Mythological SMUT!

 So, I got Neon Gods by Katee Robert out of the library, mainly because I read the back of the sequel at work, and the premise amused me. What I didn't catch is that it's erotic fiction. Which certainly opened my eyes in a few passages.

The premise here is that Olympus is a fairly large city with mortals filling leadership roles in the city under titles taken from Greek mythology. Most of the 13 are in the Upper City, with Hades living in the Lower City across the River Styx. 

We open on Persephone, here again a daughter of Demeter, and her sisters Psyche, Eurydice, and Callisto. They're kind of like Kardassians, with Demeter playing Kris Jenner. Difference being here, Demeter promises Persephone to Zeus for marriage (a bad idea, since this Zeus has been through 3 Hera, all of whom wound up dead by his hand). Persephone flees Zeus and winds up crossing the Styx and being semi rescued by Hades. 

Hades and Persephone make a deal, wherein they'll pretend to be in a relationship to get Zeus to back off. Which mainly serves to write some really elaborate adult scenes of Hades deflowering Persephone. 

There are some nice allusions to the myths this came out of, like Persephone's safe word being "Pomegranate", and their adoption of 3 puppies (Cerberus, Scylla, and Charybdis). I kind of like the female Hermes and her oddball partnership with Dionysus (I'd love to read a book centered on them.) I enjoyed that Persephone kept her autonomy throughout, not sublimating her identity into Hades. (Indeed, her persona is one of a Brat, which seems to be a rarity in these things.) I enjoyed that there was a plot in there, and the focus wasn't completely on the scenes. (Also a rarity, I've found.) I thoroughly laughed at exactly how ruthless Demeter turned out to be.

I do wish there was more of an exploration of the setting, as to whether or not the 13 are maybe descended from the Gods themselves, or how Olympus came about. 

While this is not something I'd normally seek out, it did capture and keep my attention, and leave me wanting to see what happens next.

Everything comes to an end.

 Book 12 of Benedict Jacka's Alex Verus series turns out to be the final volume in the series, and oh wow does he end it well. 

Risen picks up not long after the end of the previous volume, as Anne (possessed by a MArid) has kidnapped Vari and begins her invasion of Sagash's shadow realm. Richard Drakh joins forces with the Council of Light Mages and Alex to stop her. 

What follows is a large game of cat and mouse as every story line in the series gets tied up slowly.

I can't get too deep into the plot here for fear of spoilers, but let's just say that unlike a few other series that have ended, this one seemed much more satisfying in its resolution. Towards the end, Alex has faced down who he was and who he has become and is able to face his Mentor as an equal finally. 

Well written, and while we may not return to Alex as a central character, his world remains, waiting for another story.

Women in Space!

 As I wanted to do after finishing Barrayar, I finally got my hands on Shards of Honor by Lois McMaster Bujold, which is the book preceding the former. 

While many of the events contained within are discussed in that volume, it really was better fleshed out reading this. 

Cordelia Naismith, a Beta Colony officer is on a survey mission when the team gets attacked by Barrayans. One of whom happens to be Aral Vorkosigan, who got abandoned on the planet due to political backstabbing. She, Aral, and one of her subordinates who is severely injured wind up making their way to a supply depot where they eventually do get back to space, after clearing up some political murders. 

They meet again during Barrayar's attempted invasion of Escobar, as Cordelia gets captured again by crazy Barrayans while running weaponry to Escobar. 

After the war is settled, Cordelia attempts to return to Beta Colony, only to find that politics there, while not quite as murderous, are just as treacherous. We eventually end as Cordelia marries Aral, and Aral becomes regent to the young prince of Barrayar as the Emperor lies dying. 

I mean, most of this story is known when the actual saga begins, but her three Cordelia books are wonderful reads.

Elves on Wheels

 Bit delayed in posting this due to the modem dying. 

Recently picked up Mercedes Lackey's The Chrome Borne, which collects volumes 1 and 4 of her SERRAted Edge series, which center around the mage Tannim. Tannim drives a much loved and souped up Mustang, and works for Kevin Silverhair and his elven racing association. 

