I’ve got one book left and then I’m all caught up on the Cal Leandros series.

In a way, that’s a good thing, because I have a huge to-read pile. But mostly it’s sad, because I love spending time in this world. As I reread these books, I keep coming upon passage after passage that had stuck out in my memory, that made me laugh, or made me love the characters even more.

Again, another bit about the relationship between Niko and Cal:

“He is a monster,” she said sharply to Niko, “this thing you call a brother, but perhaps you are worse. You are his keeper. We keep our monster under lock and key and you let yours run free, free to kill and destroy as he sees fit. Everything he does, the responsibility is shared equally with you.”

“Of everything he does, I”m proud to claim half.” Niko rose to his feet.

Of course, just because Niko refuses to let anyone else insult Cal, that doesn’t stop him for giving Cal precisely what he deserves.

…I’m heaped with good karma for putting up with your incessant bitching and moaning. If you didn’t sleep, I wouldn’t escape it at all.” He placed his own bags beside mine and paid the cab driver. “Forget the usual hundreds of reincarnated lives one usually must pass through. It’s a wonder I didn’t become enlightened and reach nirvana before you hit puberty for my righteousness in the face of incomprehensible suffering.”

And of course, there’s Salome, Goodfellow’s mummy cat.

I went to the passenger side and was greeted by fangs shown in a cheerful greeting, jack-o-lantern eyes, and a ruby collar with a gold ID tag around a hairless neck. I opened the door and Salome, who was sitting upright, reagal, and ready for her ride, didn’t move. I opened my jacket and showed her my gun. She opened her mouth and I watched her already-visible fangs slide farther out of her gray gums and double in size. I closed my jacket and got in the backseat with Robin.

A hairless paw, with perfectly normal-looking claws that obviously weren’t, came through the bars, followed by a dry-as-dust mrrrp. “There, there. Who’s a good kitty?” I said, taking a step back. I didn’t pull a gun, though. I thought that gave me balls of steel. In Salome’s eyes, steel would just make them easier to roll across the condo floor.

“Calm down,” Robin said dismissively. “She doesn’t kill humans.”

“How do you know for sure?” Niko asked pointedly.

“Because I spray her with a water bottle if she does. Very effective.”

Yeah, I adore this series.

And again, kudos to whoever does the artwork for ROC. The cover once again nails the book precisely, without actually giving anything away. I love these covers.
Rating: 9/10

Published by ROC

Yeah, still can’t stop reading the Cal Leandros books. Deathwish is the fourth book, and even better than the previous three. Which are damned good.

Unlike the previous stories, in Deathwish, each chapter alternates between Cal and Niko’s point of view. In this I like not only the perspective of Cal from the outside, but of Niko’s thoughts both of himself and Cal (and Cal’s hero worship of him). It’s actually kind of nice, because not only do we Niko’s view of himself (which helps to offset SOME of Cal’s hero worship) we also see why Niko loves Cal so much.

And, as always, fabulous dialog and writing.

Here are some of Niko’s thoughts:

I kepy my eyes on my book as I tossed the dagger up into the air yet again and caught it blind. One: because it was good practice. You always know where your weapon is, whether you can see it or not. Always. Second: It annoyed Cal, as he couldn’t do it.

If I was a cold ideal, with every bit of compromise stripped away, then that was survival. If I were an abstract, that’s how it had to be. Never mind the things it made me wonder. As in, had Sophia won? As in, Outside honor, did I truly exist at all?

Then Cal punched me in the nose and, as a starburst of pain flared behind my eyes and I tasted blood, I decided that I did.

I think Niko’s memory of events in the first book once again goes to the heart of the relationship between the two.

There were no words.

I, who had read so many of them in my life, had no words for it. The blade slipping through the resistance of his flesh. The blood. On me, Cal’s blood, warm and flowing. Dripping from my hands to the floor. Red with a quick patter like rain. Images and sensations; I had those. So many. But no words. Words were defining, capturing. I didn’t want that moment defined. I only wanted it gone. Over a year later and I still just wanted it gone.

And of course, there is always Cal.

I ran a hand over the steering wheel, sighed, and got out of the car. Maybe a motorcycle. The great monster fighter cruising around on his hog… that wasn’t a cliche, no. Fine. I’d be a monster fighter who rose the bus. It didn’t get any more bad-ass than that.

Eyes still shut, Cal held up his forefinger and thumb as if his hand were a gun and pointed it at Robin, his aim unerring right between the eyes. “I’m a cranky asshole with a gun and superpowers, remember?”

I got up to check out the bathroom… “Shit!” I called out. Is there such a thing as a giant supernatural cockroach straight from the depths of hell?”

“No. Be a man and deal with it.”

I could’ve shot it. It was that big. I kicked it in the toilet and flushed. Three times. Then I returned to Cat Urine Central. “Okay. The world is safe for pissing again. Enjoy.”

Every book I read, I love this series more, and I’m having a hard time not grabbing the next book in the series as soon as a finish one. Mostly because there aren’t that many books in the series, and gobbling them down will make it go all the faster.
Rating: 9/10

Published by ROC

Yup. Another re-read.

