A Gathering of Shadows (Shades of Magic, #2) by V.E. Schwab

The characters from A Darker Shade of Magic are back and up to their usual tricks. Rhy worries about Kell, Kell worries about Rhy and Lila, Lila worries about where she’s going to get her next knife. We also get to meet someone new, a dashing privateer named Alucard Emery.

Walking away had been easy. Not looking back was harder. pg 30, ebook.

The second entry in the series is usually when you get to know the characters better. What are their motivations, loves, hates? We get a bit of that in A Gathering of Shadows but, mainly, the author uses this book to introduce what has become the young adult trope of “dangerous contest” to get the characters together. Think Hunger Games or Maze Runner or the Tri-Wizard Cup but without as much excitement.

Kell is suffering after what he went through in the first book. “Once he would have hesitated — once he had hesitated — but not this time. With a flick of his hand, metal spikes slid from the sheath at his wrist and into his palm. They rose into the air and shot forward, burying themselves in the specter’s throat, his heart, his head. But there were still more shadows. Always more.” pg 43, ebook.

Rhy is suffering too: “Who drinks this?” Kell coughed. “People who want to get drunk,” said Rhy, taking a long, pained sip.” pg 58, ebook.

The pace of the story is quite slow. What goes on in Red London isn’t nearly as interesting as what goes on in other places (no spoilers). But there were so few chapters about the other Londons.

“Saints,” cursed Rhy, “do all the Londons get this cold?” “As cold,” said Kell as he followed the prince away from the bright beating heart of the city, and down a series of narrower roads. “And colder still.”

I am still enthralled with the idea of different worlds and only a few characters having the ability to walk between those worlds. I like how magic functions here. I like how Schwab gives everybody a back story. But, as in the first book, I feel like I’m probably not the target audience for this tale.

That’s not going to keep me from reading the last one though. 🙂 Recommended for young adults who adore fantasy reads.

Here’s my review of the first book: A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab

Thanks for reading!

Bloody Rose (The Band, #2) by Nicholas Eames

Readers get the opportunity to return to the adventure-filled world of bands and monsters, Grandual, in Bloody Rose. Nicholas Eames second book in The Band series, the sequel to The Kings of the Wyld takes place years after the first book. It follows the exploits of a band called Fable, a bard named Tam and Bloody Rose, the daughter of Golden Gabe, one of the members of a band called Saga, who readers got to know and love in Kings of the Wyld.

The world is on the brink of annihilation, again.

“Hey, did you hear the news? There’s another Horde, apparently. North of Cragmoor, in the Brumal Wastes. Fifty thousand monsters hell-bent on invading Grandual.” pg 5

Tam wants to see the world, but her father is a retired mercenary. He doesn’t want Tam to have the life he led, risking life and limb to battle monsters. He also doesn’t want to lose her, like he lost her mother.

“To Tam, there was nothing worse than the prospect of never leaving home, of being cooped up in Ardburg until her dreams froze and her Wyld Heart withered in its cage.” pg 20

Bloody Rose, Gabriel’s daughter, has never quite left her father’s shadow, even though she’s a formidable fighter and bandleader in her own right.

“She’s got something to prove — whether it’s to herself, or her father, or the world in general, I don’t know. I can’t have been easy growing up the daughter of Golden Gabe. The man’s got boots even a giant could wriggle its toes in, but that doesn’t stop Rose from trying to fill them.” pg 63

The other members of Rose’s band include Brune (a shaman), Cura (an inkmage) and Freecloud (a mighty druin fighter). They have their own burdens to bear and shadows to face down. A large part of this story is getting to know them through the band’s adventures.

“And yet here they all were: at the cold edge of the world — each of them vying to be worthy of one another, to protect one another, to prove themselves a part of something to which they already, irrevocably belonged.” pg 265

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Like the first book, the world has become more civilized and bands fight in contrived battles against captive-bred monsters in arenas to the cheers from bloody-thirsty crowds. It is more show than substance.

“She began to question every song she’d ever heard about heroic mercenaries and vile monsters doing battle on the arena floor. If those so-called battles were anything like the one-sided slaughter she watched from the comfort of the Lair’s armory, then the work of a bard was even more difficult than she’d been led to believe.” pg 103

I enjoyed Bloody Rose, but I missed the characters from the first book. Eames writes an ripping tale, but my favorite parts of this book included cameos (and one rather large story arc) of people from the last one.

