The Long Chain (Arcane Casebook #3) ★★★★☆

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress, Blogspot & Librarything by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission

Title: The Long Chain
Series: Arcane Casebook #3
Author: Dan Willis
Rating: 4 of 5 Stars
Genre: Fantasy
Pages: 343
Words: 111K

Synopsis:

From Danwillisauthor.com & Me

In a city the size of New York, things go missing all the time. When a Nobel-Prize winning Chemist vanishes without a trace, his granddaughter taps Alex to find him. Locating people is easy for someone with the best finding rune in the city, but when Alex tracks down the missing man, he has no memory of who he is or what happened to him, and his research is gone.

Convinced that something sinister is afoot, Alex sets out to uncover the truth. Before he can learn anything concrete, however, the city is shrouded in a dense fog and that brings New York’s resident sorceress, Sorsha Kincaid, to his door. She needs Alex’s finding rune in order to trace the source of the unnatural fog, and she has no patience for his other cases.

Alex also is hired by Dr Killian, the Alchemist giving him his reinvigorating potion, to find a missing friend of hers. He gladly accepts, as this will give him more reason to be around Dr Killian's apprentice Jessica.

Turns out the Chemist is secretly working for the Navy creating a magic fog machine. Only problem is, the compounds he uses are unstable and go up in flames eventually. With the fog covering all of Manhattan, the potential is the fire bombing of the entire city. Alex also uncovers that there is a spy in the Navy trying to sell the fog machine to the Chinese. Alex and Sorsha track down the spy, recover the Chemist's notebook, which allows the Chemist to shut his machine down without firing New York.

Alex finds the missing Alchemist but along the way discovers some disturbing things about Dr Killian, Jessica and a young girl who appears to be an insane murderer. Dr Killian's daughter has polio and the cure is in Dr Killians' blood. She gives 2 vials for safekeeping to Alex, as it turns out she has been taking a lethal alchemical mixture over the years that allows her to grow younger for 12hrs. One of these younger versions is Jessica and the overdosed version is the insane killer. Dr Killian uses up her lifeforce to stop the megalomaniac who has kidnapped the Alchemist and her to free Alex so he can get the blood sample to the daughter.

The book ends with Alex meeting up with the man who was introduced as the Shadow Master in the previous book. The Shadow Master reveals that there is another World War coming and that he expects Alex to use the power of the Archimedean Monograph to prevent it. This Shadow Master gave Alex's mentor the Monograph so that he could stop the first World War but Iggy deemed the book too dangerous to use. Shadow Master warns Alex not to make the same mistake. He also gives Alex another year of life by infusing him with the lifeforce of 50 pigs and tells him to figure out how it was done so he can continue living. The point being that the Shadow Master has been around for a very long time.

My Thoughts:

I enjoyed myself immensely with this book. I really suspected that things weren't going to work out between Alex and Jessica, but I totally didn't see it being because of the whole Jekyll/Hyde/MurderGirl thing. I found that to be very clever. Considering that Jessica IS Dr Killian and Dr Killian's daughter is probably a bit younger than Alex, it would not surprise me if she gets cured by the polio potion and becomes Alex's love interest. I'll just have to wait and see. Sorsha is too obvious a candidate.

I do have to admit that I was glad at the end of the book that Alex is shown that life extension runes are possible, as it was getting a little old throughout the book of him wondering when he was going to die. If it had been me writing though, I would have had him die soon after Dr Killian, lovers united in death and all that.

I've really been enjoying the “standalone” nature of each of these books. Several cases all tying into each other but completely wrapped up by books end. That formula starts to unravel with the ending of this book and the Shadow Master revealing himself and his plans to Alex. It has the potential to be a really good thing for the series but personally, I hope Willis stays to the Standalone side of things.

I have been enjoying this series this month and while I can't unreservedly recommend it, I do highly recommend it. I think the fact that I chose to break my reading rotation to chow down on these says more than anything I could actually write.

★★★★☆

• In Plain Sight (Book 1)
• Ghost of a Chance (Book 2)

Ghost of a Chance (Arcane Casebook #2) ★★★★☆

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress, Blogspot & Librarything by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission

Title: Ghost of a Chance
Series: Arcane Casebook #2
Author: Dan Willis
Rating: 4 of 5 Stars
Genre: Fantasy
Pages: 361
Words: 117K

Synopsis:

From Danwillisauthor.com & Me

When a bizarre string of locked-room murders terrorize New York, the police

When a bizarre string of locked-room murders terrorize New York, the police reluctantly turn to their magical consultant, private detective Alex Lockerby, to catch a killer who can walk through walls.  Dubbed the Ghost by the tabloids, Alex will need every rune in his book to solve the case with no suspects, no leads, and no time to spare.

