Jack is in fifth grade and can see ghosts.

Unfortunately for him, when his fifth-grade teacher dies, he discovers that ghosts can also see him, and attach themselves to him.

I love Nina Kiriki Hoffman’s writing and stories.

I love even better that eBooks can make these stories available without having to stumble upon an anthology that may or may not contain a story by authors I love. I can’t say that Amazon has made is easy for me to find these stories, but the store is getting better, and the fact that they’re available at all is pretty wonderful as far as I’m concerned.

This is a stand alone story (as many of her stories are) so if you were looking for an introduction to her style, you could certainly do so here.
Rating: 8/10

Published by Tor

Things are going well for Mercy–except for the fact that her mother is driving her absolutely crazy with details for her upcoming wedding, which drives Mercy to beg Adam to elope, before things get even more out of hand. But can the Alpha of the Columbia River basin really get away with eloping?

OK, yeah, so there’s all this wedding/marriage stuff, but what is really fabulous about this book is the finally Mercy gets to learn something about her past. She discovers she isn’t the only walker around (and even that those she meets disdain the term skinwalker, as a different type of creature all together).

I love that we’re finally delving into the Native American mythos, and that (to me at least), it felt like she got it right. I really enjoyed the look at how Mercy became what and who she was.

I also have to admit that I appreciate her complicated relationship with her mother.

If you have not read the Mercy series, you should be able to read this book without much difficulty, but it will be much more rewarding to start at the first book and move your way forward to here.

Regarding the cover: I don’t dislike the covers in this series–in fact, I tend to like that they mostly seem to get Mercy right, unfortunately, I can’t stand the outfit she’s wearing and after the cover of Faith Hunter‘s Raven Cursed, this just falls way short. Mind you, it’s still better than lots of other stuff out there, but this is not portraying Mercy as a strong independent woman. So: please try harder Ace.
Rating: 8.5/10

Published by Ace

Jane Yellowrock is back in Asheville, NC, providing security for a vampire meeting. Lincoln Shaddock wants to lead his own clan, and has petitioned Leo Pellisser for that right. Shaddock’s ability to shorten the time of devoveo has made him a power, and so Lincoln must decide if he deserves to be Master of his own City.

Meanwhile, Jane is hoping to spend some time with Molly and her family, and hopes to help Rick resolve his inability to shift after being infected by the African Leopard. On top of all that, someone is trying to disrupt the conference, and there are deaths in the area that are being attributed the the vampires.

That’s a whole lot of Jane to deal with, and it only gets worse, the more she discovers.

I really like Jane. But I do have to wonder how much longer she’s going to be able to keep her secrets.

Also–the covers for this series are fabulous. That looks exactly the way Jane is portrayed in the story, and huzzah for her actually looking Native American.
Rating: 8/10

Published by ROC

These are (as the title suggests) four stories in Jane Yellowrock’s world.Three of the four stories feature Jane–the is Rick’s story of how he got his tats and came to work for the vampires.

The first story, “The Early Years” is very brief, just a peek at Jane leaving the orphanage where she was raised to set out on her own, and her (one presumes) discovery of Beast. It’s almost little more than a background sketch.

“Cat Tails” is the Rick story, and is moderately disturbing, mostly because the only character we know survives is Rick.

I very much liked the story “Kits” which tells how Jane and Molly became friends.

The finally story, “Blood, Fangs, and Going Furry,” takes place immediately after the events in Mercy Blade, as Rick has to deal with his infection by the weres.

All in all a nice collection. The first three stories could be read by anyone interested in dipping a toe into the Jane Yellowrock stories, but if you haven’t read the series, I’d recommend skipping the fourth story until you get caught up.
Rating: 8/10

Published by New American Library

This is a novella set in the same world as her Jane True series, but with a different group of characters, and set in Illinois.

Capitola, Moo, and Shar are the halfling detectives. Normally, they only take supernatural cases, but when Capitola’s father shows up at their office with a priest and missing Catholic school girls, they can’t say no, so in shorter order they’re embedded undercover at the school.

One of the things I really really liked was that Cappie and Moo did not go undercover as high school girls. Only Shar, the halfling succubus was pretending to be a teenager, and that’s not an unreasonable stretch (Must be young and desirable to survive. I’d say pretending to be a teenager was par for the course, there.) And the positions that Moo and Cappie took were logical and reasonable and pretty good ideas, actually.

