Fables Vol. 20: Camelot (2014) Bill Willingham, Mark Buckingham, Steve Leialoha, Russ Braun, Barry Kitson I actually read this last month, but since it was on the day we caught the train, I forgot about it when I came back. It wasn’t until I was trying to clear off the table I remembered I’d hadn’t […]
Blood Bound (2007) Patricia Briggs This is a second book in the Mercy Thompson series, and finds Mercy inadvertently caught up in vampire business. There are so many little tidbits that I enjoy, dropped randomly throughout the books. The Marrok, the leader of the North American werewolves, insists that all of the wolves wear a […]
The Heiress Effect (2013) Courtney Milan The is book two of the Brothers Sinister trilogy, and the second book I read, however, I started with book three. So, backwards. Miss Jane Fairfield is a wealthy heiress who is supposedly seeking a husband, however, she’s doing everything she possible can to let any man get close […]
Skinwalker (2009/2010) Faith Hunter narrated by Khristine Hvam I started listening to this, and ended up going back and re-reading the entire series. But I still finished the audio version, because I thoroughly enjoyed it. First, Beast and Jane have distinct voices, which is important, since they often have conversations in Jane’s mind. Also, the […]
Blood Trade (2013) Faith Hunter The sixth book in the Jane Yellowrock series finds Jane very much out of sorts. She hasn’t heard from Molly since the death of Evangelina, Rick is mad at her (because she thought he shot her), she’s still mad at Bruiser, and Beast is chained to Leo. But a job […]
Death’s Rival (2012) Faith Hunter Jane is back to working for Leo, and she’s out West to gather blood samples from sick vamps–and vamps aren’t supposed to be able to get sick. There is a lot that happens here. Jane has to pay the piper for statements she made earlier (in the last book). There’s […]
Raven Cursed (2012) Faith Hunter Book four in the Jane Yellowrock series finds Jane back in North Carolina, running security for a meeting between a representative from New Orleans and Lincoln Shadrock, a vampire who wants to become a Master. It’s also where Molly is, but Evan wants Molly to have nothing to do with […]
Blood Cross (2010) Faith Hunter The second book in the Jane Yellowrock series (and another re-read). Jane has remained in New Orleans to hunt the vampire who is making young rogues–and allowing the free into the population where they kill, unrestrained. Additionally, while Evan is in Brazil, Molly and her kids are staying with Jane, […]
Skinwalker (2009) Faith Hunter This is a re-read. The first book in the series introduces us to Jane Yellowrock, a skin walker and rogue vampire hunter. She’s come to New Orleans at the request of the local vampire council to take out a rogue who has been killing civilians. I enjoyed going back to the […]
Something from the Nightside (Audio Version) (2003/2008) Simon R. Green narrated by Marc Vietor This is the first book in the Nightside series, and introduces us to both John Taylor and the Nightside. You’ll probably know very quickly if this is for you or not. John “Bloody” Taylor is a private investigator who has been […]
Reborn (2014) CC Hunter This is part of the Shadow Falls series, but Kylie’s arc is completed, and we now come back to Della, who was the character who introduced me to Shadow Falls in her short story and “Turned at Dark” (still free!) then again in the novella “Saved at Sunrise“. What is Shadow […]
Tales of the Otherworld (2010) Kelley Armstrong Not knowing what I was in the mood to read, an anthology seemed just the thing. These are stories from Kelley Armstrong’s Otherworld series–stories that fill in the cracks between her novels–most of which I have not read. (I believe I have read Bitten, and that’s it.) There […]
The Indian Bride (2001/2005) Karin Fossum translated by Charlotte Barslund This is another Inspector Sejer mystery, and I’ve found these books to be very hit or miss as to whether I enjoyed them. Luckily, this one was a hit. Gunder Jomann has spent his life alone, with few friends except for his sister Marie. An […]
The InCryptid Short Stories: Jonathan Healy and Frances Brown (2013/2014) Seanan McGuire Having read the latest InCryptid book, I realized I had downloaded a bunch of InCryptid short stories, but not gotten around to reading them. Since I didn’t feel like starting a new book, I blew through them all. As of right now, all […]
Night Broken (2014) Patricia Briggs This is the latest Mercy Thompson book, which I got as a new release, but was waiting for me to finish Why Kings Confess, which was waiting for me to catch up on the Sebastian St. Cyr series (which I didn’t actually do). Mercy’s life is about to become miserable. […]
Why Kings Confess (2014) C.S. Harris I gave up re-reading the past books and the series and jumped straight to the newest book. No more hardback books for me, I think. The last several books have been set in a relatively compressed time frame–within a nine month period, to be precise, and in this book […]
What Remains of Heaven (2009) C.S. Harris I’d forgotten this book ends on a cliff-hanger of sorts. Not the mystery, but the situation of Hero Jarvis. Sebastian is pulled into yet another mystery when he formidable aunt asks him to look into the death of the Bishop of London and the presumed successor to the […]
