In years past, I read more fantasy than any other genre, but this year fantasy books are coming in a distance third. Which is fine, since variety is good! And I am keeping up on some fantasy series, several even as pre-orders (although I realize that both of Faith Hunter’s 2019 books went unrated, because a LOT happened. I probably won’t be able to rate them until a re-read, when I’ve had more time to digest all the events.

Fantasy, Supernatural

Lies Sleeping by Ben Aaronovitch (8/10) is a Rivers of London novella that is outside the Peter Grant timeline. It’s set in Germany, and we get to see Germany’s equivalent of the Folly, and an apprentice magician there.

Spoiler: this apprentice is nothing like Peter.

I’ve avoided reading reviews of recent books in this series, because it’s taking him a long time to come out with a new Peter Grant story. If the comics and novellas like this are ways of him dealing with writer’s block or being unsure how to go forward with Peter, I am fine with that. I’d rather have a good Peter Grant book that takes a couple years, than something crappy he puts out under pressure.

Storm Cursed by Patricia Briggs (8/10) is the 12^th (or 11^th if you don’t count the anthology) Mercy Thompson book. The repercussions of claiming the Tri-Cities are as under pack protection are still rolling out, but it’s not all bad, because the pack can often deal with problems that might lead to regular law enforcement officers getting killed.

One of the things I especially enjoyed is that we get a little bit of Wulfe, who is a true chaotic neutral character. I’d hate him in person, but he’s wonderful to read about.

The Phoenix Illusion by Lisa Shearin (8/10) is the 6^th SPI Files book, and Lisa Shearin switched to self-publishing here. A couple years ago this might have been a concern, but she clearly still has editors, so the book is just as good as the previous ones.

I adore Mac.

As much as I wanted to be as badass as my coworkers, I’d come to accept that it simply wasn’t gonna happen, but that didn’t stop me from training and trying. It was the least I could do for the people who had to work with me.

Fright Court by Mindy Klasky (8/10) is the first book in her Magical Washington, but unfortunately, as much as I liked this story, the rest of the series—and her parallel series—both fell flat for me. Luckily, you can read this book without having to read the rest of the series, so if you’d like a fun supernatural mystery, this is good as a stand-alone.

The Books of 2019