Like the Jane True series, there is boinking and nudity and stuff like that. Which is not my thing, but I do like her world building, and I very much liked the three characters in this story.

The only negatives were that I found some of the parts of the story towards the end a little confusing, specifically the parts relating to world/character building/traits and why certain details were missed earlier.

Not bad for three bucks, and I wouldn’t mind other stories with these characters.
Rating: 7/10

I don’t know what it is, but sometimes, I think when my OCD is acting up, I have a hard time reading new books, instead going back to old favorites.

I think part of it may be a fear that I won’t be able to put a new book down, which would lead to short sleep, which would exacerbate my OCD…

Yeah. Something like that.

This was a reread of Thud, another Discworld novel about the Night Watch (or really, in this case, at this point it’s just The Watch).

Commander Vimes has his hands full, what with Vetinari ordering a vampire onto the watch, fighting breaking out all over town on the anniversary of Koom Valley, and the most important ritual–reading “Where’s My Cow” every night to young Sam, at six o’clock sharp.

Vetinari waved a languid hand. ‘But full cards congesting the street, Vimes, is a sign of progress.’ he declared.

‘Only in the figurative sense, sir,’ said Vimes.

‘All right,’ said Vimes, in the ringing vacuum. ‘Who’s going to be the first to tell me a huge whopper? Corporal Nobbs?”

‘Didn’t know what’d hit ‘em, eh?’ said Vimes.

Detrius looked mildly offended at this. ‘Oh no, sir,’ he said, ‘I made sure they knew I hit ‘em.’

Of course, I’d forgotten about all the bits in Koom Valley somehow. It’s odd, how I always forget what a tremendous commentary on the world these books are, until I’m reading those bits again.
Rating:8/10

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

I have a huge To Be Read pile, yet I can’t stop rereading this series.

This book starts off with Cal and Niko working on a kidnapping case. Cal–who is still pretty high strung (justifiably)–hates kidnapping cases, so there probably isn’t much chance things are going to go well.

So of course they don’t go well.

And before they’ve even recovered from that, they have a new case–a break in at the museum, with only a single, strange item missing.

One of the things we get in this story is the tiniest sliver of Robin’s history. It’s quite interesting to see the events that may well have kept Robin from turning out like Hob (see Moonshine)

But, as always, the writing and dialog are my favorite parts.

“And once again, the folklore monkeys got it wrong. Caps stained with blood.” Robin gave a foamy snort into his drink. “Yes, how frightening. A capering evil wearing a hat. Maybe he wears suspenders and short pants as well. Will the terror never end?”

Robin clarifies this lack of capering and short pants. And it is perry gruesome.

…I stopped counting. When it came to mathematics, there were three numerical concepts I was intersted in: barely worth the time, doable, and strategic fucking retreat. I didn’t need a calculator to know we were looking at the later.

That’s Cal and his mathematics of survival.

“What now boss?” I said with a groan. “I haven’t impaled a customer in days.”

“No,” he agreed with a bunched jaw. “You did, however, serve a vodyanoi a margarita on ice.”

“So?” I shrugged, not seeing the problem.

“With salt,” he added.

“And?” I twirled my fingers in an impatient come-on-already gesture.

“And half his face melted onto the bar.” He bent slightly and put his head even with mine. “Salt tends to do that to them.”

Once again, she’s worked in other creatures from folklore, making them both more horrible but yet more realistic than what you find in folklore.

The only bad note about this story is that it ends on a cliffhanger of sorts–with something bad appearing on the very last paragraph. I hate endings like that, and would have been perfectly content to leave the story the way it was before that last paragraph. Luckily, this is the only book (so far) in which she has done that.

Thank goodness.
Rating: 8/10

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 actually finished this a couple weeks ago, but somehow forgot to write about it.

For Christmas, the husband and wife team of Ilona Andrews made a novella, Magic Gifts, available for download from the website for a limited time. I of course downloaded it and once I figured out how to move it to my Kindle, read it.

Magic Gifts is a Kate Daniels novella. Kate and Andrea are still trying to get their business, “Cutting Edge Investigations”, off the ground. Unfortunately for them, they are only getting the cases that no one else wants.

After a particularly rough (and disgusting) day, Curran offers to take Kate out to dinner. Unfortunately, things never go as planned.

