The Red Heart of Jade (2006) Marjorie Liu Mirabelle Lee lost the love of her life as a teenager. Since then, she’s become the archeologist she had dreamed of becoming as a child, and is now in China helping uncover ancient mummies and artifacts. Dean Campbell lost the love of his life as a teenager–the […]
Shadow Touch (2006) Marjorie Liu Artur Loginov is an ex-Russian mobster with the gift (or curse) of psychometry–he gets impressions and information from touching objects. He works for Dirk & Steele, which fronts as a private investigation agency, but is far more than that. Elena Baxter works as a volunteer in hospitals, which gives her […]
Tiger Eye (2005) Marjorie Liu Dela Reese creates weapons–beautiful knives and swords–as well as other art, with her gift of metal working. While browsing a market in Beijing, a woman sells her a puzzle box–and almost immediately someone threatens her. Two thousand years ago Hari was made into a slave by the Magi–mostly used over […]
Swordspoint (1987) Ellen Kushner I have no idea what brings it on, but I’ve been in one of those moods where I read a few paragraphs of a book, decide I’m not in the mood for it, and try something else. As is typically, I have to resort to something I know I love, so […]
Cat o’ Nine Tales, Audible Version (2013) Faith Hunter narrated by Khristine Hvam This is the audio collection of the stories set in Jane Yellowrock’s world. It has many–but not all–of the stories in Blood in her Veins. “WeSa and the Lumber King” “The Early Years” “Cat Tats” “Kits” “Haints” “Signatures of the Dead” “First […]
Rivers of London:
Opal (2018) Maggie Stiefvater This is a short story set after the conclusion of the Raven Boys story, The Raven King. Although Adam and Ronan are in the story, it is all from the point of view of Opal, the dream creature that Ronan brought into the world with him. In dreams, Ronan was always […]
Sixth Watch (2015/2016) Sergei Lukyanenko translated by Andrew Bromfield This text is mandatory reading for the forces of Light. —THE NIGHT WATCH This text is mandatory reading for the forces of Darkness. —THE DAY WATCH This is the final book of the Night Watch series. Definitely and irrevocably the final book of the series. It’s […]
New Watch, Audible Version (2012/2014) Sergei Lukyanenko translated by Andrew Bromfield narrated by Paul Michael I don’t love this book as much as the previous, but I still love this series and spending time in this world. Nadia is now ten, and in training at the Night Watch. Sveta is still out of the Watch, […]
Burn Bright (2018) Patricia Briggs This is the fifth book in the Alpha & Omega series. Bran has not yet returned from helping to rescue Mercy from the vampires in Europe–he claimed he wanted to visit Samuel in Africa–leaving Charles in charge on Bran’s pack and the wildlings–the older werewolves and those on the edge […]
Last Watch, Audible Edition (2009/2010) Sergei Lukyanenko translated by Andrew Bromfield narrated by Paul Michael The fourth book in the Watch series is another one I really enjoy. A Russian college student is murdered in Edinburgh Scotland, and because the young man’s father had links to the Watches, and they young man appears to have […]
Twilight Watch, Audible Version (2006/2007/2010) Sergei Lukyanenko translated by Andrew Bromfield narrated by Paul Michael This might well be my favorite book of the series, partially because Anton and Svetka are happily married and that relationship is a strength, and partially because the events are so unexpected. Plus, of course, it’s a delight. “Svetka,” I […]
Day Watch, Audio Edition (1999/2006/2010) Sergei Lukyanenko translated by Andrew Bromfield and narrated by Paul Michael The second book in the watch series. This is, as the title says, about the day watch. It’s very strange. I don’t enjoy reading the first story, but I quite like listening to it. The other stories I enjoy […]
Night Watch, Audio Version (1998/2006/2010) Sergei Lukyanenko translated by Andrew Bromfield and narrated by Paul Michael Last year I re-read books one through five of the Night Watch series, but kept putting off reading the final book. So when I finished off the final (published) Jane Yellowrock book, I decided I should re-listen to Night […]
Cold Reign, Audio Edition (2017) Faith Hunter narrated by Khristine Hvam I’ve been working my way through the Jane Yellowrock audio books since 2014. It’s been lovely since it’s allowed me to keep the story and world current in my brain, so I didn’t feel the need to go back and re-read every time a […]
Rising Stars: Visitations (2002) J. Michael Straczynski Visitations is four short stories, the first two of which are the background of what the Specials were. Interestingly, the recurring character throughout the entire run is Dr Wells, the man who was supposed to watch the kids, but also report on them to the government. The first […]
From the Editorial Page of the Falchester Weekly Review (2016) Marie Brennan This short story is a series of scientific letters between Isabella Camherst and Benjamin Talbot in “The Falchester Weekly Review” about a supposed discovery made by Talbot. It’s a brief story, and silly, since it’s all the politeness of scientists accusing each other […]