Unfortunately Alex's magic hasn't been working very well of late.  He can't even manage to track down several truckloads of stolen goods, including one belonging to New York's preeminent sorcerer, Andrew Barton.  To make matters worse, Alex and his clients are being stalked by a shadowy cabal with strange powers that Alex has never seen before.  

With the Ghost seemingly able to murder at will and the tabloids, the public, and Alex’s clients demanding results, Alex will need a miracle to keep himself, his clients, and his reputation alive.

Alex also has to deal with the effects of his Escape Rune from the previous book that has shaved an unknown number of years off of his lifespan. Iggy, his mentor, puts him in touch with an alchemist and Alex gets involved with her apprentice.

All of the cases are almost tied together, as the Ghost turns out to be a man killing the group of people who cheated him out of his land years ago, land which could have been sold to raise money to save his wife. Barton's missing motor is linked to a group that wants to steal a literal boatload of gold in a museum and the presence of Mayan Runes are revealed. The same shadowy Man of Mystery is the one supplying both groups with Mayan runes that allow them to do the extraordinary things they do.

Alex solves everything, gets a lot of money and publicity, thinks Jessica (the assistant alchemist) might be the One and both Alex and Iggy wonder who the Shadow Master is.

My Thoughts:

This was fun! I think what I liked the most was that the author makes what Alex does at the end of the first book (using the Escape Rune) really matter here. He's not just shrugging off a broken leg or something. He's lost years, possibly decades, of his life and it's showing. His hair is white, he doesn't have the energy and strength he used to, his hands shake (which for a rune wright is disastrous) and generally he's “old”.

Getting introduced to another Sorcerer was interesting and I'm glad we're not stuck on Sorsha. With him getting interested in Jessica though, we'll see what happens between him and Sorsha. Jessica seems a bit too absorbed in her work for something to work out long term with Alex. I just hope the author doesn't go into Triangle Territory. And honestly, deep characterization isn't his forte.

The multiple mysteries were just as fast and furious as in the first book. I'd prepared myself though, so it didn't overwhelm me. I still found myself wishing that one or more had been cut and a greater depth given to the remaining ones. That's not even really a complaint, just more of a “wish”.

I liked this even more than the first book and have the 3^rd and 4^th books already lined up. I'm really glad that Larry Correia recommended this author to his fans, as it has turned out to be a huge hit with me. It shouldn't have, as urban fantasy set in an alternate 1930's isn't my thing, but I guess just like the Grimnoir Chronicles, if it is done exactly right, it hits me like a ton of bricks. And I love every brick hitting me!

Finally, the covers. The author has some high res covers on his website and while I'm not using them for these reviews, I can already tell they are going to win all the Cover Love awards at the end of the month. I think the real decision will be whether I include them all or try to pick the best of the bunch. I've included a link to the high res cover. But come on, a rune infested shotgun, suspenders and a burning rune? And I wish my chin and hair looked like that. High Res Cover.

★★★★☆

• In Plain Sight (Book 1)

In Plain Sight (Arcane Casebook #1) ★★★☆½

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress, Blogspot & Librarything by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission

Title: In Plain Sight
Series: Arcane Casebook #1
Author: Dan Willis
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Fantasy
Pages: 301
Words: 90.3K

Synopsis:

Alex Lockerby is a Private Investigator in the 1930's, an alternate 1930's, where magic is real. Alex himself is a Runewright, someone capable of drawing runes and powering them. Alex was orphaned and brought up in a local church ministry and he still has strong ties to the priest that helped raise him. Alex also helps out the police as a consultant, when they're willing to pay.

The book opens with Alex declaring a dead body to be a murder and that the murderers can be caught at a highly secure facility in a day or two as they attempt to rob it. The next day Alex finds out the priest is dead along with everyone in the rectory. Some sort of magic plague was loosed and the police and the FBI want the perpetrators found before they loose the plague on a high profile case. Alex also takes on a case of a missing brother for an attractive brunette and finds out that the brother was researching new runes.

