Small Favor, the 10th book in Jim Butcher’s Dresden Files is another tale full of Harry Dresden’s wisecracking and wizardry. In this episode, Harry has been recruited by Mab, Queen of Winter to find and rescue the mob boss, Johnny Marcone. This is a job Harry would never take, except for the fact that he is in debt to Winter and must do it despite his reservations. Regardless of the fact that Harry is being harassed by minions of the Summer Court and that whoever kidnapped Marcone was not only a professional but very powerful, Harry is now on the case.

Asking questions of the right people, Harry discovers who has kidnapped the crime lord and is forced by Marcone’s people to set up a neutral meeting between his abductors and Marcone’s seconds. Macrons’ abductors are none other than the Knights of the Blackened Denarius, mages who have been possessed by fallen angels. Talks of this sort need neutral ground and a neutral negotiator. Harry decides that a meeting this dangerous requires a powerful negotiator and calls in the Archive, the living repository of all knowledge. Getting this sort of meeting set up while being stalked by Queen Titania’s enforcers taxes Harry’s resources. Living through the talks could be even harder.

I find that I enjoy this series for several reasons. The largest of those reasons is Butcher’s voice. Undoubtedly, his characters are of a sort who have lives that readers love to follow. I even find his secondary characters to be fascinating. Bob, Mouse and Mister are some of my favorites, and I love to hear about them. His fantasy Chicago, full of hidden magic and faerie creatures is also very compelling to us mortals stuck in our mundane lives. However, it is his voice that brings it all to life. The character dialog, Harry’s internal dialog, and his pop culture reference riddled descriptions make this reader feel as if the story was written specifically for me. If Mike Hammer was a wizard living in modern-day Chicago and had a fondness for sarcasm and snappy comebacks, his name would be Harry Dresden.

Butcher’s fans will definitely devour this one just like the last nine. It has all the elements, danger, magic, romantic undertones, wisecracks, a multitude of pop culture references, evil beasties and arrogant bad guys, mayhem, threats, faeries, vampires and even the billy goats gruff. Seriously, they are there, I kid you not (pun intended).

In the 1100s, a group of twelve knights on the Crusaders received an mystic lily from an angel of the Lord in North Africa. The lily conferred unique powers to each of the knights—such as psychic power and the ability to crush bones from afar. Upon returning from the Holy Land with a sacred relic, the knights created a powerful order that was eventually undermined by the Church. As a result, the sacred lily was hidden away and a council of twelve continued the order in secret.

In 1890, three descendants of the original twelve knights find themselves searching for the relic. They each have gifts from the lily; but many of the descendants also have been cursed—they have a tendency to go mad.

In London, chilly Miranda travels to her stern and unknown grandparents, because her mother has been put in an asylum. Miranda has been taken away from her mother's world of artists and suffragist activists to live with her father’s family, who are ashamed that she is illegitimate. Her only solace is her deck of tarot cards, which allow her see the patterns of the future.

In a tower outside Prague, lonely deformed Jacinth, a Parisian orphan, lives in isolation. She is visited by her jailor/caretaker Nicolas Tremayne, who bids her to use her gift of farsight—a sort of astral projection---to find other descendants of the lily. Jacinth’s journeys provide some of the most luminous descriptions in the novel:

"She rose up, hovering just above the bed for a moment or two, and then rising higher to the ceiling…She floated through the top of the tower, then drifted in the air above it. Filled with a surge of energy, she shot up, like an arrow, into the sky and through billows of rain clouds that would have chilled and wetted her, had she possessed a body….She lingered for a moment, high in the atmosphere, hundred of feet up, the face of the earth obscured by white and silver cloud."

And in the Irish countryside, young Jack meets the ancient and laudanum-addicted James Maslin in his seemingly abandoned ancestral home. He discovers Maslin's terrible curse—the ability to see into past that puts him into a deathlike trance, and his connection to the lily and Tremaynes.

Ms. Singleton weaves together these storylines in a narrative that travels across locales, time periods and even space. The pacing is as gripping as Dan Brown’s bestselling The DaVinci Code; she mines religious conspiracy tropes with historical accuracy and a fervent belief in the supernatural. Though marketed as a young adult title, it has significant crossover appeal.

Ms. Singleton is one of the premier stylists in speculative fiction. Her prose is like poetry and belongs on the same shelf as such prose-magicians as Patricia McKillip, Tanith Lee and Jack Vance.

