It’s been a while…Again

Right, it’s been a long time since my last review. Not because I’ve stopped reading, but because it can be hard to find the time to write a review. So, I’ve got a bit of a backlog. But what better way to break my fast, so to speak, than with Gail Carriger’s latest tasty series – Tinkered Starsong! This latest trilogy is in the same universe as Crudrat and The 5th Gender (Tinkered Stars), so there may be some very familiar elements in these books for you fellow Gail Carriger fans. But these books have all been released this year so SPOILER ALERT if you haven’t plowed through them like I have.

The first book in the new trilogy is Divinity 36. We start out on a moon, in a cafe with an escaped crudrat named Phex. He’s considered a refugee from the Wheel (talked about in Crudrat) and is just trying to make a living. He has no real ambition for himself, so it comes as a big shock when the Hollywood recruiter type aliens – the Dyesi – come into his little cafe and recruit him to be a god. Not a god in the all-powerful sense, but more like a god in the huge pop sensation sense, I think you could say.

The Dyesi recruit Sapiens to sing and dance under Domes. Domes, along with some Dyesi nymphs turn music into more than just songs – it’s beauty itself. And it causes something they refer to as god fix. People get so engrossed in the performance that they just sort of stop where they are. There are many gods and many pantheons (groups in the vein of BTK or ACE or other K-Pop favs) and cafes like Phex play their music non-stop. So he knows the songs and he knows the pantheons. He also knows that some people will do anything to become a god, and he’s just not like that.

Until the Dyesi recruiter comes into his cafe. He thinks about it and realizes that maybe he could get something out of it – a home. So he agrees to try out to be a god in exchange for Dyesi citizenship and off he’s shipped to Dyesi moon Divinity 36 (also the name of the first book). It isn’t smooth sailing. He almost fails because he’s just too insular to make it as part of a group – but eventually he finds his niche….It’s in the kitchen, with the ladles. And on the stage too, but particularly the kitchen. These books make me so hungry.

Demigod 12 is the second book in the series and in this one, Phex and his pantheon (a total of six Sapiens) are now demigods. They’re going on tour with the biggest pantheon of all time – Tillam, but something is wrong with them. Or more precisely, their “sun” – the core member/den mother of the group. In other words – Tillam’s Phex is sick. And because of that, Tillam is all but falling apart. And it doesn’t look good when gods get sick and possibly die. So the Dyesi put up and coming Asterism (Phex’s pantheon) on tour with Tillam and they quite take the galaxy by storm. But nothing really get’s settled in this book, because – obvs – it’s a trilogy. You can’t end in book two.

So the final book, and the most recently released is Dome 6. Dome 6 sees Asterism level up to full godly status. Phex gets to see the Dyesi homeworld and learns more about his fellow citizens, since he is now officially a Dyesi citizen. Asterism and Tillam also go to the homeworld of one of Asterism’s gods – Kagee – to build a new dome. Kagee’s homeworld is very, very xenophobic. It was a part of why he left. He’s not convinced that building a dome on his homeworld is a good idea, but he can’t get anyone but Asterism to listen to him.

He’s more than a little shocked to find his former lovers (yes, plural. Polyamory is the norm on his planet, especially due to their dwindling numbers) as the head of his planet. It isn’t smooth sailing, getting the dome up and running. We also learn that domes don’t just spread god fix to worshippers. They spread pacifism. It’s kind of fascinating, how Ms. Carriger explains it. I wouldn’t do it justice, so go read!

Of course, there are plenty of shenanigans. I don’t think it would be a Gail Carriger book without shenanigans. But there’s also plenty of serious items. There was one quote from Dome 6 that just sorta gut punched me with the profounds. “We are all a little lost, Phex. No matter where we are in the galaxy.” Said by the character Missit, who is generally a bit of a goof, but WOW. Also, can we talk about how absolutely fabulous the covers of these books are? They’re like some 20’s art deco sci-fi mashup and it’s glorious!

This is such an amazing series and such an amazing universe that I hope she makes more. I would love to know what happens in/with the Wheel. From the little we had in Crudrat, I find it a fascinating place. Also, I’d really love to find out what happened to Rees from that book. He wasn’t in there for very long, but I got attached. I also wouldn’t mind if we found out more about where Phex came from, but I kind of get the feeling that he himself doesn’t care anymore.

These books are a great series of found family and even found purpose. Phex finds a place for himself in the universe. There’s cooking, and learning new experiences and growing up. It’s a lovely, cozy sci-fi series that I absolutely can’t recommend enough! Rating: A for all of three books. Seriously, go out and read these.

