tells Mercy that Elizaveta’s family is “all tied up right now.” Not ominous at all! And then the family that owned the pygmy goats tell Mercy about a woman with a Southern accent who tried to buy the goats … and to get their young son to come to her car.
As Mercy and Adam investigate what has happened at Elizaveta’s house, and where the zombies are coming from, they find threats from both without and within their territory. Meanwhile, the Gray Lords of the fae are reengaging with humans, offering to meet with the U.S. government to negotiate a peace treaty, but the witch problem is threatening this process as well.
Black magic makes for a compelling but harrowing plot in Storm Cursed. Black magic witches are the most powerful of all witches in this world; far more powerful than white or gray witches. Their willingness to torture and kill both animals and people gives them a far greater boost to their magical powers than white and gray witches can access. That willingness to commit appallingly evil acts for the sake of power is front and center in Storm Cursed, and Briggs doesn’t pull her punches. (Sensitive readers are advised to tread carefully.)
Offsetting this darkness is the moral bedrock and decency of the key characters. It’s not just in Mercy and Adam, but also in Zee, a powerful fae who is Mercy’s longtime friend, Zee’s son Tad, and several others. We finally learn more about the mysterious past of Sherwood Post, a werewolf with a missing leg (supposedly an impossibility, since werewolves regenerate). Wulfe, an extremely powerful but unbalanced vampire, gets a chance to shine in Storm Cursed, and there are new revelations about his character as well.
Briggs pulls in plot threads and character arcs from prior books and takes them in unexpected but logical directions with each new novel in the MERCY THOMPSON and the related ALPHA AND OMEGA series, which are so closely interwoven that it’s definitely best to read all of the books in both series in order. In Storm Cursed, Briggs once again surprised me with her willingness to shake things up. No character is safe (well, perhaps other than Mercy and Adam), no matter how long they’ve been a part of the series.
Storm Cursed was fascinating reading, even though it had several disturbing scenes. It kept me glued to my chair. Sixteen books into the world of Mercy Thompson (counting both series), Briggs is still writing excellent urban fantasy and finding ways to keep it fresh.
Initial comments: SO GOOD I THINK IM GOING TO READ IT AGAIN! Black magic witches make for a great plot.
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Mix in some wonderful secondary characters like Sherwood Post and Zee and a little Wulfe.
Also: adorable zombie pygmy goats! I can’t even.
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I really enjoyed this book, even though it has some harrowing moments. It made me want to go back and reread the whole Mercy Thompson series (how did we first meet Larry the goblin king and Sherwood Post the mysterious werewolf again?).
Thanks to the publisher, Ace, for the free review copies.
Content warnings: some descriptions of torture and animal cruelty. Sensitive readers tread carefully. Also a few scattered F-bombs.
Update: And now a week later NetGalley finally informs me that I’ve been approved. So now I have two copies! ...more
In Magic Breaks, the seventh book in Ilona Andrews’ KATE DANIELS urban fantasy series, the over4.25 stars. Review first posted on Fantasy Literature:
In Magic Breaks, the seventh book in Ilona Andrews’ KATE DANIELS urban fantasy series, the overarching plot lines of the series takes a lion-sized step forward, with a few major surprises along the way. *some spoilers for earlier books in the series*
Kate Daniels, her mate Curran, the Beast Lord of Atlanta’s shapeshifter Pack, and their group have returned from their perilous trip to Europe, described in Magic Rises, where they ran into conflict with Hugh d’Ambray, the warlord of Roland. Roland is an ancient, immortal legend with nearly godlike magical powers, and Kate has been both hiding from him and planning his death since her childhood: Kate was raised by Voron, a man with an enormous grudge against Roland. Hugh’s been circling around Kate for several books now, attempting to establish beyond any doubt that she is Roland’s daughter. Their group barely escaped him in Europe, and Kate knows Hugh will be back around again to cause more trouble. A couple of new friends joined Kate and Curran in Europe and are now part of the Atlanta Pack: Christopher, a mage who was severely mentally damaged by Roland and Hugh’s torture, and Desandra, a werewolf who is now becoming a powerful figure in Atlanta’s Clan Wolf and is giving the current wolf alpha, Jennifer, fits. (For that alone I adore Desandra.)