Adding to Kate’s problems, Jim is hounding her about dealing with the Mercenary Guild. (Kate’s aunt killed the head of the guild, and they’ve lacked a leader ever since.)

This is quite a long story, for a free novella. Some residual issues (ie the Mercenary Guild) are tied up and we meet some new creatures inhabiting the areal. The only thing that was not resolved was Andrea’s problems. However, she had those issues coming into the story, so their lack of resolution wasn’t an issue for me.

The story is no longer available for free download, but I’m sure that at some point in the future it will be available for purchase.
Rating: 8/10

This is a reread, because I was talking about it to someone else, and I just couldn’t resist going back to the start of this series.

There are so many things I love about this book, and this series. First and foremost, is the relationship between Cal and Niko.

“You should try literature that contains words of more than two syllables, little brother. You might just learn something.”

“‘Voluptuous’ has more than two syllables.” Turning the book right side up, I scanned the page. “So does ‘nymphomaniac,’” I added.

But the heart of it is in this passage:

“Niko!” I tossed the blade up with the unshakable faith that he would catch it. Absolute, utter faith, but that didn’t keep me from saying a silent prayer.

I’ve said it before–this series is at it’s heart a love story. The love of two brothers who, as Cal says above, have absolute, utter faith in each other.

And of course, there’s Cal and his attitude.

The relationship between my brain and my mouth tended to be casual at best.

Yeah. Been there.

I wheedled like a whiny twelve-year-old, as opposed to the whiny adult that I was.

Cal is all attitude, but with very good reason. But no matter that he is genetically half-monster, Niko keeps him human. Like I said, the love Niko and Cal have for each other–even when they’re sniping and grumbling and fighting–it gives each the ability to do things that are nearly impossible.

And now I have to attempt to read some of the other books I have, before I binge on the rest of this series. We’ll see how well I manage with that.
Rating: 8.5/10

Published by Roc

Walker is dead. Long live Walker.

Because now John Taylor is Walker, and now it is his job to keep order (of a sorts) in Nightside.

Unfortunately for him, someone has decided it’s time for Excalibur to make a reappearance in the world–and he needs to be the one to wield it.

Interestingly enough, they’re right. John Taylor already turned down power when it was offered, doesn’t want the power of being Walker, but like the power of being Walker, he can’t think of anyone else who would be up to the responsibility.

This was a good story, but I can’t say it was as good as previous stories. The dialog was perfect as always:

Julien suddenlt recognized the gold pocket-watch I was still holding in my hand. “How did you get that?”

“Walker left it to me in his will.”

“We haven’t even found his will yet!”

I shrugged. “Details, details…”

Julien sighed. “And you wonder why nobody trusts you…”

“No, I don’t. I don’t give a damn.”

But I really have to wonder where else Simon Green can take John Taylor. After all, he’s now Walker.
Rating: 7/10

Published by Ace

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

That was… unexpected.

Rating: 7/10

Published by Vertigo

This collection of urban fantasy stories has several of my favorite authors, so it was a no-brainer to get. The bad thing is that I’ve been reading this collection for several months, so I now have no idea what the stories at the start of the anthology were about, which is dangerous, because it means I may end up accidentally rereading several of them.

First up was Jim Butcher‘s HarryDresden story “Cursed.” I’ve become frustrated by the Dresden Files series the past couple books, so a nice short story about baseball was a pleasant change. Harry is asked to find out about a possible curse on the Chicago Cubs.

Delia Sherman‘s story was next, “How the Pooka Came to New York City.” It’s 1855 and tells how a pooka came to NY with a human, Liam O’Casey.

Worth the cost of the anthology alone was Ellen Kushner‘s “The Duke of Riverside.” I love Swordspoint, and the chance to read more about St. Vier and Alec met? Bliss.

I love Christopher Fowler‘s Bryant & May mystery series. This is an unrelated stand-alone story about, well… in theory it’s about a hold up, but it isn’t. Not really.

Patricia Briggs story “Fairy Gifts” is a vampire story, but it’s not one of those vampire stories. It’s of a boy who was forced to become a vampire, and more.

Pat Cadigan’s story “Picking Up the Pieces” was another story about fairy, but it’s also about family, and a woman looking after her sister.

Peter S. Beagle‘s story, “Underbridge” was unexpectedly dark, almost more horror than fantasy. It’s about a troll. And it isn’t a nice troll.

