Faces of Mist and Flame, by Jon George (Tor, 2005)

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Phoenix Lafayette is a combat correspondent following the exploits of a group of Marines during World War II, starting with their days in boot camp, all the way up to now, as they slog through the jungles of 1941 Guam, fighting “the Enemy” for every inch, every step of territory. He’ll make sure the people back home know and appreciate exactly what’s happening out there in the middle of nowhere, turn these boys into heroes and martyrs, and open their eyes to the grim realities of war. But he secretly fears that the stress of war is driving him mad. Why else would he be hearing a soft female voice in his head?

Over six decades later, Serena Freeman is one of the most intelligent people in the world, a former child prodigy turned grown-up scientific genius. Her latest invention is a time machine of sorts, one which allows the user to inhabit the mind of anyone in the past, sharing their thoughts, feelings, and sensations. This miraculous device unites the two people over the vast gulf of time, joining them in a bizarre bond of shared experiences and common goals.

For whatever reason, they share the same delusion: that “Nix” will only survive the horrors of war by emulating the mythical twelve labors of Hercules, finding modern variations on the ancient tasks. Concurrently in the future, Serena too must find symbolic ways to complete the tasks, strengthening the sympathetic bond between them. What she doesn’t know, caught up in her obsession with aiding and sharing Nix’s experiences, is that a secret faction of the government wants her new invention, and is willing to kill for it.

Told over three distinct periods of time: Ancient Greece, 1941 Guam, and modern-day Cambridge, Faces of Mist and Flame is a fascinating, multi-layered story, with its various threads weaving through and around one another, reinforcing the core themes and causing the shared experiences to resonate through the decades. Nix and Serena’s labors are interspersed with retellings of Hercules’ original tasks, against a backdrop of violent battles and bloody tragedy. Over time, the story takes on an almost hallucinatory quality as the differences between time zones become blurred, and Serena spends more and more time focused on Nix’s progress. Her concern for her own safety falls by the wayside as she tries to keep Nix alive, and Nix’s own sense of self-preservation erodes as the constant carnage and violence eats at his self-control and humanity. Together, they might save one another, or damn one another.

Jon George really captures the insanity, violence, and sudden brutality of war, in the same way Saving Private Ryan did. It’s a setting where anyone can die for no particular reason at any given time, which gives rise to a rather morbid game of chance held between the Marines of Nix’s unit: Dead Pool Poker. Each man throws money into the pot and receives a hand of cards. They keep that hand until they die, at which point someone can retrieve the cards, make a better hand for themselves, and destroy the unwanted cards. Last man standing with the best hand wins the pot. A fascinating, if extremely morbid concept, to say the least, but the game, as it’s played out over the course of the book, is just another perfect touch to an already disturbing story.

Once I started reading Faces of Mist and Flame, I couldn’t stop. I was caught up in its multiple threads and layered storyline, eager to see how Nix would complete his tasks, and how Serena would help him in her own strange way. I was less concerned with the government plot to steal Serena’s invention; that didn’t seem nearly as important in the grand scheme of things. For me, the big story was the relationship between Nix and Serena, and Nix’s personal journey.

This book won’t be for everyone: it’s violent, brutal, somewhat surreal and experimental, but it’s still a damn good read with a great twist on the old time travel subgenre. Do be aware that it’s a British release, not likely to be seen in the U.S. for some time, and so American readers may need to check somewhere like Amazon UK for it. This is certainly a very promising debut novel for Jon George, and I look forward to seeing what he does next.

Originally posted on SF Site, 2004

Nightingale’s Lament, by Simon R. Green (Ace, 2004)

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In the Nightside, London’s secret, dark heart, anything is possible, and sooner or later, everyone who’s anyone comes to visit, or to stay. There’s a lot that goes on in the Nightside, almost all of it illegal, immoral, unpleasant, or self-destructive. It’s a place where angels and demons jostle each other in the waiting lines of clubs run by the Fae, where time travelers get revenge on pulp-era adventurers, where monsters perform in musical numbers, and where the taxicabs might just eat you if you forget to tip the driver. And that’s on a good day.

John Taylor is one of the Nightside’s most notorious inhabitants. A detective with the power to find anyone or anything, he’s hated and feared, pursued by relentless enemies and one of the scariest, nastiest people around. You have to be, if you plan to poke your nose into matters that don’t concern you in the Nightside. He has survived thus far on luck, cunning, and intelligence, for the most part. But his latest case may be the death of him yet.

