On The Prowl anthology
Publisher: Berkley, 2007
Genre: Fantasy
Sub-genre: Paranormal, Urban fantasy
Rating: 3 1/2 pints of blood
I've mentioned before how much I like this cover. It's not just a random tight butt on the cover, like so many paranormal covers. Actually, my first impression is of the power of this woman, instead of her sexy little tush. The muscles in her back and arm are far more defined than is often considered "feminine," but considering she can take a chunk out of a stone wall without breaking a nail, it seems an appropriate form for her. Finally! An image of a woman who actually looks strong enough to kick some butt!
The rating is the overall average of the stories. Some of them I liked a lot more, some of them I wasn't so crazy about. They're all paranormal, urban fantasy stories featuring female protagonists, and they're actually a fair bit longer than what I normally think of a short story being. The shortest, Mona Lisa Betwining, was 62 pages long.
Alpha and Omega, Patricia Briggs's offering to the anthology, is the story of Charles and Anna. Set in the same world as the Mercy Thompson series with different characters, Charles and Anna are both werewolves. Charles is the Marrok's son, the second most powerful Alpha wolf in all of North America, and has been sent to Chicago to investigate some shady dealings that have recently come to the Marrok's attention.
The plot centres around Charles's investigation and the mystery of what exactly is going on in the Chicago wolf pack, but the meat of the story is in the burgeoning relationship between Charles and Anna. Anna makes for an interesting romantic heroine, as a victim of physical, sexual, and emotional abuse. She's more than a little wary of dominant wolves, and Charles is about as dominant as they come, but Charles's wolf side doesn't seem to care about the unlikeliness of the pairing, as it claims Anna for his mate upon first sight. This isn't a case of painting the heroine as a powerless victim, however. Anna is strong, and finds her own way to fight back against the people determined to keep her down. At one point, when Charles tells her he's interested in her, she unapologetically informs him she has zero interest in sex. As a rare Omega wolf, Anna has always mistakenly thought she's submissive, since she doesn't have any of the dominant instincts, but discovers she has unique abilities that by rights should exempt her from the usual pack hierarchy.
The writing is engaging, the story involving, and both Charles and Anna are interesting, sympathetic characters. My only issue is that 72 pages wasn't enough; I wanted more. Fortunately, their story continues in the upcoming Cry Wolf, which I will be picking up when it comes out in August.
Rating: 4 1/2 pints of blood
Inhuman by Eileen Wilks is by far the longest of the stories, and seems to be the setup for a new series. Kai and her neighbour Nathan live in a world where a few people have been Gifted with magical abilities. Believing her to be an empath, Kai's Gifted friends accept her as one of them, but the truth is far more complicated. Kai is a telepath, but she sees thoughts more than hears them, and as far as she knows, her abilities are unique. Given that there's a heated prejudice against magic and the Gifted as it is, Kai keeps the truth about her abilities quiet. Only Nathan knows her secret, and only she knows his; he's not human, much as he might appear it outwardly.
Things grow more complicated for Kai when dead bodies begin turning up, siphoned of blood by what are obviously supernatural means. Witnesses to the most recent murder remember seeing a woman wearing Kai's face, and the victims have all been Gifted, as well as acquaintances of Kai's. As a member of the local police force, Nathan is part of the investigation, and possibly the only one who can prevent Kai from being thrown in jail for a series of crimes no human could have committed.
The details about the supernaturals and their nature is pivotal to the story, but very slow in coming. I spent a more time than I would have liked trying to figure out what exactly was going on, because I had very little information to go on. The slow reveal was intentional, but I found it more frustrating than intriguing in this particular case. There are some really interesting ideas here, but I felt like I didn't really get to hear much of them, because the author was so busy trying to catch my attention by not telling me what was going on.
By the end of the story, I actually had more of a feel for Nathan than Kai, which strikes me as somewhat ironic, given that he's not human. Kai was more reactive than proactive, shaped by the events surrounding her, and even having read the story, I couldn't tell you much about her personality. Nathan had a little more sense of self, in spite of (or perhaps because of) his confusion over his own identity. Does looking like a man and talking like a man make him, in fact, a man?
Rating: 3 pints of blood
Karen Chance's Buying Trouble was actually the only story that didn't immediately strike me as a slice from a bigger, more ambitious project. It tells the tale of Clare, who is what's known as a Null among the magical crowd. Her ability basically serves to neutralise any other sources of magic around her, causing most mages and Fae to give her a wide berth. It works pretty well for her employer, however, who pays her to keep his auctions of powerful magical artifacts running smoothly. Since her presence is enough to keep the artifacts under control, it's a pretty simple job.
Or it was, until her boss got word that some powerful and wealthy people were after Claire, at which point he greedily decides to add her to his current auction. There are only two reasons someone would want to buy Claire, and they both result in her death. Her family wants to kill her to tie up some political loose ends, and the Harvesters can use a Null's life force to power a dramatic anti-magic bomb, the ultimate weapon in a battle between mages. In desperation, Claire does what she can to disrupt the auction, and the result looses the magical artifacts, one of which opens a portal, throwing Claire and a mysterious Fae into a dangerous part of Fairy. Now the two of them have to work together to get back to the human world without alerting their presence to any of the natives, all of whom seem eager to kill them on sight.
