[Book review] Legacies by Mercedes Lackey and Rosemary Edghill

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Harry Potter has so invaded our consciousness that any book featuring a school for magic-users is immediately compared to Rowling’s saga.  And admittedly, some of them are derivative and not as interesting as the boy wizard.  But not all fall into that category.  Oakhurst Academy has joined the distinguished list of magical institutions with Legacies, the first novel in the Shadow Grail series.

After the death of her parents and younger sister, Spirit White’s care is taken on by Oakhurst Academy, a school that both her parents attended.  Spirit is a legacy, in more ways than one.  Apparently, she is possessed of magical powers, as is every other student in the school.  But neither she nor anyone else can figure out exactly what those powers are.

Spirit’s search for her birthright is interrupted by more pressing matters—the disappearance of students under mysterious circumstances.  Evidence suggests that the school knows about it and is covering it up, but to what end?  As Spirit and her friends probe deeper into the mystery, they find secrets and lies that go back not just years, but decades.

[Book review] Blackveil by Kristen Britain

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If you read my reviews long enough, you’ll soon come to realize that I love good epic fantasy more than anything else.  There’s something about the heroism, the magic systems, the adventure, and the bold characters that I truly enjoy.  And for me, Kristen Britain’s books fit the bill.  Her latest, Blackveil, continues the story of her heroine, Karigan.

Green Rider Karigan has been through more than any other person in King Zachary’s service.  Possessed of gifts that few others can aspire to, she most recently used her talents to send the vile sorcerer Mornhavon the Black forward in time, thus ending his threat to Sacoridia.  But the darkness that he left in Blackveil Forest remains strong.

Now the Eletians are mounting an expedition into Blackveil to see if anything is left of the city they were forced to abandon hundreds of years ago.  Karigan is one of the party of Sacoridians accompanying them.  But why would the Eletians want to brave the dark forest after so many years? 

On the fringes of Blackveil, Karigan’s friend Alton labors to repair the D’Yer Wall, the only thing holding Blackveil’s menace back from the lands beyond.  But so far, the wall has resisted any attempts to mend it.  When a bard arrives in camp, her music seems to please the Wall’s guardian spirits.  But there are horrors lurking within the Wall’s towers and battlements that may prove deadly to the unwary.

[Book review] Midnight Riot by Ben Aaronvitch

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Supernatural police procedurals can offer a wealth of plot to readers.  There’s mystery, there’s hard-boiled detective work, there’s some kind of otherworldly being, and often enough there’s a touch of romance or magic.  Midnight Riot packs all of the above into an entertaining and highly readable novel.

London beat cop Peter Grant is about to be assigned out to a boring desk job when he gets involved in a very unusual murder case: the victim was apparently decapitated with a baseball bat.  As this is impossible for a normal human to achieve, the police are understandably confused.  But Grant gets some information about the murder from a strange informant—one who turns out to be a ghost.

His interest in the case leads him to Inspector Nightingale, the one-man task force assigned to solve cases with supernatural involvement.  Grant is now Nightingale’s apprentice, learning not only magic but the secret lore of London, including how to approach the various gods, goddesses and other beings that rule its streets.  As more bodies pile up, Grant must race to find the killer’s identity before all hell literally breaks loose.

[Book review] The Mage in Black by Jaye Wells

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Vampires have become a staple in paranormal fantasy in recent years.  You might think that there’s nothing new to say about them, but authors keep proving us wrong.  Jaye Wells has added some intriguing new elements to the vampire trope in her Sabina Kane series. 

Sabina, half vampire and half mage, has fled the West Coast after being betrayed by her grandmother Lavinia, the head of the vampiric Dominae.  With her is Adam Lazarus, a powerful magic user, who gets her safely to New York City and the stronghold of the mages.  Sabina has just found out that the mages are led by her twin sister Maisie, whom she didn’t know existed.

Adam and Maisie want Sabina to embrace her father’s legacy and learn Chthonic magic, the power of death and dark places.  But Sabina’s path isn’t going to be that easy.  As the mages and vampires hover on the brink of war, someone is manipulating events to get Sabina killed.  What forces are moving behind the scenes, and what will that mean for Sabina?

[Book review] The Lost Gate by Orson Scott Card

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Mythology has provided lively fodder for fantasy fiction.  Greek and Egyptian gods have made frequent appearances, but writers are delving into the vast mine of Norse myths, Native American myths, and many others.  Orson Scott Card has posited why the major mythologies and their pantheons came about in The Lost Gate.

Danny North is a drekka, a boy without magic in a family where magic is everything.  His siblings and cousins can perform wonderful feats, but Danny can’t do anything.  At least, that’s what everyone thinks.  In reality, Danny is realizing that he’s a gatemage, a forbidden power that can get him killed if he reveals it.

When circumstances threaten to betray his secret, Danny flees his family home on the start of a quest to find out how to use his powers and how to control them.  The last great gatemage was Loki, who closed the gates to the world of Westil, where the mages originally came from.  Because of his actions, gate magic carries a death sentence.  But Danny is determined not only to master his growing power, but to harness it to finally find a way home.