I’ve been out of sorts, so a re-read of a favorite series is always good for helping my mood–or at least drawing me out of myself to forget about what’s bothering me.

This is the second Cal Leandros book, and it’s even better than the first.

Niko and Cal are in business now–Promise has gone in with them to start their own company. Unfortunately for Cal and Niko, that work consists mostly of killing monsters who have gotten out of line. They’re quite good at it, but you can’t say it’s pleasant work.

As with all the books in this series, the heart of the story is Cal and Niko and what they will do for each other.

I started into the depths of the carnical, not bothering to check to see if he was following. He was. It wasn’t something I had to see or hear to know. Niko watched my back. Always. The mountains would fall and the oceans dry to dust before that ever changed.

But now, for the first time in their lives they have friends–people who are willing to look out for them. It’s a strange place for Cal to be in.

But of course what makes me love these books so much is the dialog.

“How do you know that Goodfellow even plays poker?”

I commented in disbelief, “You’re shitting me, right?”

“In retrospect, not the most astute question, I admit,” Niko sighed.

Holding out my arm, I said formally, “Is milady ready?”

Amused, Promise tucked a hand into the crook of my elbow. “How gallant you are, sir.”

“When you’re dressed like you charge five dollars an hour, you have to be,” Robin observed caustically.

“You don’t actually believe in gypsy curses, do you?” I asked with a faint overlay of scorn.

Green eyes narrowed on me with impatience. “Of course not. I, an immortal creature, am only standing here with a vampire, a half Auphie, and a walking talking wolf. Why would I possible believe in something as ludicrous as a Gypsy curse?” He rubbed the heel of both hands over tired eyes and went on to snap, “And then there’s that entire year I spent impotent thanks to one.”

Oh how I love this series.

One last note. This series has perfect covers. Not only do they portray Cal and Niko accurately, they also catch the essence of the books. Fantastic.
Rating: 9/10

I admit it. When I saw this on sale on the kindle I grabbed it even though we already have the hardback book. Because this is a HUGE book, and it’s so much nicer to read a kindle than an 800 page hardback book.

And since I had it on the kindle, that meant it was time to re-read the story, right?

I’d forgotten that the first portion of the book is mostly Mr Norrell. Who I don’t particularly like (I don’t think one is supposed to, actually.) He’s not evil. He’s not mean. He’s just weak and selfish. And that’s one of the (many) strong points of this book. Norrell isn’t a villain, he just isn’t a good person. And Strange isn’t a hero, he just tends to believe things I find a little more reasonable.

I think this sentence kinda sums it up.

It was not that the Ministers were dull-witted — upon the contrary there were some brilliant men among them. Nor were they, upon the whole, bad men; several led quite blameless domestic lives and were remarkably found of children, music, dogs, landscape painting.

There is no good or evil, there are just men.

This is a very long book, but the humor is perfectly dry.

(T)he other ministers considered that to employ a magician was one thing, novelists were quite another and they would not stoop to it.

Mr Norrell was very well pleased. Lord Liverpool was exactly the sort of guest he liked — one who admired books but shewed no inclination to take them down from the shelves and read them.

There was an elderly bunch of celery that had lived too long and too promiscuously in close companionship with the charcoal for its own good.

(I don’t know what it is, but that sentence cracks me up.)

(T)hough the room was silent, the silence of half a hundred cats is a pecuilar thing, like fifty individual silences all piled one on top of another.

I’m not sure about cats in this instance, but there are silences, and then there are silences.

She spoke Basque, which is a language which rarely makes any impression upon the brains of any other races, so that a man may hear it as often and as long as he likes, but never afterwards be able to recall a single syllable of it.

I think that’s somewhat less Basque and more general to any language one had to study in school.
Rating: 9/10

Another reread and another Night Watch story.

This one also had several passages that stuck with me. Such as,

And this was right. And it was fate that had let Edward recognize this just when he’d got his plan. And it was right that it was Fate, and the city would be Saved from its ignoble present by its glorious past. He had the Means, and he had the end. And so on….Edward’s thoughts often ran like this.

He could think in italics. Such people need watching.

Preferably from a safe distance.

But the passage that comes frequently to mind is the one where Vimes considers the difference between the rich and the poor.

The reason that the rich were so rich, Vimes reasoned, was because they managed to spend less money.

Take boots, for example. He earned thirty-eight dollars a month plus allowances. A really good pair of leather boots cost fifty dollars. But an affordable pair of boots, which were sort of okay for a season or two and then leaked like hell when the cardboard gave out, cost about ten dollars. These were the kinds of boots Vimes always bought, and wore until the soles were so thin that he could tell where he was in Ankh-Morpork on a foggy night by the feel of the cobbles.

But the thing was that good boots lasted for years and years. A man who could afford fifty dollars had a pair of boots that’d still be keeping his feet dry in ten years time, when a poor man who could only afford cheap boots would have spent a hundred dollars on boots in the same time and would still have wet feet.

This was the Captain Samuel Vimes ‘Boots’ theory of socio-economic unfairness.

That is so true it’s actually disturbing.