Curran is invited to bring several of the most powerful members of the Pack on a hunt in the mountains. Despite his and Kate’s concerns that it’s part of a plan to leave Kate without his support, the trip is important as part of a key negotiation, so Curran, Mahon and others go. Sure enough, once they’re out of town, Kate and the Pack get hit with a serious problem. At Conclave, a meeting between the vampire masters and Pack leadership, Hugh appears and dramatically throws down the gauntlet. Actually, what he throws down is the dead body of a Master of the Dead, who has clearly been murdered by a shapeshifter.
Kate now has twenty-four hours to find the shapeshifter killer and hand him or her over for punishment. A deadly war is on the verge of breaking out between these two supernatural forces, the vampire masters and the shapeshifters. Curran is still out of town, and Kate knows that Hugh is manipulating events to try to get control over her in one way or another, and presumably then deliver her, giftwrapped, into the deadly hands of Roland. And a cryptic but heartfelt warning is given to Kate by Christopher, who seems to have some foresight into future events.
Magic Breaks takes a while to really get rolling, though the story is given some color and humor by a lilac bunnycat and a giant-sized, black-and-white spotted stubborn mule named Cuddles (apparently by someone with an overactive sense of humor). But once the plot kicks into high gear it’s a fascinating tale. There’s a slight disconnect between the two halves of the story, a shift in focus that is marked by a sudden change in scenery. But the second half of the novel is worth the wait, and will remain etched in my memory … helped along by one or two rereads of key scenes after I finished the book.
Several long-term characters develop new depths in Magic Breaks. Ghastek, one of the most powerful vampire masters in Atlanta, becomes a far more well-rounded character. He and Kate share a traumatic experience that leads to Ghastek sharing his personal backstory with Kate, including the eyebrow-raising origin of his name. It makes him a more sympathetic character. Curran, once he rejoins the story, reveals new facets of his character as well. Kate herself needs to step up to the plate in a new and unnerving way, accepting and publicly displaying her full magical powers, not just her swordfighting abilities. And the long-awaited Roland finally makes an actual appearance. Despite his godly powers, he isn’t what readers might have expected. Roland is much more nuanced, a chilling mixture of fatherly affection and implacable, deadly power.
In the end, Kate and Curran each have a huge personal choice to make. While in some ways it’s a regrettable move, it opens the door for the series to move forward in a fresh way.
Bonus content: The paperback copy of this book includes Magic Tests, a bonus short story about Julie, Kate’s adopted teenage daughter. “Magic Tests” is narrated by Julie, Kate’s teenage adopted daughter, who refused to stay put at the boarding school where Kate originally placed her. Julie and Kate visit Seven Stars Academy, where Kate hopes Julie will be willing to continue her education, despite Julie’s reluctance. Kate and the academy’s director sweeten the pot with an intriguing mystery that they ask Julie to help investigate: A freshman girl has disappeared without a trace, but the location spell indicates that she is still on the school’s grounds. If Ashlyn isn’t found within the next twenty-four hours, the school will need to alert the authorities, which they’re hoping to avoid.
As Julie jumps into the investigation ― and, as a natural side effect, starts to befriend some of the students there ― more of her personality is revealed, along with the functioning of her magical powers and her views about her relationship with Kate. Julie displays some admirable planning and deductive skills. I’m still mystified, though, about why a collection of apples that Julie finds locked in Ashlyn’s desk are suffused with mysterious bright green magic to Julie’s eyes. The source of the green magic is disclosed later, but not its connection to Ashlyn’s apples.
“Magic Tests” is a quick, light read; it’s not particularly memorable, but I enjoyed it.
Initial post: 4, maybe 4.5 stars. The overarching plot lines of this series takes a huge step forward in this 7th book in the series, and I am HERE for that. All the players finally come together, and there were a few real surprises along the way....more
I paused my Kate Daniels readathon to inhale this installment in a different urban fantasy series - the one in ALPHA AND OMEGA that I managed to skip I paused my Kate Daniels readathon to inhale this installment in a different urban fantasy series - the one in ALPHA AND OMEGA that I managed to skip over when reading all the others. I went into this one a little leery because of a few negative reviews ... but I actually really enjoyed it!
Though it does help if you are fond of horses. (Walter Farley and Marguerite Henry were a huge part of my junior high school reading diet, so no trouble there.)
Add to the horses a murderous fae, children in grave peril, an aging childhood friend of Charles, and some family drama, and this book kept me glued to it through the end.
