Tag Archives: #Fey

Fantasy, Mystery, Young Adult

McLeod, Suzanne: The Bitter Seed of Magic (Spellcrackers III) (2011)

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http://worldoffroud.smugmug.com/Books
Danu: http://www.thesilverbranch.org/goddess/power/danu.html
Morrigan: https://journeyingtothegoddess.files.wordpress.com
http://gatherer.wizards.com
“Bean Sidhe” by Alessandro Cristiano at elfwood.com

Detective Inspector Helen Crane of the Metropolitan Police’s Magic and Murder Squad embodies the law of unintended consequences to me. As we saw in The Sweet Scent of Blood and The Cold Kiss of Death DI Crane is out to get Genvieve Taylor. Helen is a Witch. Genvieve a Sidhe. Crane’s hatred is not due to their two races, or rather not directly. In her youth Helen Crane went through a traumatic experience that has caused her hatred for both the Sidhe fae and for Vampires. Poor Genny hasn’t a clue why DI Crane is out to destroy her, but Genvieve Taylor is the one who has to live with the consequences of that long-ago experience.

Spellcrackers.com is both serial and series. If you want to understand the overarching story of the whys and whereofs of the search for a solution to the fae sterility problem you will need to read the preceding novels. But if all you want is a fun mystery then you can read The Bitter Seed of Magic on its own. That also goes for The Sweet Scent of Blood and for The Cold Kiss of Death.

Our mystery in The Bitter Seed of Magic has to do with the strange circumstances around the deaths of fae women. They turn up glamoured to look like human girls. At the very least all magic should have been washed away by the River Thames from which they were pulled. But this is not the case. Obviously magic is involved and because of its nature Genvieve becomes involved. At first only to remove the spells on their bodies. Then it becomes personal – due to the matter of the feud DI Crane has instigated.

Genny’s own past comes to haunt her. She meets long-lost relatives. Her nickname for one of them is Mad Max (no irony intended) and that should tell you what you need to know about him. Others of her relatives also make an appearance in Genvieve’s life, but I will leave you to find out just who they are on your own. Lets just say that Mad Max is not the only crazy family Genny has. Perhaps crazy is the wrong word for their personalities. Amoral might be a better one or maybe just ethically different seeing as none of them are human.

One thing our experiences with Genvieve Taylor shows is that curses are a whole lot simpler to cast than to undo. In fact that goes for all of our experiences in life. In general it seems to be easier to prevent than to fix. Poor Genny. Left having to fix the idiocy and thoughtlessness of others. She is not on her own though and that could help. Having friends does seem to make my troubles easier to bear. New friends turn up in Genny’s life making her troubles a little less complicated as well. She will need those friends considering just who is pushing Genvieve around. Phew. I am so glad I am not her. Boring is good is my motto when it comes to my own life.

But excitement in the form of stories and excellent authors is another matter. Suzanne McLeod not only makes Genvieve Nataliya Zakharinova Taylor  come alive for me but also very much makes me care what happens to her and her life and her friends.

Reviews:

The Bitter Seed of Magic on:  Amazon.co.uk,  Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble, Books.A.Million, Chapters.ca, IndieBound, Penguin.com, Powell’s, The Book Depository

Read Chapter 1

My review of:

  1. The Sweet Scent of Blood
  2. The Cold Kiss of Death

Fae dictionary

Fantasy, Mystery

McLeod, Suzanne: The Cold Kiss of Death (Spellcrackers II) (2009)

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The Cold Kiss of Death - all three countries

Authors who are able to lift serious issues into the light without leaving me with a sense of having been preached to are gems. Suzanne McLeod is one of those.

The child stood barefoot and ignored in the cold, sheeting rain; her long dark hair was tossed by the fractious wind and her ragged clothes hung off her undernourished body. She was no more than eight or nine years old. She waited, staring at me from dark angry eyes. My heart beat faster at the sight of her, fingers of fear scraping down my spine and setting my teeth on edge.