Like father, like son

For those of you who don’t know, I am a huge Jim Butcher fan. I love the Dresden Files and Cinder Spires and I’m trying to work my way through Codex Alera (high fantasy like that isn’t usually my cup of tea). Jim has a son who just wrote a book, and color me friggin surprised that Jim has an adult son because he does not look old enough to have an adult son.

Jim’s son is James. This will probably be confusing for a while. James J. Butcher just recently published his first urban fantasy novel, Dead Man’s Hand via Penguin Random House publishing. I bought this book because I figured if he was anything like his father, I’d love his writing too. This novel is brand spanking new, so BEWARE THE SPOILERS.

This novel is very much a first novel. Not that I’m by any means a writing expert, but I am a voracious reader. The world needs to be filled out a bit more. The writing needs to be polished a bit more. But there’s tons of potential in James’s world. Dead Man’s Hand is apparently the first in at least three books, featuring 19 year old witch Grimshaw Griswald Grimsby. That’s a hell of a name, right off the bat. And yes, witch is the term used in the books. It appears to be non-gender specific in this world.

Grimsby is a failed witch. An accident as a child left it painful for him to do complex magic. He only has a handful of tricks he can do without hurting himself. What he wanted to be, above anything else, was an Auditor. Auditors appear to be the magical cops of this world. He failed his training because he can’t do all the things Auditors are supposed to do. The book starts with him doing cheap tricks for kids birthday parties in a crappy, Chuck E Cheese style restaurant. Thanks to the person who ran him out of the Auditors training, Samantha Mansgraf, putting his name (in blood) at the scene of her death, he’s about to go on a terrible journey with someone called The Huntsman. They have to figure out who killed her and over what before Grimsby also dies.

I won’t go into too many details, as this book has only been out for about a week, but Grimsby is kind of a coward. He definitely has self esteem issues. Still, because he’s the book’s protagonist, he finds himself overcoming these things to do the right thing in the end. The Huntsman is basically a killer. Not really sure of his back story yet. He’s lost a spouse at some point not too long ago, because he’s drinking himself to death when we’re introduced to him. He’s a seasoned investigator, so this is kind of a magical buddy cop book.

I’d recommend checking it out and supporting a new author, but remember that this is James’ first ever novel. You can tell, but don’t let it put you off. This world has some real potential. Rating: B-/B. Check out this VIDEO of Jim Butcher interviewing his son James. There’s a point toward the end where Jim said that he’s read the second book and that it’s leaps better than the first one. That gives me hope that the second book will be pretty good.

Annette Marie

https://www.annettemarie.ca/

Sometime during the pandemic (I think), I picked up this book called Three Mages and a Margarita. I’m not entirely sure why. Maybe because I’m a sucker for a good marg. Or maybe because the description of a take no shit female lead tickled my fancy, but I got this book via Amazon Kindle Unlimited and I plowed through it in less than a day. Then I binged the rest of the series that had been written.

The Guild Codex: Spellbound series (currently 8 books, not sure if it’ll be more. Felt wrapped up, but who knows?) follows human girl Tori. She lives in Vancouver, BC and she’s a little bit of a screw up. She’s got a temper and it’s cost her a few jobs. Jobs she needs, because she doesn’t exactly have an education to fall back on. If you can’t tell, she had a shitty childhood (mom left, dad abusive – standard issue backstory).

Desperate to find a job, she stumbles upon a pub called the Crow & Hammer. Normally, a human wouldn’t be able to find it, as it’s hidden from a straight human’s eyes. Tori just bullheaded her way through the enchantment, served up some quality cocktails and found herself with a job. Initially, people tried to keep the weirdness on the DL, but as Tori isn’t stupid, she noticed. And confronted people. And then immediately wanted in because magic is cool.

The Spellbound books follow her through her travails of getting a hold of magical objects that she can use, convincing MagiPol (the police of the arcane using humans) that she’s really a low-level witch, having a strange love triangle with two of her good friends at the bar (actually a Guild of magic users) and trying to save one of those two in particular. The books are, admittedly, a little formulaic and Tori isn’t the most complex character I’ve read, but the world building is really, really fun.

There are three other Guild Codex series (Demonized, Warped and Unveiled), each following a different character. Warped follows unlikely MPD agent Kit Morris, who was essentially blackmailed into becoming an agent. Kit has the ability to make people see and even feel (like a physical sensation, not an emotional sensation) things with just his mind. Demonized follows a mousy kind of girl named Robin who accidentally binds herself to a demon to rescue him from her horrible family members (all of whom are demon summoners). Robin and her demon are very interesting characters and I kind of identify with her most because she’s a shy, bookish sort of girl.

