Elrod, P.N.: Dark and Stormy Knights
Dark and Stormy Knights (2010)
Edited by: P.N. Elrod
Genre: Short Stories/Urban Fantasy
Pages: 357 (ARC)
Disclaimer: free from publisher via LibraryThing
Release Date: July 20, 2010
I debated on signing up for this ARC. I haven't had the best luck when it comes to urban fantasy anthologies, and this one in particular looked more paranormal romance than urban fantasy. Not that there's anything WRONG with paranormal romance, but I can only handle it on small doses, and even then, sometimes I can't handle it at all.
But the deciding factor for signing up for this ARC was the fact that I knew that Carrie Vaughn had a Cormac story in this anthology, and rightly or wrongly, I was under the impression the Cormac story would take place after the events of Kitty Takes a Holiday, and I had to read the sucker. Plus, the anthology boasted of Ilona Andrews, and since I've been turned on to the Kate Daniels world, I figured getting this anthology for free would be worth the time reading it, even if very few stories appealed to me.
The premise: cheesy, but ganked from Amazon.com: They’re the ultimate defenders of humanity-modern day knights who do dark deeds for all the right reasons. In this all-star collection, nine of today’s hottest paranormal authors bring us thrilling, all-new stories of supernatural knights that are brimming with magic mystery and mayhem.
John Marcone sets aside his plans to kill Harry Dresden to go head-to-head with a cantrev lord in Jim Butcher’s "Even Hand". Kate Daniels is called upon for bodyguard duty to protect Saimen, a shifter she trusts less than the enemy in Ilona Andrews’ "A Questionable Client". Cormac must stop a killer werewolf before it attacks again on the next full moon in Carrie Vaughn’s "God’s Creatures". And in Vicki Pettersson’s "Shifting Star", Skamar gets more than she bargained for when she goes after a creature kidnapping young girls--and enlists the aid of her frustratingly sexy neighbor.
When everything’s on the line, will these knights complete their missions and live to fight again another day?
Review style: I'm going through each story with brief thoughts and my verdict on said piece and whether or not it makes me want to read more of the author's work, or in the cases where I'm already reading the author, how it fits into the chronology of the existing series and whether or not you'll be MAJORLY SPOILED if you read the story in this anthology out of a certain order. No spoilers, because that would be evil, so continue reading with no fears. :)
"A Questionable Client"
by Ilona Andrews
I really worried about reading this story before reading Andrews's latest, Magic Bleeds, which is the fourth book in the series. In fact, I was going to read said fourth book in the series BEFORE this anthology, but LibraryThing pays attention to whether or not you're reviewing (in LT) the free books you're getting, and if you're not reviewing them, you don't get another book to review. So I wanted to get this book read and reviewed before the end of June so that I could be eligible for the book(s) I want to win in July.
All that's to say, I had nothing to fear. Not only does "A Questionable Client" NOT spoil Magic Bleeds, but it takes place before the series even starts. This is a plus, because if you've never read Andrews before, you're introduced to this world in a way that gives you the absolute most you need to enjoy the story without feeling lost, and if you're a veteran Andrews reader, you get a bit of backstory to enjoy. The backstory? The first time Kate meets Saiman. Quite fun, and the ending amused me to no end in regards to a certain question that Kate asks somebody. You'll know it when you see it. :)
A good story, and I think it's pretty darn safe for both non-Andrews and Andrews readers alike.
"Even Hand"
by Jim Butcher
So if you've been reading this blog for a while, you may know that Jim Butcher's Storm Front didn't impress me much. People kept telling me how the series gets much better with book three and beyond, but you know what? I didn't want to have to read the so-so books to get there (and I tried. I read the first page of Fool Moon and said, "Forget it.") and frankly, I'm not that impressed with the world anyway. I know, that makes me a bad person. That being said, I was curious if this short story would spoil me for the Dresden series, and whether it did or not, if it would re-ignite my interest.
The story is from the POV of John Marcone, who is apparently Dresden's numero uno enemy and wants to kill the Wizard. Oookay. But the story had a good, solid voice and I enjoyed myself. And by time I was finished, I wondered: is it a bad thing I prefer this character to Dresden himself? Probably, but oh well.