He’s been hired to investigate the matter of Rossignol, the Nightingale, a popular singer whose fans have been, of late, driven to suicide by her music. The answer clearly lies with the Cavendishes, her agents, a pair of entrepreneurs who are as ruthless as anyone in the Nightside, with the power to back up their arrogance. The further John delves into the case, the closer he gets to some very unpleasant revelations regarding the Cavendishes, the Nightingale, and the fate of an old friend or two. Luckily, he has got backup in the form of Dead Boy, a man too stubborn to die in a place where death happens almost at random.

Simon R. Green throws out more mad, over-the-top, fun concepts per page than most writers do in an entire series. The trick is to accept a certain tongue-in-cheek, anything-goes attitude, and roll with it. Cannibalistic cars. Victorian-era heroes. Ancient demons. Time travelers. Obscenely awful prostitutes. Diva-channeling transvestites. Down-and-out superheroes. And walking through it all, John Taylor, the sort of scary bastard that could eat John Constantine (of DC Comics’ Hellblazer) for lunch and never think twice. It really takes a special kind of writer to throw so many elements into the broth and come out with a coherent, even entertaining story. What’s more, his writing is so stylized, so confident, that he can get away with it. There are times when I swear it must be a British thing, because the only writers I know of who can successfully utilize such a mad, capricious, over-the-top style are ones like Green, Alan Moore (Watchmen, From Hell), Grant Morrison (JLA, New X-Men, The Invisibles), and Warren Ellis (Planetary, Transmetropolitan, Global Frequency). And yes, I know those last three are all best known for their comic book work. If Green ever found an artist worthy of his talents, he could wreak havoc on the world.

What it all boils down to, however, is that you’ll either love or hate Green’s work. Nightingale’s Lament, the third in a series of books featuring John Taylor, is bound to appeal to fans of Jim Butcher or Kim Harrison, among others. The plot is fast-paced, the action visceral, the characters memorable, and the dialogue sharp. Dark urban fantasy just doesn’t get much better than this.

Originally posted on SF Site, 2004

Deathstalker Return, by Simon R. Green (Roc, 2004)

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In the latest installment of Simon R. Green’s universe-spanning space opera, things just keep getting worse for the main characters, and the universe as a whole. Former Paragon and King’s Champion Lewis Deathstalker is on the run, disgraced and condemned by the people he used to protect. His companions include his lover, the famous Jesamine Flowers, the alien reptiloid known only as Saturday, the psychic con man Brett Random, and the sociopathic gladiator Rose Constantine. Their mission is an impossible one: find and bring back the legendary Owen Deathstalker, former hero of the Empire of Man, missing in action and presumed dead for two hundred years. They don’t have much time, as the unimaginably powerful Terror has appeared at last as prophesied, and is destroying entire planets as it steadily approaches the very center of the Empire.

To make matters worse, Finn Durendal, the greatest Paragon ever has gone bad, tearing down civilization with a bloody, brutal, unforgiving agenda of hatred and nihilism. He has influenced a King, made unholy allies and turned them against one another, engineered genocides and rebellions, and committed atrocities, all to bring the Golden Age to its knees. Intrigue, violence and wildly imaginative plotting all combine in Green’s trademark over-the-top style. No one’s merely ordinary in Green’s books; rather, they embrace their extremes whole-heartedly, giving the characters and the plots a wide-screen feel, like Star Wars on psychotrophics and steroids. Green’s an acquired taste; either you like his style, or you don’t, and there’s very little middle ground. His stuff uniformly turns the dial to ’11,’ so to speak, with visceral fight scenes and complex plotting that doubles back on itself, laying false trails so nothing is predictable, and twists and surprises abound. It’s hard to match the scope (and occasional depravity) of his imagination, which makes each new book all the more welcome. Deathstalker Return is best read after Deathstalker Legacy, and preferably after the five or so other books that made up the original Deathstalker series. Fans won’t want to miss this book, but newcomers are advised not to start with this one.

Originally posted on SF Site, 2004

Deathstalker Coda, by Simon R. Green (Roc, 2005)

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This is it. After eight books and millions of words, the Deathstalker saga at long last draws to a close in Deathstalker Coda. Thanks to the efforts of Paragon-turned-Emperor Finn Durandal, the Golden Age that came about through Owen Deathstalker’s sacrifice two centuries ago is over, drowned in a sea of blood and immolated in the fires of hatred. The Paragons themselves, one-time champions of the Empire, now exist as meat puppets for the terrifying uber-Espers, psychic creatures of unholy power. Worst of all, the Terror, ancient enemy of all that lives, is approaching the capital plan of Logres, slowly and inexorably destroying all in its path.

