Tag Archives: #Fey

Benedict, Lyn: Shadows Inquiries series

2012-06-04 humanitysdarkerside Leave a comment

Lane Robins writing as Lyn Benedict is the author of the Shadows Inquiries series. I think you’ll find that all of these books lean toward the lighter side of fantasy literature. Sylvie Lightner’s character lives in Miami, a slightly different Miami from what most people associate with it. This is a place where the magical and godly take up a lot of space.

Sylvie is the owner of Shadows Inquiries, a P.I. firm that investigates the supernatural. Sylvie Lightner fits the mold that most women in urban fantasy seem to be cast to. The difference in these books is that there seems to be a darker undertone, and Sylvie might be slightly darker than the average. Benedict’s writing is good. The plots are as below, so nothing really complicated.

SINS & SHADOWS (2009)

When one of Sylvie’s employees ends up killed during a case, Sylvie decides she has had enough of investigating the weird and unusual. It is time to close shop.

Then Kevin Dunne turns up looking for his lover, and he just will not take no for an answer. Sometimes you just cannot fight “fate” and Sylvie ends up working for Dunne. Knowing who/what Kevin Dunne is does not make the job pressure any lighter – quite the opposite in fact.

Sylvie’s least favorite part of the whole investigation is that she has to involve friends and her employee Alex. Sometimes the consequences are anything but good and the battle Sylvie has to fight is against herself and the supernatural community.

Sins & Shadows is great entertainment and has no pretensions of grandeur. It delivers what it promises – escape from reality for a while.

GHOSTS & ECHOES (2010)

Once again Benedict writes an entertaining book about the world of Sylvie Lightner. As the title says, ghosts will appear.

During the investigation of what appears to be simple burglaries, Sylvie discovers the involvement hands of glory. On top of looking into the burglaries, Sylvie has to look after her rebellious sister, Zoe. Sylvie feels she has more than enough on her plate.

But the fates would have it otherwise. While investigating the burglaries case, Sylvie is approached by detective Adam Wright who thinks he has picked up the ghost of a dead man. Against her will, Sylvie is drawn into the fate of detective Wright.

Ghosts, black magic and a wayward sister are bound to make for an exciting time for Sylvie. Fortunately for her she has her trusted employee, Alex, helping her out.

GODS & MONSTERS (2011)

The third novel in the Shadows Inquiries series follows in the path of the first two. Once again Sylvie Lightner is confronted with a mystery that only she is able to solve (with the help of a few others).

The legacy of her bloodline – with all of its inherent anger – continues to plague Sylvie. What others might think of as the gift of the century, Sylvie feels is more of a curse. But she will find it invaluable during the process of the novel.

Five women turn up dead in the Everglades. While something feels off about the whole thing, Sylvie decides this is probably a regular murder case. Hah, hah. When the bodies come to life and start killing, Sylvie has to step in and take what help she can in figuring out what dark magic is afoot.

The help of a necromancer is what Sylvie ends up with. Together they end up confronting the world of gods, and once again Sylvie decides that the gods are not all that great.

LIES & OMENS (2012)

The three people Sylvie cares most about are threatened. Zoe, Alex and Demalion are the one thing that can bring Sylvie out of her hiding and into investigating the magical attacks on Internal Surveillance and Investigation government agency.

What Sylvie has discovered throughout the other three books is that she needs help and does not have to do everything alone. That is definitely true in Lies & Omens. Sylvie will need all the help she can get in order to save the mundane world from the magical one.

As a final book in the Shadows Inquiries’ series, Lies & Omens works pretty well. The conclusion tied up loose ends and felt satisfactory.

Fantasy, Mystery, Western

Monk, Devon: Dead Iron (2011)

2012-06-01 humanitysdarkerside Leave a comment

The Age of Steam is the new series started by Devon Monk. This time she writes steam-punk (I wonder where they got the word steam-punk?). I don’t really understand why so many fantasy buffs don’t like steam-punk. It’s great fun along with most other fantasy. As Monk is the author, the quality of the book is guaranteed (thankfully). It’s light entertainment (a little heavier than the lightest) and doesn’t strive for moralistic or philosophical preaching. However, Monk does treat her characters as complex beings with dark and light sides. I abhor literature where the goodies are sugar-good and the baddies are black as tar bad. Way to go Monk.

