Moonshine by Rob Thurman

My assessment at the beginning of my Nightlife review was that the Leandros brothers were reminding me of the Winchesters. This has definitely subsided with this book. Niko's personality fits neither of the Winchesters, even if Cal is solidly in the Dean category.

The world building really stood out to me this time around. Mostly in the smattering of new "critters" we were introduced to. A slightly deeper look at the werewolves was nice, too... and the vampires. I think Cal's discovery the vampires are born and not made in his world is a creepy, if effective little scene. As for the werewolves, they're still mostly in the dark as far as the reader knowing little about them. What we get of them is a tiny corner of their gangster arm. I have a vague memory of that being all there is to the werewolves, but it's really vague as I last read Roadkill 14 years ago.

Moonshine is pretty well paced; there's never a dull moment. That said, there are a lot of scene transitions that involve Cal either passing out or falling asleep. Enough that I noticed it seemed to happen a lot. The story also feels kind of disjointed from itself at times. Especially once Cal has the Callabassa in his hands... the first time. I won't spoil what happens with that, but it felt like the gut-punch it was meant to aaaand then we got a tiny road trip.

Given that it's been 14 years, I was not expecting to remember much from Moonshine, but I did remember enjoying Flay/Snowball as soon as he was "on screen." I felt he was a nice addition to the dynamics that are still somewhat working themselves out with the crew. I don't remember if he shows up again, but I liked his character. Also, it's lucky for Cal that child werewolves' wolf form ages with their relative human mental age as opposed to how wolves actually age, cuz I can just imagine him trying to drag Slay around if Slay wasn't puppy-sized.

I don't really have a lot to say about George. I do think she's rather pushy on the Cal front, which is ultimately to he detriment, I think. I also feel like Cal's advice to her at the end is good advice. Blindly going along with what you think is the end-game without looking at all the pit-stops along the way is just not great. I also really think she doesn't understand just how violent Cal's life, and subsequently her life, is or will be... which is exactly why Cal told her to look at their future.

But yeah, Moonshine was a solid follow up to Nightlife and a solid entry into the Cal Leandros series.

Favorite Lines

"I sleep with it, Nik. I damn sure carry it when we're facing killer clowns." - Caliban Leandros

"A demon is a demon, Cal. If he's human, he'll simply be easier to kill." - Niko Leandros

In Other News

I have completed another OviPets project! This one is based on the Digimon: Pajiramon. Pajiramon took me a year and four months. I did the face-marking tattoo.

Nightlife by Rob Thurman

Pretty sure I first read Nightlife before I watched Supernatural. That said, this time around, Nightlife is giving me Supernatural vibes. It’s probably due to the similarities. Cal and Niko are brothers. There’s a “hidden” supernatural world they’re having to navigate through. Cal and Niko are working under the table for money. Cal and Niko have fairly similar banter to Sam and Dean. Both Cal and Sam have supernatural powers… I mean, Cal’s are admittedly much, much less impressive than Sam’s, but there that is. Their names are ordered the same and it’s weird if you switch them around: younger brother’s name first. Ya know, just stuff I’ve noticed this reread.

Nightlife was my first introduction to Robin Goodfellow. I’m not entirely sure if that’s colored my later readings of other Robin Goodfellows, but I definitely think of this one when Robin Goodfellow or Puck are mentioned. This particular version of Robin also got mixed with Lorne from Angel, in mannerisms if not looks, so that’s where my head’s at.

This time around, I’m wondering why Cal and Niko have to be so off the grid. The Auphe/Grendels are presumably the only things trying to track them down and they certainly aren’t looking at credit card records so… what gives? Seems to me Cal and Niko could pretty much have regular jobs and stuff, just, ya know, they have to move around a lot. Just strikes me as odd now.

The werewolves of this universe are interesting. Don’t really get to see the human side with animal mutations a lot — or at all —, mostly it’s human form, animal form, and half-form.

I quite like the concept of the Darkling. He’s a neat take on the banshee legend. Kind of wish there was more about his powers, but what’s there suffices for the story. I also liked Darkling as a character. Switching and yet not switching POVs mid book is bold for a first book in the series, but I feel like it was done well enough.

Nightlife is honestly fun. Not particularly deep, but fun. It’s got its own mythology that’s pretty neat. Cal, Niko, and Robin are quite vivid as characters. The threat both personal and not, which makes it more engaging than it otherwise might have been.

Favorite Line

"We all have security blankets in this world. Some are just sharper than others." - Caliban Leandros

Hunter of the Dead by Stephen Kozeniewski

Hunter of the Dead ultimately tried to cram too much into not enough time. I feel like it should have been longer or split into more than one book. There’s a lot of lore, a lot of gore, and just too much plot to really make that much of an impact. And then it devolves into all-out chaos so… yeah.

Well I’m amused at Twilight being used as a “sacred text.” That and the Harry Potter reference tell me this author is truly a ‘90’s child. Or at least one that grew up in the 2000’s.

This business of vampires having heirs is a little hilarious to me. Heirs are there to take over if something happens to the head of the family. Theoretically, nothing should happen to the head of a vampire family so there should be no reason for an heir. Just need a second in command to take some of the “head of the family” edge off. But nah, apparently even the super-long-lived vamps like Cicatrice and Otto have heirs. Just very weird and funny to me that they apparently except to die at some point. Foreshadowing, don’t ya know.

“Idi Han, after eight hundred long years of life my power is limited only by the laws of physics.” - Cicatrice says this and I am just sitting here, shaking my head. The laws of physics, you say? Limiting, you say? Then how the fuck are you as strong as you are, or as fast? I would think those powers wouldn’t be a thing if the laws of physics held sway. Especially not the whole crazy regeneration thing these vamps have going on. But sure, physics are the limit.

There is a point where I’m extremely glad I’m not a “visual” reader. So much gore. Gratuitous gore. For, like, zero reason other than just to be gross. Maybe drive home that the vampires are frickin strong and don’t care about mortals. Whatever. It was too much for too little pay off.

I have zero investment in the apparent Idi Han/Nico “romance.” They’ve barely met and it’s just boring crap. Honestly, they’re both fairly boring by themselves. I’m really not sure about either of their motivations and then Idi Han seems to do this 360 that’s just bleh… Not impressed.

I feel like the character work really suffered for the sake of the plot. I didn’t really get a feel for Idi Han or Nico’s motivations. Would have liked to know more about Price and Cicatrice’s relationship or Price and Bonaparte or both. Would have really liked to get to know the characters better, so maybe I would have really cared what happened to them in the end.

Honestly, I was just racing toward the end for the last 80-some-odd pages. Just so much chaos and not enough of me caring. I ultimately didn’t even give a crap about The Hunter reveal. None of that was my cup of tea.

Favorite Line

“I’ll let you in on a secret, kid. I don’t know what the fuck I’m doing or where I’m going. But I’m doing it confidently. And as long as you can do that, people will listen to you.” - Carter Price

Sunstone: Volume 5-7 by Stjepan Šejić

Volume 5

Well, this one is the “end” of Lisa and Ally’s story-arc. It’s very satisfying. “Our story” had me in tears, not gonna lie. Fuckin-A. I wasn’t expecting to be in tears, given I’ve read this before, but man… “Our Story” is just awesome.

I feel like Lisa’s plan to write her feelings to Ally was a good idea, just definitely flawed in the execution. After all, it took Anne explaining to Ally about the texty subtext for Ally to get it. And that was only because Lisa explained it to Anne during that apology.

But yeah, Volume 5 was really good. I love the story and the art.

Sunstone: Volume 1-4 by Stjepan Šejić

So, as you will shortly find out, I have been reading Sunstone since I stumbled across Stjepan Sejic's DeviantArt page. So, like, years. I didn't really feel like I had the disposable income to purchase Sunstone when it originally came out, so I just kinda stuck in on a wishlist so I wouldn't forget to purchase it at some point.

Cut to two years ago when I semi-jokingly sent a link to my boyfriend when he asked what I wanted for Christmas. Volume 1 was one of the things he decided to buy me. Now that I had a physical copy of Volume 1, Sunstone went on my "To Read Physical" List.

Cut to now... I have finally purchased all of Sunstone that is currently out and will be reviewing them as I read. That said, these reviews are all pretty short and I've been devouring these things again... so you get multiple reviews in a post.

Enjoy.

Volume 1

2022 Review: I love Sunstone. Have loved it ever since I stumbled across Sejic’s DeviantArt page. I have nothing insightful to say. The art is beautiful and the story is great.

2024 Review: This time around, I really resonated with Ally’s loneliness. I remember living alone and loving it but occasionally that empty house thing just hits and… yeah.

Still holds up really well and I can’t wait to dive back into the rest.

Fine Print: Volume 2 by Stjepan Šejić

I am absolutely in love with this series. The art, as usual from Mr. Sejic, is absolutely gorgeous. I’m really enjoying the characters. There is definitely depth here I can’t wait to discover.

Favorite Lines

"Oh, go ride the business end of a stop sign." - Leliah Ashen

"And horny humans make dumb decisions." - Bauphette Alaris

African Samurai: The True Story of Yasuke by Thomas Lockley

I spent a good portion of my teen years really, really obsessed with Japan and Japanese culture. I'm still at least somewhat interested so when my roommate/bestie/ex-girlfriend let me go through a bunch of ARCs she had, this was among the ones I was most interested to read. African Samurai had really scratched my Japan itch. I had never heard of Yasuke, but it was fun to learn about him.

African Samurai tells Yasuke's story both without fictionalizing a lot or relying on quotes from historical documents. It's not a particularly dry text, but there were certain parts I though dragged... mainly explaining Valignano and the ending with all the speculation. That said, I didn't have any trouble getting through African Samurai. I didn't find myself particularly bored at any point and, surprisingly to me at least, didn't really skim much until the end.

I did have a slight nit-pick from early on in the story. The Europeans not bathing thing. Really, really wish this wasn't even mentioned. Like, why? Pretty sure it's supposed to convey how "weird" Japanese customs are to the Portuguese, but I just roll my eyes every time this comes up. Sure, Europeans might not have bathed every day, but they bathed and I doubt it would have been that weird to have been expected to for special occasions. Just... why we gotta keep perpetuating this myth?

There's also discussion surrounding global slavery here. Unavoidable, I think, especially given Yasuke's more-than-probable backstory. It wasn't the most enjoyable bit to read, but I believe it is definitely necessary to address and keep addressing. Slavery was, and in some places still is, a thing that we as humans have done to each other and we need to remember that, even if it's uncomfortable.

We also need to remember that views on sexuality aren't as homogeneous and hetero as certain people would like us to believe. The warrior class' homosexual practices are addressed here as well. The fact that it wasn't just a Japanese thing is also mentioned. Good. Remind people that this is also a part of our history.

Yasuke himself doesn't exactly get much characterization, which makes sense, as his actual mention in historical documents is sparse. That's largely why this review doesn't focus on him, so much. To be fair, the book doesn't exactly focus on him either, though it doesn't not focus on him, if that makes sense. There's just a lot about what Valignano and Nobunaga are doing and the sociopolitical stuff around them. Yasuke doesn't actually do much. Not a bad thing, exactly, but yeah. It's a thing.

I would definitely recommend African Samurai to anyone who's interested in Japan, specifically in the historical context. A+ in that regard.

The Sandman: Book Six by Neil Gaiman

The Dream Hunters: I mostly skimmed this adaptation. I enjoyed the art, but not as much as that which accompanied the original. The story is still quite awesome.

The Sandman: Overture: Aaahhh! Victorian Death! She looks amazing. Truly, the art in “Overture” is amazing. I love it so much. So, so much to look at, too. Gonna have to go back and just peruse some of the pages just to see what I missed the first time.

The story is fantastic. I was riveted at every moment. Definitely an epic “beginning” to The Sandman.

The Sandman Universe: Eh, twas interesting. Not interesting enough to throw me down that rabbit-hole, but interesting. Nice art, too.

The Sandman: Book Five by Neil Gaiman

Midnight Theatre: Despite the pretty cool cover and the interesting enough art, I was very “meh” on this one. Not my style, really. All mystery and blackmail and exactly one semi-interesting character.

The Dream Hunters: Yoshitaka Amano’s art is frigging gorgeous. I love it, so so much. Seeing The Dreaming rendered this way is just amazing.