All hope is not lost. Lewis Deathstalker, last of his family, his lover Jesamine Flowers, the con man Brett Random, and the legendary killer Rose Constantine have united in an effort to stop Finn Durandal and restore order to the Empire. To do that, they’ll need to make strange allies and raise an army — humanity’s last army, perhaps — and embrace the powers given to them by the Madness Maze. This is an effort which will either kill them, or transform them beyond their darkest fantasies.

Meanwhile, the resurrected Owen Deathstalker has his own mission: to travel back in time and prevent his former lover, Hazel D’Arc, from undergoing the Madness Maze-fueled transformation into the Terror. His journey will take him through time and space, following her trail back to where it all began, once upon a time, in a place lost to legend and myth. Along the way, he’ll unravel some of the greatest mysteries of all time, and set events into motion that will affect his family, and the entire human race, for millennia to come. Everything will come full circle as once and for all, the story of the Deathstalkers is tied together.

This is it. Heroes will rise and fall, villains will unleash their last desperate schemes, secrets will be revealed, the curtain drawn back to reveal the man behind the machine, and humanity will live or die based on the actions of a few dynamic individuals. Deathstalker Coda is the latest, last, and possibly even the best installment of Simon R. Green’s sprawling space opera, a story overflowing with over-the-top action, memorable characters, bizarre twists, unexpected revelations, monumental battles, huge armies, and visceral fight scenes. From the noblest of heroes to the vilest of villains, from the basest of con men to the deadliest of killers, from the most inscrutable of aliens to the nastiest of surprises, this book has it all, even the kitchen sink. If you’ve been reading all along, this book has a few Easter eggs, and a few rewards in store for you. If you haven’t been reading… well, start at the beginning, because otherwise, it won’t make as much sense out of context. The Deathstalker Saga is space opera to the extreme as only Simon R. Green can do it. Intense, unique, and addictive, it’s everything George Lucas wishes his work could be, if he had an unlimited budget and the peculiar creativity I’ve come to associate with British writers. I love Green’s work, and I can’t recommend this book enough, provided you’ve already read, at the very least, the books immediately preceding it, Deathstalker Legacy and Deathstalker Return. Taken as one epic storyline, they really do tell a massive tale that ties together in a neat little knot at the end, and they should be read as such. Go on, check it out. As for myself, I’ll be trying to mentally convince Hollywood to option Green’s works for the big screen. I think they’d work well as a serial….

Originally posted on SF Site, 2005

Mockymen, by Ian Watson (Golden Gryphon, 2003)

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What do body-possessing aliens, mind-destroying drugs, Nazi occultism and reincarnation all have in common? They’re the disparate threads of Ian Watson’s visionary new novel, Mockymen, a truly bizarre tale of life, death, betrayal, and jigsaw puzzles.

It starts out innocently enough, when an aged Norwegian hires a young British couple to make some very specialized jigsaw puzzles, involving nude pictures of themselves with a certain statuary garden in Oslo. When they discover that this odd commission relates back to Nazi war crimes and a little-known occult line of defense, their lives are thrown into chaos and disarray, ending with a betrayal and an ominous look to the future.

Come the future, and aliens called Mockymen have arrived on Earth, bringing proprietary technology, and a drug which destroys the minds of some who use it, leaving them ripe for temporary possession. Interstellar teleportation has become commonplace, if agonizing to the user, but there’s always someone willing to risk pain for the offered pay. Naturally, there are plenty of secrets afloat in this strange new world, and one woman, Anna Sharman, is determined to put the jigsaw pieces of the mystery together. It all ties back to a certain now-dead Norwegian, a young man who recovered from something he shouldn’t have, and the true purposes of the Mockymen.

Mockymen is, by all standards, the sort of book you just don’t see everyday. Multi-layered, surreal, convoluted and complex, it weaves together a series of different themes to tell a memorable, unique story. It has the same forward-thinking, no-holds-barred, barriers-shattering narrative as a good Philip K. Dick novel, and really takes the concept of consciousness to a new level. That said, it’s not an easy read, nor run of the mill by any means. I wouldn’t suggest trying to read this one before bed.