In a nutshell, Alex sleeps with the brunette, finds out she isn't the missing man's sister, tracks down the plague carriers and solves the case of the first murder victim. Everything ties together and comes together in big kablam'y fashion as German Agents are trying to kill some of New Yorks' finest wizards to start a war in the United States between magic users and non-magic users. He ends up using a rune to save the city from a (non)floating Wizard's Keep and possibly loses decades of his life. He also finds out that his mentor, a private detective who taught Alex everything he knows, has the forbidden book of magic that most new runes come from. Also turns out his mentor is Arthur Conan Doyle, who faked his death to throw those seeking out the forbidden tome off his trail.

Alex agrees to forget the tome of power and just be a magical PI.

My Thoughts:

For a book that is urban fantasy AND taking place in the 1920-1930's, I enjoyed this a lot more than I thought I would. I was introduced to this book by a post from Larry Correia. He occasionally does a Book Bomb where he promotes a book of a friend or a new'ish author whose work he likes and encourages all his readers to go buy a kindle copy to push the stats of the book up and make the author more visible. He has done it enough that I guess it works. It worked for me and I managed to snag a copy for 99cents, so I'm not complaining. Especially when I had a digital coupon for 99cents!

As soon as the brunette showed up I knew Alex was going to sleep with her. It's what detective do I guess. Of course, him deducing that she wasn't a real brunette from that experience and that leading him to figure out she wasn't the missing man's sister had me rolling my eyes. Not to be crass, but just because your pubic hair doesn't match the color of your hair on your head doesn't mean you dye your hair. Sigh. Biology, people!

Other than that, this was a fun romp filled with mystery and adventure. Having 3 cases all at once was a bit much but it kept the book from ever bogging down, as any time Alex had downtime from one case he had to immediately continue working on the other two. While I wasn't exhausted by the end of the book, I “felt” tired :-)

How runes work isn't gone into in exhaustive detail. That might be off-putting for some people but for me it was perfect. I just want to know that something works, that there ARE rules and that the character can't break those rules without consequences. As long as the author doesn't have Alex pulling rabbits out of his butt to save the day, I'm ok with vague rules of magic. A bit of mystery is a good thing.

I enjoyed this book enough to seek out the next 3. I plan on binge reading them all this month, along with the Hall of Fame SF collections, just to break up my reading rotation. Planned shake ups are much better than suddenly going off the reservation and crashing and burning. Here's to hoping the next books are just as interesting.

★★★☆½

Monster Hunter Guardian (MHI #7) ★★★★☆

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress, Blogspot & Librarything by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission

Title: Monster Hunter Guardian
Series: MHI #7
Author: Larry Correia & Sarah Hoyt
Rating: 4 of 5 Stars
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Pages: 436
Words: 118K

Synopsis:

While Owen and the other Monster Hunters are off in Russia fighting the big baddies, Julie (Own's wife and former Shackleford) is in charge of running the skeleton crew of MHI. She's also taking care of her dying grandfather and her newborn son.

She has a recruitment possibility but it goes sideways and turns out to be just a lure so a malevolent being can kill her grandfather and kidnap her son. Brother Death then contacts Julie and says he'll trade her son for a powerful artifact he knows Julie is guarding, even though she told MHI it was destroyed. She reluctantly agrees but creates a backup plan to recover the item and her son if Brother Death double crosses her. He does. Julie ends up in Germany alone and with almost no weapons. She tracks down the group of cultists who took possession of the artifact only to find out that the kidnapping of her son and artifact were unrelated. In the process of recovering the artifact, Julie breaks about a bajillion german laws and the german version of MCB makes MCB look like a kind and benevolent grandfather.

Julie goes on the run. With the help of Management (the last dragon in existence), she finds a man who is a European Monster Advocate. She needs his help to track down a monster known for kidnapping children, who will hopefully then lead her to Brother Death. Turns out the Monster Advocate was killed years ago and his body taken over by the child killer monster. Julie kills it and lets Management into its computer system. This gets her an invite to an auction that Mr Death is holding, with her son being the main item on the agenda.

Julie heads out with a lawyer from Management. At the auction she becomes aware that her mother is there and wants Julie's son to raise as her own (Julie's mom is a nutjob of a super vampire). The auction goes bad and Julie shoots her way out. She rescues her son only to see him taken from her by her mother. With the lawyer's help she escapes Brother Death.

Julie tracks her mom down and calls all the dregs of MHI to assault the mansion, along with the local branch of government monster hunters. They succeed against all odds and Julie has her son back. She also finds out that MHI is back from the Island.