Unveiled follows the unlikely named Saber Rose, a very young witch who was convicted of murdering her aunt and now is in magical rehab somewhere east of Vancouver. She’s possibly the most interesting character Annette Marie has written. She’d damaged, through no fault of her own. She comes to us having already committed murder and isn’t at all sorry about it (Aunt was abusive, duh). She believes herself a low powered witch, but is in reality a very high powered mage. She has amnesia of the events surrounding the murder, so she’s forgotten that she knew a young boy who turned out to be the rogue Crystal Druid (from the Spellbound series). Her series is on-going, and I’ve already pre-ordered the 3rd book.

These books are seriously fun and feature strong female leads. None of them are perfect, which makes them interesting. And even though Robin (Demonized) is kind of a damsel, they don’t generally default to that ‘big strong man save me!’ cliche. I look forward to future books and to checking out her other series. Rating: A+. Check it out if you’re looking for some fun, quick reads.

Crudrat

https://gailcarriger.com/books/crudrat/

On of my all time favorite authors recently did a re-release of one of her original books, Crudrat. She did a little reworking of it to fit it into her Tinkered Stars verse (The Fifth Gender and other forthcoming novels). I finally had a chance to get down and read it and it was so, so good.

Crudrat follows young (12-13ish) Maura, a ‘reject’ in the society of the Wheel. Reject, in this case, means her body rejected the typical implant that triggers the genetic modifications all Wheel citizens go through. The implant covers every facet of their life. It tells computers who you are, who your family is, serves as your banking hub and access point for many other things such as ships or personal weapons. Without an implant, you can’t exist in this society.

Since implants in Wheel society apparently are done in the 5-6ish range, kids whose bodies reject them are then themselves rejected. There is no social safety net. There are no orphanages, no charities. If you’re lucky, you can get a job as a crudrat, a child who is small enough and spry enough to work the tunnels of the Wheel (I’m honestly not quite sure if the Wheel is the space station or if the space station is just one part of Wheel space), cleaning up the toxic crud (dark matter particles) that fuel space born travel (which I found absolutely fascinating!). These abandon kids run through tunnels with whirling blades called scythers (and all I could really picture was the chompers from Galaxy Quest, but hey), cleaning blue crud with the help of small animals called murmels (I feel like these are kind of monkey like things, the way they’re described).

Once you get too old (read: too large, too slow), your license is pulled and you’ll either die of starvation or get spaced. This does not endear the Wheel to me, at all. 0 out of 10, would not want to be in Wheel space. At any rater, Maura is the best crudrat on the station, but she’s getting too old for the game at 12-13. Her license is pulled at the beginning of the book and she tries to figure out where to go from there.

To her luck and astonishment, her friend and fellow crudrat – Rees – shows her an actual alien ship in one of the landing bays. Shenanigans ensue and Maura ends up rescuing the alien from that ship. Since he now owes her, and his society is big on trade/honor, he takes her with him when he leaves.

Fuzzy, as Maura calls him, is from an ice planet and he ends up taking them to one of their outposts, which is basically a chunk of ice/rock floating around in space. Their tech is apparently superior to the Wheel tech, at least in some ways. They don’t have implants like the Wheel does, so they and their coalition have never gotten a spy into Wheel society. (Wheelers are extremely xenophobic)

Fuzzy’s people are an interesting people. They pride themselves on being open minded and honorable. Maura is shocked by how many different kinds of aliens she sees on the station, all of them treated well. Children are not allowed to use first person (I/me) and no one calls another by their given name. They’re all given nicknames (you can’t choose, so Fuzzy’s people essentially call him guinea pig). Trade and barter are the systems of economics and no one likes to leave a trade open ended (that is, one person is waiting to get their part of the deal). It’s really interesting and I hope that the Tinkered Stars series goes more into that. I definitely hope she goes more into that in the future.

In order to stay in this new place, Maura must find a place she belongs. This is more than just a job. It’s more like a calling. There are people there meant to be warriors. People meant to be tradesmen. People meant to be leaders. She can’t just stay there for free, nor would she want to. Her buddy Fuzzy pushes for her to be made wari (warrior) because that’s what he wants to be. And because they’re bonded (that is, family of a sort) and underage, they have to go together. They can’t be separated.

Unfortunately for wari, it seems like what’s best for Maura is something called a countervail. This is a sort of spy or lone operator. They’re not very well thought of by Kill’ki (I think that’s what they’re called, I’ll have to re-read to really remember) society. They’re a communal society, where everything is done for everyone and not the individual. This means that Fuzzy has to go with her. He’s gutted, because he wanted to be a wari like his mother, but he’s broken too many rules and his gens (family or clan) can no longer turn a blind eye to it.