Full review to come, after it posts on Fantasy Literature....more
3 stars for this urban fantasy, an alternative version of our world with a Cherokee shapeshifter heroine, and vampires who are out to the public (New 3 stars for this urban fantasy, an alternative version of our world with a Cherokee shapeshifter heroine, and vampires who are out to the public (New Orleans, the setting of this novel, is a tourist attraction largely because of all of the vampires there, who own much of the city). This 2009 novel owes quite a bit (a bit too much for my money) to Moon Called, which was published three years earlier, and the Mercy Thompson series, which also has a Native American shapeshifter heroine who's pretty much the last of her kind, mixing with other supernatural beings (more werewolves in that case; mostly vampires here), but if you like that type of urban fantasy you'll probably enjoy Skinwalker.
Jane Yellowrock, our main character, can shapeshift into various types of animals; there's actually some interesting scientific discussion about how the shapeshifting process involves DNA and sometimes adding and subtracting mass using nearby rocks and boulders. Primarily, though, she shifts into a mountain lion shape, the Beast who shares her body but has a separate mind and soul.
Jane has built up a reputation as a vampire hunter, killing vamps who are out of control (as opposed to the "sane" vamps who obey certain rules and are more or less accepted in society). Jane has come to New Orleans to hunt down an unknown rogue vampire, a serial killer of both vamps and humans. The job turns out to be a lot more difficult than either she or her employers, the vampire council, expected.
A reasonably good urban fantasy. I'd recommend it mostly to fans of that genre....more
3.5 stars, rounding up for the fun factor. This urban fantasy will appeal to readers who like Patricia Briggs' MERCY THOMPSON series; it's got much th3.5 stars, rounding up for the fun factor. This urban fantasy will appeal to readers who like Patricia Briggs' MERCY THOMPSON series; it's got much the same flavor, though the world is somewhat different.
Misery is a half-Lakota woman who scrapes by by doing odd thievery jobs, using her magical affinity for stone and earth to help. When we meet her at the beginning of the story, she's hanging off a rope on the side of a Denver skyscraper, looking for a way past the magic- (or "Essence") infused security system. Once she makes her way in, she finds and grabs the file she's being paid to steal ... and then a massive Inhuman, a living gargoyle, grabs her as she's trying to escape with her file in hand.
One thing leads to another, and soon Misery is neck-deep in a power struggle between two of these Chimera, aka Lords of Stone and Earth. She's reasonably certain that she's working on the side of the right one, or at least the lesser evil, but either way it could end up with her death.
Jana Brown tells a fast-paced, compelling story of the adventures of Misery, who was once AnnaLisa StormCrow, a magical warrior with a group called the Sentinels. The story drops intriguing hints of her past life, brief bits of stories, the puzzle pieces that make up her past and explain why she (still) has forces of both good and evil trying to track her down. But you definitely don't get the full picture here. It's distinctly reminiscent of the early KATE DANIELS books, where much of the backstory remains to be told in future books in the series. I tend to find it more irritating than appealing, but it's an approach. I would have like a little more backfilling with details about this world and the various powers (Sentinels, PeaceKeepers, etc.) that inhabit it.
Fallen Stone is a self-published book; the Kindle version is just $2.99 and it's worth grabbing if you like this genre. In addition to magic workers and Chimeras, you'll meet shapeshifters, fae, and a delightful if slobbery hell hound. There's a great bit with the Library of Alexandria, which still exists and is sentient, magically collecting and organizing data, though it's accessible only to magical folk. And the library sales are incredible:
"Once in a century or so there's a Library sale to clear the stacks of stuff the Library doesn't want anymore, which is cool if really chaotic. I wasn't here for the last one but there was a throw down between a few folks and it started an earthquake in Chicago and sent a tornado up to Salt Lake City. Kendra says next time we're doing it all online."
As is more often than not the case with self-published books, there are a lot of minor punctuation and similar types of errors in this book (I noticed more comma splices than I could count). I'm a grammar stickler and those kinds of things always pull me out of a story, but the errors were low-grade enough that in the end I was able to enjoy Fallen Stone in spite of them.
I received a free copy of this ebook from the author for review. Thanks!...more
On sale now, as of March 6, 2018! A solid and enthusiastic four stars. Full review first posted on Fantasy Literature.
Burn Bright is the fifth and latOn sale now, as of March 6, 2018! A solid and enthusiastic four stars. Full review first posted on Fantasy Literature.
