Category: Urban Fantasy / Fantasy

Marked in Flesh
by Anne Bishop
Rating: ★★★★½
Series: The Others #4
Publication Date: March 1, 2016
Pages: 416
Genre: Fantasy, Urban Fantasy
Publisher: ROC Hardcover

Well, obviously I loved this one. I almost went the whole 5 stars, but I was able to put it down when I finished and not just start re-reading it, so I figured it must be lacking something.  Let’s call it ‘not enough Tess’.

But honestly, I had some fears over this one because surely the author couldn’t keep on writing books this consistently good; surely there had to be a weakling among the litter?  If there is, it hasn’t yet been written.  Once I started it, I didn’t want to put it down.

That’s all I’m going to say, because I don’t want to spoil it for those that haven’t read it yet.  But yes, it is well worth the read.

Fire Touched
by Patricia Briggs
Rating: ★★★★½
Series: Mercy Thompson #9
Publication Date: March 4, 2016
Pages: 342
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Publisher: Ace

Tensions between the fae and humans are coming to a head. And when coyote shapeshifter Mercy and her Alpha werewolf mate, Adam, are called upon to stop a rampaging troll, they find themselves with something that could be used to make the fae back down and forestall out-and-out war: a human child stolen long ago by the fae.

Defying the most powerful werewolf in the country, the humans, and the fae, Mercy, Adam, and their pack choose to protect the boy no matter what the cost. But who will protect them from a boy who is fire touched?

Maybe my favourite of the nine books so far.  It was fast-paced, a little bit breathless and everybody pulled their heads out of their… and started acting like a unit instead of a roomful of kids hyped up on too much birthday cake.

Fire Touched took a page of out Zee’s book of philosophy and played no games; there weren’t any sly plots on the side, no melodramatic angst, no misapprehensions or misunderstandings.  It was a welcome change to have a story where Mercy and Adam worked together from beginning to end.  I loved that Zee got a lot more page-time and I think it might be a little wrong how much I liked Baba Yaga’s character.  These two and Margaret’s cameo made up for the absence of Samuel and the small bit with Bran (although I loved this scene, with Charles playing invisible chorus).

I’d have liked to have known more about Aiden’s power (how it works) and his past, although I did enjoy learning a bit more about Underhill and, I don’t know if the author intended this or not, I liked the allegory of mankind’s treatment of Earth.

At the end of the book, I had a feeling it lacked a very small something, but on thinking about it, I think that’s more about my expectation of side plots and melodrama (because let’s face it, that’s pretty much SOP in most books) going unfulfilled than anything of substance actually missing.  I went 4.5 stars because as much as I really enjoyed the plotting, the writing and the characters, fae politics just aren’t that fascinating to me, and that’s purely personal taste.

I’m looking forward to seeing what Briggs does next.

Eighth Grave After Dark
by Darynda Jones
Rating: ★★★★½
isbn: 9781250045652
Series: Charlie Davidson #8
Publication Date: May 5, 2015
Pages: 293
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Publisher: St. Martin's Press

Charley Davidson has enough going on without having to worry about twelve hellhounds hot on her trail. She is, after all, incredibly pregnant and feeling like she could pop at any moment. But, just her luck, twelve deadly beasts from hell have chosen this time to escape onto our plane, and they've made Charley their target. And so she takes refuge at the only place she thinks they can't get to her: the grounds of an abandoned convent. Of course, if hellhounds aren't enough, Charley also has a new case to hold her attention: the decades-old murder of a newly-vowed nun she keeps seeing in the shadows of the convent.

Add to that the still unsolved murder of her father, the strange behavior of her husband, and Charley's tendency to attract the, shall we say, undead, and she has her hands full...but also tied.

I knew (sort of) how this one ended and had put off starting it until the release of the ninth book was closer, but actually it’s not quite as cliff-hanging an ending as I was expecting.

I love this series; I love the humour, the snark, and the inclusion of a lot of old Christian mythology.  I like the way the author conveys the horror of bad things happening without making the reader wallow in it.

Eighth Grave After Dark is both the culmination and the deepening of the overall story arc.  We have the ultimate family reunion in addition to the cold and hot cases Charley is trying to solve.  Reyes becomes a bit more human too, if you’ll excuse the expression.  The author’s depiction of hell brought to mind scenes from Constantine and were incredibly effective.

The ending is … ok.  It’s a neat and tidy way of getting around what might have proven problematic in future plots, but it works for me.  I’m very much looking forward to the ninth book.

