Playing with Fire (Silver Dragons, Book 1) Review

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(More customer reviews)Exploring another corner of the world of sexy dragons, guardians, demons and such from her Aisling Grey series, Katie MacAlister brings a new pair to the spotlight. Playing with Fire is the first in a new series starring the yummy silver Wyvern Gabriel as he joyfully discovers his mate, the woman who can share his dragon-fire in doppelganger and demon-bound thief May. Gabriel and May are not Drake and Aisling, so even though we pick up pretty much at the end of Holy Smokes (Aisling Grey, Guardian, Book 4) -- and the background plot continues the confrontation between the Gabriel's Silver dragons and Drake's brother's Black dragons -- this series has a different enough feel that it is not a rehash.
May is something we haven't seen in yet in MacAlister's otherworld. May was created by a demon lord from her naiad "twin" Cyrene's shadow in exchange for her sister's "common sense", as a doppelganger this gives May the ability to shadow-walk to become almost invisible in the shadows which is quite useful her "career" - May is bound to the former silent film-star demon lord who created her, and forced to obey his commands to steal for him. May meets Gabriel when she stumbles onto Drake's estate while attempting to return a stolen item that had put a price on her head. Quite by accident Gabriel discovers that May is a wyvern's mate and seeks to claim her. The ever sensible May tries to refuse Gabriel, knowing the danger the demon poses - May has spent her life avoiding relationships knowing that should she take a lover the demon lord who wants May's body would likely order May to kill her lover. But Gabriel assures May that dragons are not so easy to get rid of and of course Gabriel is totally irresistible, so May lets Gabriel claim her in a fiery joining that literally burns up the sheets. But all is not smooth sailing for May and Gabriel, May will have to outsmart the demon lord or risk an eternity in Abbandon to avoid betraying Gabriel when her demon-lord commands a theft of a powerful artifact that will put all the dragons under the demon lord's control.
Gabriel is not as reserved as Drake or as controlling, so I enjoyed his relationship with May more than Drake's with Aisling. I liked that Gabriel was more willing to defy dragon etiquette and express his delight in his new mate and that he was unable to act with restraint in their romantic encounters. Also Gabriel's willingness to support May as she has to handle some dangerous situations in the book, trusting in the competence of his mate, and his willingness to place May's need to save her kidnapped sister over his need to acquire an object important to his Sept makes Gabriel a much more appealing love interest than Drake.

Much of the cast that we've grown to love from the previous books Drake, Aisling, and Jim are back in supporting roles. Since May isn't MacAlister's normal angsty impetuous heroine, Cyrene along with the ever irreverent Jim, the demon in dog form, serve to bring some of MacAlister's trademark zaniness to the story. Playing with Fire was a fun read setting up for more of Gabriel and May as they have some obstacles ahead of them as the story continues with Up In Smoke: A Novel of the Silver Dragons before they get their happily ever after.


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Starring the Dragons Of The Aisling Grey, Guardian Novels Gabriel Tauhou, wyvern of the silver dragons, has found the one woman who can withstand his fire. Too bad May Northcott is already bound to a demon lord. But when the demon orders May to steal one of Gabriel's treasures—an immensely important relic of all dragonkin— Gabriel has to decide which to protect: his love or his dragons.

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Immortal: Love Stories With Bite Review

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(More customer reviews)Cynthia Leitich Smith's Haunted Love: This story wasn't exactly bad but it wasn't good either, it was "blah." It was ok for a short story, nothing special though.
Kristen Cast's Amber Smoke: Ugh, where to start? Just like the House of Night series she tries WAY too hard to sound teen friendly, like a cool hip teenager. It is ridiculously over the top, no teen actually talks like that. It is cheesy and irritating, Kristin really needs to tone it down. Being in touch with teens is one thing but sounding like that sad middle-aged mom trying to fit in with her teen daughter's friends is another. As for the story itself, awful. The author took every overdone, cliché story idea and threw it into one story. She also put way too much random info into the story and it got to the point where you were like "wtf?! why did that happen, how did that happen" every few sentences. It was the type of storyline that needed to be a novel so that everything could be explained, instead its a short story that doesn't make sense and doesn't flow smoothly at all. It wasn't much of a short story at all, just random nonsense thrown together with no meaning at all.
Rachel Caine's Dead Man Stalking:
Excellent! I haven't read the Morganville series but now I want to. The author's tone was great, the story was interesting, plus clear and solid and it made sense. It was what a short story should be, a whole story in just a few pages, not too much but not too little either.
Tanith Lee's Table Manners:
Very well written. A new interesting look on vampires. I enjoyed it.
Nancy Holder's Changed:
Another excellent, well written story. Showing a different kind of love and a different kind of vampire world. Instead of the dark brooding romantic vampires, you get the evil apocalyptic ones. A great read.
Richelle Mead's Blue Moon:
I really liked this one. I almost always love vampire stories where the vampires are known to the world.
Claudia Gray's Free:
I loved this one. It was a great story about a strong woman doing what she needs to do to make herself happy. It was also the only story that wasn't set in the present which was a nice change of pace from the other stories.