She's a writer's writer; her attention to craft adds a richness to the twisty plot that is missing from most thrillers. Her characterizations are poignant; even the villains have a human aspect. For now, Singleton's work is only available in the UK, but two US editions of her previous novels are coming out in the near future. Here’s hoping that they garner enough praise to have this fine novel get a wider readership.

Gavril faces his deepest fear-that he cannot exist without his Drakhoul. His comfortable life was turned upside down in the first book of this trilogy with the appearance of a smoky presence that wrapped around him and invaded his being. The Drakhoul, a dark and demanding creature, promised strength beyond reckoning and breathed sulfur into Gavril’s soul. This power came with a heavy price, however. Gavril sustained physical changes without and within, his body changing into a dragon with the appetite of a vampire. Unable to face living as a monster, Gavril throws off his familiar with the help of Kiukiu and looks forward to living as a human again. Unfortunately, without the power of the Drakhoul to protect his people, Gavril is taken prisoner and Eugene proclaims himself Emperor of all he surveys.

Ms. Ash blazes through her descriptions of people. As the second book in the series entitled The Tears of Artamon, Prisoner of the Iron Tower is Act II of a three act play. There are many characters and most seem to be playing more than one role. Attempting to identify the alliances made and betrayed can leave one breathless. Like a typical second act, life seems dark for our hero Gavril and the countries fighting for independence.

I enjoyed this one more than the first, which is a bit unusual. The author seems to delve deeper into the primary characters, making them real. Readers see into the mind of Eugene, the self-proclaimed Emperor of New Rossiyan. He is not a flat, all-out bad guy but is very human, a contradiction. The loving father, afraid to emotionally embrace his new wife because the loss of the first was so painful. This alongside of the imperious ruler who demands instant groveling, paranoid about all around him and whose dreams consist of all he sees bowing to him. Readers sense that if Astasia and Eugene could just communicate better, a love could blossom that could heal the agony in his heart.

However, the character development of Eugene is balanced by a frenetic bouncing between other characters, shifting the focus so much I became a bit frustrated. I wanted the story to land in one place and develop more. I think she attempted to do too much here, trying to balance the story of Eugene as a budding emperor with the rebellion in the south and the destruction of Gavril’s country in the north. On top of all this is the search to understand the Drakhoul and his kind, to control or banish him forever. The story dashes one way and then swerves the other, like the daemon-dragon of the tale. Reader, beware! Ms. Ash invests effort in creating her characters only to pitch them off a cliff for the sake of the story. My hope is Sarah Ash will resolve this story effectively in book three of The Tears of Artamon, The Children of the Serpent Gate.

Demurral, a vicar in a beautiful corner of Britain, is tired of pushing and controlling ignorant peasants. He knows he has the power to rule much more and is willing to do whatever it takes. In fact, he even doubts that God himself is doing a good job. He eagerly uses his power to command the spirits of the dead and release a demon from the crypt. Demurral’s greed, however, starts a war in this repressed community. The common people are challenged to choose sides. Are they for the vicar, the repression and evil he gladly proclaims? Or will they unite, join with the forces of light and overthrow the darkness?

Previously self-published in the United Kingdom, G.P. Taylor received such a great response that his book was picked up by one of the big houses - Faber and Faber. A vicar himself in Yorkshire, G.P. Taylor has put much of the local geography and history into this tale. His descriptions of the seaside and cliffs are one of the strong points in this book, placing the reader in the midst of the setting.

Written for adolescents, the character building in Shadowmancer is deceptively simple. Not much time is spent on each person, but the time spent looks into their deepest hearts. The story is mainly focused on the battle of good and evil - the Holy War fought here on earth. It is a swashbuckling tale of common folk once again being called upon to do their part in the eternal battle, of slaves finding freedom to live again.

For myself, however, the book contains a bit too much lecture for me. I believe in the message spoken throughout this tale, but for me - stories consist of characters. I want to know why they do what they do. At times the action moves so swiftly and the point of view shifts completely, I felt as if I lost the thread of the story.

Since the tale seems to be more important that the characters themselves, though, a reader needs to approach it for what it is. Shadowmancer feels more like a medieval bard’s work - spoken by the light of the fire in return for a loaf and a warm place to sleep. A book I will read to my children, or let them read, as it does not tiptoe around the truth; it pushes and demands the reader to see and compare real life with the tale.

Jude Allman has been hiding a very long time. Jude has a secret. He was once very famous for doing something he had no control over. In fact, he did it three times. Jude died - and then came back to life. The notoriety he gathered, plus the fact he had no idea how it happened, drove him into seclusion. This period of seclusion has now come to a screaming halt, literally.

The Hunter, as he likes to call himself, enjoys stalking little girls. He revels in the hunt and kills them when the thrill is finished. As the Hunter’s activities escalate, Jude begins to realize he may have the power to stop the abductions. When the Hunter gets too close to those Jude loves, then he knows he must act.

T.L. Hines gives us a new and completely different angle to the idea of near-death experiences. This is a suspense-driven novel that at it’s core examines the concept that some people are here for a specific purpose. While it took a few pages for the story to get moving, once it did the author was able to keep the momentum building. The point of view shifts between several characters, effectively hiding the identity of the Hunter until the very end.

I enjoyed reading this book as much as T.L. Hines’ second story - The Dead Whisper On. Both books are published by Bethany House, a company that focuses on fictional stories with a spiritual twist. Mr. Hines definitely accomplishes this with Waking Lazarus. The reader is guided blindly through the minds of the characters, wondering which one is the Hunter. I found myself flipping back and forth, trying to match clues mentioned before with what I was reading at the time and attempt to nail the bad guy.

Although filled with suspense and some violence, this is not something that should cause nightmares for the faint at heart (like me!) In addition, while the story skirts the edge of believability, it doesn’t defy the theology of the mainstream believer. All in all, a thoroughly enjoyable read from a new author. I will be impatiently awaiting the third story from Mr. Hines. I do not think he will disappoint.

Thorn is a neomage, a non-human descended from the unfortunate infants conceived before the first plague of the End Times destroyed life on Earth as we know it. These infants developed abilities to manipulate energies left from creation. They are believed to be soulless beings, less than human Only able to reproduce when aroused to mage heat - and this only happens in the presence of angelic beings - the mages are scorned by humans and live isolated in enclaves.

In this third installment of the story, Thorn has found a home in a small mountain village and is accepted by the humans around her. Her semblance of balance is rudely cast aside, however, when a mage shows up in her village for no reason. Apparently, the demon dragon she assisted in locking in metaphoric chains has almost broken free. At this point the story rockets out of control, demons and angels popping in out of nowhere and Thorn doing her best to protect the humans in her care.

The book culminates in a mighty battle that exposes the strengths and weaknesses of all involved. Because it is written in first-person, the reader sees inside the head of the main character. Her fears, motivations, all laid out for us as readers to judge. Faith Hunter does something with her characters I always appreciate - they are fallible and scarred by their experiences.

I found this book intriguing, a completely different blending of post-apocalypse and fantasy. While a little dark, I loved the juxtaposition of mage magic and angelic magic with a little human conspiracy theory thrown in (some humans believe the angels are really aliens bent on total domination of Earth). This may sound complicated, but at its heart Host is all about the battle between good and evil fought by the ones caught in the middle. Even though I know how this story ends, I will look up Seraphs and Bloodring (the first two books) to know more about Thorn and her angelic and human friends.

The Butcher Bird was dropped impaled on the never to read pile its first time around, not for future consumption - just out of spite - and forgotten rather quickly and not unthankfully so. Even while sporting some blurbage from Cyberpunk don William Gibson and capo Pat Cadigan, my worst fears seemed to becoming reality in the first few chapters, namely, another fringe ultra hip wanabee, smart ass protagonist - complete with the job as a tattoo artist and oh yeah…his sidekick is of course a quip-ready, lesbian version of himself - who together find out reality isn’t what it seems. Couple that with the first sip into the quantum-chaos looking-glass mug really reminded me of a favorite comic of mine from the early 90’s, Dark Dominion, published by DEFIANT comics created by Jim Shooter and the legendary Steve Ditko (indeed the subtitle of Butcher Bird is A Novel of the Dominion) and you just had a product that completely was pressing the wrongs buttons with me from the beginning. One also has to have to understand, I had recently read the likes of Alex Bledsoe’s debut The Sword Edged Blonde, ran through the entire overrated Butcher series, read Morgan’s Black Man, Huston’s Already Dead among some others and while they all represent different levels of quality I just had an overload on the too-cool, snarky, potential goth-idols running around telling me how smooth they are.

What I just described could still have been viewed as a recipe for success if attached to a writer I was familiar with - an Aylett, a Moorcock, a Tarantino, but anytime I’m experiencing a writer for the first time - and I understand Kadrey has previous well thought of credits - and am not familiar with any previous work such an introduction usually makes me think I’m in for another work wading in the shallow end that’s more preoccupied with being trendy and a cultural dumpster-diving noir (because isn’t everything noir these days?) that read like rejected Sin City pitch than actually offering a worthwhile story. That this was a superficial, preliminary, and ultimately baseless assumption makes it more necessary to mention because I think there are some that have this hipster filter. We like cool, and even more than we despise posers, we hate too cool even more.