Originally posted on SF Site, 2004

The Good, The Bad, and the Undead, by Kim Harrison (HarperTorch, 2005)

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Finally free of the death threats which plagued her existence ever since she and her friends, the vampire Ivy Tamwood and the pixy Jenks, quit their jobs as “runners” for Inderland Security, Rachel Morgan is able to turn her attentions, as well as her witch abilities, to better use. Such as paying rent and replacing the personal belongings that didn’t survive the earlier turmoil in her life.

But life’s not always easy for an independent witch/bounty hunter in a world where the mundane and the supernatural exist with only the barest of polite cooperation, and Rachel’s had time to make more enemies than most.

A not-so-routine job as consultant for the Federal Inderland Bureau quickly throws Rachel into a major mess of trouble. It seems that someone’s been killing off witches proficient in ley line magic, and like it or not, the human-biased FIB needs someone with Rachel’s qualifications and skills to help investigate. To Rachel’s delighted surprise, the trails all seem to lead right back to drug lord/crime kingpin and respected businessman, Trent Kalamack, who gave Rachel no end of grief last time they met. It starts to look like maybe this time, Rachel can take down her nemesis properly. Right?

Wrong. So very wrong. The hunt for the so-called “Witch Killer” is anything but straight-forward, and the further Rachel digs, the more she uncovers things she never expected to learn, about Kalamack, about her roommate Ivy, about herself. Because while Rachel is attempting to peg the killings on Trent, Ivy is attempting to resist her vampiric urges before someone close to her gets hurt. Meanwhile, there’s a demon doing its best to try and claim possession of both Rachel, and her all-too-inquisitive-yet-foolhardy boyfriend Nick’s souls.

Ultimately, things come together in a beautifully violent climax, whereupon certain secrets are revealed, and other mysteries are brought to light, proving that once again, it’s never a good day to be Rachel Morgan.

That summary, by the way, is a gross oversimplification of the complex series of interpersonal relationships that make up the composition of the main cast. Rachel, Ivy, Jenks, Nick, Trent, even the demon known as Algariarept, are tied together irrevocably, and the more they try to untangle things, the worse it gets. Will Rachel and Nick be able to keep outwitting Algariarept’s attempts to obtain their souls? Will Rachel be able to resist the vampiric lure of Ivy? Will Ivy be able to resist her own urges and stay on the wagon, as far as drinking blood goes? And just what childhood connection links Trent and Rachel, anyway? These threads and more run through The Good, the Bad, and the Undead, carrying the plot well past the point of no return, injecting the storyline with such momentum that you know the ending is going to be swift, violent, and traumatic for all involved.

Kim Harrison really manages to lay out a fascinating setting here, injecting the modern world with a very real sense of danger and foreboding, where the supernatural walks both openly and in secret, and you don’t dare travel down the street alone at night. Her vampires manage to combine sensuality and seductiveness with a cheap, ugly violence; these are beautiful monsters with horrible hungers, and much of the story revolves around Ivy’s desperate attempts to keep from ending up like the “real,” or “dead” vampires that rule parts of the city. More than once, I’ve thought I’d seen enough takes on vampires to become bored by that aspect of the dark fantasy/horror genre. Thankfully, Harrison manages to keep them interesting, and unpredictable.

Ditto with her takes on witches and warlocks, fairies and pixies, even werecreatures (though we see remarkably little of them in this book.) And I can’t even wait to see how she continues to flesh out the demons that play such a pivotal role in the background.

I’ve been pushing both this book and Dead Witch Walking as “Laurell K. Hamilton, only with a lot less sex,” and while that’s a fair description, it’s still simplified. First of all, Harrison is very much her own writer, with a fully-realized world of her own being revealed bit by bit. Rather, these books will appeal to Hamilton’s fans, as well as those who like Jim Butcher, Charlaine Harris, Rachel Caine, or any of the various supernatural romances out there. Second of all, there’s a fair amount of sensuality — not sex, per se — infused into the story. Not only do Ivy and Rachel have a will-they-won’t-they tension born of vampiric hunger and Rachel’s current vulnerability to vampire pheromones, but Rachel finds her encounters with certain other vampires to be almost overpowering in their emotional intensity. But it’s still not sex. And that’s what I like to point out. A lot of people I talk to are quite open about the fact that the Anita Blake books are excellent, but have a bit too much sex in proportion to the plot. Fear not. In Harrison’s books, there’s a return to the tough girl who can say no to her enemies. One of the best relationships undoubtedly has to be that between Rachel and Trent, who could very well end up being friends if she could only stop loathing everything about him.