With help from Owen and some of the other MHI Crew Julie finds out Brother Death's real name and uses that to kill him. During all of this her Guardian marks have grown and she finds out that as the marks grow, her humanity will shrink until she ceases to be human. At which point she will become a monster herself.

My Thoughts:

Another grand entry in the Monster Hunters International series. Now don't get me wrong, I don't think this is the best written series ever. I gave the first book 3 stars when I read it back in whenever and wasn't sure I was going to continue the series, but here I am, 7 books later and still enjoying them. For me, these are delightful books. Evil, in the form of monsters and other supernatural baddies, being taken care of from the business end of a gun. I find that extremely appealing.

I'm going to talk about the negative first though. This is a book about a woman who has lost her son to an unspeakable evil. There are emotions flying around like confetti at Mardi Gras. My issue isn't that it rang false or anything, but that it was there at all. I don't read books to souse myself in feminine emotion. Julie Pitt is no shrinking lilly nor does she allow her feelings to overcome her ability to act, but the mere fact that they are part of the story wasn't at all enjoyable for me. This is definitely a personal dislike and not some “I'm so Unbiased, look at me judging this book” kind of thing. Other readers might absolutely love Julie and her contrast to Owen Pitt, the man who saved the world. But for me, it was a negative. Now with that out of the way.

I had a BLAST with this book. I feel like my Quote post really summed up this book. Action, snark, non-explicit gun porn (I was surprised at how much I understood and found interesting when Julie was talking about various guns) and humor. The orcs are babysitters for baby Ray and the few paragraphs about them had me in stitches. They pretend to be wargs and let Ray ride them while having mock battles. It had me almost laughing out loud.

The action is just unrelenting. Julie has very few fall back options and almost no time and we as the readers jump from one scene to the next as she battles her way through various groups in various countries. From the death cultists who steal the artifact, to the baby stealing monster to the fight at the auction to the fight with Julie's Vampire Mom to the final scene with Brother Death, it was all drizzled with awesome sauce.

This book didn't feel like it was written by 2 authors. Whether Sarah Hoyt does another collaboration with Correia or not, I really enjoyed this work by the 2 of them. It does make me want to check out her other stuff to see if it would work for me.

★★★★☆

• Monster Hunter Siege (Book 6)
• All My "Monster Hunters International" Reviews

Target Rich Environment, Vol. 2 (TRE #2) ★★★★½

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress, Blogspot & Librarything by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission

Title: Target Rich Environment, Vol. 2
Series: TRE #2
Author: Larry Correia
Rating: 4.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: SFF
Pages: 450
Words: 122K

Synopsis:

From Amazon

“Tokyo Raider” pits giant robots against very big monsters in the Grimnoir Universe. “The Testimony of the Traitor Ratul,” set in the Saga of the Forgotten Warrior series, lets a man who has been called a fanatical rebel, despicable murderer, and heretical traitor tell his side of the story. And “Reckoning Day” gives an insider view into the day-to-day life of some of the most popular characters from the Monster Hunter International series.

Plus, stories set in the world of both Aliens and Predator; an Agent Franks /Joe Ledger mash- up cowritten by best-selling author Jonathan Maberry; a V-Wars story; a story set in Michael Z. Williamson’s Freehold series—and more.

Finally, Tom Stranger, Interdimensional Insurance Agent, is back in “A Murder of Manatees,” appearing in print for the first time!

Me

Tokyo Raider

Testimony of the Traitor Ratul

Shooter Ready

Three Sparks

Reckoning Day

Weaponized Hell

Son of Fire, Son of Thunder

Episode 22

Absence of Light

Psych Eval

Musings of a Hermit

Instruments of War

Murder of Manatees

My Thoughts:

Just like the previous volume, this was loads of fun! Definitely a contender for Best Book of the Year.

My two complaints first, hence the docking of a ½star. One of the novellas, Instruments of War, is set in some other franchise fiction universe and went on just a bit too long for my taste. It wasn't bad, it just wasn't to my taste. Secondly, the Tom Stranger novella wasn't quite as funny as the first one. So those are really my only “complaints”.

I was really glad to FINALLY read Tokyo Raider. It has been audio only for years and I am not going to pay $10 for a novella on audio, or join Audible and use one of my promo credits for a novella. No one had even bothered to transcribe it and release it into the wild either. So I was pleased as punch to get to it. It wasn't the greatest story, but I'll take anything Grimnoir at the moment.

Three Sparks was a Predator versus Samurai story. After the abomination of a movie that was AVP, it was great to get a Predator story that was good.

Reckoning Day was a fun little MHI story about the orcs and how Shelly the female gunslinger is introduced. I'd never heard of her so I'm wondering if she is in some of the non-book stuff or in the new book, Guardian which is a collab between Correia and Sarah Hoyt.

Finally, I also enjoyed Weaponized Hell, a story about Agent Franks from MHI and some guy named Joe Ledger from another author. It was good enough that I'm adding the first couple of Joe Ledger books to my tbr to see if I like them (in a year or 3 of course). A short story that can lead me into another author's series? I count that as good story telling!

★★★★½

• Target Rich Environment, Vol. 1

Target Rich Environment (TRE #1) ★★★★★

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress, Blogspot & Librarything by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission

Title: Target Rich Environment
Series: TRE #1
Author: Larry Correia
Rating: 5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Short Story Collection
Pages: 359
Format: Digital Edition

Synopsis:

A collection of many of Correia's short stories that have only been published in magazines throughout the years. 2 Audible Exclusives were also turned into text, one taking place in the Grimnoir Universe and one about an Interdimensional Insurance Agent.

My Thoughts:

This was a rollicking good time. I was reading along, having a blast, figuring I'd give it 4 stars and then I read the final piece about Tom Stranger the Interdimensional Insurance Agent and this rocketed up to a 5 Star lickety-split! The humor in Tom Stranger might not appeal to everyone but it was certainly right up my alley.

I'd read a couple of these before, namely Tanya, Princess of the Elves that takes place in the MHI universe and is about how Tanya and Edward the Urk meet. Just as good the second time around. There were 2 Grimnoir Chronicles stories, one a prequel, Christmas in Detroit and a sequel, Murder on the Orient Elite. Jake Sullivan is a fantastic protagonist as he's smart, capable and not just a Gary Stu.

The rest of the new stuff was a lot of fun to read too. Several of the stories took place in pre-existing franchise universes (mainly games) and while good, didn't stand out to me. The one that really did stand out was a Cthulhu horror'esque story about a planet where humanity accidentally awakens an old one of that world which ripples out and the story ends with the Old One on Earth beginning to stir, so you know Humanity is DOOMED! If you've ever read much Lovecraft, this story would have fit in perfectly.

I don't know what else to say. I never review each story in a collection, as that would make a review of a short story collection about 10,000 words and that would kill any joy for me. I am giving this the “Best Book of the Year” tag not for any richness or deep insights but because it kicked ass in every single story and I had so much fun reading it. After the debacle of Valor, this was needed to restore my faith in authors as a whole. If you ever do read this, I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Highly Recommended

★★★★★

Saints (Monster Hunter Memoirs #3) ★★★★☆

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress, Blogspot & Librarything by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission

Title: Saints
Series: Monster Hunter Memoirs #3
Author: John Ringo, Larry Correia
Rating: 4 of 5 Stars
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Pages: 288
Format: Digital Edition

Synopsis:

Chad blows up at MCB after the experience in New Orleans. This puts him on their Super Shit List and one of the agents starts making things personal. A bad scrying shows Chad is involved with a black magic group kidnapping virgins to raise an Old One. Turns out it is Chad's brother but that makes Chad involved anyway. Chad takes down his brother and stops the ring. That's enough proof for the agent AND Agent Franks. Franks beats Chad almost to death and hospitalizes him. Chad then sues MCB and while things are in full swing heads over to England to do some reasearch at the Van Helsing Institute.

There he investigates why some of the occurrences are happening in New Orleans. Turns out, his brother has slightly awakened an Old One's cocoon. The Agent in charge of MCB in New Orleans has taken MCB being sued by Chad extremely personal so he does nothing when even Earl Harbinger tells him there is a baby Old One about to wake up and eat the world. That means its up to MHI to toe the line again and stand between the Earth and total destruction. MHI wins. Was there any ever doubt? Of course, they get a little help from the Fey and a High Hunt.

The books ends with Earl taking over and describing the events at the Christmas Party where Ray Shackleford IV almost destroys MHI. Turns out it is Earl and Chad who close the Portal to the Old One and Chad gives his life to allow Earl to do so.

My Thoughts:

This was a great wrapup to the trilogy. A nascent Old One growing under New Orleans? Man, how much more of a threat can you get than that? Everything leads up to that though, so the story goes from threat to threat to threat.

Everything isn't directly connected, so things feel a little discombobulated sometimes. The whole thing with his brother ends so quickly that there was no tension and besides it leading into Chad getting the snot beat out of him, was rather anti-climactic.