[Book review] A Brush of Darkness by Allison Pang

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I always appreciate a good humorous fantasy.  The recent rash of paranormal fantasy sometimes descends into the hopelessly gloomy, with tragedy and woe dominating the landscape.  It’s interesting to see a book like A Brush of Darkness, which does have humor, but which also contains a fairly serious undercurrent.

Abby Sinclair is a TouchStone, a human mortal who links with a supernatural being in order to give them an anchor in our world.  She’s bound to Moira, a high ranking OtherFolk, but unfortunately Moira has vanished.  While waiting for her return, Abby is approached by Brystion, an incubus who wants to find his missing sister.

The disappearances continue, with OtherFolk and TouchStones vanishing without a trace.  Abby and Brystion work to find them, but Abby is so inexperienced at the business of being a TouchStone that she’s hampered in her efforts.  With the help of werewolves, angels, and a dirty-minded miniature unicorn, it may just be possible to solve the mystery before it’s too late.

365 Photo Challenge, Day Thirty... Not a real owl

This was also left with the house when we got it.  It also stayed.  It's in our courtyard.

365 Photo Challenge, Day Twenty Nine... leftover decor

This was left behind by our house's previous owners.  It seemed to fit, so it stayed.

[Book review] The Soul Mirror by Carol Berg

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It's a rare book that can have science and magic co-exist smoothly side by side.  And yet Carol Berg has proven that it can be done with her Collegia Magica trilogy.  Continuing the series's graceful melding of two such disparate elements, The Soul Mirror adds yet more layers to the tale of the embattled land of Sabria.

Four years after the events of The Spirit Lens, Anne de Vernase, daughter of the hated traitor Michel de Vernase, is summoned to court.  Ostensibly, she is to be a handmaiden to the Queen; in reality, she's likely to be married off to the court's political advantage.  But Anne has more on her mind than court intrigue: her younger sister recently died in a magical accident, just after sending Anne some magical items.

Soon after her arrival in Merona, Anne plainly sees the court's shaky foundations.  The Queen keeps the mage Dante to summon the spirits of her dead children, the king rarely sets foot in Merona, and strange lights and sounds haunt the keep and the town.  Anne's family reputation makes her an outcast, but she may be developing that most dangerous of talents--sorcery--and this will make her a pawn in a deadly plot aimed at the king and queen themselves.

365 Photo Challenge, Day Twenty Eight... There be whales here!!!

See that puff in the middle of the pic?  That's a gray whale spout!

365 Photo Challenge, Day Twenty Seven... Kitty in the window

Open the window on an early spring day and you will have a sniffing Gryphon.  She LOVES sitting at an open window.

365 Photo Challenge, Day Twenty Six... plushie pile

Pile of stuffed goodness sitting on our headboard.

[Book review] The Human Blend by Alan Dean Foster

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Alan Dean Foster is one of the old standbys of science fiction.  His early novels have been read by scores of people, and I read a few of them myself as a teenager.  Going back to them now proves that his novels have stood the test of time, but a more pertinent question now is: has the author’s writing ability done the same?  Unfortunately, I’m beginning to think that the answer is “no”.

Whispr, so called because he’s been modified (or Melded) until he’s stick-thin, didn’t know what he was getting into when he and his partner robbed a random guy on the street.  But the tiny microthread that Whispr lifts from his pocket proves to be more deadly than it seems.  Within hours, Whispr’s partner is dead and Whispr himself is running for his life.

Dr. Ingrid Seastrom spends some of her spare time doing house calls, but nothing prepares her for what she finds in the neck of a teenager suffering from a Meld gone wrong. A tiny insert, it has nothing to do with any medical procedure.  Ingrid extracts it, but it vanishes when she tries to examine it.  And then Whispr turns up at her door in need of aid.

Someone wants that thread back very badly and is leaving a trail of bodies in their wake.  Whispr and Ingrid are thrown together by circumstance into a race to find answers before they’re killed. 

365 Photo Challenge, Day Twenty Five... oranges

Finally, some sunlight!  Our orange tree, full of fruit.

365 Photo Challenge, Day Twenty Four... Don't touch my rose!

I DID take this yesterday, but I was busy writing and didn't get around to posting it.  So here you go!

[Book review] Flip This Zombie by Jesse Petersen

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A few weeks ago, one of the students working in our bookstore asked me if I knew where the modern zombie trend originated.  I have to admit, I don’t really have an answer to that.  No matter where it came from, though, we all know the basic elements.  Several authors have used them to good effect in recent novels.  Jesse Petersen joined the trend with last year’s Married with Zombies and continues the series with Flip This Zombie.

David and Sarah not only survived the initial zombie outbreak but created a thriving business in exterminating them.  Months later, they’re contacted by a scientist named Kevin Barnes who wants to hire them not to kill zombies, but to bring them to him alive.  He needs them to test what may be a cure for the virus that caused the outbreak.

But while Sarah still has hope for a zombie-less future, David has grown more cynical.  He doesn’t trust Dr. Barnes, and he doesn’t want to do anything with zombies but kill them.  Making progress towards a cure may be more urgent than they realize, because reports are cropping up of superzombies.  They’re faster and more deadly, and if they grow too numerous, the living won’t stand a chance against the dead.

365 Photo Challenge, Day Twenty Three... winged kitty

Another of my knick-knacks.  Boy, I can't wait for sunset to come later...