In the first half, we deal with a common topic in LAckey's urban fantasy, that of exploited runaways. In this case, the child predators are Unseeleigh elves, and only two of the children get saved, but...

In the second book, we find out about the romance between Tannim's dragon mentor Charliss and Lady Ako, a 9 tail kitsune. Seems Lady Ako slept with Charliss's old foe Charcoal, and the resulting child became Tannim's mirror. Except for the fact that they end up falling in love driving the Mustang around underhill. 

It's all fun, even if the tonal changes between books is a bit jarring. (The first half is set mainly in what passes for the "real world", the second spends much of its time elsewhere.) And many of the themes repeat across the setting, which will come in handy when I start rereading Bedlam's Bard. Eventually. When I get through the library TBR pile.

And now a return to theme

 I finished up Mercedes Lackey's finale of Darian's Tale yesterday, which more or less brought the overall themes of leaving home to find home full circle in the end. 

Owlknight opens on K'Valdemar Vale and Errold's Grove 4 years after the arrival of the Ghost Cat Clan, who are now part of the metroplex in the northwest corner of Valdemar. Word comes from Haven that a Herald Mage and his assistant (Keisha's sister Shandi) are being permanently posted in the area. As such, the local powers decided to perform several Rites when Herald Anda arrives to show that Darian is on equal footing. While much of this is amusing (including the sentient equine dyheli king stag offering to perform the rite to make Darian his "prime doe"), it really just serves to set up the second half. As such, we see Darian having visions of Ghost Cat and a Raven totem, having a feather found in the sweatlodge in from of Darian, and some other subtle hints that Darian might find his parents among the Raven Tribe. (They find part of his father's foot outside of a change circle, and a little magic suggests the original owner is still alive.) 

So, the second half mainly involves our major characters posing as dye merchants, riding through the north, with Keisha training healers in the various tribes as she goes. We meet several tribes, and run into an ocean. We find Darian's parents, among the Raven people, who are under siege from the Wolverines, who also absorbed the remains of Blood Bear, who we last saw at the end of the first book. Given this is Lackey, the outcome of that confrontation is never in doubt, however, Darian must contend with his definition of Home, versus the expectation that his parents have of him and Keisha joining the Raven tribe with them. 

That emotional resolution rings truer than almost anything Lackey has ever written, even if it is truncated. 

While I have enjoyed rereading this series, I will say that the ending seems rushed, as we close on everyone in Raven, and a 3 page epilogue set back in the Vale. 

But still, it's a really fun series.

Two in one

 Normally, I'd write separate reviews for Owlflight and Owlsight, but since they're part of the same Mercedes Lackey series, and the second book is mostly a reverse image of the first...

Keep in mind this is the last series the author has written in what could be considered "modern" in the setting. There may be a few short stories set after this, but everything else she's written after this has been set in an earlier place on the time line, bookwise. 

The series opens on the orphan Darian, apprenticed to the wizard Justyn in the remote Valdemar village of Errold's Grove on the edge of the Pelegir Forest. Darian's parents were trappers, who vanished during the Mage Storms. Barbarians from the north attack the village, and Darian winds up running in to the forest and finding a group of Hawkbrothers from K'Vala Vale who are working on establishing new leylines and Heartstones. Darian gets adopted by them, and helps free the village from the barbarians, running off with the Hawkbrothers for Magic training. 

In the second book, we meet Keisha, the adolescent Healer for a much more prosperous Errold's Grove and her sister Shandi. Keisha is a strong willed girl who can't find proper training for her Gift, since she can't leave town to go get it. As such, she's on the verge of becoming a hermit by the time Shandi gets Chosen and Darion returns, with news of another Barbarian clan moving south towards the village. 

Darian reestablishes K'Valdemar Vale not far from Errold's Grove, where Keisha comes and gets her gifts trained. The Barbarians do wind up reaching the edges of Valdemar, however, this time, as Firesong, Silverfox, Kerowyn, and Eldan are around (mainly to update everyone on how everyone who survived the Storms is doing now), things go much more easily, as we find the Barbarians got sent south by their totem to find a cure for a disease the Mage Storms brought. Much negotiation later, and a cure for Summer disease later, Ghost Cat Clan is now firmly colonized nearby. 