Chad's time in England was boring. It didn't help that the story about the ghost and the super special metal was included in the Monster Hunter Files anthology so I kind of felt cheated. Him teaching was just as boring.

The final battle was EVERYTHING I want out of a Monster Hunter International fight. Guns, bombs, flamethrowers, Holy Water, and so many monsters. So many, many monsters. Ringo and Correia did a fantastic job of making this a pulse pounding fight!

The ending, with Chad's sacrifice, was how this trilogy needed to end. Chad's story had a beginning and this was his end. For all his philandering, dickheaded braggodocio and general arrogance, Chad goes out like a hero.

Overall, this was a worthwhile read in the MHI universe, even if a little bit off from Correia's style.

★★★★☆

• Grunge (Book 1)
• Sinners (Book 2)
• Previous MHI Reviews

Sweet Silver Blues (Garrett, P.I.) ★★★☆½

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress, Blogspot & Librarything by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission

Title: Sweet Silver Blues
Series: Garrett, P.I.
Author: Glen Cook
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Fantasy
Pages: 320
Format: Digital Edition

Synopsis:

Garrett, a Private Investigator, is hired by the Patriarch of some cobbler elves to carry out his sons last wishes. It doesn't hurt that the son and Garrett both served in Cantard and survived their army stint in that region. The father reveals that his son was getting rich in speculating on silver prices, with help from a woman in the Cantard who is probably on the enemies side. This same woman is one that Garrett fell in love with back in the day. So to help out an old dead buddy and maybe see the love of his youth, Garrett agrees to go into the Cantard and get the woman back to TunFaire where she will inherit a small fortune.

Unfortunately, the dead brother has a sister named Rose and Rose wants all that money for herself. She tries to hire Garrett, seduce Garrett, threaten and assault Garrett and eventually she is forced to team up with Garrett. Garrett also hires the help of various people to go on this trip with him.

Turns out the Lady is a vampire now. Garrett and Co kill the Bloodmaster, escape with the Lady and another vampire Garrett's coworker wants for reasons of his own and make it back to TunFaire. The Lady is welcomed by the cobblers as an unofficial inlaw and given the best treatment to reverse the vampirism. Morly, Garrett's coworker uses his vampire to destroy the local crimelord who has been making threats against Morly.

Everyone is relatively happy and everybody gets paid. Garrett also hooks up with Rose's cousin so the detective fulfills the mission AND gets the girl. Not bad.

My Thoughts:

Nothing brilliant with this book but it was the most fun I've had so far this month besides with Shaman King. Light hearted rompy fun.

Cook is obviously riffing on the Hardboiled Noir Detective thing and if I was better versed in that genre I might be able to appreciate this even more. As it is, a hard drinking, hard headed, hard fisted detective living in an Urban Fantasyland works really well. I guess this isn't strictly Urban Fantasy, as it isn't our world at all, but it has all the earmarks of a mixed group of humans and supernatural and a city and the goings ons that happen in cities. (the stinking, filthy, cowflop places).

Cook still yanks his readers around with making his characters know things that aren't revealed to us and having “things happen” very suddenly with almost no warning. I know I missed particulars but I just sat back and let the story roll, even if I didn't perhaps catch all the whys & wherefores. Cook has a style that while not exactly the same, is similar enough so an astute reader can pick up on it from his Black Company books or his Dread Empire series.

I have zero interest in straight up detective fiction. Not mysteries, but Detective Fiction. However, throw in some paranormal stuff and bam, it really works for me. And Garrett is no whiny, crybaby, “poor me, the Council doesn't like me” miserable sodding jackass like some other character I can think of whose name rhymes with Harry Dresden. I can't say that if you hate Dresden you'll like Garrett, but if Dresden made you give up on Urban Fantasy, Garrett might be able to punch you in the head until you admit you really DO like Urban Fantasy now, honest sir!

As long as no pedophile wizard shows up to ruin the series like Cook did with his last Dread Empire book, I suspect I'll be glad to work my through the 15+ books in this series.

★★★☆½

Rites of Azathoth ★★☆☆½

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress, Blogspot & Librarything by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission

Title: Rites of Azathoth
Series: ----------
Author: Frank Cavallo
Rating: 2.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Urban Fantasy/Horror
Pages: 420
Format: Digital Edition

Synopsis:

Diana Mancuso, FBI agent, is carrying on an affair with her boss, one of the Assistant-Directors of the FBI. She is assigned to a high profile murder case of a potential vice-presidential candidate. The profile indicates a man who up until 24hrs ago, was 1000 miles away in a maximum security prison. He has mysteriously disappeared. It turns out that the VP candidate has ties to all the previous victims, who were ritualistically murdered.

