Moon Over Soho by Ben Aaronovitch – review
The publisher’s book description: BODY AND SOUL The song. That’s what London constable and sorcerer’s apprentice Peter Grant first notices when he examines the corpse of Cyrus Wilkins, part-time jazz drummer and full-time accountant, who dropped dead of a heart attack while playing a gig at Soho’s 606 Club. The notes of the old jazz [...]
City of Ghosts by Stacia Kane – review
From the author’s site: IT’S A THIN LINE BETWEEN ALIVE AND UNDEAD. Chess Putnam has a lot on her plate. Mangled human corpses have started to show up on the streets of Downside, and Chess’s bosses at the Church of Real Truth have ordered her to team up with the ultra-powerful Black Squad agency to [...]
Unholy Magic by Stacia Kane – review
From the author’s site: ENEMIES DON’T NEED TO BE ALIVE TO BE DEADLY. For Chess Putnam, finding herself near-fatally poisoned by a con psychic and then stopping a murderous ghost is just another day on the job. As an agent of the Church of Real Truth, Chess must expose those looking to profit from the [...]
Catalyst by Anne McCaffrey and Elizabeth Ann Scarborough – review
Catalyst is the first book in a new series co-authored by Anne McCaffrey and Elizabeth Ann Scarborough that focuses on the Barque Cats. McCaffrey has mentioned the Barque Cats in passing in several of her sci-fi novels. Most of her fans are at least semi-familiar with the species and know that they desceneded from one [...]
Currently Reading – China Mieville’s Embassytown
This is the book that has my attention at moment, the upcoming (in May) release from the great China Mieville just arrived in the post (proving commonsense is practiced in some publicity departments). Due to my Imperial concerns and responsibilities, I don’t get to read as much as I like but I always have time [...]
The Shadowed Path Trilogy by Morgan Howell – review
Ordinarily you wouldn’t find me reviewing an entire trilogy together. I like to review books separately, since I don’t often read the same author/series back to back–I take breaks between and read something entirely different. Not so with “The Shadowed Path” trilogy by Morgan Howell. Howell, who came to my attention after his “Queen of [...]
Kraken by China Mieville – review
Nobody writes like China Mieville. It’s a simple and somewhat unfortunate fact of life. There is only one of him, and he’s absolutely the only person on this planet who could produce a book like Kraken. I’ve read several of Mieville’s books, and I’ve enjoyed all of them. The thing is that all of his [...]
Mangakissa: Maison Ikkoku, Parasyte, and Neko Ramen
Maison Ikkoku by Rumiko Takahashi This romantic comedy somehow reminds me of that old, awful show Three’s Company . . . although it isn’t exactly the same situation. Yusaku, a student with no motivation, no plans, and no life, develops a crush – very quickly – on the new manager of his house, Kyoko, the [...]
Dragongirl by Todd McCaffrey – review
Dragongirl, by Todd McCaffrey is the 19th book in the Pern series and the second one he has written on his own, though he has collaborated with his mother Anne on four others in the series. The Pern series is very close to my heart. It was one of the first series of books in which [...]
Unholy Ghosts by Stacia Kane – review
From the author’s site: The world is not the way it was. The dead have risen and constantly attack the living. The powerful Church of Real Truth, in charge since the government fell, has sworn to reimburse citizens being harassed by the deceased. Consequently, there are many false claims of hauntings from those hoping to [...]
April Mangakissa – Alive: The Final Evolution by Tadashi Kawashima
“Alive is not an easy meal to prepare.” Author Tadashi Kawashima states the obvious in a note worked into one of his early volumes of this 20+ volume series, which ended in Japan earlier this year but has some catching up to do here in the West. This supernatural tale speeds along as high school [...]
Urban Fantasy Mini Round-up
The following three books are some recent urban fantasy novels that I read last month and didn’t get enough out of to write full reviews. Out of the three, I believe that Spellbent by Lucy Schneider shows the most potential for a possible series. Spellbent is Lucy Snyder’s debut novel, though she has been writing [...]
