Acorna by Anne McCaffrey & Margaret Ball

Semi-spoiler free reread review.

I honestly cannot remember the last time I reread Acorna. I do remember being absolutely enamored with it. Acorna was probably my first "Adult" sci-fi book, though rereading it now, it definitely feels more in the Young Adult sphere... though the themes of child slavery and pedophilia are very strong here, through the second half of the book. Honestly, the whole thing reads like fairly rushed setup. It's not bad, exactly, just quite rushed. There's not really much given time to breathe properly.

I kind of enjoyed some of the world-building here. It's interesting that Islam has apparently survived into the far future, though I know next to nothing about it so I can't speak to how accurate its portrayal is or isn't. The stuff with Jana in the mines was quite vivid, also reminding me of Mercedes Lackey's Mags character ( The Collegium Chronicles ) in the process. But that's really where the world-building excelled. Everything else just kind of fell flatly into "here's a planet with very delineated class boundaries we're not really going to look into" territory.

I felt Acorna's rise to mythical figure happened way too fast. It was, what, weeks, maybe? That was also very unclear. Also the adult relationships just falling into place. Everything neatly tied off with a bow, though technically open ended was Calum and Acorna are presumably going off in the next book to actually find her planet. Even the over-arching menaces/antagonists were a non-issue. it was very clear Acorna et. al. had plot-armor out the wazoo from the beginning. Just... yeah. Everything felt rushed. There was enough detail to keep one interested but... other than that... bleh. I definitely wasn't as into Acorna this time around as I used to be. Really hoping the rest of the series is better. 

Favorite Line

"Can any system really compete with the massive inefficiencies of a well-entrenched bureaucracy?" - Rafik Harakamian 

Snake-Eater by T. Kingfisher

I found Snake-Eater to be utterly delightful. I thought it was fairly chill, with good characters and a story that pulled you along. I thought the mythology portion of the story was well done. Nothing was too info-dump-y, which makes a nice change from what I’ve been reading lately.

I thought Selena’s host of mental issues was well-handled. Lord knows I felt very seen when she was repeating “scripts” over and over. I do that exact thing. Selena almost felt like a self-insert character, where the self-insertion was me. It was cool watching her come into her own.

I enjoyed the short discussion on spirits vs gods vas Christianity. I very much liked Father Aguirre’s take on the whole thing. Very nuanced and true to someone of his parentage.

I don’t really have much else to say about Snake-Eater. It was definitely a fun read. 

Favorite Lines

“The first commandment is ‘Thou shalt have no other gods before Me,’” he said gently. “It doesn’t say that there aren’t any others, or that you shouldn’t be polite when you meet them." - Father Aguirre

"Fire Marshal Jenny reminds everyone that our fire risk is extremely high, and if you burn down the desert, everyone’s going to be pissed." - DJ Raven

“Ain’t no kill like overkill,” - Grandma Billy   

The Harlequin by Laurell K. Hamilton

A mostly spoiler free reread review.

First and foremost: Forbidding any knowledge of The Harlequin to even be passed to a Human Servant or Animal to Call is a dumbass rule. If Anita hadn’t learned about The Harlequin, she definitely would have held this stupid ass secret over Jean Claude’s head for the rest of their lives and probably, given how he doesn’t even want to accidentally tell her via their dreams, she would have found at that way eventually anyway. Stupid, stupid rule. I’m glad Anita gets to say as much about an adjacent part of the rules. I do also wonder, if The Rules say The Harlequin are not to be even mentioned, how does knowledge of them and their Rules get passed around?

It makes me happy that Anita is able to talk out her Nathaniel issues with Nathaniel.

Oh hey, Edward’s back. I didn’t super realize I’d been missing him, but I was so… yay? I super hate that he was forced to bring Olaf in on this. I fuckin' hate Olaf. He's not at all interesting to me and is really just gross. I did kind of like Peter being around, but, like Anita, have issues with that because he's friggin' 16. Even if trauma made him grow up quicker, it's not great to have him almost get killed so young.

Yet AGAIN, we have to deal with Richard and his issues. I’m so, so tired of this. I know Anita is also tired of this. They need to just stop letting him in whenever he shows up unannounced. I understand The Harlequin are in town and you want the Triumvirate all together but come on. Get the man his own room where he can go and not bother others with his bullshit. It feels like Richard's shit has finally come to a head, but it's felt kind of like that before, so I'm not actually holding out hope. I mean, I know, because this is a reread, that he gets "better" and becomes less present overall, but I cannot for the life of me remember when that actually starts happening. Whatever, he needs to stop showing up and fucking everyone over at exactly the wrong moments.