Doctor Carter, former protege of Gamaliel a discredited historian who dwelt on Elder gods as the true history of mankind, has been invited to join a mysterious group headed by a reclusive billionaire. Carter has been recruited to translate an elder language that he was taught by Gamaliel.

The ritualistic murderer is acting as supernatural conduit for Azathoth, who the billionaire is attempting to awaken. Said awakening will grant all knowledge to those involved but might destroy all of creation as well. Luther Vayne is acting on Azathoth's will to prevent this awakening.

Everything comes together, a gateway is opened by Carter, Mancuso and Vayne prevent Azathoth from awakening, the occultic group is destroyed and Carter is taken into the realm of Chaos and he thinks how wonderful it all is.

My Thoughts:

I feel like I am being rather generous in giving this 2 ½ stars. Mancuso was a very unpleasant character. She's just a jerk to everyone, even her so-called friend. This friend covers for her, breaks the law for her, lies to FBI agents for her and said friend tosses it off as “Oh well, that's what friends do”. And Mancuso takes it as her due instead of as the huge thing it is. Then comes her affair with her boss. He's married and trying to fix his marriage AND keep Mancuso on the side. She's pissed off that she's the side woman and is always put out that he won't toss his rich, beautiful, young wife for her. She's the very definition of an angry bitch. It was NOT amusing or enjoyable.

Carter was an arrogant ass who was divorced and failing at pretty much everything, including being a dad. He stays arrogant, assuming and overbearing during the whole book and his little “Oh, how wonderful the other side is” comment at the end was completely out of character and had NO place in a horror story about eldrich horrors beyond mortal ken.

The horror side of things worked pretty well. Demon children adopted by a cabal of women, hunted down by a supernatural blind killer, a half demon billionaire who sacrifices the blood of virgins to his own mother, it was fantastic. It was what you'd expect from an HP Lovecraft themed story. So the whole thing about Azathoth using Vayne to prevent the end of everything didn't fit. Elder gods don't care. And Carter saying how beautiful the chaos of the other realm was? That was complete bollux. The other realm drives men mad, period.

So unlikeable characters and an ending that didn't fit with the theme made for a rather bleh read. There was also a lot of profanity.

★★☆☆½

The Dead Town (Frankenstein #5) ★★☆☆☆

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress, Blogspot & Librarything by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission

Title: The Dead Town
Series: Frankenstein #5
Author: Dean Koontz
Rating: 2 of 5 Stars
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Pages: 447
Format: Digital Edition

Synopsis:

Everything begins falling apart for Victor Immaculate. His vat grown creations once again transcend their genetic coding and that transcendance is always in the form of breaking. Builders take on non-biological matter and can't reproduce properly, the replacement clones begin to obsess and lose sight of their mission.

Through it all, Michael and Carson begin helping the townsfolk defend themselves while Deucalion hunts Victor down. Deucalion snaps Victor's neck, the creations fall apart upon their creator's death and Deucalion can now walk quantumly through the Light instead of skulking through the Shadows.

My Thoughts:

Even while I was expecting this story to turn out like this, it was still disappointing to have it actually happen. This followed the exact same pattern as the first trilogy but without any finesse or style. Evil simply falls apart and the good guys win by default.

Also, I already wrote this review, forgot to post it online, forgot I hadn't posted it and deleted the hard copy from Open Office. So I'm writing this all over again. That always ruins things.

Basically, I didn't enjoy this book or this series overall. I wouldn't recommend it but I am going to continue dipping my toes into the Koontz universe. I've got 20 of his books available so I'm going to go exploring and see what I find. I hope I find better things than this book.

If anyone has read some of his standalone stuff, feel free to make recommendations in the comments, otherwise I'm just going to start picking stuff randomly.

★★☆☆☆

• All Frankenstein Reviews

Queen Bitch (Kurtherian Gambit #2) ★★★★☆

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress, Blogspot & Librarything by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission

Title: Queen Bitch
Series: Kurtherian Gambit #2
Author: Michael Anderle
Rating: 4 of 5 Stars
Genre: SF
Pages: 258
Format: Digital Edition

Synopsis:

Bethany Anne must begin cleaning up the mess left behind by Michael. She has to start cleaning up the Forsaken who are starting to make inroads in North America due to Michael's absence. She has to start putting Michael's “good” children back on the straight and narrow and have them go back to their duties of keeping the supernatural outside of the purview of the normal world. She also has to put the Council of the Were in their place, as several members are thinking that without Michael around they can begin shoving the humans around, perhaps even ruling them.

