Rivers of London

Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch, 376 pages

This was our July Orcs & Aliens title, and since I'm just now getting around to writing about it, I'm going to 100% phone it in and simply link to previous posts by Regan and Cindy (who wrote about it way back in 2011, when it was first released in the U.S. as Midnight Riot). I generally love urban fiction, but yeah, the problems that both of my review predecessors point out are real. You can get the same vibe from Jim Butcher's neverending Dresden Files series (except Chicago instead of London). There are better urban fiction titles out there.

Rivers of London

 

Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch, 392 pages

Probationary Constable Peter Grant is hoping for any permanent assignment that saves him from a position in the bureaucracy department, and a ghostly witness to a strange murder proves to be just the ticket for getting into a much more interesting department. Peter finds himself under Inspector Thomas Nightingale, who is currently the whole department handling supernatural problems around London, the police's single wizard. Peter is pulled into the politics of rivers and casting spells, even as the gristly murders keep multiplying. 

While it was nice to get back into urban fiction, which was at one point a lot of what I read, I don't know that I'm jumping to recommend this book in particular. The general consensus among the Orcs & Aliens book club was that Peter was a bit of a boring protagonist, and there's a fair bit of sexism that isn't surprising for a book published in 2011 by a fifty-year-old man, but did make it less enjoyable. Part of me is curious to see where some of the settings open paths go, but I'm unlikely to continue the series. 

City of Others

City of Others by Jared Poon, 368 pages

Benjamin Toh is a middle-management government employee, working with his understaffed Division for Engagement of Unusual Stakeholders to handle the supernatural elements of Singapore and keep them from interfering with the normal world. Generally speaking, they're pushed to the limit, fixing run-of-the-mill unexplained phenomena and getting rid of pesky fantastical beings, but when a boring check on a building glitching out of existence turns into something much more dangerous for the whole city, Ben and his motley crew must stretch themselves even farther, all while keeping it out of the attention of the higher-ups.

This is a delightful urban fantasy, full of Singaporean folklore and mythological creatures, and wonderful group of characters. I particularly love the way that Ben and his team have to balance their supernatural work with the mundane tasks (writing and re-writing memos) of bureaucracy. I was also pleasantly surprised by the way in which Ben's attitude toward work and his team's abilities changed as they got deeper and deeper into the problem. An excellent and diverse addition to the subgenre of urban fantasy.

Mongrels

Mongrels by Stephen Graham Jones (2016) 302 pages

I read this as an ebook through Libby. This is categorized as horror because the main characters are werewolves, but aside from some blood and gore, it doesn't feel too frightening. A coming of age urban (rural?) fantasy is closer to the mark. The story is somewhat non-linear as the main boy playacts different roles in his family. He is being raised by an uncle and aunt, and he yearns for the day he'll become a werewolf like them. For this indigenous author werewolves are sort of a metaphor for the outsiders of society. But in the story it is no metaphor, they really are werewolves and the boy has to learn their particular ways. He teaches us that many "facts" about werewolves in movies are false. His family is transient and poor. It is good to walk in his shoes for awhile as he struggles with never fitting in and learning who his parents were.
 

A Killing Frost

 A Killing Frost by Seanan McGuire, 368 pages.

Due to a quirk of the faerie rules of politeness Toby has to undertake a quest she had promised to do earlier than usual, or risk serious consequences arising from her marriage. (It gets harder to write these descriptors free of spoilers the longer this goes on, this is book 14 and everything is feeding into everything else).

Unfortunately, I think this book may be the weakest of the series so far. The pacing wasn't as good as usual, many people's motivations didn't really make sense, and there was an astoundingly high instance of deus ex machina. However, McGuire mentions in the acknowledgments that this book was written during in the height of lockdown, so I can give her some grace about it, especially since I've heard the most recent book is phenomenal.

No Gods, No Monsters

 No Gods, No Monsters by Cadwell Turnbull, 387 pages.

Kara reviewed this book last month, and you can see her thoughts here!

I was very excited for this book. I'm a big fan of urban fantasy and also a big fan of mysterious old gods, and in addition to all of that it sounded like Cadwell Turnbull was going to use these themes to explore some much bigger concepts, which sounded super interesting to me! Unfortunately this book didn't quite land for me, maybe because my understanding of the plot from the blurb was pretty significantly different from how the book actually went. For example, very few gods, and even fewer gods that have any relevance at all to the story.