Burn Bright is the fifth and latest novel in Patricia Briggs’ ALPHA AND OMEGA urban fantasy series … actually, it’s more mountainous wilderness fantasy, but it does involve werewolves and witches living amongst humans. Burn Bright, though it has different main characters, also intertwines nicely with the main MERCY THOMPSON series.
Bran, the grand-Alpha or Marrok of most of the werewolf packs in North America, is still out of town due to the events in the last MERCY THOMPSON book, Silence Fallen. He phones home and tells his wife Leah and son Charles that he’s leaving them in charge while he takes a trip to Africa to see Samuel, his other son. In Bran’s rather mysterious absence, Charles and his wife Anna try to manage his pack of werewolves and the pack’s finances, and to not get into too many arguments with the irascible Leah.
This effort gets a lot trickier when Charles gets an urgent phone call from Jonesy, one of the so-called wildings. These are a separate, outlier group of werewolves under Bran’s protection and leadership who live near but apart from the Marrok’s main pack. The wildings are broken beings, fragile and often particularly dangerous, and are rarely seen by anyone except Bran himself. Charles and Anna, an “Omega” werewolf with the helpful talent of calming dominant werewolves, head out to check on Jonesy.
Jonesy turns out to be a powerful fae who lives in isolation with his werewolf mate, Hester. Hester has been captured by a secretive armed task force that is trying to kidnap ― or kill ― some of the wildings. And the evidence indicates that someone among the wildings or Bran’s main pack is a traitor who is working with these attackers. With Bran incommunicado for some reason, it’s up to Charles, Anna and other members of the Marrok’s pack to try to neutralize the invaders, warn the wildings of the danger they’re in, and find the traitor.
The mystery in Burn Bright is distinctive, though ultimately it didn’t gel for me as well as in the best of Briggs’ books. The plot is somewhat disjointed, though the threads come together fairly well in the end. The logic is occasionally strained. For example, there’s a significant rule involving cell phones not being allowed in wilding territory, where the explanation simply didn’t make sense to me, and a key development involving eye color that seemed highly unlikely under the circumstances. The plot involves both extreme long-term planning by the villain and some improbably rushed action and coincidences. However, as Briggs has frequently done before, she pulls in plot threads from preceding books in the series, weaving in the consequences of earlier events and decisions made by the characters. Though it’s not necessary to have read all of the books in both interlocking series to understand and enjoy Burn Bright or any other particular book in these series, it’s certainly conducive to a greater appreciation.
The highlight of Burn Bright is the characters and their interrelationships. Briggs creates well-rounded characters in a fantasy setting who are realistically flawed and believable. It was fascinating to get to know some of the members of Bran’s pack of misfit werewolves better, both characters we’ve met before as well as some new ones. Some poignant moments for several characters add to the depth of this urban fantasy. There was a fascinating aside in the form of an insight into Mercy and Bran’s relationship, and even the detested, hard-hearted Leah becomes a character that the reader develops more understanding and even sympathy for.
Burn Bright is a solid entry in one of the better ongoing series in the urban fantasy genre. If you haven’t read the previous ALPHA AND OMEGA books, I would recommend starting at the beginning, with Alpha & Omega and Cry Wolf, but fans of Patricia Briggs and her werewolves will relish this new adventure.
I received a free copy of this ebook from the publisher through NetGalley. Thanks!!
Original post: I love Patricia Briggs' urban fantasies, and this Alpha and Omega series interlocks very closely with Mercy Thompson's. I'm having trouble keeping my mitts off this one (I got halfway through it last night in one long reading session that lasted until 1 am) even though there are other books I really need to read and review first. I should probably feel worse about that than I do. :D...more
3.5 stars. Charles de Lint's take on online dating when one of the couple is a werewolf, and the ways things can go so very wrong on that first date. 3.5 stars. Charles de Lint's take on online dating when one of the couple is a werewolf, and the ways things can go so very wrong on that first date. It's equal parts humor and tension. We begin with the best friends helping Mona and Lyle get ready.
“Just don’t do the teeth thing and you’ll be all right,” Tyrone said.
“Teeth thing? What teeth thing?”
“You know, how when you get nervous, your teeth start to protrude like your muzzle’s pushing out and you’re about to shift your skin. It’s not so pretty.”