Fast-paced and fantastical, Buying Trouble is a fun read. Claire is a strong personality, a rather resourceful woman who takes what's thrown at her and just keeps rolling as best she can. Heidar, the mysterious Fey, is a likeable character in his own right, and the banter between the two of them is fantastic. The attraction between the two is very nicely handled, although after such a short time together I have a hard time believing in a "forever love" ending for them.
My main nit to pick is actually the ending. The pace disintegrates, and the last few pages I felt I was being told what happened rather than experiencing it with the characters, which is a shame, because the rest of the story was so vibrantly written.
Rating: 3 1/2 pints of blood
Mona Lisa Betwining by Sunny (no last name, just Sunny) was a little darker in tone than the others, the language a little more flowery. I was strongly reminded of Laurell K Hamilton's writing, actually, and a quick search for reviews on Sunny's other books tells me pretty much everyone else on the internet feels the same way.
Mona Lisa is Special. She's one of the Queens of the Monere, the children of the moon, with the unique abilities and privileges granted only to the Queens. She's also the first Monere Queen ever to be partially human, and having been raised among humans, retains that sense of morality and perspective. Despite her grief over the recent death of her favourite lover, Gryphon, Mona Lisa has no shortage of beautiful men to warm her bed, all with their own supernatural abilities.
The short story has two sex scenes in it, one of them actually quite lengthy. As a result, there isn't a whole lot of plot; the story is more carried by Mona Lisa's musings about her current situation, her meeting with the Council to answer questions about her part in the death of another Monere Queen. She knows more than she's willing to tell them, for her own sake and the sake of her loyal men, who know more about the issue than is safe. As a result of her actions on the day the other Queen died, Mona Lisa has some disturbing new issues to deal with, issues she needs to find a way to solve from within.
I enjoyed the darker tone and some of the concepts in Mona Lisa Betwining, but the language and some of the descriptions bothered me a little. Sunny has a tendancy to use more words than she needs to, and some of her phrasing is downright redundant. ("It was not what I wanted. It was not what I desired.") There was more sex than plot, and while I have nothing against sex per se, I had expected more of an actual story in an anthology of urban fantasy stories.
Also? Is it a horrible faux-pas to use the word "penis" when you're writing a sex scene? I mean, you'd think it'd be easier just to say it than to be constantly coming up with creative euphemisms.
Rating: 2 1/2 pints of blood
Genre: Fantasy
Sub-genre: Paranormal, Urban fantasy
Rating: 3 1/2 pints of blood
I've mentioned before how much I like this cover. It's not just a random tight butt on the cover, like so many paranormal covers. Actually, my first impression is of the power of this woman, instead of her sexy little tush. The muscles in her back and arm are far more defined than is often considered "feminine," but considering she can take a chunk out of a stone wall without breaking a nail, it seems an appropriate form for her. Finally! An image of a woman who actually looks strong enough to kick some butt!
The rating is the overall average of the stories. Some of them I liked a lot more, some of them I wasn't so crazy about. They're all paranormal, urban fantasy stories featuring female protagonists, and they're actually a fair bit longer than what I normally think of a short story being. The shortest, Mona Lisa Betwining, was 62 pages long.
Alpha and Omega, Patricia Briggs's offering to the anthology, is the story of Charles and Anna. Set in the same world as the Mercy Thompson series with different characters, Charles and Anna are both werewolves. Charles is the Marrok's son, the second most powerful Alpha wolf in all of North America, and has been sent to Chicago to investigate some shady dealings that have recently come to the Marrok's attention.
The plot centres around Charles's investigation and the mystery of what exactly is going on in the Chicago wolf pack, but the meat of the story is in the burgeoning relationship between Charles and Anna. Anna makes for an interesting romantic heroine, as a victim of physical, sexual, and emotional abuse. She's more than a little wary of dominant wolves, and Charles is about as dominant as they come, but Charles's wolf side doesn't seem to care about the unlikeliness of the pairing, as it claims Anna for his mate upon first sight. This isn't a case of painting the heroine as a powerless victim, however. Anna is strong, and finds her own way to fight back against the people determined to keep her down. At one point, when Charles tells her he's interested in her, she unapologetically informs him she has zero interest in sex. As a rare Omega wolf, Anna has always mistakenly thought she's submissive, since she doesn't have any of the dominant instincts, but discovers she has unique abilities that by rights should exempt her from the usual pack hierarchy.
The writing is engaging, the story involving, and both Charles and Anna are interesting, sympathetic characters. My only issue is that 72 pages wasn't enough; I wanted more. Fortunately, their story continues in the upcoming Cry Wolf, which I will be picking up when it comes out in August.