The book ends there, before Maura and Fuzzy actually go to countervail training or work. I can see where this might be the end of Maura’s story, but I genuinely hope she comes back. She was interesting, and I’d love to see Wheel taken down a peg or two because seriously, that society is just plain UGH. I’d also love to see some of her back story. One never knows with Miss Gail, though. Maybe we’ll see her, maybe we won’t.

I did see a hint of Lord Akeldama in one of the characters, Dr. Sillous. The use of colorful and/or flowery nicknames. It gave me one of those I see what you’ve done there moments. Sort of fan service or in-joke sort of things where only loyal readers will get it. I love those. One of my other favorite authors, Simon R. Green, excels at those.

I can’t recommend any or all of Gail Carriger’s books and novellas enough. She does such great world building and her characters are interesting. Her damsels may find themselves in distress, but they’re really the ones who get themselves out of it. None of that waiting for my prince to come schtick you can see in a lot of books, fantasy/sci-fi or otherwise. I’ll have to go back and read The Fifth Gender to see how these two fit together. Rating: A. I finished this in a few hours, it was so good.

Ambush or Adore

Ambush or Adore. Picture courtesy of author’s website

Gail Carriger is one of my all time fav authors. I haven’t read a book or a story of hers that I haven’t loved, whether it’s steampunk or more modern/urban fantasy. She just released the latest of her Delightfully Deadly novellas, Ambush or Adore. This takes place in the Finishing School/Parasol universe. Since this was just released, I will go ahead and put a big old SPOILER ALERT down.

Ambush follows Agatha Woosmoss, the timid and mousy girl from the Finishing School series. Agatha was probably the one I identified with most, TBH. I see a lot of myself in her. Agatha, it turns out, becomes one of the premier intelligencers amongst her group from Miss Geraldine’s. Her ability to slid into the background so completely makes it easy for her to go places and hear things that others can’t.

Agatha too has something of a wild side, I suppose you could say. Even from a young age, she yearned to be free of her father’s yoke and society’s expectations. To travel around the world and see things that most girls could never see. Enter one Lord Akeldama (another personal fav), who sees Agatha, and naturally takes advantage of her peculiar skills.

The one thing Agatha never really counted on was Pillover Plumleigh-Teignmott. Pillover reminds me a lot of my hubs, socially awkward at times and very focused on his particular area of study (biology, in this case, rather than the classics like Pillover). Pillover is Dimity’s younger brother and a begrudging attendee of Bunson’s (later followed by graduate). Pillover gets dragged along on many of the girls’ adventures, much to his chagrin.

This book hops around from “present” (Agatha on the Spotted Custard) to past (Bunson’s/Miss Geraldine’s) and in between. I’m not usually a fan of that sort of thing, because it can easily get confusing, but the amazing Ms. Carriger worked it well. I was never confused as to which time I was reading about.

You really get to know Agatha and Pillover in this book. How they sort of fall into what would have been considered an illicit affair during the Victorian era. How Pillover waited patiently for Agatha. How (SPOILER ALERT) Agatha and Pillover’s last ‘mission’ together set up the events of the San Andreas shifters books. I love when authors meld their series together like this, and all the little easter eggs that happens because of this. Simon R. Green is particularly good at that.

Ambush or Adore is hands down my favorite of the Delightfully Deadly novellas and I really, truly hope it isn’t the last. Do yourself a favor and pick it up immediately, from wherever you get your books (you can also buy direct from the author). In fact, pick up all her books. You won’t be disappointed. Rating: A+.

The Brass Queen

I am a sucker for a good steampunk novel. However, there are a lot of novels out there I simply slog through (see: Whitechapel Gods) and some I fly through (anything by the amazing Gail Carriger). I tend to like things that have a good sense of humor to them. I have enough anxiety to be getting on with, I don’t want some dour, depressing book as escapism. Elizabeth Chatworth’s The Brass Queen is very Carriger-esque and therefore right in my wheelhouse. Beware spoilers – this book came out in January.

In this world, Queen Victoria is a straight up tyrant. No Parliament. No due process. British Red Coats could kill for the slightest reason and the cops were keen to hang any and all criminals. Miss Constance Haltwhistle is a baron’s daughter and a weapons dealer. Unusual combo for a Victorian woman, but with her father in an alternate dimension, she needed to be able to keep her hall and her people cared for. Unfortunately, being a woman, she couldn’t inherit (yes, this was an actual law during Victorian times, though I’m not sure if that’s different now with British peerage), so she had to get married – quickly. As in, by about three days from the time we’re introduced to her.