To sum it up, The Good, The Bad, and the Undead, is a superb book, beautiful, sexy, mysterious, and violent. I can’t wait for the next in the series, because I know for a fact that Kim Harrison has a lot more up her sleeve.

Originally posted on SF Site, 2005

A Fistful of Charms, by Kim Harrison (HarperTorch, 2006)

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Meet Rachel Mariana Morgan, witch and bounty hunter. She has a spectacular talent for getting into the sort of trouble most supernatural beings can only dream about. As part of the independent runner firm, Vampiric Charms, she’s staked out something of a name for herself among the supernaturals (Inderlanders) in a world where vampires, werewolves, witches and pixies have come out of hiding and live out in the open. Of course, in Rachel’s case, it’s not always a — good — name. There are lots of people who want her dead and/or out of the way. Luckily, Rachel’s not just a witch. She’s a witch who can kindle demon magic, drive vampires to tears with distraction, and draw upon ley lines to accomplish all sorts of unexpected tricks. And she’ll need every trick in her book to get out of the latest trouble to fall in her lap.

It seems her old boyfriend Nick is up to no good, and needs saving from several packs of ornery werewolves. Rachel, desperate for closure on that failure of a relationship, goes on a road trip along with her estranged partner, Jenks (a pixie with a midlife crisis). So now our heroes are off their usual turf, and up to their eyebrows in werewolves and trouble. Along with Rachel’s current boyfriend Kisten (a vampire with way too much appeal) and Rachel’s other partner Ivy (who wants Rachel in all sorts of unhealthy, yet not entirely undesirable, but oh-boy-what-a-mess ways), they have to figure out a way to straighten out one very, very big mess.

Nick’s not just in trouble. He has something everyone wants, an ancient relic that could tip the scales in favor of the werewolves for the first time in millennia. No, Nick’s in huge trouble, and Rachel can’t turn her back on him. Welcome to a supernatural shell game that’s bound to leave corpses in its wake. And this is business as normal for Rachel. Along the way, she’ll deal with her increasingly complicated love life, figure out how she feels about Kisten, Nick, and Ivy, re-bond with Jenks, escape certain death, and compromise her own morals in fascinating new ways.

Kim Harrison clearly belongs to the “piled higher and deeper” school of mistreating one’s protagonists, because she doesn’t let up in A Fistful of Charms, the fourth book to star Rachel, Ivy, and Jenks. The more Rachel gets entangled with things beyond her immediate ability to handle, the more her efforts to stay alive screw her over for the future. What you end up with is a heroine whose perfectly aware just how steadily her grasp on her life and morality is slipping, and what’s worse, she rationalizes each new step she takes in the wrong direction. Rachel Morgan is easily one of the more complex and interesting characters around for these flaws. Where’s it taking her? Harrison’s not saying. All we can hope is that Rachel’s friends can help her, but they come with their own baggage. Heck, the relationship triangle between Rachel, Kisten, and Ivy is nine circles of confused hell all on its own, as the two vampires place their own set of wants and needs and demands on her. (And some of the scenes involving any combination of the three characters are so steamy, so desire-laden, so intense as to rival Laurell K. Hamilton’s more explicit material for sheer power.)

If there’s anything I have a complaint about, it’s the amount of angst that floats off the pages, courtesy of the three main characters. One occasionally wants to tell them to shut up, sit down, stop whining, and get over themselves. Rachel in particular is capable of wasting endless hours upon her confused set of desires, especially as she fast wanders into hypocritical territory. I know it’s all part of their charm, but between Rachel, Ivy, and even Jenks… well, it gets old.

Admittedly, I found the latter half of the book, with its somewhat complicated shell game (involving corpses, moving vehicles, ancient artifacts, vampires, spells, werewolves, and so on) to be a little confusing, and had to go back a few times to make sure I was keeping it straight in my head. But luckily, it all falls into place soon enough.

Overall, Kim Harrison continues to be one of my favorite urban fantasy authors, and her books always jump to the top of my pile when they show up. I devoured A Fistful of Charms eagerly, and now I can’t wait for the next one. I look forward to seeing what sort of trouble will hit Rachel next, especially since, while this book cleared up a few outstanding issues, it quite happily leaves at least half a dozen threads open for further exploration. I love the setting because it’s a new and interesting way to address vampires; their society is complex, their needs intense, their vulnerabilities exciting, and their appeal unmistakable. I love the setting because it makes werewolves interesting all over again, though they come off as vicious animals more than desirable supernatural beings. And I absolutely love the portrayal of pixies and fairies, who occupy a niche all their own (one exploited to great effect in this book.)