But there are still plenty of things that are true and hilarious.

…when you hit your thumb with an eight-pound hammer it’s nice to be able to blaspheme. It takes a very special and strong-minded kind of atheist to jump up and down with their hand clasped under their other armpit and shout, ‘Oh, random-fluccuations-in-the-space-time-continuum!’ or ‘Aaargh, primitive-and-outmoded-concept on a crutch!’

And I need to stop, or I’ll be here for hours typing in some of my favorite quotations.

Oh yeah. Captain Vimes is getting married, the Night Watch is being forced to integrate dwarves and trolls and someone has stolen a terrible artifact from the Assassin’s Guild.
Rating: 9/10

Published by Random House

A year or so ago I ordered The Chronicles of Master Li and Number Ten Ox, because I’d read Bridge of Birds, loved it, and wanted to read more.

Unfortunately for me, The Chronicles of Master Li and Number Ten Ox is a BIG book. It’s three volumes: Bridge of Birds, The Story of the Stone, and Eight Skilled Gentlemen, all in a single hardback volume, and every time I thought I wanted to read it, I looked at the size of the thing and changed my mind.

So I finally broke down and bought it in eBook format. And the immediately started rereading Bridge of Birds.

Still wonderful. And now I can read the next two!

‘Take a large bowl,’ I sad. ‘Fill it with equal measures of fact, fantasy, history, mythology, science, superstition, logic, ad lunacy. Darken the mixture with bitter tears, brighten it with howls of laughter, toss in three thousand years of civilization, bellow kan pei–which means “dry cup”–and drink to the dregs.’ Procopius stared at me. ‘And then I will be wise?’ he asked. ‘Better,’ I said. ‘You will be Chinese.’

Rating: 9/10

Published by Subterranean Press

I have a HUGE to-be-read pile, so what do I want to read? Things I’ve read before.

Go figure.

However, Night Watch is well worth a re-read.

The sequel to The Queen of Attolia and The Thief, we see Gen this time from the outside–from the view of a guard who doesn’t like–but yet must work with–Gen.

As with previous books, there is a great deal of intrigue, and we’re a step removed from it, seeing only what a guard would see. We also see Gen from the eyes of someone who doesn’t know him, like him, or respect him.

The result is lovely. And fabulous. And wonderful.

If you have not read The Thief, you must start there.

Immediately.
Rating: 9/10

Published by Greenwillow Books

Most fantasy series, the longer the series goes on, the weaker the stories get. Or perhaps the series remains strong, but for a book or two it seems like the author is struggling to figure out where they are going with the characters. Or, to work with the overarching story arc, we get a random cliffhanger ending (and we all know how violently I dislike cliffhanger endings).

Seanan McGuire’s Toby Daye series is not following that path. Instead, the story and the characters seem to get stronger with each book, as the characters find their voices and their paths.

After the last book and the tremendous changes Toby was subjected to, I might have expected a slow book, perhaps a lot of discovery as she comes to term with her new self.

But no, here, Faerie is complex place, constantly changing and doing (to humans anyway) the unexpected.

Toby is now Countess of Goldengreen, in addition to being one of Sylvester’s knights, and still thoroughly hated by the Winter Queen.

I think one of the things I particularly like about this series is how not just mercurial many in faerie are, but how for some it seems as if the eternal time on their hands has driven them insane, as if the world truly has no meaning except as entertainment. Yes, others have explored this, but I think Seanan McGuire goes further. After all, eternity might well push anyone over the edge after several millenia of dealing with it. It’s an interesting thought.

I think the only thing I didn’t particularly like was Toby’s relationship with Connor, but that was more because I prefer Tybalt, so we’re just looking at a personal preference.

If you have not been reading this series, I would not recommend beginning here. Start at the beginning and work your way forward–you’ll be glad you did.
Rating: 9/10

I really loved The Thief, so when I realized The Queen of Attolia was a sequel, I wanted to read it, in the hopes that Eugenides would be one of the main characters.

He was.

And as with the previous book, I could hardly stop reading.

Attolia is in a difficult position. Its ruler is a queen where women tend not to hold powers of position, and she has had to play various lords off one another to retain her position. She is also playing a dangerous game with the ambassador of Medea, trying to balance her ability to retain power within her state, with the need for Attolia to remain an independent nation.

As with The Thief, this is an incredibly good book. All the characters are complex, and the contrast between Eddis and Attolia is done extremely well. We see Eddis and why her people love her, yet we come to develop sympathy for Attolia, for the way she must manipulate those around her, to maintain power and the sovereignty of her country.

And of course there’s Eugenides, who I loved in the first book, and loved even more in this book.

As a word of warning, since this is a young adult book, Bad Things happen to Eugenides. Upsetting horrible things that are hard to understand and deal with. Yet Eugenides does eventually deal with these things, in a way that is both commendable and understandable.

Although in theory you could read The Queen of Attolia without having read The Thief. I wouldn’t recommend it.
Rating: 9/10

Published by HarperCollins e-books

I’m not even sure anymore how I stumbled across 9 Chickweed Lane, but I did, and it amused me, so I’d read it most days.