Rising Stars: Voices of the Dead / Bright (2006) by Fiona Avery, Dan Jurgens, Staz Johnson, Al Rio This is actually the last published of the Rising Stars comics, but it’s my least favorite, and since there was no need to read the latter comics in order, I read it before Visitations because I don’t […]
The Raven King (2016) Maggie Stiefvater Believe it or not, I preordered this book and got it when it was published. And then proceeded to not read it. Why? Because I knew this was the last book in the series. Because we’d been told from the very start that Gansey was going to die. As […]
Rising Stars, Vol. 3: Fire And Ash (2005) J. Michael Straczynski, Keu Cha, Ken Lashley, Christian Zanier, Jason Gorder, John Livesay, Edwin Rosell, David Wohl, Dennis Heisler, Dreamer Design, Robin Spehar, Liquid!, Matt Nelson, John Starr, Tyson Wengler And the story ends. We see the culmination of the paranoia and fear that those in power […]
The Myth Manifestation (2018) Lisa Shearin Our world is populated by a greater variety of creatures than we might imagine, from vampires and werewolves to goblins and dwarves and all variety of creatures considered mythical. For these creatures to hide in plain sight, a treaty was hammered out 100 years earlier, to keep fights that […]
The Brimstone Deception, Audio Version (2016) Lisa Shearin narrated by Johanna Parker This is a series that we both listen to on car trips. I generally try to get input as to what Michael wants to listen to (since he’s the driver) but generally it’s me picking a couple books and him choosing one of […]
Bridge of Birds: A Novel of an Ancient China That Never Was (1984) Barry Hughart Set in the Middle Kingdom of China, Year of the Tiger 3337 (AD 639) All the children in the village between the ages of eight and thirteen have fall victim to an unknown illness, and all the silkworms have died, […]
Rising Stars, Vol. 2: Power (2002) by J. Michael Straczynski, Ken Lashley, Christian Zanier, Stuart Immonen, Brent Anderson, John Livesay, Brett Evans, Dan Kemp If, perhaps, you thought the first volume was a little confusing, this volume begins with a synopsis: “Mediaweek: Ten Years After” which gets you up to speed on what happened before, […]
Rising Stars, Vol. 1: Born In Fire (2001) J. Michael Straczynski, Jason Gorder, Keu Cha, Christian Zanier I really really love this comic. Enough so that this is the first time I’ve actually stopped between volumes to review the first separately (usually I just plow right through without stopping). Here is the start: This is […]
Dead Man Walking: A country house murder mystery with a supernatural twist (2016) Simon R Green I tend to either love Simon R Green’s series, or … not. This is a series I like I think. Ishmael Jones works for a super secret agency that takes care of beings and events that would disturb the […]
Silence Fallen (2017) Patricia Briggs I have no idea how I did it, but I somehow completely missed reading this when it came out last spring. This story is slightly different in that for most of the book the POV switches between Adam and Mercy. Mercy is first person, Adam is third person. This would […]
The Tropic of Serpents (2014) Marie Brennan The second novel in the Lady Trent series finds Isabella preparing to go on another scientific journey–this one to Eriga, where they hope to document other types of dragons. The warnings delivered in my first foreword continue to apply: if you are likely to be deterred by descriptions […]
Flame in the Dark (2017) Faith Hunter The third Soulwood novel finds Nell at the scene of a murder–a party where a vampire was in attendance and could have been the intended victim of the assassin. Nell is still attempting to assimilate all the changes in her life: her work for PsyLED, her relationship with […]
Rivers of London: Vol. 4 Detective Stories (2017) Ben Aaronovitch, Andrew Cartmel, Luis Guerrero, Lee Sullivan The fourth Rivers of London comic finds Peter being interviewed to become a detective. The gentleman interviewing him is a bit unprepared for what he’s about to get. There is a lot to love about this comic. First off, […]
The Far West (2012) Patricia C. Wrede There are plans for a new expedition to explore and research the Far West, and they’re looking for scientists and others with experience to join. In my experience, the things everybody knows are just exactly the ones that are most likely to be mistaken in some important way […]
Across the Great Barrier (2011) Patricia C. Wrede Eff Rothmer has returned to Mill City, and much to her chagrin, people are calling her a hero, for the work she did in coming up with a way to destroy the mirror bug infestation. BEING A HEROINE IS NOWHERE NEAR THE FUN FOLKS MAKE IT OUT […]
Thirteenth Child (2009) Patricia C. Wrede This story is set in an alternate US (North Columbia) in the mid-1800s. (T)he Columbian Presidents past the first five—George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Eduard Baier, and Herman Augustus Morton. Eff is the twin of a seventh son, and also a thirteenth child. EVERYBODY KNOWS THAT A SEVENTH […]
