The Dragon Conspiracy, Audible Version (2015) Lisa Shearin, narrated by Johanna Parker This is another audio book I finished earlier in the fall and forgot to review. The second SPI files book finds Makenna and Ian at a Gala opening at the Met, displaying a collection of rare gems that will soon be up for […]
Broken Soul, Audible Version (2014) Faith Hunter, read by Khristine Hvam I actually finished this a couple months ago, but forgot to review it. Oops! Leo has agreed to Jane’s exorbitant sum for security for the visit of the European Vampire council. Derek Lee has become Leo’s new Enforcer, and is having issues with some […]
Salsa Nocturna, Audible Version (2012/2014) Daniel José Older, read by the author As with his Bone Street Rumba novels, Daniel Jose Older reads his own work, and it’s totally great! This short story collection was published before Half-Resurrection Blues and features not just Carlos and Riley, but one of my favorite characters, Gordo. I keep […]
Curse on the Land (2016) Faith Hunter This is the second Soulwood book, set in the same reality as the Jane Yellowrock series, but not featuring Jane (although she does make appearances). Nell Ingram is tied to the land. She’s not a witch (she doesn’t test as one anyway) but she can do things that […]
Valour and Vanity (2014) Mary Robinette Kowal Set in Alternate Regency Venice in 1817. After traveling with Melody, her new husband, and Jane’s parent’s for part of their wedding Tour… “You must not go!” Mrs. Ellsworth came to a stop in front of them with a hand pressed to her bosom. “Charles, tell them they […]
Without a Summer (2013) Mary Robinette Kowal Set in Alternate Regency England in 1816, during the Year without a Summer. The third Glamourist History finds Jane and Vincent back in London, with a new commission and with Melody as a visitor, in the hopes she’ll find a husband. There were some interesting bits about Glamour […]
Glamour in Glass (2012) Mary Robinette Kowal Set in alternate Regency England in 1815. Following their marriage, Jane and Vincent have come to the attention of the Prince Regent, and commissioned to create a Glamour for his ballroom, which makes them even more popular, so it is a surprise when they leave for the Continent […]
Shades of Milk and Honey (2010) Mary Robinette Kowal Set in Alternate Regency England ~1814. The first time I read this, it was immediately following a Guy Gavriel Kay book, and so this story suffered in comparison. Nothing against Mary Robinette Kowal, it’s just that Guy Gavriel Kay is that good. So searching for something […]
Magic and Manners (2016) C.E. Murphy Set in alternate Regency England, with magic. First, I really liked the magic and world-building. Magic is stigmatized in England, worked only by the lower-classes who are useful to the crown in warfare. The new Mrs Dover marked no complaints about a home where the tea remained mysteriously hot […]
Tremontaine: Season One Volume One (2016) by Patty Bryant, Joel Derfner, Alaya Dawn Johnson, Ellen Kushner, Malinda Lo, Racheline Maltese and Paul Witcover Let me explain… No, let me sum up. There is a book called Swordspoint by Ellen Kushner that is one of my favorites–a comfort read. After Swordspoint came The Fall of the […]
The Escapement of Blackledge (2016) Mary Robinette Kowal Set in alternate Regency London The Duke of Blackledge does NOT want to attend his coming-of-age birthday party, however, his mother is insistent. But there is only so much he can take, so he escapes to his laboratory where he works on his automatons, only to find […]
The Lost Child of Lychford (2016) Paul Cornell It’s December in Lychford, Lizzie’s first Christmas as Reverend of St. Martin’s–the busiest and most stressful time of the year in the church. “The song ‘I Believe in Father Christmas,’” she continued to Sue and Oliver, her elderly churchwardens, twelve hours later, at their weekly meeting round […]
Blood of the Earth (2016) Faith Hunter We met Nell Ingram in the Jane Yellowrock short story “Off the Grid.” (In the anthology Blood in Her Veins). She is a very interesting character, and I can see why the author wanted to spend more time with her. Nell has escaped from the cult in which […]
Thor Vol 1: Goddess of Thunder (2015) Jason Aaron and Russell Dauterman I picked this up after reading the first bit in A-Force Presents which was a lovely introduction to some of Marvel’s female heroes. I initially wasn’t sure about Thor, because there was a good amount of background that I was missing, but I […]
Hellboy in Mexico (2016) Mike Mignola, Richard Corben, Mick Mahon, Fabio Moon, Gabriel Ba I generally like the Hellboy books that are collections of short stories, but for some reason I had a hard time getting into this collection. It had lots of the things I generally like about Hellboy (like getting into (and losing) […]
She-Hulk Volume 2: Disorderly Conduct (2015) Charles Soule and Javier Pulido She-Hulk is fun, and I enjoyed reading these two volumes, but I don’t think that this is a series I’ll continue reading. There are a couple threads in this volume. She-Hulk has to work with a variety of different super heroes, getting miniaturized, and […]
Rivers of London: Night Witch (2016) by Ben Aaronovitch, Andrew Cartmel, Lee Sullivan, Luis Guerrero You get an alternative cover, because this is WAY more awesome than any of the actual covers. If it isn’t obvious, this story focuses a good deal upon Varvara Sidorovna Tamonina, the Russian Night Witch captured by Peter and Thomas […]