Then the Edie Ernst thread started and I was hooked.

Some background: 9 Chickweed Lane is about three women: a mother, grandmother, and granddaughter. Never mind. Just go here and read up if you think you need to.

Which you really don’t.

It turns out that the grandmother, Edna was in the USO during WWII, secretly doing intelligence work for the Allies. This collection is the story of how she met Juliette’s father and her time gathering intelligence.

So if I read all these online, why did I want the collection? Because it is a wonderful and amazing story line, and one I’ll want to read again–and share with others.

Even if you have never read 9 Chickweed Lane, you should get and read this collection. It stands completely alone, and is an amazing tale of a time we are slowly losing all connection to.
Rating: 9.5/10

My friend Natalie has been pushing me for quite awhile to read this book. However, I haven’t been in the mood to read much in the way of fantasy, so although I bought the books months ago, it sat unread on my shelf, until last time I saw her she pushed one more time and I promised I’d read it.

This is a Newbury Honor book. I think if I’d noticed that initially, I’d have been less reluctant to pick it up, since that pretty much guaranteed it wasn’t going to be one of those books that starts a series and then goes on and on endlessly without resolution. And really, I should have trusted that Natalie wouldn’t lead me in that direction, yet I resisted, foolishly.

Mind you, this is the first book in a series, however, it is completely self-contained, and you could read this book and be perfectly content with never knowing there was another book in the series.

Except, of course, for wanting to spend more time with the characters. But that takes a bit.

Gen is a thief in the lowest of the king’s dungeon. A superb thief, Gen’s skills are matched only by his stupidity in bragging about stealing the King’s seal on a bet and flashing the seal around as proof. But before Gen can rot away in prison, the king’s magus decides Gen has uses and with the king’s reluctant agreement takes Gen out to steal…something.

Interestingly, the only character who is likable from the very start is Sophos, a very young man who is brought along on the adventure as an apprentice to the magus. But slowly, Gen (despite his arrogance and seeming foolishness) grows on you, and you want him to succeed, and you really want to know how he’s going to get himself out of the mess he’s gotten himself into.

Natalie was right, this is a fabulous book, and one I highly recommend.
Rating: 9/10

The last Newford short story collection was in 2002, so it was quite a wait for this fifth collection.

In the interim of course, he has had stories in a variety of anthologies, many of which I have, some of which I picked up solely because he had a story in the collection. And I just realized there are a lot of other anthologies in which he has stories, which must not be Newford stories, because they aren’t in this collection.

So what are the Newford stories? They’re set in the city of Newford, which is in either Canada or the US, and is a place where the world of magic is close to our world. Many of the stores have mythic origins, others have the feel of stories of stories you heard as a kid, that happened to a friend of a friend.

What they are not are paranormal or supernatural fantasies. They’re simply classic fantasy transferred to the city. They’re strange happenings–homeless disappearing, dream visitations from the dead, a small box that contains the entire world–that could be happening right now in the world in which we live.

As I said, several of the stories I’d read before. “Somewhere in My Mind there Is a Painting Box” the story that opens this anthology, was one of those, and is one of the strongest stories in this anthology.

The Crow Girls made several appearances, and were the center of their own story about Christmas, which was a lovely romp (pretty much what you’d expect from the Crow Girls).

Several of the stories involved the dead, and several others involve going back in time to change the past, and at least one story, “Riding Shotgun” overlaps the two. “Riding Shotgun” was a very unusual story, even for a Newford Collection, and although it was good, it felt at times like it was missing something, but I’ll be damned if I know precisely what that was.

Besides “Somewhere in My Mind There Is a Painting Box,” there were two other stories I particularly liked, that seemed to encapsulate everything I love about Newford stories. “Dark Eyes, Faith, and Devotion” is one of his stories that although complete leaves you wondering, “but what happened after that?” The closing story, “The World in a Box” goes back to the idea of ‘be careful what you wish for” only nowhere near as horrific as, say, “The Monkey’s Paw.”

I think that what I love best about Charles de Lint’s stories is that they are often about redemption. Not overtly so in an in-your-face manner, but in a way that makes you stop and consider the wishes we make every day, “if only…”

And one last thing for me to love–I absolutely adore the cover for this book. He tends to get amazingly fabulous covers, that somehow manage to give you the feel for the stories, without actually having to be about any one of the stories in particular. The covers are ethereal, much like his stories.
Rating: 9/10

Despite my known dislike of boinking books, I am a huge fan of Smart Bitches, Trashy Books. I admit, I was initially a fan for the cover snark, but any site that loves and defends genre fiction, and is blunt and in your face about what they like and don’t like about the books they read. I’m still quite hesitant about picking up romance books, but when I read a review of The Tokaido Road, I immediately ordered the book.

Kat works in a pleasure house in Edo. Her father was forced to kill himself after an ugly political intrigue, so as the daughter of an “outside wife”, Kat takes the job to help support her mother. Kat’s desire for vengeance against the Kira, the Lord who planned her father’s downfall, changes to action when Kira plots against her. She takes to the road and is forced to rely upon her wits and skills she barely knew she had in order to survive and find the man who she hopes will help her take down Kira.

