Half-Resurrection Blues, Audible version (2015) Daniel José Older, read by Daniel José Older I admit I was slightly nervous about this audio book, since it was ready by the author. But I liked the book so much, I decided to give it a try. I had nothing to worry about. Michael and I listened to […]

Jinn and Juice (2014) Nicole Peeler I absolutely adored the Jane True series, and so I eagerly ordered this book. Then I got it, started it, and then put it right back down. It just didn’t grab me the way the Jane True series did. But recently I decided that I was going to give […]

Wickedly Ever After (2016) Deborah Blake Barbara Yager–one of the Baba Yaga in north America, has been married in the eyes of the mundane world, but in order to share her long life with her husband, she must be hand-fasted by the queen of faerie. This is a novella that follows Wickedly Dangerous and it […]

Blood in Her Veins (2016) Faith Hunter Wesa and the Lumber King The Early Years Snafu Cat Tats Kits Haint(s) Signatures of the Dead First Sight Blood, Fangs, and Going Furry Dance Master Golden Delicious Cajun with Fangs The Devil’s Left Boot Beneath a Bloody Moon Black Water Off the Grid Not All Is as […]

The Far West (2012) Patricia C. Wrede The final book finds Eff grown up, but still unsure what to do with herself, even though she has come to terms with being a thirteenth child. Sometimes I couldn’t help thinking that the unluckiest thing about being a thirteenth child was having all those older brothers and […]

Across the Great Barrier (2011) Patricia C. Wrede The sequel to Thirteenth Child finds Eff coming to terms with her magic, and slowly discovering her dream–to travel the West, beyond the Great Barrier, studying the wildlife in that untamed area. Luckily for her, the events of the previous book have given her some leeway as […]

Thirteenth Child (2009) Patricia C. Wrede Eff’s twin brother Lan is a seventh son of a seventh son, and a natural magician. “Wow,” Dick said, looking after Papa and Lan. He looked back at me. “Does that mean you’re a natural, too? Because you’re his twin?” I stared at him. “I don’t know,” I said […]

Blood Trade audible version (2013) Faith Hunter narrated by Khristine Hvam I really like the Jane Yellowrock series, and I remain pleased with Khristine Hvam’s narration, especially her differentiation between Jane and Beast. Rating: 8/10 Published by Audible

Shadowshaper (2015) Daniel José Older I think that Daniel José Older is now made it to my Must Buy list of authors. I have adored everything I’ve ready by him, and I also cannot WAIT to give this book to the teens in my life. Sierra Santiago wants to spend the summer painting, working on […]

The Brimstone Deception (2016) Lisa Shearin I really like this series. Makenna Fraser is a seer for the SPI–the government agency in charge of supernatural crimes (and seeing that the supernatural don’t come to the attention of the public). Her talent is a rare one, and the previous individuals to hold her job all died […]

Midnight Taxi Tango (2016) Daniel José Older First things first: that is an absolutely MARVELOUS cover. I LOVE it. It’s (obviously) not Carlos, who was the main character of the first book (and who is a main character here, never fear) but is Kia, the high school student who works at Baba Eddie’s botánica and […]

The Last Watch (2009) Sergei Lukyanenko translated by Andrew Bromfield The fourth book in the Night Watch series means I’m now ready to read the fifth book–finally! “A car’s not the right place for showing off to a girl— the bed’s for that. The consequences of a mistake there are more upsetting, but less tragic… […]

Twilight Watch (2003/2007) Sergei Lukyanenko translated by Andrew Bromfield This may be my favorite book as a whole, although other books have stronger single stories. “We’re the ones who corrupt people,” the boss said bitterly. “Do you understand? We do it ourselves! Offer someone money once, twice . . . and the third time he […]

Day Watch (1999/2007) Sergei Lukyanenko translated by Andrew Bromfield Although the first story in this book is probably my least favorite in the series (even though it’s good, I don’t like it) the second story might be one of my favorites. It seemed that the accepted thing among members of the Watches was for the […]

Night Watch (2006) Sergei Lukyanenko translated by Andrew Bromfield I really love this series, so it was time to re-read! “The common good and the individual good rarely coincide . . .” Sure, I know. It’s true. But some truths are probably worse than lies. He enjoyed life for its own sake, not for material […]

Detective Strongoak and the Case of the Dead Elf (2014) Terry Newman I started this months ago, wasn’t in the mood for it, and then picked it up again when I needed something different. Nicely Strongoak is a dwarf detective of the noir tradition: single man, likes pretty women, smart-ass attitude. I didn’t hear the […]

Deadly Spells (2015) Jaye Wells This is (possibly) the conclusion to the Prospero’s War series. There are other places the story could go from here, but the major story arc–with Kate coming to terms with her past and how she is going to let it affect and influence her present–is concluded. The MEA is called […]

Dark Heir (2015) Faith Hunter I pre-ordered this, started to read, saw that it was going to be about the Son of Darkness, and then put it down for a couple months, because I wasn’t sure how I felt about Jane going up again a Son of Darkness. Luckily, it didn’t go where I was […]