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Aftertime (Luna Books) Review

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(More customer reviews)A little bit of everything, zombies, romance, adventure, post apocalyptic, community, relationships, nature, personal growth, and science.
Cass the central character is a young recovering alcoholic who is a store clerk. She had a tough start in life and has a daughter, Ruthie, that her inner and outer world revolves around. She classifies her life into three parts: before, during, and after. The story takes place in the after, the fall of civilization. Leaders are emerging and societies are being built, while most are still just struggling to survive. There are the loners, the groups holed up, the rebuilders, the covenant, and the rebels. I enjoyed this book on many levels. It was a great multifaceted story.
The writing is smooth, beautiful, and spine chilling at times. Its reflective and all told from Cass's point of view. There were some parts that reminded me of a Dean Koontz storytelling style. I read this book fast and it stayed with me. The details make it come alive and seem real. Here's a two examples of some memorable conversations. The first one was with a loner and what he did all day by himself and later a conversation about the prevailing feeling that something is always off and being able to articulate it when hanging clothes out on a clothesline and wishing she had her tins from her house to put the clothespins in.
I was also fascinated by the tidbits on nature. Cass has some knowledge on plants and animals and notices their recovery. It is a story of hope, this one line from the book sums it up, "Earth did what She would; She chose life. ...She seemed unstoppable in her determination to restore health to Her forests and mountains and waters, as every new day seemed to bring a sprig or seedling of some species that was thought to be lost..."
These zombie have a few unique traits from other zombie stories, which adds to the storyline.
The only complaint was that the last adventure, was too short and not descriptive enough, it felt like the page limit was met and abruptly ended.
I loved this and highly recommend it. Be warned there are a few graphic sexual encounters and very gory and violent zombie details.


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Deliria: Faerie Tales for a New Millennium Review

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(More customer reviews)First, a word of warning: There is a LOT of detail and information in this book.
Now, on the plus side - this book really does contain everything you need to run the game. The setting is something like everything Neil Gaiman has ever written, plus the later Books of Magic (Timothy Hunter). But even that's not the limit.
The style of gaming is truly interactive - both the players and the game-master work together to craft the story, with both setting in limits and ideas to the setting. Your character is important to the setting, and without what you put into it, no story will happen.
This book changes how games are played, in a good way, and its very design encourages a more cooperative spirit than most previous games. I give this a really high recommendation.

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What is Deliria?It's a setting where ordinary people face an extraordinary world. Like the heroes of traditional faerie tales, these men and women are normal folks whose lives suddenly upend, pitching the old rules out the nearest window. And like those traditional heroes, these modern-day Jacks and Beautys must face challenges of body, mind and spirit... or face dark consequences.Deliria is a realm of innocence, challenge and transformation. A place where the tales you tell are yours. A place where hope remains the bravest force, and cleverness brings giants down.Deliria's Prime Codex contains:Roleplaying rules for any venue--tabletop, street theatre, and Internet; A setting that ranges from coffee shops to kingdoms; A realm where broken hearts mean more than broken bones; Lore about faerie tales and the lessons they provide; Many tales about Deliria's domain; Art that strides beyond cliché; And inspirations and affirmations about who we are in our world and what can do to change it.

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Though Smoke Shall Hide the Sun: A Tor.Com Original Review

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(More customer reviews)Nowhere in the item description did it reflect that this was a SHORT story - only about 1 chapter long. The item description should have been much clearer about this, so that I could have made a better informed decision about whether I wanted to spend money on this or not. Not happy with this purchase.

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The goverment doesn't usually hire vampires, but they're willing to make an exception for Hilde -- after all, they're already got pyromancer Cal on the payroll. What could go wrong?