I couldn't shake the feeling for most of this novel that the narrative was just missing the most interesting parts of the story. There are a whole lot of perspective changes in this book, but it still always felt like the most interesting things were happening at the periphery. Although, on that note, the perspective of this novel was extremely interesting. I was nearly halfway through the book before I figured out what was going on with the perspective, but once I did it definitely changed my experience.

Overall this book has a lot of very interesting concepts, but it is not very concerned with making sure the reader understands what is going on or giving information in a timely manner. It had a whole lot of promise, but it didn't quite come together for me. That being said, I am still interested enough to read the next one, and I do still think this novel is definitely worth the time.

The Brightest Fell

 The Brightest Fell by Seanan McGuire, 368 pages.

This novel, book 11 in the series, continues the trend of making Toby's life more complicated just as things are starting to look up for her. Despite these constant setbacks, her life has trended generally upward throughout, which is both a thing I appreciate and something that is made abundantly clear by the friends she is surrounded by at the start of this book. Of course, having more people you care about means having more to lose, as Toby discovers when her fiance and friend are kidnapped as leverage to force her to find her sister who has been missing for more than a century.

One of the things I appreciate the most about this series is how great it is at rewarding readers for paying attention throughout the whole series. McGuire is really great at sowing seeds for things that won't happen until many books later, which makes the payoff feel especially satisfying when it happens. It feels like were really gearing up for big plot things that have finally started rolling, and I'm really excited to see where this goes.

The Last Smile in Sunder City

 The Last Smile in Sunder City by Luke Arnold, 352 pages.

Fetch Phillips is a man-for-hire, which is like a PI but with the hopes that nobody will think he's smart. He works in Sunder City, which has largely fallen apart (along with the rest of the world) since the magic that powered it went away six years ago in an event known as The Coda. An event that (according to Fetch) was his fault. Now he's been hired to try and find a dying professor, who happens to be a vampire, in the hopes that the new inter-species elementary school he taught at and helped hold together can be saved. 

This book is an exceptional example of the urban fantasy noir genre (which is bigger than you might expect). It's rare to find urban fantasy set in a fully fantasy world, and Arnold's world is exceptionally well filled out with dozens of species, many of which have their own creation stories. The Last Smile in Sunder City does and exceptional job both filling out a large world that feels complex and full of traditions and weaving in the exposition so it never drags down the plot. I found the pacing in this novel pretty exceptional, and I had a hard time putting it down for the whole of the final 2/3 of the book. Fetch's voice is strong, and full of the kinds of exceptionally good one-liners that can really make a noir. I was surprised at just how much I enjoyed this book, and am definitely looking forward to reading the next one.

Once Broken Faith

 Once Broken Faith by Seanan McGuire, 420 pages.

This is the tenth book in the October Daye series, and a more direct continuation than many others in the series (which means spoilers ahead). After Toby doing diplomacy went so "well" in A Red Rose Chain, Toby is commanded by the High King of the Westlands to attend the conclave that is being called to decide whether the cure for elf-shot should be distributed or suppressed. Being in a room full of royalty is never a good time for Toby, but it gets distinctly worst after the first murder. 

This book felt like a bit of a stopgap in the series. Which isn't to say it wasn't good, I thoroughly enjoyed the action and getting to see Toby digging into detective work again. But the overall tone is that this book is gearing up for something. It had more recap than most of the previous books of what had happened in the series to date, and also broadened the scale of the world considerably. I'm not sure what comes next, but I'm pretty sure things are about to scale up.

House of Earth and Blood

House of Earth and Blood [Crescent City #1] by Sarah J. Maas, 803 pages

Bryce Quinlan is a half-fae working for an antiquities dealer during the day and partying like crazy at night when her best friend is brutally murdered in a way that completely baffles the angelic authorities of Crescent City. The crime completely changes Bryce's outlook on life, and when a similar murder takes place two years later to someone who was just seen in Bryce's company, the angels pull her into their investigation. What follows is a dangerous investigation that takes Bryce and her angel-of-death companion Hunt into the seediest and scariest parts of their city as they try to find the culprit.

It's interesting seeing the world Maas created in Crescent City, with all of the social and magical castes and rivalries involved. I'm curious to see where the rest of this series takes Bryce and Hunt, particularly if it involved more interactions with the merpeople of Crescent City's river. A fun and sexy urban fantasy.