The second time around - I rather enjoyed it. The story revolves around a man, Spyder Lee, who after a night at the bar with his best friend Lulu get accosted by what seems to be a demon and is saved by a passing blind woman. After recovering he finds that not only does he wake up to his world, but he finds it inhabited by more than what he used to know.

He learns more from Lulu who he see’s now is without eyes, who has lived in this world since bargaining with the Black Clerks, sphere-crossing tithe collectors, a supernatural mob crew that watched was a bit too enthusiastic about Saw and is like the Twilight Zone’s Twilight Zone inhabitants. Spyder gets some answers but decides to hunt down his savior of the night before for more information and along the way he gets cursed by the demon who tried to bite his head off before. Yes, a rather extreme case of the Mondays but during this portion of the novel I started really settling in; enjoying Kadrey’s chaos that viewed our own reality - even if amiably - as the exceptional, little brother who has to wear a helmet around solid objects. The charm of the books is that when ugly calls us ugly our regularly repartee ready protagonist seems to role with it and in a few chapters Spyder went from cheap, stereotypical fringe of society outsider to becoming something more recognizable without changing a beat. Then you realize, It’s not anti-culture, it’s culture, and this the recognizable draw we see in books by the likes of Morgan, Grimwood, or even China - it is PKD’s future that we see our path is going to intersect with, not that of Clarke, Asimov, or Heinlein, and it is the Spyders and Lulus who will inherit it.. He (Spyder) is not abnormal, he is the reality, a blue collar guy who gets by on his trade, and afterwards throw down drinks with his friends in what is a daily celebration and a simple meeting of shared misery, as that can be seen by the game we see he and Lulu partake in at the bar challenging each other to describe the worst ways to die. Indeed he is not cool at all - he’s a guy who spits off one liners from the mind of a guy who is a lifelong film buff. We know this guy, some of you are this guy, and you aren’t special at all, indeed your chosen identity is to not be exceptional at all. This is exactly the person you want to watch your back if you have business in hell - the guy and gal that cross the border between our world and Hell and don’t even notice, the kind of people who adjust to madness and are not consumed by it, the daily grind favors no reality. Spyder finds himself accompanying the blind assassin who aided him on a job turned personal quest rationalizing that he wants to become blind to the reality, to forget, like he does at times waking up and thinking his former girlfriend is still with him. The assassin, Shrike, takes on a job to retrieve a book of power for one Madame Cinders - a book that lies in Lucifer’s palace, in the middle of a civil war in Hell.

I can see this book being accompanied with descriptors like ‘grit’ and ‘edge’ and an examination of the gutter and alleys, and the underbelly of society, and other comparable senseless book-jacket jargon mentioned with the best intentions, and no doubt if this were the 1980’s and I were ten I might even agree the content is consistent with those supposed accolades; however, my read was that of what is essentially a dungeon crawl from my block to hell with today’s average Joe.

And in this it succeeds.

I like Lulu because I know Lulu. She’s your kid sister who is not blood or someone you share a last name with , she’s chosen family, she’s the girl you would really go to hell for, and while we probably run into a few (too many) of those, she’s the one who would actually come with you. What I’m perhaps most thankful for is the keeping of the harping over the lost love interest element to a minimum. Many writers would have made the presence much heavier and frequent (aka Lana-syndrome) than necessary. Anyone that’s a teen or above understand the feelings Spyder carries with him and that it’s a constant presence without it needing to be mentioned on ever other page. One of the best parts of the books is delivered by Primo, a servant of Cinders, and another member of this quest who tells a story of the Raven King and jubilation and the joy in eating one’s family. All that said, ultimately what probably makes the novel is the Prince of Darkness himself. You won’t be floored as the Devil is possibly one of the few characters who has been utilized in all possible incarnations from Woland, to Twain, every Faust book from Mann to Swanwick and literally hundreds more, but Kadrey’s devil is that friend you have that commits some atrocious crimes but he’s still your boy - the guy you judge by how he does you, not by what he does - and in this novel, it’s not that you just find him amusing, you like this guy. As mentioned before Butcher Bird’s subtitle is that of "A Novel of the Dominion", the implication being there may be more stories to be told and while the book itself isn’t striking me as a book that demands to be read, the further adventures of Spyder is not a notion that I find entirely distasteful.