The author did a great deal of research into feudal Japan and the Tokaido Road and the Ako-Asano affair upon which her story is loosely based (Kat and Hanshiro are her creations) and the details are fascinating. We read about not just Kat and Hanshiro’s travels, but see glimpses into the lives of many others who lived at that time, from priests and poets to Kubuki actors and peasant pilgrims. (Sorry, those are a lot of Ps there, but didn’t do it on purpose, I promise. Wait…)

Kat is a strong woman (my favorite kind to read about) yet does not seem out of time, as strong women sometimes do in historical fiction, and Hanshiro (who is hired to find and return Kat) is fascinating in his own right.

There are so many details I absolutely loved, from the class differences in dress to the description of riding in kago and palanquin (consider: no shocks [I had a similar revelation some years ago about carriages and carts]).

I keep starting sentences, “the other thing I loved…” and then stopping them, because what I ended up loving most were those small details that made the story feel real, from the lives of the peasants to the message boards along the way to contradictory attitudes about sex.

Really, this is a lovely story, and one I highly recommend.
Rating: 9/10

One way to summarize this story would be that when the Rabbi’s cat eats the Rabbi’s parrot and gains the power of speech, his relationship with the Rabbi and the Rabbi’s daughter, Zlabya, changes. But it is so much more than that. The cat is both an observer and a participant, and comments upon religion in ways that a human character could not.

But it’s more than that as well, as the story looks at the relationship between the Rabbi and his daughter, the times in which the story was written (1930s), and the Rabbi and his faith.

But yet, it’s also fun, and on several occasions made me laugh aloud, causing Michael to give me strange looks.

And then he tells me that the Greeks believed the dog to be the epitome of the philosophical animal. The dog, not the cat.

I reply that the Greeks destroyed the Temple of Jerusalem and if a rabbi ends up calling on them for help, it means he’s run out of arguments.

Is this book accessible to all readers? I would hope so. Is it appropriate for all ages? No. The cat is a cat and so has no qualms about using language or discussing natural cat urges. So it’s not for kids, but it’s also not explicit, so should be fine for older kids, as long as their parents are OK recognizing there are several uses of the word “fuck” by the cat.

The art is not necessarily my favorite, however, I love how the cat relates physically to the Rabbi and Zlabya and vice versa. (I love it when the Rabbi takes the cat to his Rabbi. The expression on the cats face is wonderful.)

All in all? Absolutely fabulous.
Rating: 9/10

Published by Pantheon

The last Felix Castor book, Thicker than Water, ended with the escape of Asmodeus. Not a very good point to end a story in my opinion, however, it was a logical conclusion to the way things were going, so I didn’t particularly mind. After all, the series has been working up to Castor dealing with Asmodeus, so we knew this was coming, and the situation really does deserve a long and thrilling conclusion.

After Asmodeus’ escape, Felix turned to his favorite solution–drowning his pain and sorrows in alcohol. And when he finally pulls himself out of his bender, he’s called to a murder scene where there are many many unpleasant discoveries to be made.

I have to say this really feels like the Grand Finale to the Felix Castor series. And if it is? I’m OK with that.

Unsurprisingly, Felix calls in all his cards and racks up debt in this story like nobody’s business. There are many many surprising things he does, not the least of which is who he turns to for help in trying to deal with Asmodeus.

Funny thing is, for as much of a bastard Fix has been throughout the series, looking back you can see that he isn’t really quite the SOB he’s seemed, and as selfish as he can seem at times, he occasionally does a good thing. And despite everything, he’s quite willing to man up to his mistakes, even though he is quite as good and being gracious when others do the same.

I also like that although Felix believes that everyone working for Jenna-Jane and Thomas Gwilliam, he’s willing to work with those who are willing to listen to what he has to say–even if it’s just a tiny bit.

If you have not been reading the Felix Castor series, do NOT start here. Go back to the beginning and work your way forward. Because this book is what the series has been working up to, and you really don’t want to come in at the end.
Rating: 9/10

Published by Orbit

Stark has just gotten out of Hell. His former friends sent him there, but somehow he managed to survive, and now he has escaped and is looking for revenge.

That simple summation tells you about the story, but it is so much more than that simple synopsis. If you read Butcher Bird (and you really should) you’re familiar with Kadrey’s writing style–a cross between Simon R Green and Mike Carey with London replaced by LA.

Now that I think about, do you need more of a recommendation than that?

I wake up on a pile of smoldering garbage and leaves in the old Hollywood Forever cemetery behind the Paramount Studio lot on Melrose, though these last details don’t come to me until later. Right now all I know is that I’m back and the world and I’m on fire. My mind hasn’t quite kicked in yet, but my body knows enough to roll off the burning trash and to keep rolling until I can’t feel the heat anymore.

