Review: Huntress (Anthlogy)
Title: Huntress
Published: July 2009
(Overall) Genre: Urban fantasy, paranormal romance
Pages: 342
Review: Whenever I pick up an anthology, I always feel really excited -- this general hope of discovering new writers and bite-sized stories. And nearly every time, I'm disappointed. It has more to do with the constraints -- my favorite part of a book is the characters, and there isn't enough time in most short stories to develop the characters or their relationships unless the writer is really good. I did discover a new author, though, so it wasn't all in vain.
Title: "Devil's Bargain"
Author: Christine Warren
Pages: 89
Rating: 1/5
Planning to read more by this author?: No.
Review: structured into plot/characters, major spoilers
To begin with, the plot in this is so flimsy there's more holes than plot to it. Lilli, the heroine in the story, had previously made a deal with a prince of hell to track down a criminal who had taken refuge in Hell. (We'll leave the holes in that one alone, because I don't feel like ripping apart the backstory when there's so much that happens in the book itself.) She is given three days to find a book. She is shown an image of the book but doesn't take note of the title, what it's about, or who might be interested in it. Despite this lack of information, she tracks it down in less than two days. Now, this is a rare, one-of-a-kind book that details/prophesies the Apocalypse, so it's not like anyone else might want it or be able to find it if a bounty hunter (who knows nothing about books) can find it in two days. So she finds the book, breaks into this (young, attractive) man's house who had found it, and gets into a sexual-tension-oozing fight for it with aforementioned young man. Less than an hour later, they're fucking on his kitchen table. Drama ensues when they realize (with the help of the Prince of Hell who sends a hologram to their house) that their wasting their remaining day. Following their instincts and obscure prophesies that dramatically reveal their purpose to them in the nick of time (and using sexual energy as a convenient way for the author to stick in more smut), they defeat the devil and avert the Apocalypse. This includes Lilli sacrificing herself, general angst, and then her coming back to life through the magic of their love.
And that's just the plot.
The characters, by the end, are "ass-over-heels in love" with each other. After she kills herself (and before she returns), he can't believe that "she had chosen to kill herself and condemned him instead to a lifetime without her. He had never guessed she could be so cruel" (quoted from page 81). No joke.
There's really not much more I can say about this. So, onto story #2.
Title: "The Robber Bride"
Author: Majorie M. Liu
(Additional) Genre: dystopia
Pages: 91
Rating: 4/5
Planning to read more by this author?: Yes! The bright point of the anthology -- a new author!
Review: minor spoilers, shorter
Definite improvement over the previous story. The main character, Maggie, is self-sufficient and independent without being emotionally stunted or obnoxious, like so many other characters are. The romance element is woven in well without being rushed (very impressive for a short story) -- which is partially accounted for by the lack of sex (OMG, the main pair haven't fallen into bed with each other by page 20!). The world-building is very interesting; taking place about 25-ish years in the future, after a virus destroyed cities and a good portion of the population. All around very interesting, and I'm looking forward to reading more by Ms. Liu.
Title: "Down in the Ground"
Author: Caitlin Kittredge
Pages: 75
Rating: 1/5
Review: short, spoilers
I was very disappointed by this story. I just finished reading Night Life by Caitlin Kittredge and enjoyed it -- actually how I found this anthology. The characters have none of the appeal the ones in NL did, and the romance is incredibly forced. The hero/heroine end up together because they sleep together, the heroine uses that energy to cast a geas on the hero, effectively binding him to her against his will. She then turns his friends against him, forces him to accompany her to Hell, exposes him to lots of danger, they fall for each other without ever managing to show true emotion to each other. Overall, very disappointing.
Title: "Sin Slayer"
Author: Jenna Maclaine
(Additional) Genre: historical
Pages: 77
Rating: DNF
Review: short
The story begins suddenly -- but not well. It drops the reader off not in the middle of action, but with a lot of backstory to digest. It doesn't work well for a short story. The heroes of this story are a clique-y group of vampires that are the world's law enforcement group and have conveniently paired off among themselves. Despite having decades of experience, they commit stupid mistakes repeatedly. Couldn't force myself to finish.