If you like Jim Butcher, Laurell K. Hamilton, Charlaine Harris, Tanya Huff, Emma Bull, Laura Anne Gilman, or Kelley Armstrong, then Kim Harrison’s books are for you. Like the rest of its series, A Fistful of Charms combines action and magic, fantasy and modern day, vampires and werewolves and witches, producing something that really does stand out. Fans won’t be disappointed with this book. Newcomers, I do advise you to start with Dead Witch Walking. You won’t regret it.

Originally posted at SF Site, 2006

For A Few Demons More, by Kim Harrison (Eos, 2007)

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You’d think that after a while, the universe would give Rachel Mariana Morgan, witch and bounty hunter, a break. After all, her best friend is a living vampire who’s drinking blood again, the shady machinations of her ex-boyfriend left her saddled with an ancient artifact of immense power, a prominent drug lord wants her to work for him, and demons want her, body and soul. Rachel knows it’s really bad when Newt, an insane demon, shows up in her home in the middle of the night, and it only gets stranger, and worse, from there.

Caught up in the passions, power struggles, and plans of vampires, demons, werewolves and elves, Rachel is pushed to the brink of her endurance — and beyond — once again, and her efforts to extricate herself from the deadly morass her life can only end in bloodshed and tears. Her best bargaining chip — through which she’ll save her own life and the lives of everyone she loves — is a demonic artifact that’s better off destroyed, and the people she’ll bargain with truly are the worst of some bad choices. Is it even possible for Rachel to make a good choice anymore? And what’s with the dead werewolves turning up in her wake? Is the artifact responsible, or is it something worse?

Trust me, when the biggest, boldest deal of Rachel’s career goes through, no one will escape unscathed, and more than one person may just end up dead. Permanently dead.

Welcome to life in the Hollows.

A heck of a lot goes on in For A Few Demons More, an urban fantasy which is part adventure, part intricate soap opera, and no small part of the story is made up of the complex character relationships which have come to define this particular series. The Rachel-Ivy dynamic, in particular, has become one of the richest, most complicated, most frustrating ones I can think of in any series, with the two friends dancing around a whole host of emotional and physical issues. Kim Harrison gets major points for taking her characters in some unexpected directions, and I always look forward to seeing just how Rachel and Ivy are going to screw up their friendship and rebuild it in each book. (Come to think of it, I’m strongly reminded of the emotional set-up between Francine and Katchoo in the long-running, popular comic book, Strangers in Paradise.)

Beyond that, you have Rachel and Jenks (one of the coolest, smallest characters around), Rachel and Kisten (a hot relationship, definitely), Rachel and Trent (here’s a hint, Rachel, get over yourself and quit giving the elven drug lord a hard time…) and Rachel and demons (bad idea in general…). Who am I kidding? To try and diagram out the interactions in this series would eat up more space that I rightfully have. Suffice it to say, things get messy and stay messy, but at least it’s never dull. Unfortunately, this time around, it may just lead to tragedy.

One thing that helps this series stand out is that the heroine is so wonderfully, spectacularly flawed. It’s a sure bet that given any stressful situation, Rachel will undoubtedly make the choice which screws her over the most in the long run, no matter what her short term success rate is. She spends half her time trying to figure out her relationships with people, and the rest of the time either offending them or mending bridges. And she’s slowly coming to terms with her addiction to danger, a condition in which she actively courts disaster despite her better inclinations, and you just know it’s going to get her into a heap of trouble. But at least she’s aware of her issues, and when she’s not trying to overcome them, she’s trying to make them work for her. Rachel’s a great character, fun to follow and sympathetic (though sometimes you want to smack her for her whining). She almost doesn’t deserve the wonderful support network she has in her friends, partners, and loved ones.

Between the complex, multi-layered character interactions, and the nonstop peril-filled story, this book’s got more than enough going for it. Harrison delivers some of the best urban fantasy out there, with a richly-developed setting and a wonderfully distinctive take on vampires, werewolves, and their ilk. Harrison’s fans will have plenty to enjoy in this latest installment in the Hollows.