When I’m sure I’m out, I struggle back to my feet and shrug off my leather jacket. I run my hands over my lower back and legs, There’s no real pain and all I feel are a couple of blisters behind my knee and right calf. My jeans are a little crispy, but the heavy leather of my jacket protected my back. I’m not really burned, just singed and in shock. I probably haven’t been on the fire too long. But I’m lucky that way. Always have been. Otherwise, I might have crawled back into this world and ended up a charcoal briquette in my first five minutes home. And wouldn’t those black-hearted bastards down under have laughed when I ended up right back in Hell after slipping so sweetly out the back door?

Rating: 9/10

Published by Eos

Justin Alastair, the Duke of Avon, is walking through Paris one night when a youth dashes out of an alley and runs into him. After first checking for his purse, the Duke starts to berate the boy when a large burly man who claims to be the older brother of the pale and slender youth comes out of the alley and takes the youth to task. Justin–who is called Satanas by friends and enemies alike–decides he is going to buy the young Leon from his brother.

This was marvelous. Justin is a cad and a rake and a cold-hearted SOB. Leon seems very unlike the child of farmers and then the brother of a Parisian tavern owner, and with his fiery red hair, seems entirely too temperamental to be the page Justin as decided he will be.

All of the characters were distinctive, the plot took many twists and turns, and although I knew it was a romance, I was not certain for quite a while precisely who the romantic leads were going to turn out to be.

But what I think I liked most were the changes in Justin over the course of the story, and the fact that although it seems that Leon blindly worships his savior, in many ways Justin begins to live up to being the man Leon see him to be.

Lovely, and almost immediately engrossing, and highly recommended.
Rating: 9/10

Published by Sourcebooks Casablanc

Felix gets a call to come out to a crime scene–something that had not happened since he was accused of murder and became persona non grata with the police. Unsurprisingly, nothing good comes of the call, and Felix is embroiled in a mystery involving involving individuals from his past–way back in his past.

Additionally, Jenna-Jane has taken a grab at Rafi, and Fix and Pen are struggling to keep him out of her hands.

All in all, Felix is once again in over his head.

First things first, I’ve had a heck of a time trying to get the order of these books straight. They were published first in Great Britain, and are (slowly!) being republished in the US. Which means I received this book and the following book long before I received the third book in the series.

But I do have to order correct now, and I have one book left that’s out (in the US anyway) and no sequel in sight.

Which makes me concerned about reading the next book.

Especially considering the conclusion of this book.

So yes, I hate cliffhanger endings, and I hate waiting for sequels, but if I have to have a cliffhanger ending, Mike Carey did a good job with this one. The main thread is concluded, and much of the book (the series even) has been building towards the event that happens at the end of the book. Not that you could see the specifics coming, but the situation is going to have to be resolved, so what he did actually makes sense.

SPOILER (rot 13)

Naq UBYL PBJ V ernyyl yvxrq gur eriryngvba ng gur raq nf gb jurer qrzbaf pbzr sebz. Vg znqr frafr tbvat onpx, ohg wrrfu, V gbgnyyl qvqa’g frr gung pbzvat ng nyy.

V nyfb gubhtug gur ovg jvgu uvf oebgure Zngg jnf tbvat fbzrjurer ryfr ragveryl (naq jnf tynq vg qvqa’g tb jurer V jnf nsenvq vg jnf tbvat.

Obgu bs gurfr cnegf jrer irel avpryl qbar.

END SPOILER

If you are not reading the Felix Castor books, I highly recommend them. I also recommend starting at the first book and working your way towards this book.
Rating: 9/10

Published by Orbit

Horace Stanton-Lacy needs to get his daughter married. He also needs to go to South America on a diplomatic mission, thus he Sophy to stay with her aunt in London, where he hopes she can be introduced to society and find a good match.

The Ombersley house, however, is in something of an upheaval, and the eldest son, Charles Rivenhall has used his inheritance to pull his father and the rest of the family out of debt, but his control over the house–and the likely control over his fiancee, a well-bred women who seems not to have a sense of humor–has upset the house. Even more distressing is the fact the eldest daughter, Cecily, has fallen in love with a poet and wants to break the match her family has set up for her. The arrival of Sophy and her menagerie pushes everything into a complete upheaval.

Fun! Fun! Fun!
Rating: 9/10

Published by Sourcebooks Casablanca

I love Rob Thurman. I really do. Which is why I pre-ordered this book without even having an idea what it was about.

Imagine my disappointment when I read the back cover, “From Rob Thurman, national bestselling author of the Cal Leandros novels, comes a sci-fi thriller that questions what makes us human, what makes us unique…” Sci-fi thriller? WAH! So I set the book on the shelf and continued on in my mystery kick.

But I kept picking it up and looking at it, I mean, this IS Rob Thurman, so how can it not be good. Which is why I stuck it in my bag and started reading it at lunch.

And you know what? It WAS good! Really good! I was quickly sucked in, and the second half of the book a read in one big gulp.

Stefan has spent ten years looking for his younger brother, who was snatched when they were children. Stefan blames himself for the loss, and puts all his money into trying to discover where his brother could have gone. The fact that Stefan works for the Russian mafia in the US just means that Stefan has more money and resources than your average guy.

Although this is touted as a sci-fi thriller, it is much like the Cal Leandros books in that the focus is upon familial relationships, especially the bond between brothers. And as with the Cal Leandros books, we see precisely what that bond and love can do–both good and bad.