Naomi Novik, who wrote the Temeraire series, has a non-dragon entry–another vampire story, only this one about the problems of the housing market in New York city.

I’m not certain I’d classify Matthew Kressel’s story, “The Bricks of Gelecek” as urban fantasy. It’s not a modern setting, and it’s not especially urban. It is interesting and depressing.

Lavie Tidhar’s story, “The Projected Girl” was meloncholy. A boy discovers a magician’s diary, and wants to learn more about the magician and the trick he reads about in the book.

Holly Black‘s story “Noble Rot” is a ghoul love story. Really.

The last story in the anthology is Elizabeth Bear‘s “King Pole, Gallows Pole, Bottle Tree.” It’s a story of Las Vegas and memory and magic. It’s also extremely good.

Although there were several stories I didn’t care for, I believe that was more a matter of personal taste than quality. And the stories I did like, I liked very much.
Rating: 8/10

Published by St. Martin’s Griffin

I give up. After six months I’m about three-quarters of the way through, and haven’t enjoyed one single story I’ve read.

I generally like P.N. Elrod’s stories, and I’ve read several other anthologies she has edited, all of which I’ve enjoyed, but these stories? No. Yuck.

One possibility is that these are all based on Dracula (as is obvious from the title) and so they may lean more towards horror that I generally dislike. But these stories weren’t really that horrific–they didn’t leave me with that vague sense of nausea that horror often gives me. Instead, I just didn’t find them interesting.

So as my gift to myself at the end of the year, I’m going to stop trying to read this anthology and move on to something else.

Published by Ace

There’s trouble in Ankh-Morpork. Someone has committed at least two unauthorized murders, and the city golems are all acting funny.

Plus, the Watch continues to recruit more members, including dwarves who think it might be nice to maybe wear earrings and lipstick.

As usual, the best part of any Discworld book is the writing.

People look down on stuff like geography and meteorology and not only because they’re standing on one and soaked by the other. They don’t look quite like read science. But geography is only physics slowed down and with a few trees stuck on it, and meteorology is full of excitingly fashionable chaos and complexity.

(T)here were two good signs of a good alchemist: the Athletic and the Intellectual. A good alchemist of the first sort was someone who could leap over the bench and be on the far side of a safely thick wall in three seconds, and a good alchemist of the second sort was someone who knew exactly when to do this.

I, after hearing evidence from a number of experts, including Mrs Slipdry the midwife, certify that the balance of probability is that the bearer of this document, C. W. St John Nobbs, is a human being.
Signed, Lord Vetinari

Poor Nobby.

This last made me think of my friend Gina:

There was no mention of hot smelly breath and great clomping feet like soup places on a stick. Cows, in Sergeant Colon’s book, should go ‘moo’. Every child knew that. They shouldn’t go ‘mur-r-r-r-r-m!’ like some kind of undersea monster and spray you with spit.

I did have a couple issues with the formatting of this book–one page was misplaced, so I was very confused to “turn the page” and see Captain Carrot “putting his uniform back on” after a seemingly normal boring interview with Dorfl. A couple chapters later this became clear, but was very confusing at the time.

I mean, Carrot isn’t LIKE that.
Rating: 7/10

I have to say I’m glad I didn’t notice the floating man head until after I finished the book, because that floating man head totally doesn’t look like how I pictured Keldar.

Keldar is a rogue. That floating head? Just… doesn’t look smart enough to pull off the part.

But aside from that….

Audrey Callahan was born and raised a grifter, but she’s managed to escape from her family and go straight.

Kaldar Mar, the cousin of Cerise from Bayou Moon, is working for the Mirror, in the hopes of taking down The Hand–the group that destroyed much of his family.

And from previous books, Jack and George are the brothers of Rose, and are having a hard time dealing with the fact that as Edgers they will never be accepted by the weird, regardless of the nobility of their brother-in-law and ward. And Gaston is another of Cerise’s cousins, now training with Kaldar to become a mirror agent.

For a romance (and this is a romance and boinking book) it’s unusual to make two main characters teenage boys who happened to be main characters in a previous book, but it worked very well for this book. In On the Edge we spent a lot of time with George and Jack, and it was good to spend time with them again, and see how they’ve grown and come to deal with their sister’s happily ever after.

As a series, these books are similar to Marjorie Liu‘s Dirk & Steele series, where you have a group of character’s whose stories are related yet can be read separate from one another. Which I like very much.