Things don’t go smoothly. There are invisible people driving giant exo-suits who break up the party she was husband hunting at – her own (very late) coming out party. There’s a terribly dressed American man and some kidnapping. And let’s not forget the biggest roadblock to her husband hunting – Constance herself. She’s…not quite likeable? She’s a strong, independent woman, which I generally like, but the writer kind of casts her as a bit of a harpy. She doesn’t listen to anyone else’s ideas, even when they’re clearly better than her own. She doesn’t apologize when she does something stupid or insane and people end up getting hurt. Some of it can be blamed for having a mad scientist of a father who never let her leave the family estate, but not all of it.

I’m not a fan of the strong woman = harpy thing. It’s…lazy. I’m also not a fan of the strong woman = psychopath thing (think Xenia Onatopp in GoldenEye or Alya from Dune). You can have a strong, complex woman who is not a harpy or a psychopath (Mako Mori in Pacific Rim). I digress.

Miss Haltwhistle has to investigate the kidnapping that ruined her coming out party with the unfortunately dressed American man, JF Trusdale, who isn’t all he seems (natch). They stumble and bumble their way through an investigation, thwart naked and invisible Swedes and and up playing a very violent game of polo with a murderous royal (one of Victoria’s grandsons). This is a fun romp through a very different Victorian England. I’m definitely looking forward to the next book and hope that Constance Haltwhistle will become more of a well rounded female character.

If you’re looking for a bit of light, fun steampunk reading, I recommend picking this up. She’s very much in the vein of Gail Carriger, so if you like her books, you should like The Brass Queen. Rating: A-. Some tropes, especially surrounding the main female character, but overall enjoyable. And before you ask, no, this isn’t a prank/April fool’s joke. This is a legit book. Get it through Amazon or another book provider.

Blood Heir

Hello all! It’s been a very long time since I’ve posted. There’s been a bit of something going on in the world and I just could not get up the desire to post, even though I’ve been reading. I’m sure there are plenty out there that feel the same or worse, but things are starting to get better! Since I just renewed my ownership of Crooked Reviews, I thought it best to post again. Brief mention of spoilers because this book is fairly new, written during the pandemic and just published.

There is always something in me that is a little leery of reading spinoff books from a series I love. Even though it’s the same writer, or same writing team in this case, I’m always worried that it won’t be quite as good as the original series. Usually, I’m proved wrong because I like the writer (or writers) for a reason. I was once again proven wrong with Ilona Andrews’ Blood Heir.

This follows the continuing adventures of Julie Olsen from the Kate Daniels book, roughly a decade or so after the end of Magic Triumphs. Only now she’s Aurelia Ryder. I gotta be honest, I don’t dig that change. I’m not sure why, and it isn’t currently explained, that she changed her name. She’s also the official heir to Erra, who has set up New Shinar around San Diego. She calls her grandmother.

Julie has hardened and changed, physically, mentally and magically since she left Atlanta. She ran afoul of a big bad called Moloch (a name that any scifi fan or bible reader will know – interesting Venn diagram) in Arizona. He carved out her eye and she his, but she put his eye in her head. The psychic/magical backlash put her in a coma that lasted for about 9 months, but to her was several years. She and Erra trained the ever-loving crap out of Julie/Aurelia while in that coma and she came out much more knowledgeable than when she went in. She now also looked like Kate Lennart’s (nee Daniels) biological daughter.

The book starts out with Aurelia riding back into Atlanta. She needs to do something to save her mother, but unfortunately that also means she can’t actually see her mother. Because reasons. Because prophetic reasons. It’s a huge convenient plot device that I’ll be honest, kinda bugs me. Kate Lennart spent her life thwarting prophecies and now Aurelia (nee Julie) thinks she can’t help keep herself alive? I call shenanigans.

At any rate, she runs into some members of the Pack who try to shake her down. She gets out of it, but she’s caught the attention of Ascanio of the Bouda clan. She and Ascanio have never gotten along, and she knows he’s up to something, but she doesn’t know what. At this point, she’s not interested at all because it doesn’t have to do with saving Kate from Moloch.

Aurelia gets away from the members of the Pack and sets up house near Unicorn Lane. Unicorn Lane is violently magical, even when the tech is down. It’s a great place to hide near. She also hightails it to the Order because she’s here to solve a murder that has to do with the prophecy and saving Kate. A priest of great renown was murdered by something and Moloch wants that something. If he eats the heart of that something, the prophecy concerning him and Kate will come true.