If you have not yet read a Rob Thurman book, you can certainly pick this up and be pleased with the results. If you are a fan of the Cal Leandros books (as I am) despite the sci-fi setting, you should find much to love in this book.

Because really, she did many fabulous things with this story, and it is well-worth your time.
Rating: 9/10

Published by ROC

Synopsis:
Although this is an Elvis Cole novel, the heart of the story is really about Joe Pike. As Lucy and Ben are settling into L.A., Joe asks Elvis to help him solve the murder of a women with whom he was once involved. In searching for the killer, we learn not just about Joe’s past involvement with Karen (the murdered woman) but also catch glimpses of his childhood and his time in the Marines. We also see the incident that drove Pike from the police.

Although I was unsure how a novel could be centered on Joe–who is silent and taciturn–the opposite of Elvis Cole, really–the desire to learn what made Joe who he is draws you in.

We also see Lucy’s realization about what Elvis really does, and how this affects his life–and eventually hers.
Rating: 9/10

Published by Ballantine Books

A couple weeks ago I decided I wanted something completely different to read. After coming upon a review of The Masqueraders by Georgette Heyer, “I thought this might be a fun read,” and ordered it.

I will admit, the language took some getting used to. The book is set in London in the mid 1700s, and written in 1928, so it did wander a bit in comparison to what I usually read, and there were lots of flowery descriptions, but once I settled into the book and got comfortable with its pace and wording, it was a very fun read.

Prudence and Robin were involved in the Jacobite rebellion, and so Robin cannot show his face in England, so the two contrive of a plot to return to London–Robin as Miss Kate Merriot, and Prudence as Kate’s brother Peter. They are to wait in London for their father–a extraordinary trickster who often kept Prudence in trousers instead of skirts as a child, for her safety in their ventures.

First, Prudence is marvelous. Her attitude! Her skill! her wits! Then there is the man she falls for, Sir Anthony Fanshawe. Robin, on the other hand, falls for a woman of far less substance, the heiress Letitia Grayson, who is far more a woman of her times than Prudence (and thus–to me–rather annoying) and whom Peter and Kate manage to save in the opening chapters of the story.

Yes, it is a romance, with true love and all that, but there is also fencing! fighting! and adventures galore! Would I recommend it to a teenage boy? No way. Would I recommend it to someone else looking for an enjoyable read set in historical London? Most certainly!
Rating: 9/10

Continuing my effort to lift my mood, I read the second Julian Kestrel book, A Broken Vessel.

Amazing how reading–and rereading–an excellent book can lift one’s mood.

I love Kate Ross’ Julian Kestrel series, which starts with Cut to the Quick.

Children’s Winner of the Ankh-Morpork Librarian’s Award: OOK!

Needed something to cheer me up after a particularly depressing mystery.

Where’s My Cow (click to read previous review) was the perfect palate cleanser.

Except, of course, now I want to go read more Discworld books.

Detective Inspector Chen has multiple problems to deal with: his partner Zhu Irzh has disappeared, along with the badger, a Bollywood star/tiger demon is on the rampage, and someone wants to kill the Emperor of Heaven. Add to that the complexity of everyday life in Singapore Three, a new liaison position between Earth, Heaven, and Hell, and the fact that someone tried to kidnap his wife.

Interestingly, we spend more of the book with other characters–including the badger–than we do with Chen. We follow Go and his attempts to escape from Lara the demon tiger, we spend a good deal of time with the badger and then Zhu Irzh, as well as Inari, Chen’s wife.

We actually don’t spend much time in Hell in this book–at least not the Chinese Hell we saw so much of in previous books. We do spend time in Heaven, and learn about another realm, the between, where the assassin lives.

There is much for me to like about this series. First, the setting is unlike any other setting I’ve read, a mix of fantasy, science fiction, and Chinese folklore. Second, although the stories build upon one another, each book has a complete story arc–no cliffhanger endings here. Third, I love the writing.

Inari was wrestling with her own conscience–something that, as a demon, she is not even supposed to possess, but which may have come from that human ancestor, the ancestor who had brought such shame on their family, tainting it as she had with mortal blood. Inari had often wondered about that woman, since learning of her existence. She would be long dead, but what had happened to her soul? In Hell, presumably, since she had abandoned the Imperial Court of China and fled the shores of Earth for those of Hell. But i in Hell, then where? Not Inari’s own family home, that was for certain, unless–horrible thought–they had imprisoned her somewhere.

That single paragraph gives you a sense of Inari and her history, as well as the Hell from which she’d come.

This book had multiple mysteries, and, interestingly, since multiple characters were involved, multiple things happened at the same time, however, there wasn’t any confusion as to who was doing what where, which I believe is a good sign.

If you have not read any Liz Williams before, you should be able to start here without difficulty, although you may find it more rewarding to start at the beginning, with The Snake Agent.
Rating: 9/10

Published by Night Shade Books

I picked up both The Archangel Project and The Solomon Effect after discovering they were written by the same couple who write the Sebastian St. Cyr mysteries as C.S. Harris. After reading the first book, The Archangel Project, I held off on reading The Solomon Effect, since there are not currently any more books in the series.