Into the Fire (2017) Jeaniene Frost The fourth and final book in the Vlad and Leila series finds them trying to undo the links that Leila has to Mircea the necromancer–links that look as if they can only be undone by death. This becomes an even bigger problem when the necromancers discover they can use […]
Bound by Flames (2015) Jeaniene Frost Third book in the saga of Vlad and Leila finds them still searching for Vlad’s enemy Szilagyi. It also finds Leila again kidnapped and tortured. I really didn’t care for how many times Leila was traumatized by Vlad’s enemies over the course of this series. I think reading the […]
Twice Tempted (2013) Jeaniene Frost Leila is living with Vlad, but quickly comes to discover that as much as she loves him, she cannot live with him not loving her. One of the things I particularly like is the history that the various vampires have seen. the Knighthood of the Temple of Solomon had secret […]
Once Burned (2012) Jeaniene Frost Leila was electrocuted as a teen. “So let me get this straight,” Auburn Hair said, drawing the words out. “You touched a downed power line when you were thirteen, nearly died, and then later, your body began giving off electric voltage and your right hand divined psychic impressions from whatever […]
A Natural History of Dragons: A Memoir by Lady Trent (2013) Marie Brennan After publishing many scientific papers upon the natural history of dragons, Lady Trent has finally decided to write her memoirs. This is a fantasy set in a world somewhat like ours, only with dragons, and at a time and place comparable to […]
Child of a Rainless Year (2005) Jane Lindskold Mira Fenn was nine when her mother disappeared, and she was sent away to Ohio to live with foster parents. The further she goes from her time in Las Vegas New Mexico, the stranger her early childhood seems. Especially her mother. I watched, mesmerized, as Mother transformed […]
A Long Day in Lychford (2017) Paul Cornell This is not my favorite of the Witches of Lychford stories. It isn’t bad, but the three main characters are separated for part of the book, and their interactions are often the best parts of the book. Not to say that there isn’t plenty of amusement. A […]
Volatile Bonds (2017) Jaye Wells One of the things I like about kindle books is that you can mark typos and other errors and submit them. Does this information go anywhere? Probably not, but it makes me feel better. The editing of this book was so bad that I didn’t bother submitting errors, because I […]
River of Stars (2013) Guy Gavriel Kay I had forgotten just how melancholy the end of this book was. That doesn’t make the book any less good, but it did leave me craving something happy when I finished it. As with all Guy Gavriel Kay books, there are a variety of characters you follow over […]
Shadowhouse Fall (2017) Daniel José Older This is the second book in the Shadowshaper Cypher series. Sierra is coming to terms with being the Lucera and leading a team of Shadowshapers. She’s also learning that all of this is going to be far more dangerous that they could have guessed, because The Sorrows–the House of […]
Firebug (2014) Lish McBride I have this thing where if I really love an author, I sometimes have difficulty starting a book in a new series. Because I’m afraid the new book won’t live up to my expectations of the other books I’ve read, so I keep putting off reading it. Lish McBride fell into […]
Under Heaven (2010) Guy Gavriel Kay With bronze as a mirror one can correct one’s appearance; with history as a mirror, one can understand the rise and fall of a state; with good men as a mirror, one can distinguish right from wrong. —LI SHIMIN, TANG EMPEROR TAIZONG Guy Gavriel Kay’s writing is always epic, […]
A Rare Book of Cunning Device, Audio Short Story (2017) Ben Aaronovitch narrated by Kobna Holdbrook-Smith This is a Peter Grant short story, available only as an audible short story (currently free). Oh My Dog I love this so much. Peter is summoned to the London British Library because the library (who knew his mother) […]
Who Killed Sherlock Holmes? Audio Edition (2016) Paul Cornell narrated by Damian Lynch Quill’s group is in trouble. After events in the last book, Ross is abrely acknowledging Costain’s existence, Quill is obsessed with the sign outside Hell, and Lofthouse is finally looking into resolving her own problems. The three other members of his team […]
The Severed Streets (2015) Paul Cornell narrated by Damian Lynch (Shadow Police) Even though I *knew* the big surprise of this story, it still came as a shock when it happened. This is an amazing entry into this series, and the narrator continues to do a fabulous job. Published by Audible Studios Rating: 9/10
Rivers of London: Detective Stories #3: Cry Me a River (2017) by Ben Aaronovitch, Andrew Cartmel, Lee Sullivan, Luis Guerrero This one is actually a murder mystery–a ghost is trying to get his murder resolved, even though most of the principals died long ago. Because Peter can talk to the ghost, he looks into it. […]
Rivers of London: Detective Stories #2: Old Soldiers (2017) Ben Aaronovitch, Andrew Cartmel, Lee Sullivan, Luis Guerrero, Gary Erskine, Yel Zamor This story takes place before Leslie left the Folly to join the Faceless Man. They are called to an art gallery not because of a theft, but because a painting appeared–an authentic Goya. This […]