As you see, not much of a sense of having been preached to in those introductory sentences. Suzanne McLeod knows how to build her tension. From the outset I understand that I am not meant to have a laid-back read with The Cold Kiss of Death. McLeod’s writing is even tighter in The Cold Kiss of Death than it was in The Sweet Scent of Blood making her succeed immensely in keeping me away from my chores.

During the story in The Cold Kiss of Death Genvieve Taylor discovers that to the fae (even those she thought were friends) she is a sexual object. At one point history is about to repeat itself when dryads attack her in the stairwell of her home. It has to be difficult not knowing if the people you are with are staying with you because of friendship or because you have become a means to an end.

When Tomas is killed at the beginning of the story DI Helen Crane’s hate is fully unleashed and the law of unintended consequences steps into play. Not only Genny is chased. Other fae are killed and hurt because they are fae and humans have fallen into mob mentality. Vampires see it as their chance to play with their food, food that is especially delicious. Their ultimate snack would be Genvieve because of her sidhe blood. Genny is the kind of person that automatically steps in to help the weaker. Now it has become essential for their survival that Genny solves the murder because DI Crane has made up her mind as to who is going to get executed. Genvieve isn’t really a detective, but she  certainly fills that function in The Cold Kiss of Death.

This is another arena where McLeod’s story shows its excellence. Mysteries that keep me guessing are fun. The Cold Kiss of Death is like this for me. Even having read this previously did not ruin my good time. Now I was better able to see what traps McLeod had thrown my way to keep my mind from jumping to the right conclusion.

I have a couple of favorite scenes in this story. One is at Tavish’s place.  The imagery of Genny’s anger mounting while struggling to get out of the water and then having her unleash that frustration at the two idiots on shore was satisfying.

The other one was the above fight in the stairwell of her home and its conclusion. Both are gruesome but in different ways. I guess the contrast between two scenes clearly show why I enjoy McLeod so much. She manages to portray humor, suspense and kindness in a manner that makes me believe that her characters are real.

Genvieve Taylor
By Rebecca Sinz, 2006; on deviantart.com
Kelpie by Maly Traktorek on deviantart.com
Aidan Turner as vampire
Troll by Brian Froud
Faun by aryundomie on deviantart.coml

Reviews:

The Cold Kiss of Death on Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.com, The Book Depository, Waterstones.com, Play.com, Borders.co.uk, Forbidden Planet

EBook: Waterstones.com, Kindle Edition

Chapter one

My review of The Sweet Scent of Blood

Children, Fantasy

Crook, Mackenzie: The Windvale Sprites (2011)

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The Windvale Sprites - MacKenzie Crook

Mackenzie Crook has illustrated the story of The Windvale Sprites along with the cover illustration. His illustrations go perfectly with his story.

I picked this copy of The Windvale Sprites up at my library. Ragnhild, the fantasy-buff librarian, makes certain she keeps the fantasy/science fiction section well-stocked with books for all age groups. She seems to have a pretty good eye for what will appeal to people. Once again, she was correct where I was concerned.

Librarians are such wonderful and diverse creatures. We get to meet two of them in our story: Mrs. Fields and Mr. Trap. Both names are somehow appropriate (probably intentional). Mrs. Fields is an elderly, sweet, somewhat deaf woman who is willing to aid a boy with his odd queries. Mr. Trap, on the other hand, loves to trap people with his words and is quite sarcastic. He is the kind of person I would have very much liked to stick my tongue out at when I was Asa’s age. Asa definitely finds himself not at all fond of Mr. Trap.

Young Asa is the way I think children should be. You know, just a bit naughty, extremely curious and kind at heart.

(Asa) “scribbled a feeble lie on a piece of paper explaining to his parents where he hadn’t gone”

At this point I knew I would love the story about Asa, our young hunter of sprites. And I did. There is something magical about an author who knows just how much he can get away with when it comes to playing around with words.

Another thing I really liked about The Windvale Sprites was the sprites themselves. Like ravens and crows they love shiny things, they do not thrive in captivity and there is nothing sweet-looking about them (except perhaps their gossamer wings).