That being said, there is still the snappy dialogue, epic fights and breath-stealing finale that characterized Eames’ debut novel. Highly recommended for fantasy readers and I look forward to his next one.

Thanks for reading!

The Autumnlands, Vol. 2: Woodland Creatures (The Autumnlands #2) by Kurt Busiek

The curious fantasy/science fiction graphic novel series The Autumnlands continues in volume two: Woodland Creatures.

In the last book, the chosen one, “Learoyd”, a violent and profanity-laden human from the future or, perhaps, the distant past, was summoned by a group of magic-wielding, sentient animals to save their world from the disappearance of magic.

But the effort of summoning Learoyd was so great, that it caused one of their sky-roving cities to crash to the earth. On the earth, there were tribes of violent and power-hungry creatures waiting for their chance to plunder the riches of the sky.

That entry ended with an epic explosion and fight with a bison tribe.

In this book, Learoyd and Dusty, a magic-wielding pit bull who recently lost his father, venture into the wilds of earth to discover who is poisoning the animals and continue searching for a way to bring back the magic that continues to disappear from the world.

Dusty, though young, is no dummy and Learoyd isn’t quite what the animals were hoping he would be.

The great champion of legend- the hero we’d thought him to be- would have sallied forth just because it was the right thing to do. But this champion… I was learning that legends were a poor guide. He had reasons for all he did. His own reasons. Whether I understood or not…”

This graphic novel is surprising in its treatment of the themes of power, magic and betrayal. I like how the animals tell the story about how everything that happens one way, but the reality of what happens seems to be something else.

It is an interesting examination of the power of storytelling and the construction of legends. What is truth? How much is magic simply technology that isn’t understood yet?

“This f-ing world. I thought it was a dream, at first. It comes off goofy, all badgers and warthogs in fancy robes and sh*t. Like a kids’ story. But there’s just as much sh*t here as there is anywhere, isn’t there?”

I didn’t particularly like how much Learoyd uses profanity, but it certainly gives him character.

This series is for adults. It contains adult themes, nudity, profanity and violence. And yet, I think it is worth the reading.

It asks big questions. It uses fantasy to explore strange worlds and the human condition. Recommended.

Thanks for reading!

The Diviners (The Diviners, #1) by Libba Bray

The Diviners is a surprisingly complex young adult novel about a returned evil, supernatural powers, secrets and mystery. It is set during the Prohibition Era in New York.

“A faint glow emanates from that dark, foul-smelling earthen tomb. Yes, something moves again in the shadows. A harbinger of much greater evil to come.” pg 10, ebook.

Evie, the heroine of our tale, has the ability to read people, emotions and past events from objects. She is a diviner, a snappy dresser and one of the most delightful characters I’ve read about this year. And how!

After an unfortunate reading of an object from one of the most powerful families in her hometown, Evie is sent to be with her uncle Will in New York. He runs a museum of the occult and supernatural. Jericho, his ward, lives in the museum with Evie’s uncle. Jericho has a, you guessed it, secret past.

“Last but not least, here is the place where we spend most of our time: the library.” Jericho opened a set of mahogany pocket doors, and Evie let out a whistle. She’d never seen such a room. It was as if it had been transported here from some spooky fairy-tale castle.” pg 34, ebook.

Evie’s best friend, Mabel, has a major crush on Jericho. Evie attempts to play matchmaker, help her uncle’s museum succeed and help solve the occult-related murders that are occurring all over New York City.

Meanwhile, Memphis is a numbers runner for the top man in Harlem. He has a secret past as well and a nightmare that haunts him each night.

Theta, a showgirl for the Ziegfeld follies, is running away from her dark past and towards the bright lights of New York. Her roommate has, gasp, secrets too.

As the characters’ lives begin to intertwine, they race to stop a killer and, potentially, the end of the world.

Highly recommended for fans of young adult fantasy. The Diviners is a magical trip through the past and a world where ghosts and supernatural powers are real.

Bindings (The Books of Magic, #2) by Carla Jablonski

Faerie is slowly dying from a mysterious wasting disease. Tim Hunter, the new and as-yet-untrained magician, may be the only one who can save it.

