Killer Byte: A Diana Tregarde Short Story (1994) Mercedes Lackey A really long time ago–a lifetime ago it sometimes feels like–I read the Diana Tregarde books. And was quite disappointed when Mercedes Lackey stopped writing them. But as I didn’t have ready access to MZB’s Fantasy Magazine, I missed all the short stories. So when [...]
Full Moon City (2010) edited by Darrell Schweitzer and Martin H Greenberg I love anthologies. Though I have to admit that with the way paranormal romance has taken off, the ratio of wheat to chaff has been unfavorable for me. However, Carrie Vaughn and Peter S. Beagle were pretty compelling reasons to get this anthology. [...]
Blackout (2011) Rob Thurman I. Love. Rob. Thurman. There it is. I’m tempted to never ever learn anything about her personal life for fear she’ll one day go all Orson Scott Card on me, and if I lost these books the way I lost Ender’s Game, I believe I would be mortally crushed. What is [...]
Tiger Eye (2005) Marjorie M. Liu I picked up my first Dirk & Steele book at a grocery store, when I realized I had a wait in front of me and absolutely nothing to read. I knew when I bought it that it was a paranormal romance, so managed to enjoy it despite the boinking. [...]
The Gauntlet (2010) Karen Chance This is a short story that is also quite obviously an opening for a new historical paranormal romance, staring Kit Marlowe, vampire. It was a nice distraction while stuck in the car, but I have no interest in reading a series based on these characters, and the story was entirely [...]
Masked (2010) edited by Lou Anders Masked is a collection of superhero stories by a variety of writers, many of whom are well known comic writers. Matthew Sturges, who writes House of Mystery, wrote the opening story, “Cleansed and Set in Gold.” …and I just ended up rereading the story when I flipped through to [...]
First Drop of Crimson (2010) Jeaniene Frost I actually really like Jeaniene Frost’s writing, and loved all of the Night Huntress books I’ve read so far, even the ones I picked up in trepidation, thinking, “this can’t possibly be anywhere nears as good as I’m remembering the earlier books in the series to be.” However, [...]
Under Her Skin (2009) Ilona Andrews, Jeaniene Frost, Meljean Brook So, this was the first full book I read on the Nook. I love Ilona Andrews and also really like Jeaniene Frost, so I figured I couldn’t go too wrong for three bucks. These are three short paranormal romances, focusing on shape shifters, but also [...]
Silver Bourne (2010) Patricia Briggs Every time I get a new Patricia Briggs book, I hesitate before reading it, afraid that this is the time she’ll let me down. That her previous books can’t be nearly as good as I remember them, and maybe this time I’ll be disappointed. I never am, but that doesn’t [...]
Wild Hunt (2010) Margaret Ronald The sequel to Spiral Hunt finds Evie discovering that destroying the undercurrent’s power structure, while and good thing in and of itself, had unforseen repercussions. For one, some people now expect her to fill the void. For the other, if she doesn’t do it, someone else will. I quite liked [...]
Mercy Blade (2011) Faith Hunter This is the third Jane Yellowrock novel, and I’m still thoroughly enjoying the story line. Jane has taken on the job of rogue hunter for the New Orleans’ vampire clans, and is in the process of emptying her apartment in Appalachia to move south when a news broadcast announces the [...]
Tempest’s Legacy (2011) Nicole Peeler First and foremost, this is a boinking book. There is less boinking than in the last book, and the boinking actually wasn’t superfluous but was instead important to the course of the story, but still. Boinking. So be aware. Jane True is back in Rockabill, trying to recover from the [...]
The Good, the Bad, and the Uncanny (2010) Simon R. Green John bloody Taylor is still in Nightside, just as appalling as ever. The Authorities are gone, replaced by the new Authorities; not necessarily kinder and gentler, but almost certainly less evil than the group they replaced. And Walker is dying. The man who was [...]
Hellboy: Masks and Monsters (2010) Mike Mignola, James Robinson, Scott Benefiel, Jasen Rodriguez These are two tales outside of the Hellboy time line (ie this is not a sequel to The Wild Hunt) but are crossover with other characters including Batman and Starman. Batman doesn’t play a particularly large role (after all, he’s a busy [...]
Sins & Shadows (2009) Lyn Benedict If this hadn’t been my carry around to read during lunch book, I probably wouldn’t have finished it. But having nothing else to read, I slogged through and finished. But I didn’t like it. Where to begin with what I didn’t like? First and foremost, although there don’t seem [...]