*passes a smoke to Lulu*

A Noh mask wearing bookseller named Bulgarkov, a condo building Lucifer, Orson Welles’s lost film, Lou Ford references, in a fast talking, brisk, fun read - a novelization of a Cage and Derm go to Hell and yes in the end, it's even not too cool.

Jay Tomio
The Bodhisattva

Mark. J. Ferrari's debut The Book of Joby is an inventive spin on Arthurian legend and the Biblical story of Job. As the book opens, God is offered a wager by Lucifer, with the fate of all Creation riding on the outcome. Should Lucifer win - God will be forced to unmake Creation and remake it under the guidance of Lucifer, to eliminate what Lucifer sees as flawed and corrupt including humanity itself.

The candidate personally chosen by God as the deciding factor in the wager is one Joby Peterson - a nine-year-old boy living happily unaware of the fate that rests on his shoulders and possessed of a vivid imagination fueled by a children's book of Arthurian tales.

Following a visit by God and Lucifer in his dreams, respectively disguised as King Arthur and Merlin, Joby is given to understand that he has been chosen by Arthur to "fight the devil". Unfortunately, Lucifer has stipulated that God and his angels cannot interfere with Joby's life directly or act to help him, while Lucifer is free to do whatever he likes in his attempt to push Joby over the edge, short of killing him. Thus begins Joby's transformation from a quintessential "golden boy" to a bitter and damaged man years later as Lucifer and his minions strive to win the wager in the time allotted. Joby's only hope may lie in the quiet seaside town of Taubolt on the California coast...

If The Book of Joby has a flaw, it's that a strong beginning draws the reader in quickly - depicting the wager between God and Lucifer and introducing Joby himself - a very likeable protagonist. His fantasy of being a Knight of the Round Table is touching and evokes nostalgia for the carefree days of childhood, which makes his eventual decline all the more saddening.

Ferrari's portrayal of Lucifer also provides some of the best moments of the book's first portion, as Lucifer gleefully directs his minions in various complicated schemes intended to bring about Joby's fall from grace while quarreling with God on various technicalities of the wager - which usually results in Lucifer being made to look like a buffoon.

Unfortunately, the middle portion of the book sags somewhat in comparison. The tension build-up and the charm of the first third has faded by the time Joby arrives in Taubolt, which leaves the story wanting at times. However, the final third of the book does manage to pick up the pace and concludes on a strong note.

With that said, Ferrari's attention to characters is excellent - Joby's rise and decline is expertly handled and the book is peopled with a number of other memorable characters, which does help keep the middle portion of the story a bit more interesting than it would be otherwise. The vivid detail put into the descriptions of Taubolt and surroundings is also very well-done and easily convinces one that Taubolt could be a real place.

It must also be said in Ferrari's defense that despite the subject matter, there isn't an attempt to shoehorn a religious message into the story. The religious theme is used more as a framework for the story and could have easily been interchanged with any number of mythological or wholly made-up archetypes of good and evil - and the Arthur legends interwoven with the larger story are a nice touch as well.

In conclusion, a very impressive debut that might have benefited from some further editing to cut down the length, but the prose and characterizations are outstanding otherwise.

Charles de Lint's collection The Ivory and the Horn gathers together 15 of his tales set in the city of Newford - revealing not only the darkness but the beauty that always lies beneath the surface of life. I read the collection over the past few days and this being my first experience with de Lint, I came away with a high opinion of his work.

Whether it's an insightful look at human nature, an intriguing twist on folklore or a glimpse into the faerie lands that haunt his character's dreams - de Lint has woven it all into a fantastical tapestry. In particular, I enjoyed The Bone Woman - which draws on Native American legends for a tale of a homeless woman who strives to keep the wonders of the world from being totally forgotten and A Tempest In Her Eyes - a take on the Shakespeare play A Midsummer Nights's Dream, which ended up being one of my personal favorites out of the collection. There are a number of other great stories in the collection as well, like The Forest Is Crying and Bird Bones and Ash.

However, in my experience short story collections tend to be hit and miss, and to be sure, The Ivory and the Horn does have its lesser moments. I felt that some of the longer stories (The Wishing Well, for instance), while certainly good - could have been trimmed down a bit as they don't seem to pack the same punch that the shorter stories did. If anything - the brief snatches of Newford's other side that we see in the other stories are all the more effective for being short - giving the reader much to ponder after the story has ended, rather than drawing out the story and losing some of the magic in the process.