While ALL this is going on, Bethany Anne also has to keep in mind that the overall threat is so much greater and her final goal must be to get humanity into space and ready to fight off potential hordes of ravening aliens.

Sometimes, being Queen Bitch just isn't worth the hassle.

My Thoughts:

This was F-U-N!! Nothing deep, nothing worth a re-read but my goodness, Bethany Anne kicks some serious butt. She is pretty much a Mary Sue, but only if Mary Sue was a psycho violent vampire who was trying to protect the planet. I can handle that.

Even through all of this, Bethany Anne is still planning on just how she is going to save the planet. She might be violent but she's not at all stupid. She's beginning to make more and more use of TOM and she's already thinking about how she can use its knowledge to grow humanity's knowledge AND give her the funds necessary to build the space stuff that will be needed.

Thinking about this book, I would compare it to the earlier MHI books in terms of action and violence. I'd compare it quality-wise to the first MHI book as well. The thing that gives me pause is that Anderle has a bajillion books while Correia has a steady output of steadily increasing quality. I'm kind of afraid to find out where Anderle plateaus or even nosedives. That's the only problem and that is all in my head.

I almost started in on the next book right away but thank goodness my inner core of self control kept me safe. Nothing is worse than having too much of a good time all at once.

★★★★☆

• Death Becomes Her (Book 1)

Death Becomes Her (Kurtherian Gambit #1) ★★★☆½

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress, Blogspot & Librarything by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission
Title: Death Becomes Her
Series: Kurtherian Gambit #1
Author: Michael Anderle
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: SF
Pages: 271
Format: Digital Edition

Synopsis:

Michael, the Father of All Vampires, is awoken after one of his children is killed. He sets out to find a replacement but there is only 1 candidate that fits Michaels very exacting standards. He contacts General Reynolds to setup the interview.

Bethany Anne Reynolds, a black ops of black ops agent, has been diagnosed with an incurable blood disease that will kill her in less than 6months. She has only told 2 people, neither of them being her father. So when she is summoned to her father's base, she assumes one of the two spilled the beans.

Bethany Anne is recruited by Michael. She is now officially dead and her record of existence has been closed. However, Bethany Anne was not recruited to simply be a new child of Michael's, but Michael's own replacement as he realized that events in the world were moving faster than his 1000 year old brain could handle. New blood was needed (I think I made that pun all by myself!).

It turns out that what turned Michael into a sunwalking alpha vampire a millenia ago was an alien scout sent to change any sentient races it found into beings capable of fighting an enemy that the aliens, the Kurtherians, were no longer able to fight. Now with an alien computer in her head, Michael disappeared and the kickass attitude that has gotten her through life so far, Bethany Anne must face down all of Michael's children plus all the residents of the Unknown World (what the supernaturals refer to themselves as collectively).

The book ends with Bethany Anne forming a new proto-team of her own and taking down of Michael's grandchildren who had gotten out of line. But with the Forsaken, children of Michael who have rejected all his strictures, life, or death, isn't going to be easy for Bethany Anne.

My Thoughts:

My first impression of Bethany Anne (you have NO idea how sick to death I became of that two name nomeclature by the time this book was done) was that I hated her guts. She was piss and vinegar with a bad attitude. Thankfully, once she is made over by the alien machine, and starts acting like an alpha vampire, it's more palatable. I still don't particularly care for her, but I stopped actively disliking her by the end.

There was a lot of setup in this book, what with introducing vampires, the shape changers and then the whole “alien” thing. That took this from a “so stereotypical urban fantasy that I want to gag” to a much wider scope of story that could be, and will be, told. Also, Bethany Anne didn't have any love interest in this book at all, so that was nice.

The action scene where she destroys the werewolves and then goes after the vampire that set them on her was nice and I wish there had been more of that. But at under 300 pages, Anderle had to really choose what to include in this and honestly, I think he did a good job of balancing everything.

This was another book that came across my radar because of PG's Ramblings. He was dead on about the profanity too, so be aware of that. It only took me a year to get around to reading this. So take that into consideration if I ever tell you that your review has inspired me to read Book X. It'll be a while

* grin *

★★★☆½