The story was fantastic as well. Gaiman’s very good at that old-school, fairy-tale vibe. This had it in spades.

Endless Nights: Feeling mostly “meh” about this little series. I do appreciate short stories, but reading them one after the other like this just isn’t my jam.

Green Lantern Lady falling at complete random for her own sun was… stupid. Hate it. I did think the art was really nice, though.

Not gonna lie, I skimmed most of Despair’s chapter. Just don’t need that shit in my head right now. Did not understand what was going on in Delirium’s bit, either. So there’s that.

In Other News

It's Eclipse Day!

I was lucky enough to be in the path of totality. It was so cool.

Image taken with my iPhone

Storm Breaking by Mercedes Lackey

First off, I was right in my prediction about Tremaine in Storm Rising. He indeed became King of Hardorn. Much surprise. He’ll be a good king.

Secondly, I’m really not sure exactly how to review Storm Breaking. A lot happened and a lot didn’t happen. Karal and his group in Urtho’s tower did a lot of rediscovering of Urtho’s work. Melles in The Empire did a lot of scheming. Elspeth and Darkwind did a lot of planning with Tremaine. Altogether, though, not a lot physically happened.

There is a lot of technical world-building here. Readers got a taste of how Urtho was, which is actually just about as much as we got in The Mage Wars trilogy. Urtho remains mostly a mystery. But yeah, a lot of the world-building here is very technical and not the most exciting. The Empire probably had the most world-building work done, but even that was Melles’ inner thoughts about how to run The Empire with what resources he had.

I was semi-excited to see the Teleson get reintroduced… or introduced if you’re reading in publication order. It’s a useful tool I hope will get used more in the future.

I had some vague memories from my first read of Vanyel, Yfandes, and Stefan playing a much bigger role than they did. So that was a bunch of me waiting for them to show up and do stuff and then being a little disappointed when they did. It wasn’t bad, but I did very much enjoy them and will miss them in future.

Overall, Storm Breaking was a satisfying ending to this portion of the Valdemar tale. It really did feel like a finale, if not the super exciting one I might have been hoping for.

Favorite Lines

"Cats. You can't live with them, and the fur's too thin for a rug." - Firesong

:Pay heed to the sunm but watch your feet, or you'll fall ingloriously on your nose.: - Altra

"That's religion as an excuse. Sometimes it seems to me that when religious fervor enters the mind, the wits pack up entirely and sly out the ear," Karal replied a bit sourly. "But worst of all is when powerful, ruthless people use the religious fervor of others to further their own greed." - Karal

:That's the advantage of having a Cat instead of a Horse as a partner; we don't go running off to sacrifice ourselves at the sound of the first trumpet call,: Altra said, feebly winking at Karal on the side opposite Florian. :We're sensible.:

The Sandman: Book Four by Neil Gaiman

Did I procrastinate the heck outta reading this one: Yes. Was It really Good: Yes. Did it get me through a rough couple of work days: Also yes. This collection is largely about endings and it does definitely invoke the feeling of a proper end.

The Castle: I like it a lot. Reintroduction to the “main” characters from The Dreaming.

The Kindly Ones: Interesting for Loki and Robin Goodfellow to be teaming up. I feel like a lot of this was interesting. There’s some closure for some long-running story lines. There’s plenty of action. I feel like Lyta’s story was a but confusing, to be completely honest. But yeah… otherwise pretty good.

The Wake: Beautiful art. Love it. Pretty awesome wrap-up of the series.

Exiles: Interesting art style. The brushy-ness of it definitely brings and other-worldly feel. I’m really not sure what to make of the story. It’s very philosophical.

The Tempest: I think it’s interesting that this story was in the collection after “The Kindly Ones” and “The Wake.” Almost like a meditation on the ends of things, featuring Dream 1.

The Last Sandman Story: Wildly different and evocative art than the rest of this collection. Loved it, loved it, loved it.

Favorite Line

"Most people don't realize how important librarians are. I ran across a book recently which suggested that the peace and prosperity of a culture was solely related to how many librarians it contained. Possibly a slight overstatement. But a culture that doesn't value its librarians doesn't value ideas and without ideas, well, where are we?" - Lucien