Oi. Ouch.

 So, Seanan McGuire's Aftermarket Afterlife dropped a few weeks ago, and I pushed myself to get through it, since I really love this series. This one is narrated by Mary Dunlavy, the babysitting host that's raised all the children in the family. Mind you, Mary's afterlife has changed a bit since the events at the end of Annie's narration, as the Crossroads no longer exist, so she's no longer obligated to try and make deals on their behalf. 

On the other hand, Mary is dealing with a fractious family reunion as Alice and Thomas return to the compound in Portland to be with their kids and some of the grandkids. (And reunite James and Sarah, etc.) While the usual fireworks explode, it leads to new fun as The Covenant of St. George launches a major offensive on the US cryptids, creating a lot of collateral damage. While we don't reach George R R Martin levels of homicide of major characters, there are a few semi-permanent retirements in here. 

Anyway, eventually Mary does manage to get most everything squared away as best as she can, but in the meantime, a lot of other things outside her control happen, and she also runs afoul of her dimension's Anima Mundi. 

It's fun reading, for the most part, since we're getting to see everyone at once, from Verity in New York, Alex in Columbus, Annie in Portland, as well as Sarah and Alice, all of whom have narrated a few books in here. It also has some really really rough emotional moments as the cost of war is brought home for everyone. 

I hope there's more to come in this series, since it remains an always good one.

Creatures of the Night

 So, I randomly ordered all four books of Mick Farren's Renquist Quartet a while back, and finally finished The Time of Feasting this morning. I'd honestly forgotten how much fun these are.

This, the first book, introduces us to Victor Renquist and his colony of Nosferatu in lower Manhattan as the Time of Feasting is set to begin. Basically, vampires in this setting get by on blood bag infusions to eat, but every so often, the urge to actually eat a human takes over, and the Feasting begins. Renquist's idea for this outbreak is to do his best to make sure that everything looks like the work of a Satanic Serial Killer. 

The colony is facing internal drama as Victor's creation from the mid 1930's, Julia, has created her own progeny, Carfax. Carfax used to front a thrash metal band, and is now undergoing what amounts to the Nosferatu version of the Terrible Twos, challenging Renquist's authority and flaunting his nature while killing indiscriminately. Julia is creating problems of her own, vying for Renquist's affections from Cynara, Victor's long term flame. (Julia from what I remember in later books is a really fun character, acting as both ally and foil.) Oh, and a drunken defrocked priest is able to see through the Nosferatu illusions and see the colony as it is. 

Add into this another group of Voudon practitioners, annoyed with the fact the killings have unleashed 1990's style NYC police work on their population and basically telling Renquist they'll help Renquist with Carfax as long as the colony leaves New York within 48 hours and you have a really over the top Vampire novel that's both readable and fun. 

While the later three books delve deeper into the creation of Nosferatu, this one lays tantalizing hints of aliens creating vampires and creating death rays that kill them back before recorded history, and gives us Dietrich, the old master of the colony, who not terribly long ago walked away to meditate in isolation. 

I've played enough White Wolf games to place most of the colony in Clans and assign disciplines, but frankly, half the fun is in the little bits of irony that come out as the characters occasionally realize exactly how ridiculous the entire thing is. (Yes, it was the 90's.)

Highly recommended reading.

Filled with sound and fury, signifying nothing

 So, it took me pretty much a month to slog through The Atlas Complex by Olivie Blake, which should be a warning sign. 

I hesitate to post this picture, but this narrowed down a bit has been my experience with this trilogy. 

 Because frankly, after spending the last book getting Libby back to the future via a fusion explosion, we spend most of this book watching the Six.... do absolutely nothing. I mean, Reina is running around trying to fix modern politics with Callum; Tristan, Nico, and Libby are at the manor trying to open up a door into parallel realities (or at least discussing it quite a bit); and Parisa is basicially busy trying to take over rival societies...

That's it. That's the plot. The longer it goes on, the worse it gets. They spend 2/3 of the book talking about their goals, and realizing that none of them can accomplish them on their own, and facing down the reality that the archives still want a sacrifice. Eventually, they do open a door to alternate realities, but by that point, I'd long ago checked out of the narrative, mostly reading for the sake of completion. There are really out of place filler moments going on as well, including a chapter of Book Club discussion questions, and a later chapter when Tristan and Callum meet in person again, where we get 10 pages of different variations on how that could have worked out. 

I mean, if the author's point is that everything is arbitrary, she succeeded in that theme, but lord, this really was like reading a tale filled with sound and fury, signifying nothing,.