Rating: 4 1/2 pints of blood
Inhuman by Eileen Wilks is by far the longest of the stories, and seems to be the setup for a new series. Kai and her neighbour Nathan live in a world where a few people have been Gifted with magical abilities. Believing her to be an empath, Kai's Gifted friends accept her as one of them, but the truth is far more complicated. Kai is a telepath, but she sees thoughts more than hears them, and as far as she knows, her abilities are unique. Given that there's a heated prejudice against magic and the Gifted as it is, Kai keeps the truth about her abilities quiet. Only Nathan knows her secret, and only she knows his; he's not human, much as he might appear it outwardly.
Things grow more complicated for Kai when dead bodies begin turning up, siphoned of blood by what are obviously supernatural means. Witnesses to the most recent murder remember seeing a woman wearing Kai's face, and the victims have all been Gifted, as well as acquaintances of Kai's. As a member of the local police force, Nathan is part of the investigation, and possibly the only one who can prevent Kai from being thrown in jail for a series of crimes no human could have committed.
The details about the supernaturals and their nature is pivotal to the story, but very slow in coming. I spent a more time than I would have liked trying to figure out what exactly was going on, because I had very little information to go on. The slow reveal was intentional, but I found it more frustrating than intriguing in this particular case. There are some really interesting ideas here, but I felt like I didn't really get to hear much of them, because the author was so busy trying to catch my attention by not telling me what was going on.
By the end of the story, I actually had more of a feel for Nathan than Kai, which strikes me as somewhat ironic, given that he's not human. Kai was more reactive than proactive, shaped by the events surrounding her, and even having read the story, I couldn't tell you much about her personality. Nathan had a little more sense of self, in spite of (or perhaps because of) his confusion over his own identity. Does looking like a man and talking like a man make him, in fact, a man?
Rating: 3 pints of blood
Karen Chance's Buying Trouble was actually the only story that didn't immediately strike me as a slice from a bigger, more ambitious project. It tells the tale of Clare, who is what's known as a Null among the magical crowd. Her ability basically serves to neutralise any other sources of magic around her, causing most mages and Fae to give her a wide berth. It works pretty well for her employer, however, who pays her to keep his auctions of powerful magical artifacts running smoothly. Since her presence is enough to keep the artifacts under control, it's a pretty simple job.
Or it was, until her boss got word that some powerful and wealthy people were after Claire, at which point he greedily decides to add her to his current auction. There are only two reasons someone would want to buy Claire, and they both result in her death. Her family wants to kill her to tie up some political loose ends, and the Harvesters can use a Null's life force to power a dramatic anti-magic bomb, the ultimate weapon in a battle between mages. In desperation, Claire does what she can to disrupt the auction, and the result looses the magical artifacts, one of which opens a portal, throwing Claire and a mysterious Fae into a dangerous part of Fairy. Now the two of them have to work together to get back to the human world without alerting their presence to any of the natives, all of whom seem eager to kill them on sight.
Fast-paced and fantastical, Buying Trouble is a fun read. Claire is a strong personality, a rather resourceful woman who takes what's thrown at her and just keeps rolling as best she can. Heidar, the mysterious Fey, is a likeable character in his own right, and the banter between the two of them is fantastic. The attraction between the two is very nicely handled, although after such a short time together I have a hard time believing in a "forever love" ending for them.
My main nit to pick is actually the ending. The pace disintegrates, and the last few pages I felt I was being told what happened rather than experiencing it with the characters, which is a shame, because the rest of the story was so vibrantly written.
Rating: 3 1/2 pints of blood
Mona Lisa Betwining by Sunny (no last name, just Sunny) was a little darker in tone than the others, the language a little more flowery. I was strongly reminded of Laurell K Hamilton's writing, actually, and a quick search for reviews on Sunny's other books tells me pretty much everyone else on the internet feels the same way.
Mona Lisa is Special. She's one of the Queens of the Monere, the children of the moon, with the unique abilities and privileges granted only to the Queens. She's also the first Monere Queen ever to be partially human, and having been raised among humans, retains that sense of morality and perspective. Despite her grief over the recent death of her favourite lover, Gryphon, Mona Lisa has no shortage of beautiful men to warm her bed, all with their own supernatural abilities.
The short story has two sex scenes in it, one of them actually quite lengthy. As a result, there isn't a whole lot of plot; the story is more carried by Mona Lisa's musings about her current situation, her meeting with the Council to answer questions about her part in the death of another Monere Queen. She knows more than she's willing to tell them, for her own sake and the sake of her loyal men, who know more about the issue than is safe. As a result of her actions on the day the other Queen died, Mona Lisa has some disturbing new issues to deal with, issues she needs to find a way to solve from within.
I enjoyed the darker tone and some of the concepts in Mona Lisa Betwining, but the language and some of the descriptions bothered me a little. Sunny has a tendancy to use more words than she needs to, and some of her phrasing is downright redundant. ("It was not what I wanted. It was not what I desired.") There was more sex than plot, and while I have nothing against sex per se, I had expected more of an actual story in an anthology of urban fantasy stories.
Also? Is it a horrible faux-pas to use the word "penis" when you're writing a sex scene? I mean, you'd think it'd be easier just to say it than to be constantly coming up with creative euphemisms.
Rating: 2 1/2 pints of blood