Rivers of
London series has advanced to its ninth book, plus a couple of shorter ones in
between. Amongst Our Weapons finds Peter slightly more mature than he’s been.
After all, he’s about to become a father to twins, the mother of whom is his
river goddess girlfriend Beverly, aka one of the rivers of London.
An angel of
death is targeting former members of a prayer group. Not that Peter believes
angels exist, even if he’s seen a few odd things during his career as a
detective constable of weird bollocks, aka The Folly. Helping him solve the
case is a new apprentice Danni, who’s a no-nonsense woman, but otherwise
unmemorable, Sahra Guleed, his usual partner who is emerging as a distinctive
character in what is otherwise quite an unmemorable cast, and of course Thomas
Nightingale, his supervisor in magical crime.
This was
pretty much a standard fare: a police procedural interspersed with
architectural musings, historical accounts, and talking foxes. The superior
officers took a more hands-on approach than usually, Peter’s former friend,
current foe Leslie made an appearance, and nothing blew up. Much. And in the
end, the world welcomed two new, tiny rivers. If it wasn’t quite as gripping as some of the earlier books, it was nontheless an entertaining
affair, and I’m looking forward to continuing with the series.
Of Charms, Ghosts and Grievances by Aliette de Bodard
Aliette de
Bodard’s Dragons and Blades is a spin-off mystery series set in the world of
her Dominion of the Fallen series, and Of Charms, Ghosts and Grievances is the
second book. It’s a short novella that despite its length contains a nice
little story. I haven’t read the first book, but I’m familiar with the world
and was able to enjoy this one.
Thuan the
dragon prince and his fallen angel husband Asmodeus are visiting the underwater
world of Thuan’s dragon family. For some odd reason, in a palace full of
servants, they’re made to look after a bunch of children. All goes well, until
a ghost of a child joins in their play.
The child
leads them to a body of a murdered woman. Asmodeus and Thuan want to investigate,
but before they can even start, they’re attacked. Forced to flee, they seek out
allies who can help with the investigation, and with the ghost child they’re
now in charge of.
Alongside
the mystery, Thuan and Asmodeus go through a marital crisis. Theirs is an
arranged marriage that has grown to a real partnership, but things aren’t
always easy. In the end, the relationship drama dominates the story, and the
mystery is solved behind the scenes by a secondary character. The final
showdown helps Thuan and Asmodeus work out their crisis too.
If you like
charming little fantasy stories where the world and characters are at the
front, this is for you, but don’t expect a great mystery. However, I recommend getting
familiar with the world before picking this one up. You can read it as a
stand-alone, but you’ll enjoy it more if you already know the setting.
I received
a free copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Daughter of Redwinter (The Redwinter Chronicles 1) is exactly the kind of fantasy I like
best these days. It concentrates on one character with no unnecessary side-plots
that drag the story in the hopes to make it ‘epic’. The story follows the MC as
they face events that aren’t in their control, yet have to solve anyway. As
they do so, they become more than they were in the beginning.
Raine is a
young woman who has thrown her lot with a small band of mercenaries. As she is
trying to find a way out of siege, she comes across a young woman fleeing and
helps her—an epic mistake. The woman tries to awaken a terrible being and the
warrior pursuing her only just manages to subdue it and only with Raine’s help.
Ulovar
takes her with him to Redwinter, a fortress town of the Draoihn, warriors who protect the realm
with their special abilities. Raine hopes to be trained with them too, but their
Grand Master decides otherwise. Raine has to settle into an existence of not
quite a servant and definitely not a warrior. But she doesn’t quite feel like
she belongs, because she has a secret that will get her executed. She can see
the dead.
But she can’t
leave, because Ulovar is accused of treason for what took place during the siege.
It’s up to Raine to prove his innocence. In the end, she has to decide if death
is a small price to pay for the truth after all.
This was an
excellent book. The description makes it sound like an epic fantasy, but it’s
rather small in scope, part a mystery, part a build-up to something larger. The
pace is fast and the chapters are short. The mystery took its time to unravel,
and although I called the twist, I did it only a little before it was revealed.