Originally posted at SF Site, 2007

Every Which Way But Dead, by Kim Harrison (Eos, 2005)

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Some people have it easy. They haven’t gone into business for themselves as a bounty hunter, with a hyperactive pixie and an actively-prowling vampire as their partners. They haven’t made a deal with a demon to take down an ancient vampire crime lord. They haven’t made the occasional dubious alliance with an elven drug runner. They don’t have attempts made upon their life on a daily basis. Sure, some people have it easy. Rachel Mariana Morgan, on the other hand, has done all of the above and more. Ever since quitting her job with the government and branching out on her own, it seems as though her life’s been nothing but one successful escape from death after another. Unfortunately, her tendency to make alliances of convenience have finally caught up with her.

Her best friend and business partner, Ivy Tamwood, is a vampire who has fallen off the wagon, looking at Rachel as both dinner and bedmate, neither role which suits Rachel’s sensibilities. Rachel’s one of the very, very few people who knows that crime lord/businessman Trent Kalamack is one of the long-lost elves, a race presumed to be extinct for many years, and that secret weighs upon her conscience. Her growing skills at ley line magic both fascinate and frighten her, especially since that makes her even more appealing to the demon known as Algaliarept, the demon who has alternatively tried to kill and help her numerous times in the past… the demon who’s even now coming to claim Rachel as his familiar as her payment for the bargain they made to put a vampire behind bars. As if that wasn’t enough, Rachel’s boyfriend Nick is nowhere to be found, and it looks like he may have skipped town for good. And why’s a werewolf stalking her? What’s a girl to do?

Assuming Rachel can stay out of Algaliarept’s clutches long enough to find a way to break their bargain and keep her soul, she still has to deal with her uncomfortable relationship with Ivy, her even more questionable one with a vampire named Kisten, find a way to pay her side of the rent and the bills, and, by the way, handle another unwanted element in the city’s criminal underworld. Once again, she’ll join forces with a man (elf) she loathes, and risk death, all in the name of truth, justice, and paying the bills.

This series continues to be one of my favorites. It’s past-paced, exciting, unpredictable and fun. Rachel is a wonderfully complex, multi-dimensional protagonist whose penchant for going with the immediate solution and worrying about long-term consequences later leads to no end of thrilling complications. Make a deal with a demon now, worry about saving her soul later. Keep a secret now, worry about how to rebuild a friendship later. Take down the immediate threat now, and worry about dealing with the ally of convenience when he becomes a problem in the future. It helps, of course, that she’s surrounded by equally complex, equally active people. Ivy juggles her loyalty to family and master with issues of trust and bloodlust, ruled by her heart and her vampiric nature. Jenks the pixie manages to have more personality at several inches tall than most people do at six feet, and he and his family tend to steal the scene when they’re around. Thus, it hurts all the more later on when he finds cause to be angry with Rachel. Kisten, the resident bad boy vampire is a great blend of sensitive friend and very dangerous seducer, playing up the best aspects of the “vampire as sexual being” approach. His participation in Rachel’s life makes things more interesting, but at the same time, it helps to further humanize her. And what can we say about Algaliarept? Charming, soft-spoken, subtle, extremely hazardous for your health, he’s a demon to fear. The nicer he is, the worse it is when he inevitably turns upon you. As a villain, he’s got class, style, and a distinct manner of doing things.

Of course, these characters all benefit from the world Kim Harrison has created, a slightly-alternate reality where the supernatural exists out in the open. Her vampires are complicated creatures that skirt stereotyping while still fulfilling the traditional roles of seducers and predators. There’s logic behind their drives and instincts and actions, and one memorable scene in which we see a group of vampires “relaxing” is laugh-out-loud funny and a welcome change of pace from the usual “mopey-vamp” modern literature would have us believe in. And the more we learn about the world, both mundane and supernatural, the more questions we end up with. Certainly, there remain mysteries aplenty about Rachel’s forgotten past and her deceased father’s work with Trent Kalamack’s father, mysteries to be answered in books to come.

Harrison gets better with each book, and Every Which Way But Dead is an excellent urban fantasy, chock-full of action and mystery, with some extremely sizzling sex thrown in for spice. Vampire for vampire, this is just as good as, if not better than, early Laurell K. Hamilton, and some of the best urban fantasy around. If you like Jim Butcher, Laurell K. Hamilton, Laura Anne Gilman, Charlaine Harris, or any of the other series where the supernatural stalks the everyday world, you need to be reading this series.