Set about four months after the events in The Archangel Project, Tobie is called in to do a remote viewing after a WWII submarine is discovered missing. When she “discovers” the missing sub may be in Kalingrad, Jax (who remains on the DCI’s shitlist) is sent to check the site out. And against his wishes, Tobie, who was a linguist for the Army before her psych discharge, goes with him.

Like the first book, the story deals with remote viewing–a procedure that was once used by the military (and in this series, still is to a very very very small degree). However, the heart of the story is discovering the submarine, and precisely what its cargo had been and why someone wants to get their hands on it.

Even more unfortunately, the someone attempting to get their hands on the contents of the submarine seems to be connected to a terrorist threat that is supposed to go off on Halloween–just a few days away.

Also like the first book, there is plenty of action, and although the main characters are a man and a woman, and Jax doesn’t believe in what Tobie does and thinks she’s a flake, we’re spared the “sexual tension” that most authors would write into the story.

Thank goodness.

Also like the first book, much of the source material is sourced, just going to show that the truth truly is often stranger than fiction.
Rating: 9/10

I highly recommend The Solomon Effect, as well as its predecessor, The Archangel Effect.

I love this series.

I’d specifically not wondered where baby revenants came from when we’d gotten out of the Jeep. And here I was finding out anyway. Ain’t that life? Life and pained eyeballs I suddenly didn’t want anymore.

Love it.

Yes, Cal is an asshole. But considering that he’s half monster, and reviled by almost the entire supernatural community, that’s understandable.

And he has redeeming qualities–namely that his brother Niko loves him, and Cal will do anything–absolutely anything–for Niko.

Cal was just getting used to settling into (for him) a somewhat normal life, that allowed him to live in one place and stop running and hiding from the Auphie, when the elderly head of the Sarzo gypsy clan (who all but caused the death of Niko earlier) comes to them with “a small job.”

Things get ugly almost immediately.

I’m not even sure I can coherently list why I love this series and this book.

Cal feels like a real–yet surly and cranky–person. But seeing as he has every reason to be cranky, it’s hard to hold it against him. And the relationship between Cal and Niko feels real. They fight. They bicker. They argue. But most importantly, they love each other. And (to get all sappy here for a moment) it’s an unconditional love, and it feels true and real.

“I’m a man? Yeah? Do I get a bar mitzvah?”
“The bris comes first. Do you want to borrow my tanto? I sharpened it this past weekend.”

And Cal may have powers, but he knows his limits–and is reminded of those limits not just by Nico, but by seemingly everyone.

I went to the passenger side and was greeted by fangs shown in a cheerful greeting, jack-o-lantern eyes, and a ruby collar with a gold ID tag around a hairless neck. I opened the door and Salome, who was sitting upright, reagal, and ready for her ride, didn’t move. I opened my jacket and showed her my gun. She opened her mouth and I watched her already-visible fangs slide farther out of her gray gums and double in size. I closed my jacket and got in the backseat with Robin.

How often does the hero get put in his place by a mummy cat? Not often enough I say.

And as a note, the Cal on the cover has gone back to matching the Cal inside the book. Not sure what happened with Deathwish, when there seemed to be an attempt to make Cal look hunky. But here were back to the surly and sullen Cal we know and love. Yay!

So yes, I loved Roadkill just like I’ve loved every previous book in this series. Could you start here without having read previous books in the series? Yes. Would you want to? No. You instead want to start at the beginning and work your way forward. It’s worth it. I promise.
Rating: 9/10

Published by ROC

I came across X-23 in NYX: Wannabe, and discovered that she had her own story arc. Since I liked the NYX stories so much, I decided to check out Innocence Lost.

I have to say, this was surprisingly good. I’ve browsed different superhero comics before, and was never that impressed by them. However, like NYX, the story occurs in the same world as X-Men, but is not predicated upon knowing much about the X-Men back story. Instead, you are simply following the story of X-23, a mutant created after the group lost control (and “possession” of) Wolverine.

X-23 is created in a scientific lab after experiments with Wolverine with terribly wrong. The story follows her from the failed experiments to her creation through her training. We also catch glimpses of the pasts of the two scientists most responsible for her creation, and how they came to create X-23.

The storytelling is very very good here. Although the main character is X-23, the point of view is primarily (but not always) from that of Sarah, the scientist. Although there is a “bad guy” in the story, he’s not a cardboard cutout of evil, and although he’s not as complex as Sarah, he is interesting. In an icky kind of way.

The characters also feel like real people. Not necessarily good people, but they seem to have human reactions–even X-23.

And the art–the art is also extremely well done. Although X-23 is in some places ridiculously skinny, through most of the story she actually looks like a human girl. Yes, of course the women are all to skinny, but they don’t feel like caricatures of women, nor do they act like them.

If you are not a big fan of superhero comics (like me) you still should check out X-23, as it’s a personal history, rather than the generic good guys going after the generic evil bad guys who are plotting to take over the world.
Rating: 9/10