Skin Trade by Laurell K. Hamilton

Skin Trade is, uh... interesting. On the one hand, some fairly large things happen here, but on the other... lots of long, drawn-out feeling exposition and cop drama. Oh, and Olaf being around. Skin Trade just honestly doesn't tickle my fancy like other Anita Blake books do.

Don’t really like the male vs female, cop vs civilian dick measuring contest Anita always has to go through, so I’m glad that’s mostly outta the way early. Would be very nice if it wasn't a continuing thing through Shaw and Morgan. I was honestly wanting someone to drop Shaw down a deep, dark hole fairly early on... but no.

I like that we get some “in the weeds” on Anita’s equipment, even though (not being a gun girlie) I don’t understand half of it. I also enjoyed the "in the weeds" bits about the psychics, witches, and such in terms of learning about their powers. I very much like the highlighting of psychics in policing and the consequences of shutting out anything more metaphysical in that profession. By not having anyone in the police force who can even hope to combat vampires and wereanimals, you’re basically kneecapping the force and people wind up dead. The Marshals are, at best, a stop-gap measure, especially if you want to get info out of your wereanimal suspect and not just kill em. There is a lot of introspection about this, both in Anita's head and through various characters straight up calling out the hypocrisy of both calling vampires and such citizens but not giving them any room for trials.

Okay, so here’s the part in the Olaf storyline where everything could have just been nipped in the bud. Tell him “no.” Not only “no,” but “hell no, never.” Whether or not that would have bumped Anita straight to his victims list is irrelevant. The fact that he offers to “try” vanilla for her should have resulted in a “hell no.” Ugh. I hate him and his storyline so, so much and part of it could have been taken care of right here by telling him “no.” But we don’t. For no apparent reason. “I’m flattered and creeped out” but can’t utter the word “no.” Wtf even. I honestly don't understand the "why" part of this. Are we supposed to believe that possible sex with Anita is the only thing keeping Olaf in check or something? Just... no. I'm so, so tired of it. Tired of Olaf now and later.

Third Act antagonist drop. Bleh. At this point, the plot is feeling really stretched and distracted, if I’m honest. Clearly it was important to go on the High Priestess side quest, but it also feels like it’s further muddying already muddied waters. I do understand it leads to the trump card for later, but still... It honestly felt that way as soon as we added Wicked to the mix. Like his character, but… the situation is already complicated enough.

Even though it can slow the story’s pace, I do kind of appreciate the side-bits between characters. It gives the stories a closer-to-life feel than these types of things normally get. Also leads to some good world building, if only to keep the world feeling more lived-in.

The last thing I wanted to make a note of is a reread thing. I was under the impression that I liked Max and Bibiana. This reread has proven that to be untrue. Max is barely even around here and Bibiana really just makes me wanna smack her. Victor, however, I definitely did like. Kind of wish he was around more, but do completely understand why he's not, in the long run.

But yeah... Skin Trade is definitely not my favorite. It's not one I think back on a lot. I feel like it's a necessary stepping-stone book, but it otherwise doesn't feel very consequential. 

Favorite Line

(And yes, I am very aware the irony of hating Olaf and having him have the best line in this book)

"If you fear nothing," Olaf said, "then you are not brave; you are merely too foolish to be afraid." 

Dragonsong by Anne McCaffrey

2025 Reread

First, I must complain about these Simon & Schuster re-release covers by Stephan Martinière. I find them quite dreary and the dragons are straight-up ugly. I know everyone has their own way of depicting dragons, but the Pernese ones are rather distinctive around the head shape... which these dragons don't have. I don't like them at all.

Secondly, there is overt emotional and at least once instance of physical abuse contained within these pages. Menolly's family is less than enthused about her playing and musical talent. Her father, Yanus, is a curmudgeon through and through. Her mother and sister are basically encouraged to bully Menolly. It's all very distressing and no wonder Menolly ends up running away from home. I can't help but thinking, though, that Petrion could have mentioned, at least to Menolly, that his wife had been Mastersinger (as seen in The Masterharper of Pern ). Perhaps if he'd mentioned Merelan to Yanus, Menolly would have had a better time of it. Menolly definitely would have had more hope... But then there's the Publication Order to consider... Merelan might not have been conceived of until that full 2 decades later. *le sigh

That said, although Menolly's story is depressing at times, Dragonsong is very good. Menolly is an awesome protagonist who never quite gives in to the adversity she faces. It's also not too much of spoiler to add that fire lizards abound. Menolly really comes into her own when surrounded by her fair.

I liked getting more Mirriam. She was mostly in the background of Dragonquest, being Brekke's fosterling and all. But here we get to see her becoming friends with Menolly. I think they'd be very fun as a pair, if given more time together.