Unspoken (2015) C.C. Hunter This is the conclusion to Della Tsang’s Shadow Falls story arc. I presume we’ll soon get a Miranda arc, but as she’s my least favorite character of the three, I’m not sure how excited I’ll be about that. Della is still not sure how she feels about Chase, although she’s been […]

Death’s Rival, Audible Version (2012) Faith Hunter narrated by Khristine Hvam Jane has returned to New Orleans–she has no other home right now, and nowhere else to go after the events of the last book. So she’s working for Leo, and heading out to collect blood samples from sick vamps–someone has created a vampire illness […]

Dark Ascension (2015) M. L. Brennan I believe this is the conclusion to the series. If it’s not the conclusion, then I’m extremely disappointed with the ending. If it is the conclusion, then I’m okay with the ending. It wasn’t awesome, but I can understand the desire to neatly wrap things up. Fort has started […]

She-Hulk Vol. 1: Law and Disorder (2014) Charles Soule, Javier Pulido, and Ron Wimberly The A-Force Presents Vol I was my introduction to Jennifer Walters. I wasn’t expecting to enjoy her story (after all, she’s not damaged and conflicted–she’s instead stable with a good head on her shoulders). But I wasn’t expecting a well-adjusted lawyer, […]

Black Widow Vol. 3: Last Days (2015) Nathan Edmondson and Phil Noto This is the closing volume of the Black Widow trilogy, and was very — difficult and depressing aren’t quite the right words, but much of it was hard to read. We see glimpses of Natasha’s past through the story, and the volume closes […]

Black Widow Vol. 2: The Tightly Tangled Web (2015) Nathan Edmondson and Phil Noto This is the second volume of Nathan Edmondson’s Black Widow run, and although I enjoyed it, parts of it were difficult to follow because I am not immersed in the Marvel Avengers world. Winter Soldier, Punisher–apparently Black Widow appeared in these […]

Rivers of London: Body Work (2015) Ben Aaronovitch, Andrew Cartmel, Lee Sullivan, and Luis Gurrero If you’ve been paying any attention, you know that I have a deep and (probably) unhealthy love of Ben Aaronovitch’s Rivers of London series. So when I saw there was going to be a comic, I searched because BY GOD […]

A Red-Rose Chain (2015) Seanan McGuire This is the 9th Toby Daye book, and Toby and Tybalt have not yet gotten married, but everyone seems to be awaiting their wedding. But in the meantime, war is preparing to break out, and it’s up to Toby to stop it. And… that gets to me no longer […]

Black Widow Volume 1: The Finely Woven Thread (2015) Nathan Edmondson and Phil Noto Oh, I liked this one lots! I have not seen the Avenger movies, or read any of the Avenger comics–I just know tangential bits picked up from here and there (because: geek). Natasha is the Black Widow, who was formerly a […]

A-Force Presents Vol. 1 (2015) by G. Willow Wilson, Nathan Edmondson, Kelly Sue Deconnick, Jason Aaron, Phil Noto, David Lopez, Adrian Alphona, Russell Dauterman This is brilliant. These are six introductory stories to six female characters in the Marvel world: Black Widow, Captain marvel, Thor, She-Hulk, Ms. Marvel, and The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl. It’s a […]

Mercy Thompson: Hopcross Jilly (2015) Patricia Briggs and Tom Garcia I’m a huge fan of the Mercy Thompson series, and also love Patricia Briggs’ short stories, so although I didn’t love the first Mercy Thompson graphic novel I read, I got this because I do like her short stories. This story puts a great deal […]

A Matter of Magic: Mairelon the Magician and The Magician’s Ward (1991/1997) Patricia C. Wrede This is a reissue of two lovely YA novels, Mairelon the Magician and The Magician’s Ward. Kim is a thief in London, who hopes that this job will help her get off the streets for good–before those around her discover […]

The Sword Dancer (2013) Jeannie Lin Set in Tang Dynasty China — AD 848 Thief-catcher Han is searching for jewel thieves. Li Feng was involved in the heist, but not for the reasons the others in her group were, so she left the group but still fell afoul of Han. This was a book I […]

Raven Cursed Audible version (2012/2012) Faith Hunter narrated by Khristine Hvam I am really enjoying listening to this series–perhaps more than I was expecting to. I’ve found that when I listen to a book, I tend to hear things I missed when reading, especially when it comes to action scenes, where I’m speed reading through […]

Sympathy for the Devil (2011) Justin Gustainis I came to this series because I very much enjoy his Occult Crimes Unit Investigations (despite the horrific covers), so I’ve been slowly working my way through his Quincy Morris series. Slowly, because I just don’t enjoy it anywhere near as much as the other series. I started […]

Kitty Takes a Holiday Audible Version (2007/2009) Carrie Vaughn narrated by Marguerite Gavin This is the third Kitty book, and finds Kitty out in the woods, attempting to recover from the events of the previous book (where she was exposed to the world as a werewolf). I’ve listened to the Kitty books while I’ve been […]