But could Timothy Hunter, who briefly visited the realm of the Fair Folk, be the child of the prophecy?” pg 2

You don’t have to read the previous entry in the series about Timothy to understand this stand-alone story. Carla Jablonski does a good job recapping what has gone on before.

“Throughout all the journeys, it seemed like there were always people trying to kill him or take his magic.” pg 12

My beef with this book is, even though she uses Neil Gaiman’s characters, she doesn’t write with the magic of Gaiman.

The plot is incredibly straight-forward, the bad guys are sadly predictable and it just doesn’t sparkle.

Even Tamlin, the man who went to Faerie long ago and fell in love with its Queen, isn’t as complex as I wish he would be.

Tamlin knew that to the Fair Folk, as something was, it always would be. Nothing ever changed. The ability to see reality and to change was man’s magic. My magic, Tamlin thought.” pg 42

It’s not her fault. Jablonski has written a thoughtful young adult novel about reality not always being what it appears to be and explaining some of Tim’s origins.

She’s just not Neil Gaiman. There’s nothing wrong with that, but if you’re going to write someone’s characters, you need to embody who they are.

Now that he was in a real-life fairy tale, complete with its own monster, he realized how unlikely those stories really were.” pg 111

Read this entry in the series if you’re a completionist. Otherwise, may I recommend The Sleeper and the Spindle.

See my reviews of the first entry of The Books of Magic on my blog or the third entry in the series, Free Country: A Tale of The Children’s Crusade.

Thanks for reading!

Sleepless Knights by Mark H. Williams

Arthur and his knights have lived on in a real, not metaphorical, way and are continuing the quest Arthur began when he founded Camelot. Sir Lucas, Arthur’s butler, is still performing the services he gave in ages past. Cooking food, cleaning clothes, sharpening swords, hiding bodies… you know, usual butler stuff.

“Get rid of the body. Like you did last time.” “Last time, Sir Kay, was just over a hundred years ago.” “So?” “Such matters are not as… straightforward as they once were.” pg 10

And, as time passes, his life has gotten much more complicated. However, Lucas, and the others, continue on, because they have bound their eternal lives to the quest.

“I, Knight of the Round Table, swear loyalty to my fellow Knights, and to uphold the code of our glorious and Eternal Quest. An eye for unrest. A sword to the tyrant. A shield for the weak. To never lack in courage, mercy, generosity and grace. In the name of Almighty God and the King.” pg 44

This tale, a twist on the Arthurian legends, has humor and heart. I enjoyed it a lot.

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“Behold – Excalibur,” she said. As she did not immediately offer it to me, I beheld it for what I hoped was an appropriate interval. pg 103

Sleepless Knights would probably be most appreciated by readers who know, at least a bit, of the mythology of King Arthur and his knights. But I don’t think it’s absolutely necessary to enjoy the story.

I think this book is appropriate for ages spanning from young adults to the young in spirit.

Thanks for reading!

Kings of the Wyld (The Band #1) by Nicholas Eames

An incandescent debut novel about an aging group of warriors who have to come out of retirement to save the child of one of their members.

It is reminiscent of a dungeons and dragons campaign: you have the tanks (or front men), cleric (or shield), thief and wizard.

The band also featured a rotating series of bards because they kept losing them in various, horrific ways. It’s a continuing gag throughout the tale.

The humor is my favorite part of the story. Some of it is juvenile, but most of it is incredibly funny.

“Tell us a tale, will ya, Clay? About when you did for that necromancer up in Oddsford. Or when you rescued that princess from… that place… remember?” Which one? Clay wondered. They’d rescued several princesses, in fact, and if he’d killed one necromancer he’d killed a dozen.” pg 4

The warriors are past their prime. They were glorious monster killers once, now they’ve got bad backs, tricky knees and families who depend on them.

“But life, Clay knew, didn’t work that way. It wasn’t a circle; you didn’t go round and round again. It was an arc, its course as inexorable as the sun’s trek across the sky, destined at its highest, brightest moment to begin its fall.”pg 8.

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In many ways, the group in this story reminded me of my own group of gaming friends. Yes, maybe we’re all getting on in years, but oh the glorious adventures we have had and perhaps will still have… if we can just manage to get out the door.

“If there was anything scarier than a Heartwyld Horde, the wrath of a vengeful ex-wife might just be it.” pg 36

The humor in this story was only matched by the clever analogy of a “band of warriors” compared to a “band of musicians”.

