Bawston

 If you can't tell, I'm on a Shadowrun kick of late, mainly because I bought the recent Harebrained Schemes games set in the world. Any rate, this inspired rereading Stephen Kenson's Talon centered books. Crossroads, the first Talon centered book, takes us from DC to Boston as someone in Talon's past has an axe to grind. 

Talon, a street mage, starts as part of Assets Inc., an established Shadowrunning group who made a name for themselves stopping an astral incursion. When we meet him, he's knee deep in trouble as an Ant Shaman is trying to turn a young girl into a Queen. (Gee, I feel like this was part of the plot of Shadowrun Returns!) Anyway, he gets back to his apartment in DC to find a female decker waiting on him. The femme fatale, Trouble, ends up dragging him back to Boston 

Here, we meet the runners who played a part in Technobabel, as Talon hires the group to help track down the person hunting him. What follows is a game of screw your neighbor, as several villains emerge, and Talon must learn to control his anger. (But honestly, I found myself sympathizing with him for much of it. I mean if someone killed my lover, I'd be inclined to summon a fire elemental to burn them myself.) 

Of interest in particular is Kenson's descriptions of how Mage magic works in the setting. Without getting really technical, of the three magic classes, Shamen run on Charisma and have a totem, Adepts are much more physical, and their magic gives them combat edges, Mages run on Intelligence, and generally work more with elemental forces. Given the Mr. Kenson's husband is a fairly famous author of books concerning modern witchcraft, the focus on the details of magic shouldn't probably be a surprise. 

As I've stated previously, seeing any kind of gay representation in an RPG book was a nice surprise. While the first time I read this, I knew next to nothing of the setting, Now, it's more fun, feeling like I have an in to the story. A lot of fun for fans of mildly pulpy scifi.