The Windvale Sprites left me with a happy feeling inside and a smile on my face.

If you listen to the sample below read by the author, you will get a sense of the story of The Windvale Sprites.

Reviews:

The Windvale Sprites on Faber & Faber Ltd.

Mackenzie Crook reading from The Windvale Sprites

Fantasy, Short story/novella, Young Adult

Lee, Yeongdo: Over the Horizon (오버 더 호라이즌) (2004)

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Over the Horizon

Yeongdo Lee (李英道 / 이영도) is a new discovery for me. Considering how poor my Korean reading abilities are, that is no wonder. Again, it was the cover that drew me in.

Over the Horizon is the first novella in a three-story collection. It was released on Kindle for free and boy am I glad I downloaded it. While Amazon shows this short story to be 92 pages long, those pages include a whole lot of intro information at the end about Yeongdo Lee and his other work.

I love the cover. It is a perfect introduction to our story and true to both the spirit and the letter of the novella.

Tyr Strike, our main character, happens to be a human with an orc for a boss. He is the assistant sheriff who does not want to go out into the snow to visit Professor Mataphi at Thuja Hall. Professor Mataphi is acting decidedly out of character and the sheriff wants to know what is troubling him.

What Tyr Strike ends up having to deal with is the rescue of the soul of a violin from the thief Horizon.

In a sense it is almost as if Over the Horizon is a ghost story in the way it is presented. But it isn’t. Not really. But it is eerie and thought-provoking. Most of the thought-provocation comes from me being a Viking caught in the grip of the faery world presented in a Korean manner (translated into English).

Highly recommended by me.

Fantasy, Mystery, Thriller

Harrison, Kim: Ever After (The Hollows XI) (2013)

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Ever After - 3 covers

Ever since I read the first novel in this now 11 book long series about Rachel Morgan I have been hooked. How Ms. Harrison manages to keep up the quality of her writing is beyond me.

In Ever After the story is mainly about Rachel, quite a bit about Trent and Jenks with some Quen and Al thrown in. The rest of the players have minor parts this time and some of them are only mentioned in passing.

I have been wondering if I would be able to make decisions based on “the greater good”. Could I harm an individual I knew/liked/loved to save the many? Rachel faces this choice in Ever After. She faces this same choice in just about every single one of Kim Harrison’s stories about her.

Rachel is an interesting person. She is an outsider among outsiders, the peg having to accept that she will never fit into any of the holes. If I was going to choose a main theme for the series it might be how to figure out how to accept your inability to fit in. I felt Rachel managed to do that in The Undead Pool. Like all people who get to that point, the Rachel we now meet is safer in her knowledge that she is who she is. That helps when trouble keeps on following her around.

In many ways Rachel’s life stinks royally. Yes, she is an adrenaline junkie. As with all other addictions, I am assuming that your fixes need to be larger over time. If there is one thing Rachel cannot complain about in Ever After, it is the dose of trouble Ms. Harrison feeds her. Ka-boom, ka-boom, ka-boom. From one fire to the next Rachel tries to keep up dragging along her leaking bucket. Ms. Harrison loves doing that to her Rachel.

Another thing Rachel has discovered she needs in these past few years is friendship. Being friends with Rachel is difficult but rewarding. Once you have her for a friend it takes an awful lot to lose her. All you have to do is ask Nick. He has done his utmost to turn her against him (although he does not see it that way). Nick is one of those persons who is never at fault – never. He and Ku’Sox are alike in that regard and as such make a pretty good team (or maybe not).

What must it be like to think that you are never to blame for anything? I get that most things in life are plain luck of the draw while others are a direct result of what we have done. From what people say to me, the majority seems to find it incredibly easy to see its own flaws. I’m finding myself completely mystified at how a person is able to accept absolutely no blame but be glad to take credit for good things happening. Narcissism is one of the weirder disorders out there and Nick fits the bill in so many ways.

As usual, you get no synopsis from me. There is as always with Rachel Morgan action, character growth, justice, unfairness, tragedy, mystery, love and closure. You can read Ever After without reading the other novels in the series, but why deprive yourself of that much fun?