The Last Smile in Sunder City

The Last Smile in Sunder City by Luke Arnold, 361 pages

Sunder City is full of elves, warlocks, goblins, vampires, fairies, and more. But the magic is gone. Six years ago, a human army found the source of magic, and out of (spite? jealousy? anger? pick your reason here) destroyed it, and in the processed, destroyed all of the industries that depended upon magic. Enter Fetch Phillips, a human who never really belonged anywhere, now scraping by as a private investigator/man for hire. He's tasked with finding a vampire teacher who has disappeared, and the job takes him to all of the less-than-savory parts of the crumbling city.

This book is a fantastic mix of detective noir and urban fantasy, like Jim Butcher's Dresden Files, but with the shoe on the other foot. Arnold created a gritty, lived-in world full of well-realized characters. I very much enjoyed this book, and I look forward to others in this series.

The Sky Is Yours

The Sky Is Yours by Chandler Klang Smith, 457 pages

Take Manhattan, and throw in the following elements in equal parts:

• horrific prison mismanagement (think a walled-in neighborhood where all criminals, regardless of crime, are thrown together); 
• a disturbing fascination with reality TV and technology; 
• a hopelessly romantic teenage girl whose only purpose is to be married off to a rich husband;
• and a freaked out kid who grew up on a trash island.

Mix well and cook with intermittent fire provided by two ever-circling dragons flying above the city.

Makes: one cynical, funny science fiction novel. Devour at will.

I read this book for the first time last year, and blogged about it here. I feel much the same on this reread as I did then (still loved it, still tickled pink at the character names), so I won't say much more in this post. I'm curious to see what the Orcs & Aliens think of it tonight though.

The King of Bone and Ashes

The King of Bone and Ashes by J.D. Horn  320 pp.

In the darker, mysterious parts of post Katrina New Orleans witchcraft is fading away. The last powerful family has a tenuous hold but it is in danger of falling apart. Alice Marin, the youngest witch in the family, has been sequestered in a private asylum for witches with mental/emotional problems. She was sent there by her family after her mother chose to leave her earthly existence and an encounter with a malevolent spirit entity called Babau Jean when Alice was a child. Alice returns to New Orleans after the death of the family patriarch for the funeral and crowning of a new coven leader and the creepiness begins. This is a slow starter but once it gets going the story is intriguing. The difficulty I had was keeping the large number of characters straight. I'm still not sure I've figured out all the family relationships. It may have been easier to keep track if I had the physical book rather than the audiobook. This is the first book in the "Witches of New Orleans" series.

Secondhand Souls

Secondhand Souls by Christopher Moore, 335 pages

Since saving San Francisco from the supernatural Morrigan a year earlier, the Death Merchants of the Bay Area have been taking it easy, recuperating and getting back to their non-death-related lives. Turns out that was a big mistake, since the Morrigan are creeping back into existence, aided by a mysterious man with a penchant for the color yellow. This book is a follow-up to Moore's 2006 novel, A Dirty Job, and it's pretty important to read that one before this one. I'd read A Dirty Job when it came out, but not since, and I'll admit that it took me quite a while to remember the whos and whats of the story. The plot of Secondhand Souls is a bit more scattered, and a few of the interactions between black characters came across as cringeworthy caricatures, so it's definitely not Moore's best work (in my mind, that will always be Lamb). But it's an OK urban fantasy sequel that fans of the Dresden Files might appreciate.

The Wrong Dead Guy

The Wrong Dead Guy by Richard Kadrey, 420 pages

In this follow-up to last year's hilarious fantasy heist novel The Everything Box, magic-proof burglar Coop is back at it, this time working for The Man as a part-time agent of the Department of Peculiar Science. He's initially tasked with stealing a mummy, but when that goes sideways (the mummy wakes up, placing a curse on Coop and wreaking havoc across L.A.), Coop is suddenly on the hunt for all kinds of mystical objects that may or may not help solve the problem. Throw in a stoned fortune teller, a gun-toting used car salesman, a group of self-righteous bunny-hugging rich kids, and an undead former DOPS agent with a vendetta against Coop (oh, and an elephant), and you have a rollicking tale reminiscent of Dave Barry's riotously funny novel Big Trouble, but with, you know, magic and stuff. That said, it's a bit of a sophomore slump after The Everything Box, which had better heists and a somewhat more coherent plot. Here's hoping that if Kadrey continues the series, he steps it back up in the next book.