Now, this series was the one she was releasing when I first got hooked into the setting, so it was the first I was reading around the same time as everyone else, so it does have a special place on my shelf. (To give you an idea, I bought the paperbacks at WaldenBooks using their discount card.) Does she more or less have a formula when it comes to plotting? Yeah. Does that prevent me from enjoying long sojourns into Valdemar? Hell no. While I enjoy more adult fantasy, it's nice to have some old fashioned cozy traditional fantasy to read through. And these, while more rustic than her normal adventures, fill that role very nicely.

Like Noir, with more seeds

 One of the ladies I work with loaned me Harlan Coben's Stay Close, which, while not someone I have read previously, still managed to write an interesting yarn. 

The story centers on 3 people in particular, all of whom have a connection to an Atlantic Missing Persons case from 17 years prior. We have Megan, who 17 years ago went by Cassie, who worked as a stripper at La Créme. She's currently a suburban soccer mom of two kids, who lives 2 hours from Atlantic City. We have Ray, who was a photojournalist, but who now works for a fake paparazzi firm. (We literally meet him giving the paparazzi treatment to a 13 year old Jewish boy for his Bar Mitzvah.) And we have Detective Broome, who's seeking a missing person from 17 years ago. 

Then we have several oddball supporting characters, like a police chief on the take, the father of another missing person, and two psychotic Christian Camp Counselors who like to plot campfire song orders before torturing people for information. 

By the end, we know exactly what happened to the missing person, why it happened, and everyone more or less returns to their old lives a little bit wiser. 

That's skipping a hell of a lot of detail, but it is a mystery of a sort.

Anyway, while I enjoyed this, the logic really requires a lot of suspension of disbelief. Not to mention, much like Atlantic City, there's a seedy nature to the narrative that makes you want to wash grease off your hands every scene, like a white trash Lady MacBeth. 

Would I read this author again? Probably. But he's not something I'd particularly seek out all that often.

Not quite grimdark, but getting there

 Found out recently that Benedict Jacka had released two more of his Alex Verus novels since I last looked, and Forged came into my possession. 

So. 

We're again dealing with the consequences of Alex being hunted by the Council, whatever plans his former master Richard has, Rachel/Deleo's pursuit of him, and Anne being possessed by a rather powerful djinn. The latter involving Anne's vendetta against her tormentors,  including crucifying a rakasha who had once been using her in his club. 

Several things happen in this, almost none of which particularly involve the Dark Mage plot line. Really, we're mainly concerned with Anne's djinn fueled plots, particularly since she wants to play Oprah and give Alex, Luna, and Variam jinni of their own. (She's nothing if not generous.)

We do see what will likely be closure on the Rachel/Deleo storyline, as old girl has some major Freudian consequences when she enters Elsewhere. 

And one of Alex's biggest threats from the light council gets dealt with, as Alex first gets his hand on Levistus's  AI that provides blackmail material, but then manipulates Anne to help deal with Levistus himself. 

While I enjoyed this,and he hasn't quite hit Butcher levels of "How Morally Grey can I make my narrator before people stop reading?", it is getting dark in here, and while the author is British and I assume most of the political shots are aimed at Parliament, more than a few of those shots go wide enough to hit just about any government. On the other hand, he seems to be quite content to explore the "Y" axis between kivertine and authoritarian vs concentrating on on the rather middling "X" axis of Good/Evil.

With the next book on reserve at the library, I'll be interested to see what happens next.

Electric Boogaloo

 Many years ago (like 2002), I found David Bergantino's Hamlet II: Ophelia's Revenge on the sale rack at the library I used frequently. I remember reading it then, but it's been a while since I last slogged through this. 

I'm sure most folks have a general idea of the plot of Shakespeare's Hamlet, and this is essentially the same story with the addition of another vengeful ghost running around Elsinore Castle, the ghost of one particularly angry spirit who's been in a bog for several centuries. 

But first, we open on a football game between Globe University and Fortinbras University, as QB Cameron Dean pulls a trick play to win the game by pretty much climbing over geeky freshmen Rosenberg and Gyllenhal. A late hit in the end zone reveals a vision of Cameron's father, who tells him that he was murdered by his Aunt Claudia, and Cameron is to be the agent of his vengeance.  Cameron is summoned by mother Gerti (who's currently shacked up with Claudia), to be informed that in a few weeks, on his 21st birthday, he is to inherit a family estate in Denmark. 

Anyway, the book past that hits several of the same beats as the play, with changed names and circumstances. (Cameron hires a band in to sing of how Claudia killed his father, pretty much everyone dies....) The difference being that Cameron and his entourage's (He invites the entire team and a guest to go along) happens to wake up a certain vengeful spirit who somehow wound up in a bog after Cameron's twinned soul forsook her. Ophelia wastes no time possessing most of the minor characters, usually women, causing them to drown while strangling their men, in her wrath against love.

Amusingly, two characters who are pronounced dead, don't end up dead, really. Indeed, it's revealed that the terror of the events have lead them to realize their love for one another, which is a bit better than getting shipped to England to get executed on arrival. 

Honestly, the problems with this novel it shares with Shakespeare. The first act drags, and drags badly. Once Ophelia wakes up, things improve, and one gets the sense that the author, like several goth girls of my acquaintance think Ophelia should have had a beer and a one night stand when Hamlet went off on her rather than swimming in peat. 

I mean, Hamlet is not my favorite. Bergantino does well updating it for a modern audience, but it's still the same old story with some new window dressing.

Foul Ball

 After seeing a recommendation on one of my Facebook groups, I wound up getting Zak Salih's debut novel Let's Get Back to the Party, which frankly feels like it could have used a better editor and some better suggestions on how to tie this mess together. 

This is not to say its not worth a gander, but more that if there's a point to this, it's not particularly obvious, or hidden so well as to be nonexistent. 

The book is bookended by watershed moments, we open on the day the Supreme Court legalized marriage, and we end a few days after the PULSE massacre. In between, we follow around two childhood friends, who's live interact maybe 3 times in the current era of the narrative, and never particularly satisfactorily. 

The first friend we meet is Sebastian, who's moved to the DC suburbs into his father's new home, as his father is teaching for two years on the Carolinas. Sebastian has recently broken up with his boyfriend, who really doesn't want the life Sebastian does. Sebastian's flame dame Dani drags him to a gay wedding, where he encounters Oscar, who grew up in the same neighborhood as him. Indeed, they have a history we get occasional glimpses of. They exchange numbers, and proceed not to contact each other for several pages. 

Oscar, who works for an ad agency and sees gay marriage as a bad thing, since it flies in the face of what he sees gay culture to be, spends the reception on Cruze, eventually arranging a meetup with someone at an older gay bar in DC. Who ghosts him, because yeah. Anyway, Oscar ends up meeting an older activist who wrote a few books celebrating his hedonism and libertine mores as a young man. They form a friendship.

Sebastian, in his job as an AP English and AP Art History teacher at a fairly well off high school, winds up becoming an advisor for the school's LGBTQ+ group. Which is all well and good until he starts getting close to one of his 17 year old students. Not quite Nabokov close, but getting there. (I mean the closest we get to something approaching really inappropriate is Sebastian putting the boy's hoodie on a pillow and cuddling it all night. Everything else that happens between them is really just awkward mildly obsessive stuff.) 

Oscar finds out the author is writing a book about him, and finds that his libertine idol is no longer quite the firebrand he once was. Indeed, the pages Oscar reads aren't celebrations of Oscar's one night stands, but more pity for Oscar. 

At it's heart, the relationship between Oscar and Sebastian is a miss. The brief interactions we see of them as kids basically reflect some of the unfinished business we all bring forward into adulthood, but the shared intimacy here is more like the scene in the US version of Queer as Folk where Michael explains his obsession with Brian. Not deep, but more like a fantasy interrupted. And the fact that both are left with no answers, no resolution, more just a "somebody that I used to know" kind of vibe towards each other.... I realize this is likely a more realistic thing that indeed does happen in real life, but the build up to that unresolved note just isn't present to make me feel much of anything for either character. 

I mean, if Mr. Salih writes something else, I'll read it, since his writing style is interesting, but this novel is a lot underdone.