The world
is well-crafted with an interesting history and mythology, a pre-industrial
society that doesn’t automatically follow the rules of real-world equivalent. The
Draoihn with their trances and gates were an interesting invention, though not
entirely unique as such.
Raine is an
excellent main character. She’s lost, frightened and unable to trust anyone
because of her ability. She blames herself for what happened to the mercenaries
and goes through much of the book not caring about anything. She seeks to
belong with desperation that leads her to make mistakes that are both predictable
and natural. She relies to the strengths she had from the start and while she does
pull off some epic moves in the final battle, they aren’t beyond reason or her
character’s development.
Side
characters were interesting, but remain a bit vague because of the first person
narrative. There are a couple of potential love interests for Raine, who doesn’t
limit her love to opposite gender, but nothing comes of them yet. She makes
friends, some briefly and the characters all but disappear, some with great
length like Ovitus, Ulovar’s nephew and heir. None of the main relationships
are easily defined as black and white, friend or enemy.
While this
was a start of a series, the first book reads as a stand-alone with a
satisfying ending and no cliffhangers. There is, however, an opening for Raine’s
story to continue. I’m looking forward to reading more.
I received
a free copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
With over
twenty books, the return to Nalini Singh’s Psy-Changeling series always feels
like coming home. This time more so, as Storm Echo returns to the DarkRiver leopard
pack where the series began all those books ago.
We’ve been
following the members of the Mercant Psy-family. The hero is Ivan Mercant, the
family security expert and assassin with a difficult past. He meets and
immediately loses Lei, an Ocelot changeling. A year later, he runs into her
again, but she doesn’t remember him anymore.
Soleil is an
Ocelot changeling who has lost her entire pack, first to a massacre and then to
Lucas Hunter, who has executed what was left of them. Alone in the world, she
wows to kill him. But before she has a chance, she meets a man that her cat recognises
even though she has no recollection of him.
Psy-Changeling
books are always a bit of insta-love, as the changelings recognise their mates
in primal level before they fall in love. This isn’t an exception. Soleil’s cat
claims Ivan, binding them together despite his efforts to break the bond.
Because he knows it’s only a matter of time before his dark side devours him
and takes Soleil too if they’re bonded.
In these
Psy-Changeling Trinity books, the relationship drama and heartbreak are kept at
minimum. The suspense comes from the outside. The Scarab Queen keeps destabilising
the PsyNet in order to destroy it completely. And to his surprise, Ivan realises
he might be able to do something about it. Problem is, it might kill him.
This was a
lovely book with wonderful protagonists, and a welcome return of a few
favourites from previous books. Even though the story is basically the same
from book to book, there’s always something new and fresh. And Nalini Singh has
a skill to tell the stories so that it’s almost a compulsion to keep reading.
That said, I would’ve wished for more drama. Everything happened so smoothly and easily that I’d barely braced myself for action when it was already over. It left me feeling happy but not very excited.
Ivan is the
last of the Mercant family to get his story, ending a longer arc. I’m eager to
find out where the series goes next.
I received
a free copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
The Untold Story ends Cogman’s wonderful The Invisible Library series. We’ve followed
Irene, a librarian whose job it is to acquire rare books from parallel worlds to
the Library to stabilize the universe. But we’ve never learned how or why the
Library came to be in the first place.
In the last
book, Irene is trying to uncover just that. Prompted by the greatest enemy of
the Library, Albrecht, she sets out to find the origin story. But where
Albrecht wants to destroy the Library, Irene has other plans. But this time it
seems the Library itself is out to get her.
This was an
excellent finish for the series. All the main characters were there, Irene
learned a lot about her own origins as well as the Library’s, and the focus
stayed fairly well on the task. The events of the finale were perfect for the
idea of the series about stories keeping the world in balance. And I especially
loved how not all that much changed after all, Irene and her friends ending up
exactly where they wanted to be.
I will miss
this series, but I’m happy with how it ended.