Originally posted at SF Site, 2005

Lost Truth, by Dawn Cook (Ace, 2005)

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It’s been a rather eventful couple of years for Alissa. After leaving home to seek out the legendary Hold, home of the magic-wielding Masters, she discovered the Hold empty, its halls dusty and echoing, the only inhabitant a Keeper named Bailic, who took her in for the winter. However, Bailic was the one who had originally engineered the emptying of the Hold, killing his fellow Keepers and sending the Masters far away on a wild goose chase, imprisoning the only Master to remain below the Hold. Over time, Alissa and her piper friend Strell overcome Bailic, freed the Master known both as Talo-Toecan and Useless, and discovered Alissa’s true heritage as a Master, capable of great feats of magic and of transforming into one of the giant flying reptilian creatures called raku.

Things got even stranger as Alissa came into her power: she woke the ghosts of a nearby cursed, dead city, and brought its Warden back to a state of semi-life. Later, she fell backwards through time, to a point where the Hold was full and flourishing, the city of Ese’ Nawoer was alive, and certain things had yet to pass. And so Alissa became a part of the past, affecting her own time in subtle ways before returning to it through the help of her friends, and the love of two men.

Now, however, Alissa is about to embark upon the last, and most perilous, stage in her journey. Though she has mastered her transformation into raku form, she still exists at uneasy odds with her feral consciousness, which she calls Beast, and which threatens to dominate her mind should she lose control of her balance. The custom of the Masters, however, is to destroy this feral consciousness, something Alissa feels she cannot, morally, accept. She is torn between the love of the common mortal piper, Strell Hirdune, and the ageless, cursed Warden of Ese’ Nawoer, Lodesh, and before she can choose, she must seek the favor of her missing mother.

Conflicted and rebellious, Alissa is thankful when something new comes up: it seems that her dreams of late are not entirely dreams. The former Master population of the Hold still lives, stranded far away on a distant island, unable to find their way home. So Alissa, Strell, Lodesh, and a young raku Alissa rescued from feralness, Connen-Neute, set off to find the missing Masters and bring them home after decades away. This necessitates a voyage across the sea, fraught with perils of its own, and even should they reach their destination, they’ll discover trouble. For the leader of the missing faction, an ancient raku named Kerybdis, has her own opinions on Alissa’s unusual upbringing, and will stop at nothing to control, dominate, and teach Alissa as she sees fit.

In the end, it could cost Alissa everything to resist.

This is it. Lost Truth is the book that wraps up almost all of the outstanding plotlines. Everything is decided: the fate of the Masters and the Hold, who Alissa loves, even her uneasy truce with her inner Beast. Think you know what’ll happen? Don’t be so sure. Dawn Cook throws in some interesting twists and surprises, and a few last-minute revelations bound to make even the most diligent of readers blink and look again. It’s a perfect payoff for those who’ve read the previous books in the series (First Truth, Hidden Truth, and Forgotten Truth), and a most satisfying ending to Alissa’s story.

What’s good about this book? Where do I even start? All along, it’s been fascinating to watch the culture clashes between the plains-born Strell and the foothills-born Alissa and the inhuman-yet-human raku. With this book, Cook expands the scope to include the culture of the coast dwellers, explores more of the customs of the plains, and delves into more detail in raku lore and custom, making for some interesting discoveries and amusing incidents. Alissa, in particular, is a great foil as she tries to reconcile her ways with the rest of the world, her stubbornness and pride often getting in the way. To say she handles raku culture like a bull in a china shop would be an understatement, especially when the major representative of that culture (in this instance) is a domineering, racist, intolerant, arrogant, frightened, paranoid old reptile to whom Alissa represents the absolute failure of her centuries of planning. You just can’t win with some people.

Strell, unintimidated by the raku after spending so much time with them, brings clear-headedness and practicality into the mix; part of his reason for courting Alissa is so logical and matter-of-fact that only he could pull it off. Lodesh is the smarmy, charming, debonair guy we all love to hate, if just because he stands a major chance of winning Alissa with his wily ways, and Connen-Neute (the only acceptable choice for Alissa, according to the other raku) loves her… like a brother and no more.

In the end, it’s fitting that the series end here. Over the first three books, Alissa discovered her true self, and began to explore the world, learning about her heritage and her family. Now, she’s finally completed the coming-of-age, becoming an adult as far as her two worlds are concerned. While there’s a lot more to be told about her life, especially since raku can live to be a thousand or more, Cook knows when it’s time to stop and let the characters have some rest. The Truth series is a lovely blend of fantasy, coming-of-age, and even romance, so it’s only right that it should wrap up once two of those elements are decided. I know Cook has more things planned, but I hope she’ll return to this particular setting; there are a lot more stories that can be told in the world of the Masters.

Originally posted at SF Site, 2005