Dead Iron is the first installation in the series about the bounty hunter Cedar Hunt. Cedar has a “slight” health problem that becomes uncontrollable about once a month. To protect others, he lives a bit outside town.

When a small boy goes missing, and the parents go to Cedar for help. After a lot of hesitation he takes on the case. During his search Cedar meets other strange people and a lot of prejudice and fear. In Dead Iron, Monk combines fantasy and technology in a wild-west world where the impact of iron and technology threatens to destroy the presence of magic.

Fantasy, Mystery, Romance

Peeler, Nicole: Tracking the Tempest (Jane True II) (2010)

2012-05-06 humanitysdarkerside Leave a comment

This cover by Sharon Tancredi is wonderful. I love the feeling I get while looking at it and the spirit of the main character Jane that she manages to convey in her drawing.

As time has passed and I have written many reviews, I have come to realise that how my head works when approaching a novel has changed. Instead of reading all books as if they needed to be judged by the same ruler, I am now able to divide my thought processes into categories. By doing this it feels as though I am bringing my Aspergers into play instead of trying to bypass it and be “a regular” reader.

Along with several of my early reviews, this one of Tracking the Tempest is an updated one (June 2014 instead of May 2012).

I consider this a true series. Even though I had not read Tempest Rising, I had no problem beginning with number two. Necessary background information was shared without info-dumping and Jane’s relationships with various people were fairly self-explanatory. Tracking the Tempest starts off with Jane working hard to learn how to control her magic and especially how to shield herself.

The light wavered, stilled for a split second, and then winked out of existence. I couldn’t help but close my hand with a little flourish. Now that I couldn’t blow anything up, I was allowed to be pleased with myself. That was the first time I’d managed to create and disperse a mage light start to finish.

“Who’s your daddy?” I demanded rhetorically, doing a little happy dance.

“He died centuries ago; you wouldn’t know him,” Nell replied, coming toward me. “Stop hopping about and shields up.”

One thing I appreciated about Jane is that she is a regular person (despite being a halfling and despite Peeler’s tendency toward hunky men for Jane). I stink at the romantic stuff. Absolutely do not get why romance has to be so mushy (to my husband’s great frustration). Asperger people might be the greatest killers of romantic moments that exist. So not understanding all of Jane’s worries and frustrations about Ruy is just the way things work for me. Let’s just get to the sex is the way I tend to think.

But Peeler makes the romance funny. The way sex and so-called romantic moments tend to be. That I can appreciate and I did. I love it when an author makes sex steamy but also when an author makes sex ridiculous.

One of the comments I read on the novel said something about the Boston Public Parks not being closed at night. I checked that out by googling and that was correct. Living in a stinking rich neighborhood is not a prerequisite for a stinking rich person, so I felt that the same person’s comment about Ruy living in Bay Village didn’t really fit. His personality (what I understand of it) does seem to work with Bay Village.

This is another thing I have learned to do with my reviews. Categories are incredibly difficult for me, so I have to read other people’s reviews so I can place these books in the proper category. Which is why I have ended up adding links to other reviewers at the bottom om my own reviews.

Tracking the Tempest also seems to be about giving in to truth, in Ruy’s case accepting that his wishes for how the faery world operates might not have much to do with reality. Having been in that situation myself, I can sympathise. Once upon a time I was Mormon. Eventually my cognitive dissonance grew out of bounds, I checked out some facts and there flew my beliefs away into the sunset. Ruy seems to be at this same point himself. A point where you realise that your support of something has been abused and you yourself allowed it.

Poor Conleth. Something is mighty strange and wrong about his killings and obsession with Jane. And what a childhood. Hmmm. Perhaps he needs to be pitied more than hated.

Jane discovers that her lack of knowledge about the faery is even greater than she had thought. While she seems to have taken everything in her stride thus far, perhaps a point comes when more knowledge becomes too much knowledge.

Reviews: