Stephanie Plum has advanced to her twenty-seventh
adventure in Fortune and Glory. After several years of the series staling
pretty badly, the last couple of books have been more interesting. There’s even
been a continuing storyline between the books.
Stephanie’s grandmother married a mobster a
couple of books ago, only to be widowed an hour later. Her late husband’s mob
buddies are convinced that she has the keys to a safe where they have hidden a
great treasure. She does have them, but doesn’t know where the safe is. In the
previous book, Stephanie and Grandmother were taken hostage so that they would
give up the keys, which they didn’t. The case continues in this book.
The worst of the mobsters are still free
and they’re bringing in big guns. Stephanie barely escapes with her life a
couple of times, and she’s still no closer finding the treasure. And there’s a
new player in town, Gabriella, a female version of Ranger, who seems to be
after the treasure too.
But not everything is deathly serious. There
are the less dangerous skips to trace that give Stephanie hilarious trouble.
George Potts is especially tenacious in his belief that he’s now her bodyguard.
Lula is her voluptuous self, but actually helpful for a change with her
contacts of street girls. And there’s the usual on-again, off-again relationship
with Morelli, currently in its off stage, which gives room for Ranger to sweep
in. At this point in the series it’s safe to say that the romances are never
advancing anywhere.
There was a good balance between danger and
mayhem. And if the danger was equally over the top as the mayhem, it felt like
Stephanie was genuinely putting herself at risk. Since I’ve given up on her
romances, they didn’t cause any emotional upheavals, except for Stephanie. But
I ended to book feeling like I want to read more of these books, which is a
change. There’s hope for this series yet.
I’m a fan of Laurenston’s work as G. A. Aiken,
all those dragons and especially the Scarred Earth Saga. But Breaking Badger is
the first book as Laurenston that I’ve read. It’s the book four of Honey Badger
Chronicles urban fantasy series about batshit crazy honey badger shifter women,
with some romance thrown in the mix.
The book description (and cover) is highly misleading.
This isn’t a paranormal romance, and it doesn’t merely follow the two persons
mentioned there, Mads and Finn. It most assuredly isn’t a cutesy book, like it
gives to understand (“utterly irresistible kitty-cat”, lol). And it isn’t a stand-alone, like paranormal romances often
are, even when they’re part of a series.
There’s a large cast of characters that
each get screen time, plus a bunch of other characters that only make brief
appearances for a point of view change. The main trio, Charlie, Max, and Stevie,
are sisters with a traumatic past. Their stories were told in the first three
books, but they continue here too. Mads is Max’s friend since school and they
play pro basketball together, with three more women who also feature heavily
here. Finn (as far as I know, not having read the first books) and his brothers
make their first appearance here.
None of the characters are introduced
properly. I have no idea how old they are or what they look like, let
alone more important things, like their backstories. Much of what I know about
them is conjecture, though I did read the prologues of the earlier books just
to make a bit more sense of what was happening here.
Mads, a honey badger, has been abused by her
hyena family all her life. Basketball is the only thing that matters to her, as is her team, which doubles as a tactical unit that kill those who abuse shifters. She’s an
efficient killer, but the mere mention of her family makes her lock up. One
storyline follows her finally standing up to them. But since this isn’t a
cutesy romance, it’s done with a wholesale butchering, not with handholding and
hugs.
Finn is a Siberian tiger, huge and lethal.
He’s trying to find out who killed his father, a mystery that no one seems
willing to talk about. In a cast of characters of borderline psycopaths, he’s sort
of steady and normal. Mads catches his attention and the ‘romance’ sort of
happens from there. In the end, the best that can be said about it is that he
has a steadying influence on her.
There’s a lot going on in this book. All
sort of plotlines and events that either continue from the earlier books or
spring up out of blue here. Some of them are seen to their conclusion, one way
or another, some aren’t. We don’t learn who killed Finn’s father, for example, and
we don’t see the consequences of Mads standing up to her family. Some events
are ignored completely. Like, no one seems to care who lured the honey badgers
and tigers to a trap in order to butcher them all.
What this book has is batshit craziness
from start to finish. At first I tried to keep up, but in the end I just let
the book take me on a ride. It’s a highly entertaining ride too, if you have a
high tolerance for graphic violence for comedic effect. The honey badgers are a
bunch of violent psychopaths (no matter what Max’s shrinks claim), and there’s
absolutely no predicting their reactions to any given situation. But I loved
them all, how they’re allowed to be exactly like they are, and not ‘softened’
by love or other conventions of romance. They’re not apologising and they’re
not going to change.
Unfortunately the mayhem isn’t quite enough
to make this a great book. There’s no emotional payback. The romance is very
low-key, and Mads dealing with her family isn’t really dealt with either. There’s
a lot of action and then the book just ends.
Since this a middle book in an ongoing
series, I presume that everything will continue in the next book. If it fell into
my hands, I’d read it, but I won’t go out of my way to get it. Meanwhile, I’ll
just wait for the next G. A. Aiken book. We’re due a new Scarred Earth Saga,
aren’t we?
I received a free copy from NetGalley in exchange
for an honest review.
The Exiled Fleet is the second book in The
Divide sci-fi series by J. S. Dewes. It starts six months after The Last Watch ended for Cavalon, and five weeks after it for Adequin Rake, thanks to time
distortions created by faster than light travel and the void at the edge of the
universe where the Sentinels have been posted.
At the end of the first book, the crew of
discarded soldiers stopped the shrinking of the universe by activating the
devices created by the alien race that humans have tried to wipe out of
existence. Not that anyone knows they’ve saved the universe, because they have
been deliberately abandoned to their fates at the Divide, the edge of the void.
Rake has been busy saving what was left of
the Sentinels and activating the rest of the devices. It’s been only five weeks
for her, and she’s still reeling from everything and mourning the death of her
lover. Returning to the ancient ship that is the only thing that survived the
void is difficult for her, and being greeted as a heroic leader by people who
have had months to recover is a bit too much for her.
Meanwhile, Cavalon, the disowned prince of
the ruling family of the universe, has been busy building a genius engine that
will allow them to make warp jumps with the engineless star ship. But the first
jump burns all their fuel, stranding four thousand Sentinels to starve to death
unless they can find more. Rake instantly seizes the chance to head on to
another adventure. Anything to escape the people she’s made herself responsible
of.
The quest isn’t easy. Cavalon’s grandfather
has destroyed all but one factory that makes the fuel to control the FTL travel.
The small crew must venture deep into the core of the galaxy, a perilous
journey that’ll take them straight to the heart of the empire, the palace of
the emperor Cavalon has made his best to escape all his life. There he learns
some truths about himself that nearly make him destroy himself again. And Rake
has to make yet another sacrifice to save the people she’s responsible for.
This book was slower to start than the
first. Events were constantly in motion, yet it felt like nothing happened.
Once the quest got underway, the pace picked up and kept me in its grips. The
character dynamics, especially the friendship between Rake and Cavalon, were as
odd as they were in the first book. Partly that’s because apart from those two,
I didn’t remember any of the characters. There were no introductions or
reminders about who they were to the story and other characters, so I never
quite understood what the characters went through (looking at you, Jackin). But
we learned a lot about Rake’s and Cavalon’s pasts, which gave depth to them.
In a way, this felt like a smaller book
too. The first book took mostly place in a large star ship with constant buzz
and random characters creating havoc. Most of this one took place in a small cruiser
with a compact cast, and even though they travelled long distances to achieve
the impossible, the focus was always within the group.
I liked how the universe expanded though,
with new peoples and places added to it. The alien technology was a good way to
achieve the impossible tasks the crew had to accomplish without quite feeling
like deus ex machina solutions (apart from the ending). However, the addition
of the mystical element that brings the universe and the fates of the people
where they need to be, felt a bit too much.
I like where the crew ended at. It offered
a conclusion while setting the adventures of the next book. I’m looking forward
to reading that.
I received a free copy from NetGalley in
exchange for an honest review.
I love Sarah Andersen’s comics, the drawing
style (only a few lines to tell a story), the witty insights into the lives of
younger generations (I’m gen-x), and her ability to put herself out there,
insecurities and oddities alike.
Oddball is the fourth book in Sarah’s
Scribbles series and a solid continuation of her work. I laughed out loud and
was moved in equal measures (Medusa with a blind cat will stay with me a long
time). I recognised myself in many strips (introvert author here), but in a
good way, like sharing a secret with a likeminded soul.
If you’re new to her work, this is as good a
place to start as any, but why would you rob yourself the pleasure of reading
it all. And the fans will love this like all her work.
I received a free copy from NetGalley in
exchange of an honest review (but will buy the book, because I absolutely need
it).
I love alt-history fantasy, with its the
manipulations of familiar to create something new. The Bright and Breaking Sea
by Chloe Neill is a great example of that.
The book is set in the alternative early 19th
century, right after the first Napoleonic wars. Only, Britain is called the
Isles, France is Gallia, Queen Charlotte sits on the throne of the Isles in New
London and the invading emperor is called Gerard. There’s equality of sorts. Women
and people of colour hold important positions in the army and navy, but there
are still haves and have-nots, and the white aristocratic male still gets what
he wants. There’s no Christianity but two deities who are credited with bringing
magic into the world.
Not everyone is able to manipulate magic
though. Kit Brightling is a foundling who is Aligned to sea magic. She’s risen
to a captain of her own ship despite her young age, and works directly for the
Queen, undertaking daring missions for her—not that anyone knows about it. But
this time, she’s forced to take an army fellow—and a Viscount to boot—on her
ship, which doesn’t sit well with her. Together they handle mission after
mission for the Queen and country, unravelling a plot to bring Gerard back to
power. Along the way, they become friends, and there’s even love kindling. But
sea is a harsh mistress, and Kit has chosen her.
This was a great book with a lot of
swashbuckling action, pirates, sea battles, spies, and even romance, though nothing like in Neill’s urban fantasy books. The alternative
details were clever, nautical details rich, the plot was good and well-paced, if slightly simplistic,
and there was a lot of action. I liked Kit and how she was allowed to be a
formidable captain without constantly reminding the reader that she’s a woman.
Grant was a wonderful romantic hero, but he remained sightly distant, as we didn’t
get his point of view despite the prologue hinting at it. A great
disappointment, really.
With alt-history, it’s pointless to be upset about
details that don’t seem historical, but there were a couple of moments that
didn’t really work. First, if a person is thrown overboard in a storm, the ship
moves so fast that it’s useless to try a rescue, let alone one where the ship
instantly stops and remains still while the person is fished up. Second, gold likely is valuable even in this world, so paying a fair to an amusement park with gold
coins strikes as really odd, as do paper notes.
Nevertheless, I enjoyed the book and intend
to read the next one when it comes out this November.