A strong 3 stars, for readers of this series. Full review, first posted on Fantasy Literature:
This set of four short stories is an interlude in RachelA strong 3 stars, for readers of this series. Full review, first posted on Fantasy Literature:
This set of four short stories is an interlude in Rachel Neumeier’s BLACK DOG universe, where werewolves ― more properly known in this world as black dogs ― are adjusting to a world where humans are now aware of them, after an interspecies war that wiped out the world’s vampires and decimated many of the black dog packs. To the black dogs’ dismay, destroying the vampires also destroyed a type of mental mist or miasma produced by the vampires that kept humans from recognizing the magical creatures around them. Many humans recognize that at least some of the black dogs are worth having as allies against the more evil types, but it’s an uneasy alliance at best.
With one exception, these stories are set after the first book in the series, Black Dog , so interested readers will want to start with that novel, which relates how the three teenage half-Mexican Toland siblings joined the Dimilioc black dogs in Vermont. Genetics are tricky in this world: Alejandro, like their deceased father, is a black dog; Miguel is a normal human, and Natividad is a “Pure” who has the ability to do white magic, including calming black dogs so they can keep their black dog shadow under control. These four stories each focus on a different main character from Black Dog:
• In “Christmas Shopping,” Natividad goes on a shopping excursion with Keziah, a recent addition to the Dimilioc, who is a black dog of Saudi heritage. The two young women aren’t close, but Grayson, the Dimilioc Master, insists that Natividad needs someone who can protect her against stray black dogs. But what the girls come up against is far worse than a stray! “Christmas Shopping” lingers a little too long over the mundane details of the shopping expedition before the excitement finally ramps up, but there’s a well-handled conclusion as the girls gain a deeper understanding of each other, and of Christmas giving.
• “Library Work” is told from the point of view of Natividad’s brother Miguel, an intelligent and insightful young man, but rankling at the rude treatment he’s getting from a French black dog, Étienne Lumondiere, who’s been staying with the Dimilioc. Étienne’s latest chore for Miguel: cleaning the large library in the house, including dusting each individual book, a job that will take many days. The only benefit to this job is that it’s given Miguel a change to get to know Cassie Pearson, who’s been turned into a “moon-bound shifter” (a far less powerful type of werewolf) by the bite of a black dog. Cassie, too, is unhappy with Étienne’s preemptory ways, and together the two hatch a plan to turn the tables on Étienne. It just involves a slight bit of manipulation of Grayson, the Master … “Library Work” is an enjoyable mix of teenage attraction, resentments and conniving, with a nice twist to it that elevates this tale.
• “A Learning Experience” follows another newcomer to the Dimilioc, Thaddeus, a large and powerful black man who was involuntarily co-opted into the clan along with his Pure wife DeAnn and their black dog son. This tale includes the backstory of Thaddeus’ first meeting with DeAnn as a child, and his struggles to adjust to being part of the Dimilioc. As he goes on a trip with Grayson to take out dangerous stray black dogs in the city, the stray he’s supposed to kill turns out to be a teenage Chinese-descent boy with a conscience and an aging grandfather who loves him. “A Learning Experience” uses this event to explore Thaddeus’ character and the challenges he faces in becoming part of a team rather than a lone wolf.
• “The Master of Dimilioc” is a prequel story that takes place several years before Black Dog, but is still best read after that book. Ezekiel is the young “executioner” of the Dimilioc, the right hand and enforcer of Thos, the Master of Dimilioc at that time. He has unsurpassed fighting abilities and the unusual talent of instantly shifting shape between his human and black dog forms (valuable in fights since the shifting process makes all but the most severe personal injuries vanish). Ezekiel is also in love with Melanie, a Pure girl, though she’s engaged to be married to a regular human. The harsh Master of Dimilioc, Thos, unexpectedly intervenes in their personal relationships, and that and Ezekiel’s overhearing of a private conversation lead him to reassess Dimilioc and his role in it. “The Master of Dimilioc” was the strongest story for me in this set, with an interesting take on issues like choice and trust.
At the end of this collection is a bonus, an essay on genetics that encompasses both real world and black dog genetics. Props to Neumeier for the admirably high scientific level of this essay, which was enough to leave me at sea (genetics not being my field). But I was impressed with the thought and knowledge that went into it.
These four short stories are more like episodes than true stand-alone stories, but they do contribute significantly to the development of several key characters in the BLACK DOG series. Additionally, there are a few events in these stories that help to set the stage for the second book in this series, Pure Magic. They’re worth reading for those who enjoyed Black Dog and are interested in continuing with the series.
I received a free copy of this short story collection from the author for review. Thank you!
Content advisory: Several F-bombs in "A Learning Experience."...more
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