Fire Touched

Fire touched / Patricia Briggs, 342 p.

I like this series (this is book 9) about Mercy Thompson, a car mechanic who's a coyote shapeshifter married to the Alpha of the local werewolf pack. Much of what I enjoy involves the characters' relationships, which are less...dramatic than some urban fantasy books. This one begins with an outstanding action sequence involving a troll on a bridge, but the rest of the book didn't really grab me. Generally when I'm reading a series, some entries will be really memorable and some will be...not filler, exactly, but only an enjoyable visit with characters I like rather than a book that really excites me. For me, Fire Touched falls into that second category.

Chaos Choreography

Chaos choreography / Seanan McGuire, 368 p.

The fifth book in this fun urban fantasy series switches back to Verity Price as the viewpoint character. She's come to terms with giving up her dream to be a professional ballroom dancer in order to focus on the family business (cryptozoology)...but then the reality show she competed on a few years previously, Dance or Die, entices her with a reunion show, and one last time to dance. She has to juggle dancing, her fellow contestants' egos and secrets (some of the other dancers are cryptids)--and a murder investigation, as eliminated contestants begin dying.

The Everything Box

The Everything Box by Richard Kadrey, 352 pages (advanced reading copy)


Coop is a career criminal who specializes in stealing magical items that are protected by everything from your standard combination safe and swinging axe booby traps to curse tripwires and demons that masquerade as small children. Fresh out of prison, Coop is hired to steal an innocuous-looking box, which is then stolen again, and again, and Coop is hired to steal it back, again, and again. His job is made infinitely harder by competing demonic cults, a host of mysterious bad guys, and the obnoxious meddling of the government Department of Peculiar Science (DOPS, which is pronounced "dopes,"), who are all attempting to steal the box, which may be the key to starting the apocalypse, or it could just be really lucky. Who knows.

I had a blast reading this book. It's like Christopher Moore and Jim Butcher decided to get together and write a heist novel. It's silly, full of crazy creatures and characters, and it's a heist! And I'm a sucker for a heist. This is theoretically the first in a series; if so, I can't wait for the next one!

Summer Knight

Summer Knight by Jim Butcher, 371 pages

In this, the fourth book of the Dresden Files series, Butcher finally seems to be hitting his stride as a writer. Summer Knight finds Chicago-based wizard-for-hire Harry Dresden once again up to his ears in supernatural trouble. He's managed to start a war between a faction of vampires and the White Council of wizards, and his faerie godmother (yup, he's got one of those) has sold him into the service of a faerie queen. In order to dig himself out of this quagmire, he must solve a murder, liaise with the faeries, and somehow manage to dodge all of the beings that are out to murder him.

As I said, this series is getting better as Butcher grows as a writer. Yes, I still have quibbles (for example, it would be great if he could describe a female character without giving us her measurements), but this is a much better-written tale than previous books in the series, especially if you don't think too hard. A good, quick read, like one of those movies you go to in the middle of summer just to munch on popcorn and escape the heat. But, you know, it's a book.

Murder of Crows

Murder of Crows by Anne Bishop (The Others, book 2); urban fantasy, horror; 368 pages

The sequel to Written in Red picks up just a few weeks after a nightmarish storm nearly wiped out the human city of Lakeside.  Things are settling back down when Meg, a runaway prophet who sees visions of the future when her blood is shed, gets a premonition that someone is setting traps for the Others.  She's able to stop one attack, but not all, and soon the Others are poised for war with the humans they allow to live here.

This book steps much more firmly into the "urban fantasy" category than the previous volume did.  Part of that is the world gets expanded--we meet Others from different parts of the country, and visit other places outside of Lakeside.  We also get a better read on the political situation, which is quite interesting.  In Bishop's world, humans have never been the top predator (most of the Others refer to them as "clever meat"), but they have formed alliances with groups of Others that allow them to live on Other land and use Other resources (like farmland, water, etc.).  Now all of that is breaking down as the Humans First movement takes hold, setting off centuries of buried hostilities between the two groups.  Of course, we also get more growth from the characters I loved in Red.  My one complaint is that I now have to wait a year for the next volume....