The story itself is narrated by John Marcone, who--while criminal--has a certain set of rules he won't break and is put in a position to break them. The story unfolds once he makes the decision whether or not to break those said rules. I'd be more specific, but why spoil anything? I did pretty well considering I only read Storm Front, and the story did remind me of things I'd forgotten, like how technology shorts out when Dresden is near. I never felt lost, but I'm not entirely sure how someone who's never read Dresden before would fare. I think said reader would be fine. Also, no spoilers that I could catch, short of the fact that there's a character named John Marcone who wants to kill Harry Dresden, and that's not much of a spoiler from my POV. A nice read, but it doesn't make me want to break down and read more Dresden books.
"The Beacon"
by Shannon K. Butcher
I didn't know this before now, but yep, Shannon K. Butcher is the wife of the above Jim Butcher. Cool! From what I can gather, she's more of the paranormal romance fare, which is fun. I bet she and her hubby have a ton of fun bouncing ideas off of each other.
At any rate, I worried a little when I realized Butcher was a paranormal romance writer. I wasn't in the mood for any such thing in this anthology, but Butcher wrote a pretty solid story where the only "betrayal" of her paranormal romance roots was what I considered the unnecessary flip-flop between the male and female POV. Why is that such a red flag in my mind? Because the style is SO COMMON in romance that seeing it elsewhere feels false? I don't know, but I was worried when I saw the (what I thought was) unnecessary POV flipping, but the story doesn't have an ounce of romance in it. It's an interesting tale of a man who kills Beacons, which I (rightly or wrongly) interpreted to me people who called demons forth, but said demons would destroy the Beacon and then the surrounding town before daylight sent it back to hell. Cool! Only in this story, I'm not sure how the Beacon was, well, a Beacon, if my understanding of how Beacons work was correct. I kept expecting there to be a twist in regards to how Beacons form, but there was no such twist, which makes my satisfaction slightly less, because if it's just random, then Beacons being old men shouldn't be as common as it is. That's all I'll say without spoiling you. But it's a good story, even though I felt the POV flipping was unnecessary and didn't help fully develop either character, which led to a slight superficial, two dimensional sense of emotional attachment (just because a character has a kid who's in MORTAL DANGER does not for sympathy make. Or maybe I'm heartless . . . ?). Anyway. I couldn't tell if this was part of a larger world-building novel series or not, which is good, because I never felt lost. That said, I don't feel compelled to seek out more of this author's work. That's not a damning critique, it's just that nothing caught my eye with this installment, so for me to want to read more from the author, something else is going to have to catch my eye.
"Even a Rabbit Will Bite"
by Rachel Caine
Hands down, the BEST story in the anthology. I loved this. Not only am I one-hundred precent sure this is a stand-alone piece, but it's just a wonderfully complete story with strong characters, a solid plot, and an excellent ending. YAY.
The story: an old lady as your kick-ass heroine who is the last Dragonslayer on Earth. Time is current day, and there's only one dragon LEFT on Earth, and they're too old to bother with each other. But the Pope's appointed a new Dragonslayer, so Lisel is forced to train an apprentice. I'll shut up now, because I don't want to spoil a darn thing.
But the story is full of surprises, both big and little. At first, I thought Lisel was a little too judgmental, but given how OLD she is (she was forced to drink dragon's blood at her initiation back in the Middle Ages, so she's got a certain limited kind of immortality), I can't blame her. And as the story neared its end, I couldn't get over how COOL it was to have an old lady as a narrator! And the end, oh the END. I so thought ONE THING was going to happen, as that was the book nudges you into thinking, but then ANOTHER THING happened, and it was so awesome.
I've read Rachel Caine before and enjoyed the hell out of her writing, and I've got two more books waiting for me to pick them up. But I swear, after reading this gem, I was sorely tempted to pick up EVERYTHING ELSE she's got. I'm not kidding. I eyed her YA series for a LONG time in Borders on Sunday. I refrained, but only because I have two books of hers on the shelf.
So verdict? A+++ This story alone is worth the price of the anthology.