“Fantastic. Clay mused. A spiteful queen and a vengeful booker to watch out for. As if heading into a monster-infested forest on our way to a hopelessly besieged city wasn’t trouble enough. Whoever wants us dead should just sit back and let us kill ourselves.” pg 129

I couldn’t help but cheer them on, every step of the way.

Highly recommended for epic fantasy fans, gamers and anyone who has shared adventures, real or imagined, with a group of friends. This book has heart and I loved it.

Thanks for reading!

Dead Beat (The Dresden Files #7) by Jim Butcher

This entry in The Dresden Files has wizard Harry Dresden fighting necromancers to protect his friends and contemplating his own mortality. We also get to hang out with a few side characters and see a fascinating new side of Bob, who just happens to be one of my favorite characters in the whole series.

“Because that Kemmler was a certifiable nightmare,” Bob said. … That got my attention. Bob the skull was an air spirit, a being that existed in a world of knowledge without morality. He was fairly fuzzy on the whole good-evil conflict…” pg 39, ebook.

There’s some ridiculousness and danger to the story, but mainly Harry-angst and the perpetual struggle against darkness.

“And despite every religious faith, the testimony of near-death eyewitnesses, and the imaginations of storytellers throughout history, death remains the ultimate mystery. No one truly, definitely knows what happens after.” pg 30, ebook.

And a few old enemies, of course: “She laughed harder, and the sound of it spooked the hell out of me. … There was no warmth in it, no humanity, no kindness, no joy. It was like Mavra herself…”pg 33, ebook.

Harry is still dealing with his disabled hand, which he burnt the heck out of in the last book. “I had a responsibility to keep that destructive strength in check; to use it to help people, to protect them. It didn’t matter that I still felt terrified. It didn’t matter that my hand was screaming with pain.” pg 65, ebook.

Also, some of Harry’s previous decisions about vampires and the Wizard Counsel have some serious consequences. But, anybody who’s been reading this series for awhile, knew that that was only a matter of time.

And there’s the small matter of a certain silver coin that Harry picked up a few books ago and buried under the concrete in his lab. But whatever is in the coin can’t get out of the circle he put it in… right?

“I just keep getting more wounded and tired. … I’m not some kind of superhero. I’m just me. And I didn’t want any of this.” pg 131, ebook.

If you haven’t read this series, I highly recommend you start with the first book. The stories build on each other and become quite satisfying, in my opinion.

The ending of this one contains some ridiculousness that I was not prepared for, but after some thought about the series, I’ve decided that it doesn’t matter.

There is very little Jim Butcher could write in here that I wouldn’t like. Somewhere along the line, I’ve become quite a fan of The Dresden Files.

I didn’t expect it. But that’s the truth.

Check out my other reviews of the series:

Storm Front (The Dresden Files, #1) by Jim Butcher

Fool Moon (The Dresden Files #2) by Jim Butcher

Grave Peril (The Dresden Files, #3) by Jim Butcher

Summer Knight (The Dresden Files #4) by Jim Butcher

Death Masks (The Dresden Files, #5) by Jim Butcher

Blood Rites (The Dresden Files, #6) by Jim Butcher

Thanks for reading!

Blood Rites (The Dresden Files, #6) by Jim Butcher

In this entry in The Dresden Files, the vampire Thomas asks Harry to help his friend, an adult film maker. People keep dying on set and Thomas thinks its magic-related.

Part-mystery, part-comedy and 100 percent wizard, I think Blood Rites is one of the best in the series so far.

“I was agreeing to help him and taking a job, just as though Thomas were any other client. It probably wasn’t the smartest thing I’d ever done. It had the potential to lead to lethally unhealthy decisions.” pg 17

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As usual, Harry can’t seem to get his life together long enough to get anything done. He runs from crisis to crisis. But, he’s become self-aware enough to realize what he’s doing.

“My worry and tension slowly grew, and as they did I took a perverse comfort in the familiar emotions. It actually felt good to feel my survival instincts put me on guard against premature mortality. Hell’s bells. Is that insane or what?” pg 93

We learn a lot more about Harry’s personal life in this story.

“The hardest lesson a wizard has to learn is that even with so much power, there are some things you can’t control. No matter how much you want to.” pg 353.