The backstory recaps feel clumsy here. Very “we both know this information but I’m gonna tell you anyway” followed by the larger context. I understand you’re kind of supposed to be able to pick up any book and understand what’s going on at any given point but… it’s getting ridiculous.

Politics, oh politics, I hate the effing politics. <— that was in a little sing-song voice in my head. But seriously, I hate the politics of this crap. I also hate Dolph taking out his issues on Anita. She should have told him to fuck off way before she did. Honestly, Dolph is devolving the same way Richard has. All that hatred interfering with his job and making him a less likeable character... I don't like it and am super tired of it.

The Harlequin seemed to take me forever to read. I just had to keep stopping every few paragraphs in places because the characters were just annoying me so much. I do like The Harlequin as a concept and they do eventually make a more robust appearance than they do here. I had been expecting (as it's been so long since I first read this) that to happen here, but it didn't, so I am a little disappointed. So... yeah. I'm overall frustrated with the series at this point. I think rereading them all in a bunch like this isn't the best method for a reread. 

Favorite Line

"Friends want what's best for you more than they want sex." - Anita Blake

In Other News 

So, for those who don't follow me on Social Media (Threads is where I hang out 99% of the time these days) I have been spending most of my time in Pokemon Land. While waiting for the Pokemon Legends: Z-A DLC, I was using the Vizualizer function over on OviPets to create Pokemon. Did from Bulbasaur to Wigglytuff, making my to-do OviPets Project List way longer... I'm not even halfway through the Kanto Dex. 😫

And now the Pokemon Legends: Z-A DLC (Mega Dimension) has been released. I've been enjoying it. It's honestly more of the same, just with more Pokemon and black-and-white Lumiose settings.

I have decided to take a break from my Anita Blake reread. I think the next few books will make me less frustrated overall, but... I'll pick that up in the new year. I'm going to be jumping into Anne McCaffrey & Margaret Ball's Acorna series. I read and reread the first book several times in my early teen years and now it's time to jump back in and actually read the whole series. 

A House Between Sea and Sky by Beth Cato

I’m not sure exactly what I was expecting from A House Between Sea and Sky, but it was a delightful read. It’s full of surprises and fun characters. I largely just enjoyed the ride. It’s fun to see a twist on mythologies I’m familiar with. I won’t spoil it, but I guessed fairly early on the provenance of The House. Finding out I was right only made it more fun. A House Between Sea and Sky is another one of those I don’t really have a lot of thoughts about, so I’ll leave it here. It was a fun, chill read. Exactly what I needed with the holiday chaos around me. 

Favorite Lines

"Men were the worst creatures to unexpectedly meet in the dark." - Fayette Wynne Narration

"While help could be fine sometimes, there was no freedom like that of wandering among full bookshelves." - Fayette Wynne Narration  

Danse Macabre by Laurell K. Hamilton

Ah yes, the pregnancy scare book. I have been kind of dreading rereading this mess. That said, I am very happy Anita and Ronnie can have the frank conversation around abortion they have. It’s kind of fantastic. Ronnie’s whole mess is… not. Girl clearly has issues, but that’s largely not what this book is about.

There is alot of talking in this book. Talk about Master Vampires. Talk about Anita’s powers. Talk about pregnancy. Talk about Marmee Noir. It’s honestly no wonder my brain took in the important bits and discarded the rest over the years… I honestly didn’t even remember how this book went, like, at all. Merlin… for such a powerful vampire, literally does not show up again and I just forgot he existed. Go figure.

Second book in a row Richard has accused Anita of rape. Sir… stop. Also, the fact that he’s still holding out hope for a white picket fence with Anita at this point is just gross. He really, really needs therapy. Or to actually do therapy rather than just going for the sake of going. I wouldn’t want him anywhere near a hypothetical child, either, at this point, regardless of whether or not he’s the father. If your worldview hasn’t shifted to account for actual reality as of yet, that tells me you’re unhinged. I don’t know how much “real world” time has passed, but it’s been several books and enough has happened that Richard’s worldview should have adjusted to reality by now. Seriously, this discussion about Richard’s illusions happens a couple times within a few chapters of each other. Ugh! I am so very over Richard at this point.

All of that said about Richard, specifically, I do like that there is a wider discussion about women and pregnancy and children and expectations around all of this. I’m fairly certain it helped shape my views on the whole thing. I did originally read this book as a teenager, after all. This and being around young children for a chunk of my life certainly worked together to shape how I feel about the whole thing.

It’s interesting “watching” Anita puzzle out what she’s feeling. It feels sort of like an extended therapy session except the boys aren’t professional therapists in any sense. There is honestly so, so much of this that feels like that and not just for Anita herself. Augustine and Asher also get some random talk-therapy here.