Salsa Nocturna: Stories (2012) Daniel José Older This is a collection of stories set in the same world as the Bone Street Rumba series, and although some of the stories were about Carlos, there are other stories as well. “Tenderfoot” “Salsa Nocturna” “Skin Like Porcelain Death” “The Collector” “Graveyard Waltz” “Protected Entity” “Magdalena” “Red Feather […]
Jack the Giant-Killer (1987) Charles de Lint Jackie Rowan is stunned when her boyfriend walks out on her, and stumbling home after a binge, she sees the unbelievable and is pulled into a world just under the surface of her own world, that she never knew existed. The map was of Ottawa, but all the […]
A Matter of Magic (2010): Mairelon the Magician (1991) and The Magician’s Ward (1997) Patricia C. Wrede Kim has been living on the streets, hiding the fact she’s a girl, and living by her wits as best she can. When she is offered a small fortune to check out the wagon of a traveling magician, […]
American Gods (2001) Neil Gaiman This is a re-read, because I couldn’t figure out what I was in the mood to read, and as good as this story is, I knew it would suck me in almost immediately. Shadow is getting ready to leave prison. Ready to return to his old life. But his old […]
Chaos Choreography (2016) Seanan McGuire This is the 5th InCryptid book, and shifts back to Verity and Dominic. Verity is offered the chance to return to Dance or Die–the reality show she was one before she retired her Valerie persona, and so she decides to take a chance, taking Dominic out to California to compete […]
Someplace to Be Flying (1998) Charles de Lint I’ll admit it–I didn’t read this previously because the cover made me think it was one of the books he wrote as Samuel Key–horror. The new cover does a much better job of making it clear this is in large part about the Corbae. But not entirely. […]
Newford Stories: Crow Girls (2015) Charles de Lint Ah, the Crow Girls. Crow Girls Twa Corbies The Buffalo Man A Crow Girls’ Christmas Make a Joyful Noise “Crow Girls” first appeared as a limited edition chapbook (1995). This is the introduction to the Crow Girls, who are some of my favorite characters. But it’s not […]
Moonlight & Vines (1999) Charles de Lint “Sweetgrass & City Streets” “Saskia” “In This Soul of a Woman” “The Big Sky” “Birds” “Passing” “Held Safe by Moonlight and Vines” “In the Pines” “Shining Nowhere but in the Dark” “If I Close My Eyes Forever” “Heartfires” “The Invisibles” “Seven for a Secret” “Crow Girls” “Wild Horses” […]
Tapping the Dream Tree (2002) Charles de Lint I’ve been somewhat depressed recently, and since I got an Amazon book credit, I realized I could get some of my Charles de Lint books as eBooks. WIN. Ten for the Devil Wingless Angels The Words That Remain Many Worlds Are Born Tonight The Buffalo Man Second […]
Muse and Reverie (2009) Charles de Lint I love Charles de Lint’s writing. Adore it. He writes of the magic that is hidden just beyond the perception of most of us, and of the power to heal, and he writes some of the strongest female characters of almost any author I know. But don’t make […]
Brother to Dragons, Companion to Owls (1994) Jane Lindskold This is an unusual book, part fantasy, part science fiction. I generally dislike SF, but the fantasy elements are a bit heavier, and the story is mostly about Sarah–much of the technology takes place in the background until the end of the story. Budget cutbacks have […]
Black Arts, audible version (2014) Faith Hunter, narrated by Khristine Hvam I really enjoy listening to this series. The narrator does a good job with the story and the characters. In Black Arts the story begins with Evan Trueblood storming Jane’s house, demanding to know where Molly is. Jane doesn’t know, and it take her […]
Sabriel (1995) Garth Nix Sabriel is the daughter of Abhorsen–the Charter necromancer who puts the restless dead beyond the ninth gate. She has been sent outside of the walls of the Old Kingdom for her education, seeing her father in person only a few times a year, but seeing him in death more frequently, as […]
The Grendel Affair, Audible version (2013/2014) Lisa Shearin, narrated by Johanna Parker This is a really fun series. Mac Frasier has moved from her little town in the south to New York City, but instead of making it as a reporter, she’s now working for SPI (Supernatural Protection & Investigations) when they discovered she was […]
The Dark Side of The Road (2015) Simon R. Green I have an off-and-on relationship with Simon Green’s stories. Some I love very much (Nightside) while others, I just can’t get into (The Secret Histories). But finding it on sale, I decided to give this new book a try. Ishmael Jones lives under the radar, […]
Shadow Rites (2016) Faith Hunter It’s the final days before the witch-vampire conclave, and preparations for the conclave are supposed to be finishing, but as with all group projects, problems keep popping up. The first problem is an attach on Jane. Then things start to spiral out of control from there. Molly and Evan and […]
Witches of Lychford (2015) Paul Cornell I thoroughly enjoyed London Falling, and so ordered both the sequel, and also this unrelated short story, when I saw them. However, London Falling was a very complicated story that required my attention to keep things straight, so I put off reading The Severed Streets and this short story, […]