"Dark Lady"
by P.N. Elrod
So I was doing pretty well up until this story, but there were a couple of things that turned me off of it as soon as I started reading. The first, I don't care for editors putting their own work in their own anthologies. It's a personal peeve of mine: it makes me think the only reason the editor is DOING said anthology is to inflict their writing on the public who wouldn't look at their work otherwise. Yes, I know that's cynical of me, but that's the first thing I think of when I see it done.
I also really hated the little intro paragraph. Sure, it sets the tone for the story, but I really don't like the tone. The voice didn't work, I didn't care for the noir feel, and I was just grumpy about the whole thing. Obviously, I'm not P.N. Elrod's ideal reader.
The story is a Jack Fleming story, which means nothing to me short of saying that I discovered Elrod does have a series focusing on this character. You'd think that alone would irritate me, but honestly, Elrod did write it well enough that for people like me who aren't familiar with this series AT ALL won't be lost. So that's a plus. And by the end, it's a cute story: the set-up being that a woman comes to Jack for help finding her missing fiance, and trouble ensues. The story works, but suffers from being right after the TOTALLY AWESOME Rachel Caine story, and the tone and humor don't appeal to me anyway.
"Beknighted"
by Deidre Knight
Another paranormal romance writer I've not heard of. The story follows an artist who's obsessed with this knight she keeps seeing in her dreams, so she tries to bring him to life by painting him. But she's missing a crucial ingredient to make that literally happen, and when said ingredient lands on her lap, she's has to seriously consider the cost of accepting.
This story didn't appeal to me at all. For starters, short of the actual painting, I wasn't sure what else was going on with Anna's trade, so I had a hard time figuring out how stuff worked and how to visualize it all. Also an issue for me was Anna's attitude. I just didn't care for how snarky she was in the face of a patron (why do snarky characters seem to be the easy route to strong characters?), then her waffling when it came to doing what need to be done. I had a short burst of interest when I realized there was some SERIOUS Christian symbolism going on, and I hoped the backstory would play that up, but that doesn't seem to be the case. So this story, even before the romance element made an appearance, lost me from the start.
But I do think this story is a stand-alone, so kudos there.
I am amused, however, that the author, whose last name is Knight is writing about a knight in anthology called Dark and Stormy Knights. :)
"Shifting Star"
by Vicki Pettersson
I kind of dreaded this story, because I didn't care much for Pettersson's The Scent of Shadows, and I really hoped this short story wouldn't take place in the same world. Sadly, it did.
However, here's something interesting to note: 1) the story works without being familiar with the world (or at least, being passingly familiar with the world), and Pettersson gives you what you need to understand what's at stake. In fact, I learned MORE about the world with this story than I did reading the first book! 2) the story does, however, spoil what I consider to be MAJOR events and revelations in the series. I can't tell you when the story takes place in the timeline, but based on what I know in book one, I have to admit I was blinking in shock to learn some of the things I learned, so if you're new to Pettersson's series, you may want to hold off reading this story until you're caught up.
The story: Skamar (cool name) is looking into a case of missing little girls who share a certain number of characteristics as someone who's REALLY important to her, so she's not only trying to find the missing girls, but she's trying to stop the kidnappings from continuing. Along the way, a romantic entanglement pops up that could change everything she ever thought about life, literally.
At first I was annoyed for reasons I've already discussed. But my interest was piqued and it held, and by the end, I found myself surprised that I enjoyed it. I really liked how Pettersson handled the romance element, and I found myself drawn more into the world here than I had been in the first book. It makes me wonder if I want to give this series another shot, but we'll see.
"Rookwood and Mrs. King"
by Lilith Saintcrow
This is the first thing I've read of Saintcrow's (though her YA series has caught my eye and I keep wondering about it), but to be honest, this didn't impress me much. Of all the stories in this anthology, it was my least favorite, and honestly, I can't say if this tale is meant to be a stand-alone or part of a series. It reads like the latter, but I can't find anything online to support my theory (not that I tried hard to find out). That said, if it's meant to be a stand-alone story to be enjoyed by anyone and everyone, I don't like that it made me feel like I was missing something. I also didn't like Saintcrow's tendency to flash forward a bit in the narrative. Example: character waits outside in the driveway, and then the next line, before he goes in, is "if only he'd gotten there sooner, then…" and then the narrative continues from where it left off prior to the "if only." This happened a couple of times and annoyed the snot out of me, because it sets up a HUGE expectation, and the payoff never fulfills.