                             

Fantasy, Short story/novella, Thriller, Young Adult

Sherman, David: Hungering Shadows (Bounty Hunter Case Files) (2013)

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Hungering Shadows
Cover image by Jason Baxter

26 pages of fast-paced urban fantasy is what we get in Hungering Shadows. Short stories can be really fun.

Hungering Shadows is a great action story about a guy who just will not give in to the demonic influences in his life. Instead he hunts them down and brings them in for their reward (with the sometimes help of Father Ralph Lawrence). In this story Alex is on the hunt for two skin walkers (demons who kill a host’s spirit and take over their body).

Bounty hunter central is on/in Haven, a place accessed through a warehouse portal. All bounties are delivered there and rewards picked up. Catching your bounty, though, can be quite challenging. Other bounty hunters can and do get in your way and Alex is no exception to that rule. But Alex lets nothing stop him and his quest for what he feels is right.

Hope you enjoy Hungering Shadows as much as I did.

Fantasy, Mystery, Romance, Short story/novella

Miles, T.A.: A Bit(e) of Discretion, Please (Dreamer I) (2011)

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Dreamer

Dreamer is the title of a series of short-stories/novellas beginning with A Bit(e) of Discretion, Please. 

If you are going to be naughty in this world of ours (with a few super-naturals added to it), you had better make certain you do not attract the authorities. Stuart did and he who was once a Prince of Dreaming now has his powers for mischief limited. As if that wasn’t bad enough Stuart also has to do community service in the form of catching other breakers of human rules with what seems to be a girl (Mei Lin the spiritualist) as his partner. But as long as the tea is good Stuart manages fairly well.

T.A. Miles gives us a humourous look at scoundrels and their baby-sitters, baby-sitters whose patience is sorely tried at times. We also get a look at characters who think themselves devious but who are fooled themselves instead. Dreamer is indeed a light-hearted and enjoyable read.

Reviews:

Fantasy, Short story/novella, Thriller, Young Adult

Loomis, Mercy: A Wild Hunt (Aether Vitalis) (2009)

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A Wild Hunt
Cover design by Mercy Loomis and Jon Connor
Images by Morguefile.com

A Wild Hunt is an urban fantasy with paranormal creatures. According to Loomis most of the Aether Vitalis stories are dark. A Wild Hunt could be considered dark fantasy in my opinion.

In A Wild Hunt we deal with death magic and its apparently willing victims. That is what can happen when dark witches are in your neighborhood. Good job the neighborhood watchperson – well skinshifter – is close by.

At the beginning of our tale Ariane Conant seems to be your typical drooling college student. Her job is to protect humans from finding out too much about the faery community. That one of the humans she ends up protecting just happens to be her drool object just ups the ante for her. She goes from an empty-headed drooler to a dangerous woman to cross in a magical battle.

A Wild Hunt was a pretty good short story. There are limits to how much background and info you can cram into a story this size, but Loomis did manage to give us a little. Mainly we had action from the very beginning and the story did not slow down as it went along.

Not too violent and no explicit sex.

Reviews:

  • File Size: 256 KB
  • Print Length: 42 pages
  • Simultaneous Device Usage: Unlimited
  • Publisher: Rookery Creek Media (October 16, 2011)
  • Sold by: Amazon Digital Services,  Inc.
  • Language: English
  • ASIN: B005WLP7D2
Fantasy, Mystery, Young Adult

Guon, Ellen: Bedlam Boyz (Urban Elves) (1993)

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Bedlam Boyz
Cover artists C.W. Kelly and Larry Dixon

There seem to be pirat copies of the digital version around – according to the author. Amazon has taken their copy off the air.

The Urban Elves series is a sub-series to the Elves on the Road Universe an urban fantasy universe depicting the interaction between the human and the elven world adding in a bit of diesel/gas.

As far as I can see Ellen Guon (Beeman) has written three novels: two in collaboration with Mercedes Lackey and the Bedlam Boyz on her own.