There’s a lot of this book that is spent with Aurelia going around to the people she used to know as Julie Olsen (Nick Feldman of the Order, Ascanio and some others in the Pack, the People and so on) and spending her time with a “will the or won’t the recognize me”. Spoilers: Some do, some don’t. She also feels like some people haven’t changed for the better. The Pack seems a lot more paranoid, because visiting shapeshifters have 24 hours to present themselves to the Pack, instead of the standard 3 days when she last lived there.

She also picks up a little street thief and ends up claiming responsibility for her. Unlike with her and Kate though, the little thief (Marten – like the varmint) is taking under the wing of the premier thief/assassin for New Shinar. Marten saw what happened to the priest and was a key witness for Julie.

Also on the scene is Derek Gaunt, the werewolf that Kate and Curran practically adopted. Apparently, when Julie left, she was hoping that Derek would follow her. He didn’t and she’s mad. Of course, I’m pretty certain that she never really let on that she liked him. Too much like Kate. At any rate, Derek left Atlanta not too long after Julie and some how and for reasons currently unknown, became a beta in the Icy Fury Pack (Alaska-ish) and changed his name to Darren Argent. He wants to solve the murder too, because he owed the priest for something that happened a while ago.

Naturally, Darren and Aurelia run into each other and recognize each other immediately. Darren pretends not to know Aurelia is Julie for a while, but eventually gets tired of the charade. Together, as they’ve done so many times before (and in various novellas and short stories in the Kate Daniels verse), they solve the murder and kill the creature responsible before Moloch can get his creepy hands on it. Derek eats the heart of the beast, because that’s the part that will allow a prophecy to come true. We don’t know what Derek’s prophecy is, but I’m betting it’s him and Julie/Aurelia finally getting their act together because clearly they are mates.

This was very clearly an introductory book for a new series. There are a lot of things in question and there’s a lot of things that I’m considering whether or not I like. New names of Julie and Derek, for instance. This insistence that Kate can’t know she’s in Atlanta, so naturally she has to stay in Atlanta BECAUSE REASONS. It’s always irritating when there’s a “you have to stay here or you have to do this” but there’s not even a paltry excuse as to why given.

Overall, the writing is Ilona Andrews through and through and, overall, the story is quite good. It made me want to re-read the Kate Daniels series again, so I did. I’m sure there are more books coming out, because Aurelia and Darren (Julie and Derek) have issues they need to work out. And the big bad wasn’t killed/banished. I’m going to call it now: To get rid of the big bad, who regenerates so you can’t kill him (natch), Aurelia is going to swap him for her grandfather in Neig’s private realm somehow. And I kinda hope that doesn’t happen so I’ll be surprised by whatever comes.

It’s a good read, and I’ll definitely be reading the rest of the series but I hope it doesn’t become too formulaic. Rating: B+. It’s a little tropey and a little basic, but a fun read and definitely in the Kate Daniels universe style. Recommendation: I’d also read Ilona Andrews’ Innkeeper Chronicles series and The Edge series.

American Demon

American Demon by Kim Harrison (picture courtesy of Amazon)

I had thought that with the the book The Witch with No Name, the Hollows series by Kim Harrison was over. I mean, it seemed pretty darn wrapped up. I guess I was wrong, because American Demon just recently came out, and there appears to be at least one more coming.

Rachel Mariana Morgan is back. Her church is destroyed and she’s living on the boat of an old boyfriend (Kisten, for those who remember the earlier books). She and Trent are actually still together, but her job has suffered and she’s only getting jobs when Trent sends them her way. Ivy is living with undead vampire/girlfriend Nina and they’re back working with the IS.

Demons are living in the world, though only Al and Dali are “out”. And that’s where we learn that some people in Cincinnati are attacking their loved ones over slights that happened years ago. FIB naturally suspects demons and wants Rachel to find out who. Not if demons are responsible, but who. They’re automatically assuming that demon = evil, whereas we’ve kinda found out in this world demon = used car salesman.

I digress. At any rate, Rachel refuses to work the case and finds something else to distract her. A previously unknown demon is demanding to know why the collective (as the demons call themselves) haven’t killed her for dabbling with elf magic (remember – elves and demons consider each other mortal enemies, even if their magic comes from the same fundamental place). Turns out the man, or demon, is Hodin and is Al’s brother.

Hodin was sold to the elves after Al found him dabbling in elf magic. Hodin spent at least a millennium as a slave, being subject to some of the worst magic and tortures the elves ever devised, including the thing that’s terrorizing people. No longer able to avoid it, Rachel gets pulled into the investigation.