Rookwood is, well, a private detective who was at least PARTIALLY turned into a vampire and is looking for a way to get revenge on the THING who bit him. I say thing because that's how Rookwood refers to vamps, which was pretty annoying to be honest. Not much about this story grabbed me, because I kept questioning the world-building and how these vampires worked, and I never felt I got solid answers, though Saintcrow did try to provide enough for me to extrapolate. Maybe I'm dense? But this tale didn't work for me, so my interest in the author's work has waned a wee bit while I pursue authors who have a better hold of my attention span.
"God's Creatures"
by Carrie Vaughn
So you already know I nabbed this anthology for this story alone, right? After all, I'm an unabashed Carrie Vaughn fan, and while I haven't read all of her short fiction, I have read all of her novels to date (and two new ones come out soon!).
The good news about this story is that it IS a Cormac story. The bad news is that it doesn't take place where I hoped it would in the timeline (aka, after Kitty Takes a Holiday). The GOOD news is that it takes place before the series starts (I think) and spoils absolutely NOTHING of the Kitty Norville books, and whether or not you're familiar with the series, you can read this story without feeling like you're missing out on anything at all.
The story is simple: Cormac's hired to take out a werewolf that's going rogue. That's the premise. But by the end, we see something change in Cormac's character, and that change makes me wonder if that's why he was able to act as he did in Kitty and the Midnight Hour. But that's beside the point. The point is, we have a solid story from the POV of a character we could ALL use more of, and it's a good story where the character is a little different at the end than he was in the beginning. Better still, Vaughn writes this from a solid third-person POV, and it's easy to slip into Cormac's way of seeing things.
As I'm already an unabashed fan, this does nothing but give me a happy nugget to chew on while I wait for the next Kitty book. It's a good read, and Vaughn fans should be more than pleased, and as far as non-Vaughn fans go, I think they'll be happy with a story that stands on its own two feet and asks some tough questions. :)
My Rating
Worth the Cash: yes, I got this for free, but if I'd paid for it, I'd be happy with my purchase. My ARC did have some things that I hope get fixed in the final print run (darker ink in the author bios, fixed typos, etc), but overall, that's my only real complaint. I really thought this anthology (based on the cover and title) would be more paranormal romance stories than straight up urban fantasy, but of the nine stories, only two have a paranormal romance flavor, and even in those cases, the paranormal romance isn't the focus. So if any of you were hesitant because you're more urban fantasy than paranormal romance, never fear: you'll be FINE. For you paranormal romance readers, your reading of this anthology solely depends on how much romance you require to enjoy something and/or whether or not you're a fan of the contributing authors.
On the whole, it's a very solid anthology with stories that stand on their own two feet even if they're set in established universes. The only story set in an existing universe that kind of spoils events of that universe's series is "Shifting Star" by Vicki Pettersson. Everyone else's stories read as stand-alones and are great intros/yummy nuggets to the author's established series. Hands down, the best story was Rachel Caine's "Even a Rabbit Will Bite," which was truly a stand-alone story. That's not what made it totally awesome, but it really helped. The Andrews, Jim Butcher, Pettersson, and Vaughn stories were also good, but I'd rate the Vaughn and Andrews much higher than the Pettersson and Butcher. The Shannon K. Butcher story was not bad, and I just didn't care for the Elrod, Knight, or Saintcrow pieces. But overall, great odds for an anthology, especially considering what bad luck I have reading anthologies in urban fantasy/paranormal romance. This one's worth it for any fan of any of the contributing authors, and if you're not a fan of these authors and are just looking for a sampling to see if you'll even like them, then I have to say: it's a solid sampling of authors in the genre. Well worth the cash.
Cover Commentary: while the review copy doesn't say, I'm pretty sure this is another wonderful Chris McGrath cover, and it's one of the reasons the book caught my eye. Hopefully, the actual edition won't be quite as dark as my copy is (you don't know there's a guy kneeling down until see the image I used in the review!), but it's a great cover, and definitely eye-catching for fans of the genre. Look, Ma! No tattoos!