That's not to say that any of the stories isn't worth reading. De Lint has a lot to offer even with the weaker stories - which isn't always the case. I've always enjoyed reading authors who truly have the gift for insight into human nature and de Lint certainly is one of them. The inclusion of folklore (the Russian legends of rusalki, etc.) as the basis for many of the stories helps to keep things interesting as well. I may not have been totally enamored of every story in the collection but de Lint's creativity and writing ability can't be faulted otherwise.

This book is put out by one of my favorite publishing houses, Bethany House. T.L. Hines offers us stories set in the real world twisted with a bit of the supernatural. The beginning of this particular story was a little creepy in a “Friday Fright Nite” sort of way (the kind that gives you shivers but not nightmares). As I delved into the story, I couldn’t put it down. From the introduction of a very unlikely heroine, a past-her-prime demolitions expert turned garbage collector, to the explosive culmination at the end readers will be hooked.

Candace “Canada” MacHugh lives in Butte, Montana, a place that has some very weird stuff going down. Not only is Canada talking with her dad, who died eleven years ago, but people are burning to ash without warning. Add to the mix one scary non-dying being that is trying to kill her and you have an in-your-face story just made for a rainy day.

There were several things I liked about this book. I wasn’t able to figure out where he was going with the plot. I love stories that are unpredictable. I also enjoy figuring out who’s the good guy and who’s the bad guy, and there were plenty of questions raised in the story on that front. I also like the concept of the supernatural existing side-by-side with the everyday existence.

However, I missed a crucial turning point in the story as thirty pages were left out during the physical construction of the book. This was a major drawback and I spent several pages trying to catch up. (Anyone buying off the shelf needs to check after page 96.) I know I wasn’t able to make some connections until later on in the story because of this.

I didn’t let this stop me though and still feel I enjoyed the book. It delivered a delightful type of creepy, not a lot of gore or grabbing of the ankles from beneath the bed. However, there were certainly some breathless scenes. (Let’s just say, for arachnophobes like me - oooooo yucky!) If this book hadn’t been missing the pages, I would have given it a 9.0. As it was, I felt like I needed to mark it down. I still liked the book enough that I shall look up T.L. Hines’ previous book Waking Lazarus.

“I am Gabriel,” said the angel, “come to charge you with a duty.”


By the second page of Mainspring, the teenaged clockwork apprentice Hethor has been given the task of finding the Key Perilous to re-wind the world’s mainspring, which is slowly but surely winding down.


The setting reflects an alternative history in which the colonies remain under the rule of Queen Victoria. The Earth orbits on brass tracks and runs on gears much like a clock. Even Christianity furthers the steampunk atmosphere with references to Our Brass Christ and Our Father, Craftsman be thy name.


In his quest to find the key, Hethor is press ganged into Her Imperial Majesty’s service to sail the high skies aboard an airship, is captured by savage winged men, battles a wizard who would let the world run down, and meets a tribe of “correct” people, smaller and furrier humans, who follow him like disciples.


But Mainspring’s protagonist is not so much a hero as he is an instrument. A stumbling, bumbling youth relying completely on his faith to see him through his trials in pursuit of the key. And with the frequent use of deus ex machina, it soon becomes apparent that Hethor’s destiny is, in fact, preordained leaving little room for doubt that his task will be met with success.


The book has its moments of levity and is filled with intriguing descriptions of the orrery.

Mainspring is also about a more personal journey: Hethor’s coming of age and maturation. He comes to question his preconceived notions, and shows considerable emotional growth by the final chapters.




Mainspring has all of the makings of a grand adventure, but the excitement factor is tempered somewhat by a pace that seems to drag at times coupled with the foreknowledge that Hethor simply cannot fail in his mission.

Faith Hunters’ debut novel Bloodring is set in a post-apocalyptic earth and tells the story of neomage Thorn St. Croix. The main events center on Thorn’s unique magical abilities as a stone mage and the abduction of her ex-husband, Lucas Stanhope. The story is an effective blend of romance and fantasy.

Bloodring starts in high gear. Rather than a using lengthy bit of exposition at the start of the story, Hunter parcels out bits information throughout. While this might annoy some readers, I wasn’t annoyed in the least. The plot moved at a brisk clip, which provided the opportunity to become acquainted with Thorn and her way of life.

Approximately 150 years ago, angels—called seraphs--descended to earth bringing God’s judgment down on the human race. A combination of plagues and nuclear war wiped out the majority of the population and plunged the planet into an ice age. The seraphs formed a new government and insinuated themselves into everyday life. In the wake of the apocalypse new races have emerged, primarily the result of seraph and human couplings.