The thing in question is some sort of sentient energy being called a baku (very close to the Japanese word baka, which anime fans will recognize as crazy). A host will offer the being space in it’s body/soul in return for the baku doing it’s bidding – going out while it’s enemy or enemies sleep and nibbling away at their souls. If they don’t killed by an act of violence that the baku initiates, then the baku will eventually eat it into a soulless husk.

I kinda feel like it took Rachel too long to figure out she was the target. I mean, come on. She’s always the frickin’ target! You’d think that would be the first thing she thought of! And the obvious choice for bad guy – was the bad guy! I enjoy these books, but while I was reading this one Kim Harrison threw in this bit about how Trent made Rachel less Rachel-y and I was just like…Uh, no he hasn’t!

She may not rush in without thinking, but her thinking muscles don’t appear to have been given much stretch. She’s still a little too naive for someone who has been through as much as she’s been through. And she’s still to fucking self sacrificing for my taste, always trying to get her friends to go away when she needs them most. Are there actually people out there like this? It seems to be more than an actual person would do before learning she could trust her friends and expect them to be there.

Considering I thought the series was over, I was pleasantly surprised to find this one. And it was enjoyable too, but sad at the end. I won’t give spoilers since it’s fairly new, but brace yourselves, if you’re a fan of the series. I feel like Rachel Mariana Morgan has way more room to grow as an actual, fleshed out character, even though this is book 14.

The characters are fun, but not as well rounded as Jim Butcher’s Dresden Files characters. I do like the fact that it took a very long time and some growth as characters for Trent and Rachel to get together. I was rooting for them to be a couple, or at the very least kiss, way before they actually did. I think I’m going to have to go back and re-read some of these books to re-familiarize myself with the characters and the world. Still, fun book, fun series. Rating: B

The Other Side of the Night

I don’t know what it was the triggered my history nerd lately about shipwrecks, but something did. I’ve read a lot about the RMS Titanic, and I’ve seen a lot of documentaries. I don’t know what it is that catches my mind about shipwrecks, but something does.

So I decided I wanted to learn more about the Carpathia, the ship that single-handedly rescued all the survivors of the RMS Titanic. I had known that she did, but I didn’t know the details. I had known about the Californian, but again very few details. So I found this book The Other Side of the Night by Daniel Allen Butler, who has written at least one other Titanic book (which I may pick up, because Titanic). (And I just discovered that he wrote a book on Rommel, so…there’s my next few weeks)

It’s excellently written. As a historian myself (note: I call myself that because that’s what my degree is in, but I do not have a graduate degree), I’m always a little leery of historical books that don’t make use of copious citations, but he had several appendices and his work previously was vetted by the person who was (until his death) considered the grand marshal of Titanic researchers, Walter Lord (author of A Night To Remember). Butler is a historical writer who is the type of author I wish my undergrad teachers would use. He’s so very far from dry, though I wouldn’t call him funny (if only because disasters aren’t inherently funny).

Butler gives us the history of the Carpathia (Cunard Line) and the Californian (Leyland Line), two ships massively smaller than the Titanic and what you might call work horses. While comfortable, you didn’t take them for the glamour like you would the Titanic, Olympic or later on the SS United States and Andrea Doria. They were more intimate vessels, and also used mainly for hauling cargo.

He gives us good backgrounds on the captains of the vessels, Arthur Rostron (Carpathia) and Stanley Lord (Californian). He laid out what the night was like for those ships and men, as well as including some bits of the Titanic as well because obviously those ships would not be well known without her. There’s a very good case in the book for Stanley Lord being a very self-serving man and a terrible captain. If he had the guts to respond to the Titanic’s distress flares (which the Californian saw), then more lives may have been saved that night. Not all of them, as there still weren’t enough lifeboats for everyone, but more.

If you’re looking for something that might be different than your usual fare. If you’re looking for a bit of history to explore. If you’ve always been fascinated by the Titanic (like me), then I can’t recommend this book enough. Very well written, very well thought out. Rating: A.

Naivete is not altruism

Every so often, I tool around Kindle Unlimited (yes, I have a subscription to that. I read too much sometimes) and I stumble upon a book or a series that has some promise. The latest series I’ve stumbled on is called the Magic and Mixology Mystery series Gina LaManna. All the titles are plays off of cocktail names: Hex on the Beach, Witchy Sour, Jinx and Tonic, Long Isle Iced Tea, Amuletto Kiss, Spelldriver. The covers are fun.