Fire Touched (2016) Patricia Briggs And after finishing everything else, I went back to re-read Fire Touched. I actually really liked reading these one after another, because there were bits that I’d forgotten from previous books, that remained fresh in my mind. It added a bit of extra enjoyment, since I remembered why these characters […]
Shifting Shadows: Stories from the World of Mercy Thompson (2014) Patricia Briggs Interspersed with the novels, I read the short stories in Shifting Shadows. Patricia Briggs is quite good at writing short stories, which is why re-reading is such a pleasure. Silver Fairy Gifts (previously published in Naked City) Gray (previously published in Home Improvement: […]
Dead Heat (2015) Patricia Briggs The fourth Alpha & Omega book occurs before Night Broken. Charles takes Anna out to Colorado to meet an old friend. “Really?” said Joseph tentatively. “You don’t remember?” “Someone asked me not to,” said Charles. “And I told him I would oblige him. So no. I don’t remember.” And to […]
Fair Game (2012) Patricia Briggs The third Alpha & Omega book takes place several years between River Marked and Frost Burned. After the werewolves became known to the public, Charles’ job became much more difficult, since infractions that were previously allowed to slide, now carry a death sentence–a sentence that in many cases Charles has […]
Hunting Ground (2009) Patricia Briggs The second Alpha & Omega book takes place soon after the events in Cry Wolf (around the events of Moon Called.) Bran has called a meeting with the European wolves, to discuss the fact that he is bringing the wolves out into the public. Anna is still coming to terms […]
Night Broken (2014) Patricia Briggs Book 8 finds Beauclaire wanting his father’s walking stick back from Mercy. “Beauclaire knew that someone was going to have to take out Lugh. He was, apparently, girding up his loins to do just that when Da took care of it. That didn’t mean he didn’t swear vengeance.” Adam’s ex-wife […]
Frost Burned (2013) Patricia Briggs Book 7 finds Mercy adjusting to married life–and being a step mother. It also has Mercy attempting to discover what has happened to the entire pack, when they are kidnapped by rogue federal agents. This book has several scenes that have stuck with me, including Mercy throwing up on Kyle’s […]
River Marked (2011) Patricia Briggs Book 6 is Mercy’s wedding to Adam, and further problems with the Fae and other supernatural creatures. And their honeymoon. “Are we going to Portland?” I asked. “Or Multnomah Falls?” He smiled at me. “Go to sleep.” I waited three seconds. “Are we there yet?” However, on the good side, […]
Silver Borne (2010) Patricia Briggs Book 5 finds the Fae wanting an item back from Mercy–except that she’s not certain just what is is they want back, and also finds the pack using those bonds against Mercy. I stumbled back away from the truck, shaking and sweating in the night air, the fae stick in […]
Bone Crossed (2009) Patricia Briggs The 4th Mercy Thompson book follows immediately after the events in book three–actually it replays and finishes the scene that the third book closes, and I appreciate the way this scene plays out. Mercy had really awful things happen to her in the previous book, and it seemed like she’d […]
Iron Kissed (2008) Patricia Briggs This is probably the hardest Mercy story to read, but I read it, and cried like I always do. Samuel had learned to write before typewriters and computers rendered penmanship an art practiced by elementary school children. His notes always looked like formal wedding invitations. “Shoot,” he said, the word […]
Blood Bound (2007) Patricia Briggs This is the second Mercy Thompson book, and finds Mercy paying back her debt to Stephan that was incurred in the first book. Why couldn’t the people I cared about just need someone to fix their cars? I could do that. I especially like the end of this story, where […]
Moon Called (2006) Patricia Briggs And now comes the re-reading of the Mercy Thompson series. Here’s the back-cover blurb: Mercy Thompson’s life is not exactly normal. Her next-door neighbor is a werewolf. Her former boss is a gremlin. And she’s fixing a VW bus for a vampire. But then, Mercy isn’t exactly normal herself. I […]
Cry Wolf (2008) Patricia Briggs This is the first full Alpha & Omega novel, and takes place immediately after the events in the novella. (And by immediately, I mean, the next day.) Charles’ Brother Wolf has claimed Anna as mate, but as Anna knows very little about being a werewolf, and absolutely nothing about being […]
Alpha & Omega (2007) Patricia Briggs (found in Shifting Shadows) The novella Alpha & Omega first appeared in On the Prowl, which I picked up only for the Patricia Briggs story. I recommend getting Shifting Shadows rather than that. That is not, by the way, the cover for either Shifting Shadows or Alpha & Omega, […]
Fire Touched (2016) Patricia Briggs The 9th Mercy Thompson book finds the problems with the Fey becoming even greater. They Fae are still hiding on their Reservations or Underhill. (W)e thought for a while that we could stay on our reservations. No humans could get in, not with their fighter jets or tanks. A bard […]