Sixth Grave on the Edge
by Darynda Jones
Rating: ★★★★
isbn: 9781250045638
Series: Charlie Davidson #6
Publication Date: May 4, 2014
Pages: 326
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Publisher: St. Martin's Press

Most girls might think twice before getting engaged to someone like Reyes Farrow—but Charley Davidson is not most girls. She's a private eye and grim reaper who's known to be a bit of a hell-raiser, especially after a few shots of caffeine. Her beloved Reyes may be the only begotten son of evil, but he's dark and sultry and deeply sexy and everything Charley could hope for. Really. But when the FBI file on Reyes' childhood happens to land into her lap, she can't help herself: She opens it...and then the real fun begins.

First, Charley finds a naked corpse riding shotgun in her car. Then, a man loses his soul in a card game. Throw in a Deaf boy who sees dead people, a woman running from mobsters, and a very suspicious Reyes, and things can't get any worse for Charley. Unless, of course, the Twelve Beasts of Hell are unleashed…

The covers of the Charlie Davidson series always have a quote on the front comparing them to Janet Evanovich’s books.  It’s a particular pet peeve of mine, because it seems every other book with any humour in it at all has a Stephanie Plum comparison quote on it’s cover.  And they are never anything like the Stephanie Plum books.  However, if anyone comes close it’s Charlie Davidson.  But she is oh, so much more.  Don’t get me wrong, I like the Plum novels, they’re a hoot, but I think it’s a bit of a backhanded compliment to compare Charlie to Stephanie.

Charlie is a P.I. and the grim reaper –a portal to heaven.  She’s in love with the son of Satan himself; created and sent to Earth for the sole purpose of destroying her.  Only the son has his own agenda; he’s in love with Charlie and has been for centuries.  She just barely juggles both jobs and in spite of herself, manages to make a difference.

I love these books and I loved Sixth Grave… Ms. Jones hasn’t yet written a bad book, imo.  They are first and foremost entertaining; Charlie’s thoughts and dialogue are written as an almost continuous stream of jokes, but it’s not just about the funny.  There is a lot of pain, a lot of violence, a lot of empathy, a lot of mythology, and some –not a lot– scorching love scenes (pun sort of intended).  The series’ premise is steeped deeply in biblical mythology, and belief and faith are strong themes without bringing religion into it.  I enjoy this part even more than I enjoy the humour.  Sixth Grave just hit all the right buttons for me.

The only negative notes for me, and the reason it’s a 4 star instead of 5 is the repetition of a couple of pieces of information that felt more like someone forgot they’d already been mentioned than just refreshers, and the ending.  The ending, although it feels like the inevitable evolution of the mythology Ms. Jones has created, has me worried.

Worried or not, I can’t wait for Seventh Grave’s release.  Ms. Jones owns me at this point. If you like Urban Fantasy that straddles the PNR line (or crosses it – I could argue either way), can handle some non-gratuitous violence and love wise-cracking, kick-ass heroines who have the power and strength to save the world, you might enjoy these books and I highly recommend checking them out.

Murder of Crows
by Anne Bishop
Rating: ★★★★½
isbn: 9780451465269
Series: The Others #2
Publication Date: March 4, 2014
Pages: 354
Genre: Fantasy, Urban Fantasy
Publisher: ROC Hardcover

Thank god that’s over!  Let me explain:

This weekend in Melbourne we had an Indian Summer.  (For those of you not familiar with the American term:  Indian Summer: a period of unusually dry, warm weather occurring in late autumn.)  I know this only in the vaguest sense because honestly, I couldn’t freaking put the book down long enough to look outside.  Laundry didn’t get done.  DH was resoundingly ignored.  Luckily he cooks or we’d have both gone without eating.  I’m not exactly sure what I did eat, come to think of it – he put a plate in front of me and I ate whatever was on it.  I do remember chewing…  I’m sure it was delicious…

Thankfully books like this only come around a couple of times a year.  The compulsive need to keep reading is, I think, something that’s best enjoyed in small doses.

Murder of Crows was just as good as Written in Red.  Tess and the Elementals are still my favourites, and I still enjoyed the swift and devastating justice that is consistently delivered by the Others.  That sounds blood-thirsty doesn’t it?  But the world Ms. Bishop has created is a very black and white world in terms of morality.  The Others control all the land, all the resources, and where humans are allowed to live and how much of any resource can be used.  Clear cut rules exist for other/human interaction, (although the Others prefer no interaction at all).  Following the rules brings peace, or at least detente.  Breaking the rules means death.  No warnings, just death.

Meg is what happens when you introduce gray to this black and white world.  Human, but not prey, she doesn’t judge and treats everyone, Other or Human, with kindness.  This book starts to explore just what kind of changes are possible when one person/other, and then another, and another choose shades of gray.

The immediate plot of Murder of Crows is the continuation and resolution of one started in Written in Red as well as The Controller’s ongoing campaign to bring Meg back to his facility.  Instead of a slow build up leading to a final climax, this book is a series of smaller climaxes each bringing the story closer to an end.  While I’d rather not wait for the third book, at least the story ended with at least as much satisfaction as anticipation.