Book 3 of the
fantastical detective duo, Ana Dolabra and Din Kol, takes them to the heart of
the empire, to its agricultural core where augmented cattle grow the size of wagons
and whose feed is picked by small cats conditioned by a fungus to keep up with
their need for food. It’s also the area where Din is from and where he hasn’t
been back to since he agreed to be augmented as a scribe.
Two
families rule over the area. Now the son of one family has killed the daughter
of another. Ana and Din need to solve the matter before the families descend in
an open warfare, as that would threaten the food supply. She’s bored already.
But from
the start it becomes evident that the crime isn’t as straightforward as they
believed. The manner of killing has oddities. There have been several earlier
deaths in one of the ruling families. It has made the matriarch believe her
family is cursed and seek out guidance from the gods of people who inhabited
the empire before—and still maybe rule it. And every time the pair thinks they’ve
made progress with the investigation, a twist of fate pulls the rug from under
them.
To solve
the case, Ana has to delve deep into the history of the area and unearth things
that she’s in a unique position to know about. But some secrets of the ancients
should stay hidden.
This was
another great book. The manner with which the victims were killed was unique and
something that is only possible in this world, which makes the mystery feel
fresh. Ana was more active in the investigation than before, and her character gained a bit
of depth. Din was having a personal crisis or two, one that had to do with his
augmentations and another with his family that made an appearance. He wasn’t quite
as promiscuous as in the previous book, but he had his moment. We were
introduced to yet another interesting group of augmented people, the Osrii, who
scent and taste the world to determine its state. And the mystery that is Ana came
a little bit closer to solving. Maybe.
I received
a free copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Third volume of this new omnibus edition consists of two stories. First, the latter part of
Stage 2 (vols. 6-11), where Dark gets lost in the mirror world. Daisuke goes
after him, and the only way to rescue him is to find the feathers of his
memories. It’s a bit hasty, confusing sequence, but Daisuke succeeds in the
end. He also learns that he likes having Dark around, and wonders what will
happen when he’ll eventually leave for good.
The story takes place in the holiday island where the class has travelled. Riku is still
missing, so Daisuke goes to find her. Everything should be romantic, but he
shies off confessing to her, mostly because of misunderstandings, and because
he kind of fears she’ll like him back, which would mean Dark would go away. So Dark
takes matters into his own hand.
Another
confusing sequence of events follows, where Krad manifests and he and Dark
fight. We learn that the magic of Krad and Dark is too much for the hosts and it
corrodes the hosts until there’s nothing left, the reason there’s a limit to
how long one can host them. Only, it seems Krad doesn’t care, which is why
Hiwatari is always sickly.
The second
story is called The Second Hand of Time, and we get the first part of it
(vols. 1-4). Daisuke’s class stages a play and decides to have an all-male
cast. Daisuke is chosen to play the female lead and Hiwatari is the male lead.
In a confusing twist of events, a new boy (man) shows up in the class and
declares himself as the producer. He changes the classic love story so that the
male character is Dark, played by Hiwatari.
Turns out, the
man is really after proof that Daisuke is Dark. But Daisuke manages to trick
him with the help of Wiz and leave, as Dark, to steal a legendary item, The
Second Hand of Time. But things go wrong for him, and he, as Daisuke, gets sucked
into a dreamworld, while Dark remains in the real world. Dark goes after him,
accidentally taking Riku with him. The volume ends with Hiwatari launching his
own operation. But is it to save Daisuke or end him and Dark for good?
This was a great volume, even if it was a tad confusing at times. Both Daisuke’s romance
with Riku, and his friendship with Hiwatari progress. I still believe that the
latter is more meaningful for them both; Daisuke prevents Dark from ending
Krad, because it would mean the end of Hiwatari too. The romance with Riku is
childish (though in all fairness, they’re 14) and exists for trope’s sake. But
I won’t be getting my wish for a BL story here.
There was a
longer extra story about Risa and Riku’s childhood, and like before, excellent
full colour character plates.
An Unruly Summon is a fun subversion of the
isekai genre. A country at war with demons is in a desperate need of a hero
summoned from another world. But they’ve summoned heroes before and things
haven’t gone well. Heroes don’t have a cause to fight, their unlimited magic
causes trouble, they have strange ideas about slavery being bad, and they
always want to invent soy sauce.
King and his council come up with a plan to
carefully curate what the hero sees after summoning, so that he’ll help
voluntarily. They even gather a harem for him, so that he doesn’t have to do it
himself, because that always ends up happening. And they promise to send him
back if he doesn’t want to stay.
The plan works well. Thomas is summoned,
and unlike so often, knows immediately what is going on. What he sees and
learns makes him agree to help the country. He even turns out to be extremely
powerful with magic. He learns complicated spells instantly and spells he hasn’t
been taught yet. Only problems are that he tends to overuse his mana and pass
out, and a dragon haunts him in his dreams, trying to kill him. Oh, and Thomas
has no interest in his harem, because he has a girlfriend at home where he intends to return.
Things take a bit of a turn when Thomas
learns about having been led. But since the demons are a real threat, the plan remains
the same. And then it’s time for the battle. Thomas faces a massive horde of
demons and kills them all with a powerful spell. Problem is, demons aren’t the
only things it kills. But the hero’s job is done, and it’s time to go home.
This was a good, entertaining read. It was the
First Prize winner in the first-ever J-Novel Club Original LN Contest, and I’m
sure it deserved to be. Thomas was a good hero, the girls had a role other than
bedfellows, because he didn’t want them in his bed, and bad guys weren’t the
obvious people.
It was much too long though. The bulk of
the book’s almost 400 pages—massive for a light novel—is taken by Thomas’s training.
He doesn’t learn about being led until beyond half-point, and the battles don’t
take place until 75% mark, after which everything is crammed in a small space.
This could’ve been cut to a half of its length and the story would’ve remained
the same. Epilogue sets the stage for the next volume, but the events of this
one conclude here. I don’t need to read more.
I received a free copy from Edelweiss in
exchange for an honest review.
Burn for Me starts Hidden Legacy UF series.
I picked it at random for a quick summer read having been in a bit of a reading
slump, and it worked perfectly for it. It’s ‘old-school’ urban fantasy from
over a decade ago when UF still had heroines who weren’t afraid to stand their
ground and who didn’t fall on their back when the hero so much as glance at
their way. Sex and romance are something that is worked towards, not a page
filler.
The book takes place in modern Houston, a
location that isn’t exactly overused in fiction. It’s a world with magic that’s
been introduced to it less than two centuries ago, but which has since become
hereditary, with powerful Houses breeding for best results. Magic has altered
the geopolitical situation too, so it’s not US of our world.
Nevada Baylor, 25, is in charge of her
family’s PI business, running it with her younger sisters, cousins, mother and
grandmother. Her magic allows her to tell when people are lying, something she’s
kept tightly hidden so she wouldn’t be used by Houses or government, so much
so, that she’s clueless to her own abilities. She’s about to learn.
Thanks to a business decision Nevada’s made
around the time her father died, the agency is owned by a large House corporation,
and they’re not above pressuring her to take a suicide case. She has to bring
in a fugitive magic user who is a Prime level pyrokinetic capable of
incinerating her from a distance and psychopathic enough to do it too. Since
she knows she can’t apprehend him, her only option is to bait him to come to
her. It works a bit too well.
It gains her the attention of one of the
most powerful, destructive Primes in existence, Connor “Mad” Rogan who is the
head of Rogan house and equally psychopathic to Nevada’s prey. Reluctantly,
with equal parts of fear and lust, she agrees to work with him. It’s an
explosive case with a high body count that turns out to be more than meets the
eye. The case is solved on the surface, but the backstory will continue, as we
don’t learn who’s behind everything.
This was a good start to a series. It’s
fast-paced and entertaining, with a main couple that’s not so much ‘will they
or won’t they’ as it is about ‘when’. There’s enough heat on the page to entice
though. Rogan isn’t the typical protective alpha male. He’s cold, callous and
selfish, and doesn’t really believe rules apply to him. I’m guessing the
romance won’t advance until he’s worked through some of this to become a more
decent person. Nevada is the protective one, with issues of her own. And more
magic than she thought she did. For all that I chose this for a one-off, I
might read the rest of the series too. Had I read this a decade ago when it came out, I would’ve devoured it.