Where Serpents Sleep (2008) C.S. Harris Now we reach the point where I started buying this series in hardback. And I hate hardback books. The fourth Sebastian St. Cyr book discovers Sebastian working with someone entirely unexpected: Hero Jarvis. A home for reformed fallen doves (ie women who want to escape prostitution) is burned to […]
When Gods Die (2006) C.S. Harris I have to admit, I’m reading slower than I have been, because I can’t afford to buy the eBook version, so I’m re-reading my paperbacks. It’s odd how much more comfortable I find an eBook to read. Plus, if I fall asleep reading an eBook, I don’t loose my […]
Magic Burns (2008) Ilona Andrews Book two in the Kate Daniels series finds Kate still working as a merc, but also still working for the Order. We get more important introductions here: Julie, Andrea, Auntie B, Raphael… Most of the main characters have now entered the series. We’re still missing a lot about Kate’s history […]
Magic Bites (2008) Ilona Andrews After finishing off the Inspector Salvo Montalbano series, I’ve been picking up books, trying to figure out what I was in the mood to read. There were several new releases that I quite liked, but they didn’t help me fall into what I wanted to read after. At a loss, […]
The Dance of the Seagull (2009/2013) Andrea Camilleri translated by Stephen Sartarelli Alas, I’m now back to current on the Inspector Montalbano series, and I have no idea what I want to read next. The story opens with Montalbano seeing a seagull dive to the ground, do a strange dance, and then die on the […]
Voice of the Violin (1997/2003) Andrea Camilleri translated by Stephen Sartarelli This story is a turning point for Catarella. “(I)n a few days, some absolutely up-to-date computer will be arriving… He wanted each of us to give him the name of an officer we thought had a special knack for computer science. Which I did.” […]
Known Devil (2014) Justin Gustainis Stan Markowski is a Sergeant in the Occult Crimes Unit of the Scranton Police. His daughter and his partner are both vampires, but he doesn’t hold that against them. (He can’t, really, since it’s his fault they’re vampires.) It was believed that only goblins were affected by intoxicating substances (in […]
Hard Spell (2011) Justin Gustainis (Occult Crimes Unit Investigation) Stan Markowski is a detective in Scranton’s Supernatural Crimes Investigation Unit. He works the night shift and works the cases that deal with supernaturals. My name’s Markowski. I carry a badge. Also a crucifix, some wooden stakes, a big vial of holy water, and a […]
The Terra-Cotta Dog (1996/2002) Andrea Camilleri translated by Stephen Sartarelli I was out of sorts yesterday and didn’t know what I wanted to read. Since I recently read Montalbano’s First Case, I decided I wanted to read some Andrea Camilleri–despite the fact that the first book in the series was loaned out to someone and […]
Generation V (2013) M.L. Brennan Fortitude Scott is the youngest of three children, and a vampire. But being a century and a half younger than his closest sibling, Chivalry, makes things difficult. Especially since he hasn’t fully transitioned and is trying very hard to hold onto his humanity. First, I really liked the vampire mythology […]
Taken (2012) Benedict Jacka After a terrible apprenticeship, Alex Verus hasn’t wanted much to do with other mages, and the Light Council in particular. But he’s starting to get a reputation, and it’s a reputation of someone whose enemies tend to end up missing or dead. None of this is really Alex’s fault, but it […]
The Shadow Pavilion (2009) Liz Williams There are certain people who are not happy about the changes The Emperor of Heaven is making. But you’d think plotting assassination would be beyond Celestial Beings. You’d be wrong. The assassin is a strange creature; a centuries old child of a demon and a human who lives Between, […]
Silence of the Grave (2002/2005) Arnaldur Indridason translated by Bernard Scudder This is the second book I’ve read by Arnaldur Indri?dason, and the second in his Inspector Erlendur series. This mystery is also quite different from other mysteries I typically read, but also quite good. There are two parts to the story–the tale set in […]
Fairest: Fairest In All the Land (2013) Bill Willingham Although this is supposed to be a stand-alone in the Fairest series, I think in many ways it is more of a Fables story. Unlike 1001 Nights of Snowfall, I wouldn’t recommend this to someone who hasn’t read the series. There is a lot happening that […]
The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie (2009) Alan Bradley As usual, I didn’t re-read the blurb before diving in, so I had no idea what was was starting, besides a mystery. The title made me think of the South, and cotton plantations, and pecan pie. I was very very wrong in this. It […]
Jack The Giant-Killer (Jack of Kinrowan) (1987) Charles de Lint Jack of Kinrowan is actually two books, that were later published as a single compendium: Jack the Giant-Killer and Drink Down the Moon. I’ll write about them separately, as they’re two separate books, published three years apart, even though you can only find Jack of […]
Evil Diva Anthology Volume 1 (2013) Peter Menotti, Joe Cashman, Stephen Hood, Team Diva Last week I discovered Evil Diva comics, and me being who I am, I went ahead and ordered Volume 1, so as to support the artists. I have Volume II or pre-order, and the comic in my RSS feed. Diva Beelze […]
A Sea of Troubles (2001) Donna Leon I have no idea how I read this story out of order. The first time, I read it later, because of the order at which Penguin published this series. This time, however, there was no reason, except that the books ended up out of order. And when I […]
Uniform Justice (2003) Donna Leon This is an exceptionally depressing story. It starts with a young man–a boy, really–found dead. Hanging in the restroom of a military academy. Yeah. Depressing. Suddenly he had a vision of what it must have been for the Moros to attempt to remove evidence of Ernesto’s presence from their homes, […]
Last Watch (2009) Sergei Lukyanenko translated by Andrew Bromfield At last I come to Last Watch. Theoretically, there is a fifth book, called New Watch available, but it’s listed as unavailable. Boo. Although Last Watch is broken into three parts, Common Cause, A Common Enemy, and A Common Destiny, they are–far more so than the […]
Day Watch (2000/2006) Sergei Lukyanenko translated by Andrew Bromfield This sequel to Night Watch picks up after the events of the previous book, but while the first book was written from the perspective of Anton Gorodetsky, Night Watch agent, this story is told from the perspective of three different Dark Ones, all three Day Watch […]
Weird Detectives: Recent Investigations (2013) edited by Paula Guran This is a collection of short stories previously published elsewhere, so I’d already read several of these stories. But there were several I had not, and several of the ones I’d read before were well worth reading again. This book has been sitting around for awhile, […]
Dressed for Death (1994) Donna Leon A body is discovered in Marghera–the industrial sector near Venice. It’s discovered because one of the worker’s in the slaughterhouse saw a pair of red high heeled shoes that he assumes were abandoned by one of the prostitutes who work in the area, and hoped they were clean and […]
Death in a Strange Country (1993) Donna Leon A body if found in the canal and all signs point to it being an American. ‘Ah, that could be it,’ the doctor said. ‘An American.’ ‘What?’ ‘Why he’s in such good shape,’ Rizzaldi answered… ‘That might explain it. They’re always so fit, so healthy.’ Together, they […]
Fairest Vol. 2: Hidden Kingdom (2013) Lauren Beukes, Bill Willingham, Inaki Miranda The first volume of Fairest was about Briar Rose and the Snow Queen. This volume features Rapunzel, and her search for her children. Like the first volume, Wide Awake, this is a stand-alone story. It’s set before most of the events in Fables, […]
Magic Rises (2013) Ilona Andrews European shape-shifters have given The Beast Lord and his pack an offer they can’t resist: come guard a pregnant were and you’ll receive barrels of panacea–the potion that reduces the chance of loupism in young weres. It’s a trap of some sort, but they can’t figure out what kind, until […]
Death at La Fenice (1992) Donna Leon (A Commissario Brunetti Mystery) When I saw this on sale as an eBook deal of the day on Amazon, I snatched it up. I am slowly coming to prefer eBooks to paper books, and am always glad to get favorites in electronic format. I first stumbled across Commissario […]
Lord John and the Brotherhood of the Blade (2007) Diana Gabaldon This novel falls between the novellas Lord John and the Succubus and Lord John and the Haunted Soldier. Which makes for slightly complicated reading if you want to read in order, since the two novellas are in the same book. There are two story […]
Lord John and the Hand of Devils (2007) Diana Gabaldon Another re-read. I enjoyed these the first time around, and I’m enjoying them just as much the second time around. This is NOT a novel, this is, instead, three novellas. Because, apparently, this is as close to a short story as Diana Gabaldon can get. […]
Thieves’ World, Book 10: Aftermath (1987) edited by Robert Asprin and Lynn Abbey And now the series is back to where I enjoyed it–more petty arguments and thievery rather than war ranging on the physical and etheral plains. Dramatis Personae – Lynn Abbey Introduction – Robert Lynn Asprin Cade – Mark C. Perry Wake of […]
Thieves’ World, Book 3: Shadows Of Sanctuary (1981) Robert Asprin and Lynn Abbey Introduction by Robert Lynn Asprin Looking for Satan by Vonda N. McIntyre Ischade by C.J. Cherryh A Gift in Parting by Robert Lynn Asprin The Vivisectionist by Andrew Offutt The Rhinoceros and the Unicorn by Diana L. Paxson Then Azyuna Danced by […]
Thieves’ World, Book 2: Tales From the Vulgar Unicorn (1980) edited by Robert Asprin and Lynn Abbey Introduction by Robert Lynn Asprin Spiders of the Purple Mage by Philip José Farmer Goddess by David Drake The Fruits of Enlibar by Lynn Abbey The Dream of the Sorceress by A.E. van Vogt Vashanka’s Minion by Janet […]
Thieves’ World (1979) Robert Asprin and Lynn Abbey Introduction by Robert Lynn Asprin Sentences of Death by John Brunner The Face of Chaos by Lynn Abbey The Gate of Flying Knives by Poul Anderson Shadowspawn by Andrew Offutt The Price of Doing Business by Robert Lynn Asprin Blood Brothers by Joe Haldeman Myrtis by Christine […]