These books follow around one Lily Locke. She starts life as a marketing executive in St. Paul and ends up the Mixologist for a place called the Isle. It’s a magical (literally) island in Lake Superior where magical folks of all types can live/hide away from the world of humans. Lily finds it initially hard to believe, but then her aunts find her and whisk her away to be the new Mixologist – a sort of apothecary. 

And she rolls with it. She puts her head down and studies her butt off and becomes good at it. But (there’s always a but) – she’s not that likable a character. Lily has insecurities out the ass. Like all of them. Every trope of how she’s “not good enough” to do this, that or the other thing is all wrapped up in Lily Locke. And it’s annoying as all get out.

She’s afraid to fail, so she doesn’t really get to live or take chances. Learning how to fail is one of the best things a person can be taught. Everyone go to Netflix and watch the Magic School Bus Returns episode on failing. It’s excellent and this character needs it. 

We also get the “I’m in love with you even though I’ve only seen you twice!” trope between her and the weirdly named Ranger X. Rangers are the peacekeepers/special ops of the island. They keep everyone safe from the Faction (the trope-ily named bad guys). Apparently once they become a ranger, they no longer get to use their name? I don’t know, it wasn’t explained.

I have a horrible habit of once I get through one mediocre book in a series, I keep reading the rest, hoping they’ll get better. These ones (I’m only up to the beginning of Amuletto Kiss) are all mediocre, but I’ve had to stop at the beginning of Amuletto Kiss because Ms. Lily has just ticked me right off.

They’re in the beginning stages of an all out war with the Faction (which is run by her father, NATCH) and she sells off her entire stock of Long Isle Iced Tea potion to an unknown witch who says it’s for a party. Now, this particular potion changes a person’s clothing into what they most want. It was made specially for a surprise costume party for one of Lily’s newly found cousins. 

The thing is…it doesn’t just delve into your subconscious and say This person has always wanted to be a pirate and suddenly you’re dressed like Captain Jack Sparrow. No, you can focus on what you want to be and you will be it because in Long Isle Iced Tea we see Lily and a few other Islanders use it to escape the Faction by concentrating very hard on being Faction guards. And we also find that it can give you another person’s face because at the party, another cousin of Lily’s accidentally turns herself into Ranger X.

So….Lily just sold her entire stock of a glamour potion to a woman she doesn’t know. All of it. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! There is a difference between altruism and naivete! The Mixologist is supposed to help people. To do good as we’re reminded constantly. That doesn’t mean she should just blindly trust everyone (which she does, constantly) during the middle of a frickin’ war!

I haven’t gotten to the end yet, but I’m betting that we’ll find out that this woman works for the Faction and she or a partner (or partners) have been using this potion to imitate Rangers (especially X) around the Isle at night and doing little pranky steals (snatching an old woman’s knickers off a clothes line, stealing every tomato at the general store etc) to sow discord between the people and their peacekeepers. Mark my words.

Nothing bothers me more than a female character that has such potential to be awesome, but instead gets caught in the naive, insecure web that writers think makes the “perfect heroine”. Maybe you can do that naive, insecure thing in the first book when she’s first introduced to a world she never knew before…but in 4 straight books (likely 5 if I ever get to the last one) just tells me that this person is incapable of learning. It makes them two dimensional and not fully fleshed out.

The male characters in the book like Ranger X are the same. Ranger X is caught in that emotionally closed off, never met a woman like you before trope. It’s one of those “to be a ranger, you need to not love anyone” crap. Oh, and naturally Lily and Ranger X “fall in love”. I put this in quotes because they’re both really terrible at relationships. Lily’s insecure and Ranger X can’t open up and trust her. It’s a recipe for disaster in real life that will probably lead to a happily ever after in this series. 

On the plus side, this series is kinda light hearted. I tend not to like the really emotionally heavy things that are just a slog to read through. There’s some nice shenanigans in these books and a large extended family (like mine) full of weirdos (like mine).  If you’re looking for a nice, light read, go ahead and pick up Hex on the Beach (or any of the others, I don’t really think you need to read them in order) and give it a go. If flat, tired and tropey characters are not your thing, skip it. Rating: C-. I’m betting once I return these to Kindle Unlimited, I won’t really remember them.

If you want some nice, well fleshed out female leads, try Gail Carriger’s Parasol Protectorate series, her Finishing School Series or her Custard Protocol Series. Also worth reading: Ilona Andrews’ Kate Daniels series and Faith Hunter’s Jane Yellowrock series, which I’ll get around to reviewing sometime. Oh, and though they aren’t the lead in the series, Jim Butcher’s Dresden Files series. He has some seriously great female characters.