To be more specific, I really enjoyed Fate’s Edge. Audrey is a fabulous heroine, skilled and self-reliant and although she has a somewhat ugly history, it hasn’t broken her. And of course I have a soft spot for rogues, and Kaldar most definitely belongs to that class.

All in all I am thoroughly enjoying this series, and highly recommend it.

Despite the boinking.
Rating: 8.5/10

Tiffany Aching is now officially a witch, and is doing her best to be a good witch, and perhaps even counteract some of the stereotypes.

But she also has a past, and it looks like someone is riled up about her past adventures with the Wintersmith, and is going to make her life–and the life of all other witches–miserable.

I don’t know what it is, but I had a hard time getting into this story. I liked other Tiffany Aching stories, but I had a hard time getting into this one.

In fact, there were only two passages that I took note of while reading (on my kindle, which makes making note of passages very easy.

…then there was the throwing of the rice, followed of course by the careful sweeping up of the rice, because it is wicked to waste good food.

That is a fabulous passage.

So, it was good compared to a lot of other fantasy out there, but for a Terry Pratchett book, I found it a bit disappointing, even if I’m not quite sure why it didn’t hold my attention as tightly as Discworld books normally do.
Rating: 7/10

Published by HarperCollins

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

I love Discworld.

That’s not to say I love all the books, but some of the character arcs in this series feature some of the best writing around.

Guards! Guards! is the start of the Night Watch story arc.

When we meet Captain Samuel Vimes, he’s drinking himself into the gutter to make dealing with his job even slightly tolerable. And of course there are the remaining two members of his squad: Sargent Colon and Corporal Nobby.

Carrot–a strapping young man who was adopted by dwarves is distressed to discover that he is not himself a dwarf, and that it would probably be best for everyone if he made his way out in the world for awhile, and through various circumstances, he ends up a lance corporal in the Night Watch.

I love all these characters, but even better, this book spends a great deal of time with my all time favorite Discworld character, the Librarian.

Very senior librarians…once they have proved themselves worthy by performing some valiant act of librarianship, are accepted into a secret order and are taught the raw arts of survival beyond the Shelves We Know. The Librarian was highly skilled in all of them, but what he was attempting now wouldn’t just get him thrown out of the Order but probably out of life itself.

Someone out there was about to find that their worst nightmare was a maddened Librarian.

With a badge.

I love the Librarian.

But of course, one of the strongest parts of the Night Watch arc (and really, of all Discowrld books) is the biting social commentary.

They avoided one another’s faces, for fear of what they might see mirrored there. Each man thought: one of the others is bound to say something soon, some protest, and then I’ll murmur agreement, not actually say anything, I’m not as stupid as that, but definitely murmur very firmly, so that the others will be in no doubt that I thoroughly disapprove, because at a time like this it behooves all decent men to stand up and be almost heard…

But no-one said anything. The cowards, each man thought.

Have you read a better description of how atrocities occur?

‘Well, well,’ he said. ‘So we’re privy councillors now. Just fancy.’

‘Hmm,’ said the assassin.

‘I wonder what’s the difference between ordinary councillors and privy councillors?’ wondered the merchant aloud.

The assassin scowled at him. ‘I think,’ he said, ‘it is because you’re expected to eat shit.’

And then there’s this:

‘I believe you find life such a problem because you think there are the good people and the bad people,’ said the man. ‘You’re wrong, of course. There are, always and only, the bad people, but some of them are on opposite sides.’

Yeah, I love Terry Pratchett.
Rating: 9/10

Published by Random House

First off, this is a Steampunk romance, with equal weight being given to both descriptors. So there is lots of boinking.

However, aside from the boinking, there are interesting characters and some good world building.

Sir Merrick Hadrian is a Knight of the Order of the Round table, and has special abilities that allow him to battle supernatural creatures. His aunt, Dorothy, is a bluestocking, and believes that women are the equals of men both intellectually and magically.

Miss Caroline Bristol is a member of Dorothy’s circle, and has been working as a governess, however, she continually has problems with her employers attempting to take advantage of her.

But aside from these two there are five children–all special in their own right–who draw not just the attention of Sir Merrick but also the monsters who walk the night streets of London.

As I said, it was a fun romp, and I really liked the world building, and was impressed by how she managed to come up with reasonable solutions to the problems imposed by the constraints of the place and time. Enjoyable and at the kindle price, worth reading as long as you’re willing to accept the boinking.
Rating: 7/10

Published by Carina Press

Bone Shop is Marla Mason’s back story–from how she first discovered magic to how she ended up chief sorcerer of Freeport.

This was originally published as a serial novel on Tim Pratt’s website after a financial crisis, but is now available as an eBook or a paper book.

It’s short, but if you’re read the Marla Mason stories, this is a fascinating look at how Marla became Marla.
Rating: 7/10

Published by Tropism Press

Abigail Irene, Sebastian,and Phoebe have traveled to Moscow, as they attempt to get over their loss of Jack. However, Sebastian spent time here with Jack, before he met Irene and Phoebe, and his memories of the place include Jack.

And murder–past and present–inserts itself into their lives, both causing problems and distracting them.

I like these stories. I like that Abby Irene is a solid middle aged woman–witch actually–with no desired for immortality despite the fact that Sebastian could give it to her.

I also like the world where magic and the supernatural exist yet the course of history trundles on, different from our history, yet it some ways, the same.

The White City shifts chapter by chapter between the past and the present. Sebastian remembers his time in the city with Jack while Abby Irene helps to investigate the murder in which they find themselves enmeshed. Sometimes I’m annoyed by stories that skip back and forth in time, but in this novella it worked well, and I had a hard time putting the story down, when each chapter left me wanting to find out what happened next.
Rating: 8/10
Published by Subterranean Press

This is more of a short story than even a novella, so I can’t say it was worth the $3 purchase price.

It wasn’t bad, it just wasn’t awesome.

Typical steampunk romance, with female character who loves gears and cogs and thinks no one will ever love her and is of course stunningly gorgeous once she’s cleaned up.

Interestingly, the father is the cad in the story, which was an interesting twist, but not enough of a twist to make it a really really good story.
Rating: 5.5/10

This is the third and final book in the Master Li and Number Ten Ox trilogy. I’m a little sad to see it end, but it was quite enjoyable.

Oddly, the passages that caught my attention in this book weren’t the funny ones, but the ones that related to other recent discussions.

“Both the I-ching and the Huai-nan-tzu assert that natural disasters are not caused by heaven, but allowed by Heaven. If men wllfully disrupt the natural order of things,the gods will refuse to intervene while nature purges itself of the toxin, usually violently, and if the innocent suffer along with the guilty–well the only way men learn anything is to have it smashed into their heads with an ax.”

Feels more like something from Martin Luther than from China.

And then there is this:

Old P’i-pao-ku, “Leatherbag Bone,” was Mrs. Wu’s grandmother, and she was waiting at the confectioner’s to get hard sugar decorations of the five poisonous insects (centipede, scorpion, lizard, toad, snake) to spread over top of her wu tu po po cake, which she would purposely make as inedible as possible without being actually deadly. Every family member eats a slice on the fifth day of the fifth moon, and sickness demons stare at people capable of eating stuff like that and go elsewhere.

Well. That explains some things.

Was this as good as The Bridge of Birds? Maybe not. But it was still good, and quite fun, and I highly recommend the series.
Rating: 8/10

Published by Subterranean Press

I wouldn’t say the best necessarily, but it’s not a bad selection of stories. And the fact that I got to read it for free probably helped.

“Appetite for Murder” is Simon R. Green story that does not feature John Taylor or Eddie Drood, but is set in Nightside. If you have never read a Nightside story, this would actually be a decent introduction to the place. If you enjoyed this story, I’d recommended the Nightside books. If you have read the Nightside series, one twist won’t be much of a surprise, but the other… Sam Warren has been a Detective in the Nightside for a long long time. He’s worked for the Authorities, and finds killers who manage to step out of line even in a place where murder is cheap and easy and all but expected on every corner.

Patricia Briggs‘ story, “Star of David” is set in the same world as her Mercy Thompson series, but as with Simon R Green’s story, does not feature the main characters from that series, and again, works as a very good introduction to her world. Stella helps place kids in foster homes, and when it’s reported that one boy she’s placed has attacked his foster parents, she thinks something is wrong, and turns to someone she said she wouldn’t call, to help he resolve the problem.