This is a
stand-alone fantasy set in a secondary world with dragons and some steampunk
elements. The main human city is a remarkable place hanging in the air, with
inclusive society and tame dragons. It has been at war for a long time with a
totalitarian nation that wants to subjugate it. The dragons are divided to wild
dragons who live in a large hive, though each a bit solitary, and those tamed
by humans of the winged city for their war. The first look down on the latter
and both look down on humans.
The main
character is Garrodigh, an ancient three-headed wild
dragon. He used to have four heads, but one of the heads died as a casualty of
the war. It has left the dragon otherwise incapacitated too, so he can’t fly or
move well, and he doesn’t remember his past properly either. But he knows he’s
been a great dragon. Other wild dragons disagree and shun him as a human
sympathizer, which he can’t understand.
Garrodigh is a delightful protagonist. Each
head has a different personality. The narrator is Centerhead who holds
himself to be the most rational of the three, though Lefthead that’s now
gone used to be the most intelligent. Bottomhead is a bit simple and
straightforward, and cares more about food than anything else. Upperhead
believes he’s a human who is only suffering from a delusion of being a
three-headed dragon.
Yet another battle injures Garrodigh again.
But this time Centerhead has a plan. Since humans take good care of their
dragons and never leave them behind, he’ll pretend to be a tame dragon, wait
until the humans have healed him, and then destroy the humans. The plan works
perfectly. Up until he’s assigned a rider who turns out to be nothing Garrodigh
could imagine.
Rania is one of the many refugees fled from
the totalitarian society for the free country of the Winged City where people
can be who they are, in her case a free spirit who believes in auras, being
helpful and understanding, and protecting those she loves. But she too is
shunned by her society for a reason Garrodigh cannot fathom.
Little by little, the two strike a
friendship, much to Garrodigh’s bewilderment. He tries to understand her and
her troubles, like her romantic life, which seems to consist of one-night
stands. But there’s also heartbreak in form of a childhood friend who’s turned
a cold shoulder on her. And as he learns to care for her, he also wants to
defend the city against the enemy. The enemy has a new, bewildering weapon that
almost destroys the city. As Garrodigh and Rania go to investigate, they
discover a great secret and almost die destroying the weapon.
This was a good story. The focus was on
Garrodigh and his struggle with understanding humans and himself. There’s
healing and learning, grief and heartfelt moments. All three of Garrodigh’s
personalities are delightful and different, and they all grow as individuals
and as a whole. Rania wasn’t equally interesting, and she mostly served as an
object of observation for Garrodigh. The society was understanding and
inclusive, but not everyone was a nice person, which Rania learns first-hand.
I have complaints too though. I would’ve
wanted there to be other dragon characters. There were plenty of dragons, but
he doesn’t form friendships with any of them and they barely feature. Garrodigh
is the only tame dragon who talks, and they shun him as much as the wild
dragons did. I would’ve liked there to be a parallel story for him that there
is for Rania of being accepted by his own kind. The story is also too long, with too much time and focus spent
on Rania’s love life, which wasn’t all that interesting.
There were also moments that took me out of
the story. Garrodigh occasionally knows very human concepts, while other times
he’s completely clueless. Like he knows what apothecary smells like and what a trans man is. The latter has meaning for the worldbuilding—though it should’ve
had more meaning for the story as well, as now it was more of a gimmick—but it would’ve
made more sense if it were explained to him by humans.
This is described as a cozy fantasy, but it’s
not completely so. There’s the war, with everything it entails, like death and bad
injuries, and nasty people who treat others badly. Garrodigh eats people. But it has a wholesome core,
growth and understanding. As long as the reader doesn’t expect things to be
perfect and nice, it’s a delightful read, with Garrodigh making every scene worthwhile.
I received a free copy from NetGalley in
exchange for an honest review.