Thorn’s special genetic makeup has endowed her with the ability to bend leftover creation energy to her will, or in laymen’s terms, the ability to bond with the elements of nature and perform magic. Such natural-born talent comes with a high cost, specifically human fear and hostility and a mandatory life of seclusion living among others with similar abilities. Due to events that aren’t completely made clear, Thorn can’t live safely among other mages. At the age of fourteen, she flees, hiding in a small town nestled in the Appalachians.

Two decades later, Thorn has managed to learn a trade and create a decent life. She works as a jewelry designer and is one of three partners in a jewelry business. She’s also been married and happily helped raise her stepdaughter, Ciana. Everything seems to be going well until her ex-husband’s kidnapping forces her into action. From that point on Thorn increasingly relies on her instincts, friends and innate mage abilities.

Hunter’s descriptions of life in a small town are dead on; down to the small dating pool and the fear of encouraging the wrath of a church elder (minister, preacher, what have you). The secondary characters are multidimensional; everyone from a mule train master to the evil minions of darkness has a distinct personality. The characters also talk and respond like real people with human frailties. Even though Thorn feels alienated in her otherness, she lives in a functional, supportive environment.

When the focus of the novel is on the romantic aspects of the plot, the story looses its flow. Thorn’s spends a lot of time wishing she could rip the clothes off one of the other characters just because of his genetic makeup. It seems that when a mage and an angelic being are in close proximity they both experience an overwhelming desire to have sex - “mage-heat”. It matters very little that she doesn’t seem to like him. The concept is referred to repeatedly; often interrupting the flow of the story. "Mage-heat" seems to borrow shamelessly from other authors, particularly Laurell K. Hamilton and her concept of the “ardeur”. It’s a device that Hamilton has used far too frequently in her recent work to drive the plot and cover radically inconsistent behavior in her character, Anita Blake. I really hope Hunter avoids falling into a similar trap.

Bloodring is at its best when Hunter effortlessly blends classic biblical themes into elements of high fantasy. The easy integration of religion, theology and magic into the every day is reminiscent of Sharon Shinn’s Samaria books and Kelley Armstrong’s Women of the Otherworld series. The world Faith Hunter has wrought is an intriguing one. Deft characterizations, realistic dialogue, and excellent plot pacing combine to create a story that is both gripping and believable.

We visit the realms again, but this time we venture to another unlikely locale when we follow some returning characters to the Plane of Fire. Kaanyr Vhok, fresh off the defeat suffered at the hands of the Menzoberranzan drow, is looking for a new conquest, and it seems a complex plan has been hatched. Kaanyr’s plan not only involves the human city of Sundabar, but he is venturing into the Plane of Fire for a scheme that can only have a devastating impact on the Forgotten Realms. We also get to see Aliisza – a fan favorite from “The War of the Spider Queen”. She had some interesting interactions with Phauran Mizzrym and the rest of the drow.

The first concern is the choice of Kaanyr Vhok and Aliisza as part of this story rather than bringing new players to the table. Though, Thomas Reid does introduce an interesting supporting cast: Myshik Moreume the blue-scaled hobgoblin with half-draconic heritage, Zasian the priest, and Tauran the angel of Tyr. Reid perfectly played Myshik in regards to how much stage time he is given and his actions in the book. Zasian is as well a great character; right when you think you know what he is about, Reid flips the script and he is really not at all what we thought. Tauran seemed to be the only weak supporting character, but then again, how much personality can an angel of Tyr really have?

The characters not only visit Sundabar, but we also get to see them visit the Plane of Fire. While on the Plane of Fire, the anti-heroes – in an attempt to keep cool – get to venture into the famous City of Brass after a battle with some efreeti slavers. From the crystal trees to the overall theme and look of the plane, Reid does a wonderful job at describing the locales and puts the reader right alongside the characters in their journey. Reid could have added to the story by giving a little more background as to the inhabitants that Kaanyr Vhok’s band met on the Plane of Fire, but there are only a certain amount of pages in the book, so this is understandable.

Reid refers to Vhok as "the cambion" far too often in his attempt to break up the monotony of using his name. This was very distracting to the flow of the story and effectively changed the enjoyment of the story by sheer annoyance. Reid seems to do this with other characters as well, but not to the extent that it is done with Kaanyr Vhok.

This book can be a little frustrating for the reader as they can feel a little left out until the end where things that seem out of place are explained. It is also going to be a stretch for some readers to connect with Kaanyr and Aliisza due to having rooted against them in the past.
Even though Reid’s first book in the story did not allow him to be the author we know he can be, he has the skill to be top notch. He really shines when he gets to create new characters. With that said, the supporting cast of this story could use a spin off of its own.

Overall, Reid brings us a good story and setting while introducing some well thought out and alluring minor characters. Kaanyr Vhok and Aliisza seemed forced into the story, as if they were only present for their name recognition. We could have had some new characters take their place, but WoTC does rely heavily on recognizable characters, which is understandable in a shared world setting. Let us hope we can understand why Vhok seems bent on Sundabar so quickly after his defeat at the hands of the dark elves and how Aliisza's piece of the puzzle fits. We can only assume it has some part of the greater plan at hand. Well, we can only hope that is true.

White Knight by Jim Butcher is the ninth book of The Dresden Files. This latest finds wizard Harry Dresden trying to solve several apparent suicides. Harry’s cop friend Karrin Murphy believes they were murder and calls in Harry to find out what happened to them.

If you aren’t already familiar with the series, I’ll give you a quick synopsis. If you are already familiar with these books, go ahead and skip this paragraph. Harry Dresden is a private investigator in modern day Chicago. He is also a wizard. Since he advertises that fact in the phone book, he gets all sorts of strange cases. In addition, he often helps out Karrin Murphy of the Chicago police’s SI division which handles ‘special investigations’, or rather, all the strange and unusual crimes. His brother is a vampire, his mother a faerie; and he counts angels, werewolves and witches among his friends. He is perpetually broke, lives with a giant cat named Mister, and an even larger Temple Dog named Mouse, has an angel’s daughter for an apprentice and the spirit of a banished black wizard for a lab assistant. Because he once used black magic in the past, the governing council over magic users which is called the White Council keeps him under close observation lest he slide over to the dark side.

This time around, someone is trying to frame him for the murders and somehow his brother Thomas is involved. During the investigation, Harry meets up once again with his first love Elaine, who happens to be in town to find an answer to the killings as well since Chicago is only the latest city that has record of these types of killings made to look like suicides. So, Harry must solve the case, prove his brother’s innocence, keep his apprentice safe, ensure the continuation of the Vampire Courts’ peace talks and protect Elaine.

All in a day’s work for Harry Dresden, Wizard. Of course his job is much easier since he has police back up, a magical Temple Dog, an evil but honorable gangster who needs a favor, a White Council Warden and the shade of a fallen Angel all ready to pitch in. Will Harry be able to solve the case? Is his brother truly innocent? Well, as the cliché goes, you’ll have to read the book to find out.

Butcher’s Dresden Files are very entertaining. Harry Dresden is a dynamic and well-rounded character and the supporting cast isn’t a bunch of cardboard cutouts either. Because this is an urban fantasy based on real life Chicago, Butcher doesn’t have to focus on his physical world building. He therefore puts a great deal of that energy towards his mythos. His mythical creatures all have full histories and complete biographies. While much of these may be taken from common mythology regarding vampires and ghouls and other things that go bump in the night, it is clear that Butcher has put his own stamp on each of them and keeping their stories as simple but complete as possible. He then adds in wonderful characterization, relationships and humor to create a series that is engaging and entertaining. It isn’t surprising to me that this series has been picked up by the SciFi Channel to be the basis for a TV series.

Skaters, Trekkies and Cool Dudes by Derek Lawrence is a basic good versus evil story. The Good versus The Evil. Once again, God’s first fallen angel has decided that it is time that God took a permanent vacation. As is usual in these tales, Lawrence uses a complicated plot with twists and turns that it turns out even God didn’t expect.

While the basic story is a good one, it has some flaws. The biggest of which are the parenthetical asides from the narrator to the reader. I recognize this easily as it is something that I’m prone to doing. Since it can be difficult to portray body language in a story without longwinded and boring descriptions, often an author will try to get the reader to feel the humorous mood by using a comical device such as this to bring the reader in on the joke. Unfortunately for Lawrence, he has fallen into the trap of once you start, it is difficult to stop. This tends to be both distracting to the reader and makes the humor feel forced.

Otherwise this is a cute story. Some may not enjoy a story that portrays God as a Star Trek fan who dresses up as Captain James T. Kirk while on vacation and whose number one Angel, Gabriel, is a hot-tempered, impatient and impetuous being who enjoys using his power to get his way. They also might find that a humorous fantasy story based on God, Satan, Heaven and Hell to be a little outré. Most fantasy fans, however, who enjoy short humorous stories, would take all of that in stride. While I felt that the book could have used one more go with an editor, a better title and a more fitting cover, I’m sure there are many people out there who will enjoy this one despite all of that.