“Grave-Robbed” is one of P.N. Elrod‘s Jack Fleming story, but like other Fleming stories, does not require a knowledge of previous books, and (as with the previous two stories) is a good introduction to that world. A (very) young woman comes looking for Escott, but gets Jack. Because she needs immediate help, she decides to accept Jack’s assistance. Her sister has fallen prey to a medium who is taking her for everything she’s got, and it looks like he wants to marry the wealthy window. Jack’s client wants this scum exposed before her sister ends up even worse off.

I’ve read several other of Mike Resnick’s Harry the Book stories, and was disappointed that I couldn’t find any others. Apparently Harry only lives in short stories, like “Occupational Hazard.” Harry is a bookie, and when one of his client puts in a hex that goes over Harry’s hex protection, Harry is in deep trouble.

I love Nina Kirki Hoffman‘s stories, so stumbling across on is always a pleasure. Terry is a witch, and although she practices some black magic, she still lives with her mother (although she is forbidden to practice in the house). She sells spells and makes plenty of money, but just doesn’t want live alone, and aside from her magic practice, she gets along fine with her mother. As with all her stories, I love the various twists.

“Doppelgangster” is similar to (but not the same as) Laura Resnick‘s book Doppelgangster, and I think I prefer the story without Esther (the main character in the book).

Max Allen Collins’ story, “The Night of their Lives” was one that surprised me into liking it. It’s set during a great Depression, and a cop goes undercover into a shantytown to see if he can find out who has killed 11 of the down-down-on-their luck. I really liked this story, for a variety of reasons.

Norman Partridge’s “Road Dogs” was an odd story, but one that I enjoyed once I got into it. Glen Barlow comes into town when he learns that his sister has died. Glen believe that her boyfriend is behind the murder, and there is no convincing him otherwise.

Kelly Armstrong‘s story “Staked” has the same characters as her story “Bitten” but like most of the other stories in this anthology, is accessible without having read any other of her stories. It’s not a bad story, but it wasn’t my favorite.

Kristine Kathryn Rusch‘s story “Corpse Vision” was one of the darker stories. Joe is slowly drinking himself to death in Paris, while working for a newspaper instead of writing his novel like he wanted to. This story takes awhile to get going, but it is quite good once I got into it. I suppose the problem with anthologies is that when a story has a very different tone from from the one before it, it takes a bit to settle down and figure what’s going on.

I only actively disliked one story, “Ninja Rats on Harleys” which was just a whole bunch of WTF and was the one story in the collection that felt like a chapter out of an existing book rather than a whole and complete story.

There were a couple other stories in the collection, but I didn’t love or hate them, so all in all, this was a pretty strong collection.
Rating: 8/10

Published by Skyhorse Publishing

I was a lot happier about this book before I discovered I’d paid full price for it.

Eliza D. Braun and Wellington Books are agents of the Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences who met when Braun rescued Books from Antarctica after he’d been kidnapped for the knowledge he has as Archivist for the Ministry.

I have to say I’m not quite sure what it is about the British and Peculiar, but I prefer the Peculiar Crimes Unit to the Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences. Despite the fact the later has steampunk.

First, the cover is not particularly reminiscent of the story, in that there aren’t many goggles, and I can think of no instances where Braun was dressed like that, and certainly none where she was posed like that. I’m not even sure I can figure any reason for her to be dressed in that manner, except, of course, to interest boys in the book.

Ugh.

As for the story, it was ok.

Steampunk combined with pulp mystery. Pretty much a winning combination, except for the couple of places where it went off the rails completely. I could very much have done without the scene after the first dinner at mansion. Yuck. Which was the heart of the problem. The story changes from a pulp romp to some overly vivid descriptions of violence and sexual domination that were–well, I think they were unnecessary, and they put both Braun and Books in a bad light for doing nothing to stop those events. (I can almost accept them standing by as cold blooded murder occurs, but the icky pedophilia? No. Sorry.)

And of course in the finest pulp fashion, the story ends with unsolved mysteries leading to the next book.

No thanks.
Rating: 6/10

Kate and Cecy are once again embroiled in magical mysteries.

James is called to investigate the disappearance of a magician who was inspecting the rail lines up north. Thomas and Kate thus get to care for James and Cecy’s brood, and soon have their own adventures (of course).

As with the first book, the story is told in letters between Kate and Cecy as well as the occasional letter between James and Thomas. And as with the first book, I love the way the story unfolds.

If you have read the first two books, you’ll enjoy this one. You should also be able to read Ten Years after without having read the first two books, but I don’t know why you’d want to.
Rating: 8/10

Published by Graphia