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Smoke and Ashes (The Smoke Trilogy, Book 3) Review

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(More customer reviews)This book is the third in the series starring Henry Fitzroy's old sidekick Tony. Let me note that while the book is enjoyable as a standalone, you will get far more out of it if you have read the first two in this series, since there are quite a few references to the Shadowlord of the first book, Smoke and Shadows, and the haunted house of the second book, Smoke and Mirrors. You will get even more out of this series if you've read Huff's earlier series about Henry Fitzroy, romance writer, [...] son of King Henry VIII, and vampire. (If you check my profile, you can find reviews of all five books in that series.) Constable Jack Elson, for example, is an even more interesting character if you can also recall Mike Celluci, Vicki's fellow cop, and also the werewolf cop from "Blood Trail."
Since other reviewers have summarized the plot, I won't go into that. (Besides, those of you who read Huff know that many of her books have variations on the same plot: a hole opens up between hell and our earth, and our protagonists have to close it. This is not a complaint; I am continually amazed at how interesting she manages to make that same plot over and over.) Instead, let me tell you a few of the things I specifically enjoyed about this book:
* Huff's wonderful sense of humor. Examples: Tony turns on the TV and sees "some guy eating a bug on either the Learning Channel or FOOD - he didn't stay long enought to see if it came with a lecture on habitat or a raspberry vinaigrette" and the use of cherry cough syrup as a warding spell.
* The references to many classic science fiction and fantasy stories and books - not just well known ones such as LOTR, but also to stories that only literate and experienced SF fans are likely to have read; this isn't just catering to the reader who is currently reading urban vampire fantasy because it's "in" - although there's nothing wrong with that; welcome, new fantasy readers, and we hope you stay and enjoy the rest of the genre!
*The references also to many classic TV shows and movies, both SF and non-SF, everything from the coyote and the anvil to "Where castle?" to car chases.
*The characters who are neither all-bad nor all-good, but show signs that even though they are relatively "bit parts" right now, they have complex enough personalities that they might become more. Kevin Groves, the obnoxious tabloid reporter, for example, has a few good qualities, and shows some signs that in an emergency, he might be capable of doing good things. And Chester Bane, well, I have the feeling there's a LOT we don't know about Chester, and some of it will turn out to be supernatural sooner or later.
I do have a few small quibbles with the book: the Demon Lords' names don't sound right for demons to me. (Demons have first and last names? Really?) And Huff uses the phrase "red-gold eyebrows" too often, which is especially confusing since sometimes she is referring to Mason Reed, and sometimes to Henry. But those are pretty small change.
I will say that those of you who are squeamish about sex - although I doubt there are too many of such people reading urban vampire fantasies to begin with - would find some things to be squeamish about here. There is sex - gay, straight, and mixed. It's all necessary to the plot, appropriate in context, tastefully done, and not overdone - but it's there. So if that sort of thing bothers you... there is also a lot of use of four-letter words, again appropriate in context and not overdone, but if those bother you... They didn't bother me at all, because they went with the plot and characters so well, and let me tell you, I have a pretty short threshhold for unnecessary sex scenes and unnecessary vulgarity, so this must be well done, since I liked it. But you probably wouldn't want to give this book to a 12-year-old to read. I'd say 16 and up, at least, older if you really have hangups about your teenagers being exposed to anything at all graphic.
In summary: great continuation of the series, best enjoyed if you read all the others in order first; terrific characters, with lots of potential for more.

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This third novel in Tanya Huff's action-packed series features Tony Foster and the crew of "Darkest Night," a TV series about a vampire detective. This time they find themselves facing another supernatural menace, a Demonic Convergence. Tony-with the help of vampire Henry Fitzroy and Leah, a stuntwoman who is the last surviving priestess of a sex demon, plus a tabloid reporter and a Canadian Mountie-must keep the key to the convergence alive to prevent a demonic invasion so large scale that it could be the finale-for the whole world.

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Smoke and Shadows (The Smoke Trilogy, Book 1) Review

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(More customer reviews)I'm a pretty big fan of Tanya Huff's work, including the Blood series. Tony, however, is not a particularly strong protagonist. He works on a cheesy TV show about vampires -- if you're interested in television production, perhaps you can get some mileage there. I didn't. It was fun watching Tony grow up in the background of the Blood books, but as a main character, he's pretty dull (especially for somebody with a supposedly colorful street-kid police-informant vampire-lover past).
On a bit of a tangent, it's never a good sign when somebody in a vampire novel comments that "Buffy" vampires are less scary than "the real thing." In the previous Blood books, the exact time (and its exact relationship to our reality) has been a little vague, and it worked well that way. The all-too-hip specificity is jarring and feels forced. Besides, Huff has done many intriguing things, but she's never really made scary vampires. Sure, we've been *told* that Vampires are Scary, but we've never been shown them doing anything truly frightening. We're told that when the "civlized mask" slips and "the Hunger" shows, people nearby will lose bladder control in terror -- but we never feel it.
The other emotion that doesn't seem to come through well in Huff's writing is lust, so Tony's crushes (and his relationship with Henry, his vampiric ex) aren't all that compelling either. The plot never had me all that worried about the fate of the earth, or even the fate of Tony. Without the lively characters and complex relationships of Huff's other books, there's not a lot left to enjoy. It's particularly unfortunate that this book is where Huff made the jump to hardcover; this story just is not worth hardcover prices. If the Vicki and Henry Show is over, Celluci would have made a more interesting new protagonist than Tony.