Bedlam Boyz is a stand-alone novel set in Los Angeles. It is about getting the surprise of your life and how that surprise changes your life. In a life-threatening situation Kayla discovers she has the power to heal.

A talent like that is bound to bring a lot of attention. Not all of that attention is positive. In fact most of the attention Kayla garners because of her ability to heal is quite negative. Gangs, elves and social workers all want a piece of her and only one of the parties wants to help Kayla get a better life.

Bedlam Boyz was a fairly good novel. It seemed believable when it came to the fate of Liane. I imagine that to be the fate of quite a few homeless kids. Kayla’s fears are also believable and her confusion about her talent seems natural. I imagine there are police officers and social workers who care about the homeless kids the way a couple of the characters in the novel did.

I liked it. It wasn’t great but it did entertain me enough to keep me reading to the end. With a bit more editing it would have been a much better read.

Ellen Guon on twitter-icon1 / linked-logo

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Adventure, Fantasy, Romance

Elsa, Sandra: Through The Waterfall (Guardian of the Realm) (2012)

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Cover design by ?Sandra Elsa?

When I first started reading Through the Waterfall I thought it would be a regular Young Adult novel. It is, because it is about young Tess – 17 years old. If you have problems with sexually explicit scenes then consider yourself warned.

Young Tess lives with her grandmother. She has since both parents were killed in a car-accident. Grandmother is a witch and Tess seems to have strong witchy powers herself. One day she is sent to hunt for toadstool from a fairy ring and to her surprise she finds not only that but also fairies.

In fantasy fairies can be so many things. Anything from being cute and cuddly to being not so cute and cruel goes. The ones in Through the Waterfall fall in the category lovely, self-centered and willing to do a lot to get their own way. The fairies in Through the Waterfall want Tess as a guardian of their realm. Protection against predators wanting the fairies as fingerfood will be the job of the guardian.

Tess does not like “Others” (elven world). The car accident that her parents died in was caused by an “Other”. That makes Tess less cooperative than the fairy king wishes. She has demands that need to be met before she will consider taking on the position of Guardian.

I liked Tess’ first meeting with the fairies. Because she has power she is attractive to the fairies, but that power also makes it possible for her to both see and catch them. She wasn’t all oooh, la, la about them. The relationship between Tess and Trey was kind of predictable. He was a hottie, so it had to be he who Tess ended up with. I wonder if any of our heroes/heroines ever end up with average looking partners? Probably not.

Other than that Through the Waterfall was an above average fantasy novel that I enjoyed reading.

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Adventure, Fantasy, Mystery, Romance, Short story/novella

Cheney, Kathleen J.: Snow Comes to Hawk’s Folly (Tales From Hawk’s Folly Farm) (2010)

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Cover design by
Kathleen J. Cheney

Imogen married her Guaire O’Donnell from Iron Shoes. Their puca heritage has made their son Patrick (2yrs) adept at unbinding. Unbinding is a good way to keep your parents and the staff on their toes. Soon he will have a playmate in the child Mary Stewart is close to giving birth to. Then a mysterious man turns up in their parlor.

Snow Comes to Hawk’s Folly is fantasy but mostly about family (blood or otherwise). Love, worry, fear, anger and pride were all part of their family cocktail.

Sometimes the past comes and bites us on our behinds. Do we let what has happened control our reactions today?

As with Iron Shoes, Snow Comes to Hawk’s Folly was written in minor key. Everything takes on a different texture when words are played on the black tangents.

My review of Iron Shoes

Originally published in Panverse (2010)

Adventure, Fantasy, Romance, Short story/novella

Cheney, Kathleen J.: Iron Shoes (Hawk’s Folly Farm) (2011)

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Cover designed by Cheney/ photography by Alex Gorstan

Kathleen J. Cheney writes in minor key. I’m getting the mushy parts of her story. Maybe mush has be written in minor for me to understand it???

Ms. Cheney has written a lovely story about coming to terms with prejudice, betrayal and power-hunger but also about loyalty, love and unexpected friends.