Running with the Pack (2010) edited by Ekaterina Sedia When I saw there was a new werewolf anthology edited by Ekatrerina Sedia with a story by Carrie Vaughn I automatically ordered it. Then of course, once it arrived, it sat around like anthologies tend to do, waiting for the “right” time to read it. But [...]
The Naming of the Beasts (2009) Mike Carey 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 [...]
Sandman Slim (2009) Richard Kadrey 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 [...]
Bayou Moon (2010) Ilona Andrews Yes, yes, I know. Two floating head books in a row. But not only was I on vacation, but this is an Ilona Andrews book, and I love those. The first book in The Edge series had Rose attempting to survive on the Edge and raise her two younger brothers, [...]
The Last Twilight (2008) Marjorie M. Liu Rikki Kinn is a virus hunter for the CDC, and she’s in Africa looking at what may well be a new outbreak of Ebola. Unfortunately, a contagious and deadly disease turns out to be the least of her problems, when she discovers that she is being hunted–but no [...]
Ghost of a Chance (2010) Simon R. Green I can’t help myself. I know it isn’t good for me, but I have this addiction to Simon R. Green’s Nightside. I’ve read the Eddie Drood novels, and they’re OK, but they just aren’t the same. But I keep ordering them, and when I saw he had [...]
An Artificial Night (2010) Seanan McGuire How many miles to Babylon? Three-score and ten. Can I get there by candle-light? Yes, there and back again. If your heels are nimble and light, You will get there by candle-light. Things are not going well for Toby Daye. She sees an unpleasant harbinger, she’s getting calls from [...]
Dark and Stormy Knights (2010) edited by P.N. Elrod I can’t help myself–I love anthologies. And fantasy anthologies with writers who write their fantasy with a healthy does of mystery? Sign me up! All anthologies have high and low points, but overall this was a fairly strong group of stories. The book starts off with [...]
A Wild Light (2010) Marjorie M. Liu Maxine’s birthday starts out well–killing a demon, birthday party with her loved ones, unfortunately it doesn’t stay that way, and she wakes up to blood, death, and no memory of what happened. Hmm… now that I look back over my past reviews, I find myself less surprised at [...]
Thicker than Water (2009) Mike Carey 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 [...]
Face Off (2010) Mark Del Franco Laura Blackstone is still living her multiple lives, and after the events in the last book, Skin Deep, relations between humans and fae, as well as between different fae groups, are making her job even harder, as she is forced to take on the persona of any already existing [...]
Dead Men’s Boots (2007) Mike Carey I’ve actually been waiting for this book for awhile. The American publishing and access to this series is… quirky. I was able to get the British copies of the two books that follow this, but I had to wait about a year for this to be put out by [...]
Tracking the Tempest (2010) Nicole Peeler First off, there is a lot of boinking in this book. I’d forgotten about that in the time that had passed between this book and the first. Once I remembered that and was able to move myself into that frame of mind, I thoroughly enjoyed Tracking the Tempest. In [...]
Kitty Goes to War (2010) Carrie Vaughn The title actually made me somewhat reluctant to read this book, despite the fact I have really enjoyed the other books in this series. Because despite being a werewolf, Kitty is still a radio host. Luckily, Kitty does not, in fact, actually go to war herself. She does, [...]
The Wild Road (2008) Marjorie Liu Why yes, this is a floating head & torso romance. However, as I am on crutches and spending a lot of time waiting, I needed a diverting book to keep in my purse, and since I enjoyed The Fire King (another floaty head romance book set in the same [...]
Magic Bleeds (2010) Ilona Andrews Things never go right for Kate Daniels. She makes dinner for Curran, and he never shows up, and when she calls looking for him, she’s blown off. Then heading back to work after a long day, she’s called to check out an emergency, and things go downhill from there. There [...]
Butcher Bird (2007) Richard Kadrey Spyder lives just on the edge of being a deviant. He’s a tattoo artist and owns a shop with his childhood best friend, Lulu, who does piercings and body mods. He drinks and smokes and enjoys the company of women of questionable morals, but underneath that he’s actually not a [...]
Dead and Gone (2009) Charlaine Harris When I first discovered the Sookie Stackhouse books the were like a revelation: Romance can be fun? Really? And they were fun! Mysteries, vampires and sex that wasn’t completely ridiculous! Then at some point, they started to get ridiculous. It seemed as if every supernatural creature adored and wanted [...]
Jailbait Zombie (2009) Mario Acevedo Synopsis: Felix Gomez has zombie problems, specifically, the Araneum wants him to find the source of the current zombie infestation and put a stop to it. To add insult to injury, the don’t even seem to trust him and are sending Jolie to help him with the task. It’s probably [...]
The Shadow Pavilion (2009) Liz Williams 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 [...]