I enjoy how we’re not gonna talk about the fact that Belle gave Anita a Human Servant Mark… so technically, Anita’s calling power for both Belle and Jean-Claude… but apparently that’s just a non-issue or something? I feel like that bit of lore is super forgotten about.

The intro of Vlad and Mowgli syndromes is interesting. I do always enjoy my bits of world-building that really make the world feel lived-in. Didn’t really think about birth defects before this point and now… still probably won’t think real hard about them, but it’s nice to know someone thought about them. I also liked that we got some stuff about how were-lions tend to work. Fun stuff, the weird mixing of human and animal cultural crap that happens within Lycanthrope societies. Kinda dumb, to be honest, but we apparently gotta appease the animal bits or else they’ll tear the human bits apart, I guess. Much shrugging.

I had completely forgotten the whole thing with Auggie and how it was the impetus for figuring out what was actually going on with Anita’s powers. I think I, too, would have freaked the fuck out if I realized it was my powers that had drawn all the important people in my life to me and I’d had zero idea. I don’t especially love that Micah goes “We’re almost thirty, Anita.” in the middle of his argument against her freaking out… but… yeah…

So yeah… so. Much. Talking. It’s not a super bad thing, but it also kind of felt slog-ish to get through at points. Might have been the particular characters involved or might have been the real world encroaching on how much brain-space I have for the fictional world. I liked Danse Macabre well enough. Probably going to forget most of it again, though. Heh. 

Favorite Lines

"The practicalities of life do not cease needing to be done just because other things are going wrong." - Jean-Claude

"Feelings are never stupid, they just make us feel stupid sometimes." - Nathaniel Graison 

Reviews Batch 15

 Alright so... this next pair of reviews are quite short and so I'm posting them together. Enjoy.

 

Micah by Laurell K. Hamilton

Short Reread Review

I liked Micah a lot. It was short, sweet, and packed a good chunk of backstory in. 

 

 

Incubus Dreams by Laurell K. Hamilton

2025 Reread Review

Incubus Dreams is another really focused on Anita's "power creep" and the fallout from it. She, Nathaniel, and Damien are now joined in a second Triumvirate and that's had some consequences. First and foremost, Anita has to remember to actually take care of herself. I find that aspect of having to remember to eat very relatable. Sometimes you're just not hungry and have to force yourself to eat. At least most of us don't also have metaphysical hungers to deal with.

Incubus Dreams is also the book where the character count starts to jump up. There are lots of men to keep track of and that list is not about to get shorter. That said, this is really Nathaniel's book to shine. Anita realizes she's actually moving him into the boyfriend category and I could honestly not be more happy about it. I love Nathaniel. He is precious and must be protected above all else. Heh.

Unlike the last few books, I feel like Anita's work life was better worked into the overall story. It didn't feel as tacked on as it has been. Although I will say, I really, really don't enjoy the inclusion of racist, sexist police officers. I know the series is set in the South and that kind of thing is probably more rampant that I'd like to think... or rather, not think about, but I really don't need it in my fiction. Unfortunately, Anita has to deal with it so... ugh. I think this sort of thing is where that one person on Threads got confused... Anita herself doesn't hold these views, but boy do the rando police officers she has to deal with. Again... ugh.

I liked the world-building around Anita's necromancy powers. I like the idea that we can't raise murder victims because they're essentially rabid until they kill their murderer. Also the reiteration that raising the dead is something Anita absolutely has to do or roadkill starts coming to life... and certain constants needing to be observed despite the "power creep" providing alternative methods of doing the necromantic stuff.

So yeah, Incubus Dreams may have taken me a month to get through this go-round, but it was fairly solid. 

Favorite Lines

"Stop poking at it, Anita. Your heart is not a wound to be poked at to see if the scab is ready to come off. You can be healed of that very old pain, if you'll just let it happen." - Marianne

"Love was not the nice, neat, linear thing I'd wanted it to be. It was not just one thing, but many things." - Anita Blake

"There comes a point where you just love someone. Not because they're good, or bad, or anything really. You just love them. It doesn't mean you'll be together forever. It doesn't mean you won't hurt each other. It just means you love them. Sometimes in spite of who they are, and sometimes because of who they are. And you know that they love you, sometimes because of who you are, and sometimes in spite of it." - Anita Blake

"Guarantees are for major appliances, not for murder." - Anita Blake 

     "Rape is rape, Richard. Is a woman less raped because she likes men? That's a question, Richard."

     "No, of course not," he said.

     "Then why is it less rape for a man who likes men to be raped by another man?" - Anita Blake & Richard Zeeman