Imogen Hawkes is a conflicted young widow who not only has to come up with money to prevent foreclosure but also has to find a way to accept herself for who she is. Not an easy thing in the early 1900’s in Saratoga.

2010: Nominated for the Nebulla award for best Novella: Iron Shoes’, J. Kathleen Cheney (Alembical 2)

Fantasy, Short story/novella, Thriller

Anna, Vivi: Dawning (2011)

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Dawning (Nina Decker) Vivi AnnaDawning is my introduction to the Nini Decker universe. My appetite was whet and the novel presented quite a dilemma for the main character Dashrael.

In a blatant show of racism, the chancellor tells Dashrael to kill the spouse of the overseer’s daughter along with their half-breed child.

That is pretty much what this story is about. Dashrael coming face to face with his target and the choices he makes and sadly the consequences his choice has for him personally.

Granted, this is human/elven racism. But, you know, this is reality for quite a few people on this planet. If you dare fall for someone of another color/ethnicity/religion than yourself, lives are at risk. I have to say that it is one of the more confusing aspects of humanity.

A thought-provoking story – and well-written. As my first Vivi Anna experience, I was well-pleased.

Adventure, Fantasy, Humour

Evans, Erin: The Rhine Maiden (2010)

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the rhine maiden

Cover art by Katie White

You know how sailors were supposed to tie themselves to something so they would not be lured by the beautiful voices of the sirens, well, Piper Cavenaugh is one. A human siren. Not bad.

Making people do what she wants by using the “Voice” is terribly tempting to Piper. However, experience has taught her that she will eventually get into trouble by doing so. Its duration is only 10 minutes and that really puts limitations on what it can be used for.

One evening Piper gets into trouble. She was seen using her Voice by the supernatural community. A community Piper had never heard of, seen or wanted to know about. Now she is about to be tried for her crimes. The Voice is considered extremely dangerous and desirable by various species of the supernatural community and Piper is thrown into trouble like never before.

The Rhine Maiden is a fun read. It has a couple of preachy moments and not very subtle ones. But Erin Evans is a fun author with a fun protagonist in the rather stressed character of Piper Cavenaugh. Piper is not your laid-back kind of person. Oh, no! Definitely not! But she is fun.

You will find plenty of action and humor in The Rhine Maiden.

Adventure, Fantasy, Reading together, Romance, Young Adult

Britain, Kristen: Green Rider (1998)

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I just finished reading Green Rider to my youngest son. When you have a dyslexic audience, reading to them is always IN. I cannot imagine how frustrating it must be to love literature, yet be so hindered by something that I take so much for granted. Maybe it is somewhat like my need for a wheel-chair.

Anyways. Back to Green Rider.

green_rider__cover_art_by_pallanoph-d3j5tne

Check out this cover illustration for the UK edition of Green Rider by April Schumacher. WOW! It catches the spirit of the novel perfectly.

As I read this book out loud, there are a couple of things I want to point out. Kristen writes beautifully. Names like Karigan G’ladheon just roll off my tongue. Reading was a delight. Tension, fear, beauty and humour came through the translation from page to mouth. Wonderful! What a gift.

Karigan G’ladheon is a typical hero character. She is conflicted about the many challenges that come her way, but she desperately wants to do what is right for her country. Danger is drawn to her, or perhaps Karigan is drawn to danger. Action is practically thrown her way. Thank goodness Karigan seems to have a gift of getting out of all of the life-threatening situations. Like Captain Mapstone claimed. Karigan seems to survive due to sheer spunk. Gritting her teeth, Karigan gets on with whatever comes her way. Gray riders, militia, dangerous creatures or spirits is just part of what Green Rider has to offer.

The plot is easy to understand. Someone is out to take over the country of Sacoridia (they think). Someone else has another agenda. Karigan supports the throne and stability. Battle ensues between the “good” and the “bad”. Presentation is everything and Kristen Britain Excels at this. Good job. In fact, excellent work! Enjoy.

My reviews of books 1 (Green Rider), 2 (First Rider’s Call), 3 (The High King’s Tomb) and 4 (Blackveil)

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