Monstrous Regiment (2003) Terry Pratchett For some reason I got Monstrous Regiment stuck in my head and just had to re-read it. Like most of his books, it’s a keen political satire (“armies don’t do much for agriculture except marginally raise the fertility of the battlefield.”) wrapped in a marvelous story. Polly Perks, resident of […]

Fairest Vol. 5: The Clamour for Glamour And now, the final volume of Fairest. Like the previous volumes, this timeline is simultaneous with that of Fables, so although there aren’t any spoilers in either direction, you kind of need to know what was happening in Fables to completely understand everything here. That said, there was […]

Fables Vol. 22: Farewell (2015) This one has only been sitting on my coffee table for a month, waiting for a day when I could read through the last two volumes in one sitting. I think it’ll take me awhile–and probably a re-read of the entire series–to decide how I feel about these last two […]

Fables Vol. 21: Happily Ever After (2015) Bill Willingham, Mark Buckingham, Steve Leialoha, and Andrew Pepoy This is the penultimate Fables volume, and it’s been sitting on my coffee table since May (release date) waiting to be read. It’s for the best that I put off reading it until the final volume also arrived, as […]

Ms. Marvel Vol. 3: Crushed (2015) G. Willow Wilson, Takeshi Miyazawa, Elmo Bondoc The third volume of Ms. Marvel finds Kamala Khan still struggling with her identity as an Inhuman, but also with keeping the secret from her family. There are a lot of amusing jokes for older readers here–references to many general pop-culture geek […]

The Lions of Al-Rassan (1995) Guy Gavriel Kay This is fantasy, but it parallels the history of the Jews, Muslims, and Christians in the Middle ages. But the parallels aren’t complete, as women aren’t nearly as subjugated as they would have been in Europe at the time. Jehane is a Kindath physician, and in high […]

Moon Called Audible Version (2006/2009) Patricia Briggs narrated by Lorelei King The first time I tried to listen to this was immediately after finishing a Rivers of London audio book. There was just no way anyone can compare to Kobna Holdbrook-Smith, so I just couldn’t get into it. So, I started it again after when […]

Mercy Blade, Audible Version (2011/2011) Faith Hunter narrated by Khristine Hvam For the first time in her life, Jane Yellowrock has a semi-stable job and a stable boyfriend. Until they return back to New Orleans, and discover that the vampire council is meeting with the just-now-out-of-the-closet African weres, and that were-wolves actually exist and are […]

Ms. Marvel Volume 2: Generation Why (2015) G. Willow Wilson, Adrian Alphona, and Jacob Wyatt Volume 2 of Ms. Marvel finds Kamala still trying to come to terms with her powers, and still trying to hide her secret from her family and friends. The later gets her a talk with Sheikh Abdullah, because her parents […]

Kitty Goes to Washington audible version (2006/2009) Carrie Vaughn narrated by Marguerite Gavin I have the final Kitty book waiting for me to read, so I’ve been working my way back through the series in audio. (This is the second book.) This book finds Kitty called to Washington to testify about the supernatural before a […]

Half-Resurrection Blues (2015) Daniel José Older It is well-known by anyone who has more than a passing acquaintance with me that I do not like zombies. I f’ing HATE zombies. So I was quite hesitant about this book, because the main character is half-dead / half-alive, which, to me, sounds like a zombie. Carlos Delacruz […]

Wickedly Dangerous (2014) Deborah Blake It’s no secret that I love folk and fairy tales, and since I first read about her hut on chicken legs, I have loved Baba Yaga. She’s a witch who is sometimes wicked, but sometimes not. Nobody insulted her house. Not even in the old days when it was a […]

The Girl of Hrusch Avenue (2013) Brian McClellan This is a Powder Mage Short Story, and I’m not quite sure where I picked it up. Vlora is an orphan, fascinated by the muskets and rifles and pistols of the gunsmiths, and is enthralled by the smell and smoke of black powder. But Vlora is living […]

The Very Best of Charles de Lint (2010) Charles de Lint In Which We Meet Jilly Coppercorn Coyote Stories Laughter in the Leaves The Badger in the Bag And the Rafters Were Ringing Merlin Dreams in the Mondream Wood The Stone Drum Timeskip Freewheeling A Wish Named Arnold Into the Green The Graceless Child Winter […]

Spellbinder (2015) C.C. Hunter This is a Shadow Falls novella, and gives us some of Miranda Kane’s story. Plus Della and Kylie. “…And then she fell to her knees like in that epic movie, Gone to the Breeze, I think that was the name of it, where the heroine yells out, ‘I shall never go […]

Unbreakable (2014) C.C. Hunter Chase Tallman appeared in the Shadow Falls series, and although we know he’s in love with Della, we don’t know much else about him. This story gives us a glimpse into his life–when he was first changed, and how it happened. First, I do enjoy how CC Hunter writes teens. Chase […]