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Smoke and Mirrors (The Smoke Trilogy, Book 2) Review

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(More customer reviews)Smoke and Mirrors, by Tanya Huff, is the second book in her new Tony Foster series, highlighting the mystical adventures of a production assistant (and junior wizard) who occasionally pals around with vampire Henry Fitzroy in his off time. The first book was quite good; the second book is fantastic. A traditional "haunted house" story, it simply explodes beyond the confines of the genre, primarily through the strength of Huff's writing and characterization. Fans of shows like Forever Knight or Buffy: the Vampire Slayer or even Blood Ties--based on the Vickie Nelson/Henry Fitzroy series by Huff--may find great pleasure in the affectionate skewering of the type in this book. Smoke and Mirrors has a wry sense of humor. It's laugh-out-loud funny in some places and genuinely horrific in others, manipulating reader's emotions deftly as Tony and his hapless companions set out to save the day.
Some readers, I know, have been disturbed by the fact that Huff's hero is gay--unabashedly so--and some reviewers have mentioned discomfort with Tony's active, on-page love life. I personally found nothing distasteful about Tony's interactions with other men, which are no more explicit than I've encountered in many other books of this type and *considerably less so* than some (Laurell K. Hamilton, anyone?). If the idea of men kissing is a buzz-killer for you, you probably ought to look for another series. For me, the protagonist's keen interest in his love life just contributes to his three-dimensional nature. I find him charming.
Smoke and Mirrors dazzled me from very nearly the first page, and I read the whole with tremendous pleasure. It goes on my "enthusiastically recommend" list, and I will be looking forward tremendously to my opportunity to read Installment 3.

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Up in Smoke (Silver Dragons, Book 2) Review

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(More customer reviews)Up in Smoke is the second book in the new silver dragon series. It parallels Aisling's novels wonderfully, yet May stands on her own and her story is delightfully funny and completely different. She has to contend with so many people and beings wanting something from her.
The only reason Magoth wants her as a consort is to have access to the mortal world to create mayhem, destruction blah blah blah. Gabriel is fighting to keep May by his side, and all the dragons are trying to figure out who is the real Blue Wyvern Fiat or Bastion, as well as whether or not the Black dragons are their own Sept, and if so what will happen to the Silver Sept who used to be a part of the Black Sept.
As if that wasn't bad Cyrene is convinced she's Kostya's mate, the only reason she can't hold his fire is he isn't officially recognized.... right... and no one wants to break the news to a crazy Naiad who just lost her job as a protector of her spring and lost her common sense in order to create her Doppelganger May. May now has to talk to Neptune (that's right the Roman God) to petition for Cy's job back. Did I mention the one dragon who everyone though Kostya had killed is running around in the shadow world, Baltic.
This story is definitely action packed and a great follow up story. I love Gabriel but every time Aisling and Drake are mentioned I keep my fingers crossed that Katie MacAlister is writing their continued story quickly. All in all I can't wait for the third.

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Smoke and Mirrors: Short Fictions and Illusions (P.S.) Review

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(More customer reviews)I should point out first that (a) I've been Neil's friend for many years, and therefore not without bias, and (b) some of these stories I've read several times before. However, due to various health problems, I have been spending a lot of time in a series of doctor's waiting rooms for months now, and Smoke and Mirrors has been my book of choice for resisting lure of six month old issues of Field and Stream. I have read it from start to finish, resisting the strong temptation to flip forward to the stories I hadn't read, savoring each offering as I would a course in a lavish meal (and considering I'm on a diabetic's diet that's more savoring than I'm allowed in the traditional sense). It's been an unalloyed pleasure. And yesterday, while waiting for my endcrinologist to check me over, I finished the last story.
I rationed myself on this book, but you don't have to. If you only know Gaiman from Neverwhere or his Sandman comics, this is a chance to see the full range of his writing chops, which are formidable. I defy anyone to find me a better story this side of Nathaniel West about the mythical land of Hollywood than "The Goldfish Pool and Other Stories." I cannot think of a more bizarre marriage than the melding of epic poetry and bikini bimbos that is Baywolf. I heard the ghost of Peter Cook at my ear in "Shoggoth's Old Peculiar." I took inordinate pleasure in reading "Snow, Glass, Apples" aloud to a group of my son's friends, and watching them laugh uneasily.
There is a wealth of fine storytelling here, a veritable trove of style and substance, passion and pastiche, wit and bite and vision and venom. The art of the short story is in excellent hands.

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