Dragonsong is a very good follow up to Dragonquest. It expands Pern's world beyond the Weyr, giving us a glimpse of life in a very different arena. So far, one of my favorite Pern novels.

Dragonsblood by Todd McCaffrey

Dragonsblood is a beautiful first outing for Todd McCaffrey. It truly feels completely connected to the rest of the Pern novels. Not only that, but the triumphant ending had me in tears. The overall story line is a little complicated and there are a lot of characters to keep track of, but it really makes the world feel lived-in.

I quite like Lorana as a character. She does kind of seem like an overly-cheerful type, but that's balanced by all the suffering the poor girl went through and goes through in this book. I feel, like her multi-dragon-hearing predecessors, Lorana would, and I guess does, make a good Weyrwoman. I am glad we get to know her some before she Impresses Arith.

Wind Blossom was nice to get to know outside of the small bits in Dragonsdawn. I feel for her. Generational trauma combined with the Watch-Wher stuff could not have been easy for her. Not to mention trying to break herself of similarly traumatizing Emorra. It must have also been heart-wrenching for a healer like her to be faced with the decline in technology, as she was. I can't imagine having to go from having genetic manipulation capabilities to not even being able to synthesize antibiotics.

I honestly found the parts with D'gan extremely annoying, though they do eventually pan out plot-wise. I despise characters who are just so caught up in their own crap to the detriment of others, especially if they're supposed to be leading them. Like, sir, you're not even listening to your DRAGON when he tells you he's unwell. What. The. Fuck. Ugh. Thanks for being a despicable plot-point, though, I guess.

I'm also not going to lie, my eyes glazed over when the intricacies of Pernese DNA/PNA was discussed. That felt a little too in the weeds, but I also understand how it was necessary to explain just how different they are from the humans we're used to dealing with. Just got a little to hard Sci-Fi for my little brain to handle for a moment there. That said, the entire disease story line definitely hit different in 2024 than I imagine it did on my first read. COVID and all that. And worse, as it's the dragons affected and the human characters have little to nothing they can even do about it.

Dragonsblood is definitely a fantastic entry into the Pern lexicon.

Favorite Line

"A atarved stomach needs to learn to eat all over again." - K'tan

Lady Knight by Tamora Pierce

Lady Knight by Tamora Pierce

2020 Review:

I had honestly forgotten a majority of this book since I read it last. Might do again, given how much I read, but that’s just my brain.

Pretty awesome, altogether. Kel’s well suited to taking care of people, which is what she does throughout. Part of the ending made me choke up, which is good. I rarely get choked up at book these days.

2024 Review:

So, as my review from 4 years ago states, I had forgotten, like, 99% of what happens in Lady Knight. That's definitely not a bad thing, just a thing that I apparently do with books I haven't read in a while. Lady Knight is worth remembering, though, as I feel it shows off Kel's skills and tendencies in a really fun way.

I feel like Lord Wyldon definitely picked Kel's first knightly assignment well, even if it did end up having unforeseen consequences. As young as she is, it's really impressive that she manages to keep her refugee camp well under control. This is partially from her learning from Lord Raoul and just Kel's own tendency to take control in a manner more befitting a "commoner." I also feel like Kel has more empathy toward pretty much everyone, so that definitely helped.

Lady Knight is interesting in that it takes place over 7 months, instead of the 4 years of Page and Squire and the year of First Test. Much of that time is spent in Haven, Kel's refugee camp, where we get ourselves invested in Kel's refugee charges. I didn't really realize this until later, but it's actually really important, because otherwise, I'm not sure we as readers would be all gung-ho about Kel hauling off to go rescue them later. It's totally within Kel's nature, but we needed attachment to them and there's only one book to do so and not even the whole book... anyway... it wasn't boring and Tobe and Meech are the kiddos I'd lay my life down for.

There's a paragraph in my personal notes where I wax poetical about Kel, Neal, and Merric being babies. Like, seriously, they're 18 in this book and 18 year olds are just... ahhhh. I could not imagine being one of those refugees faced with literal teenagers... I get that they're adults in the medieval-y fantasy world Pierce has concocted, but still... 18 is so young.

I was, again, moved to tears by all the coming together in support of Kel. First Raoul sending Dom and his squad out, then Neal, Merric, and them, then Owen and Tobe... just... tears. Many of them. And again at the very end... Lord Wyldon, my dude, has apparently completely come around.

Uh... yeah. Pretty much all I have to say on the subject. I really liked Lady Knight and I think it's a fitting end to Kel's quartet.

Remembering Lady Knight by Tamora Pierce

 Possible spoilers for Lady Knight by Tamora Pierce. Sorry, not sorry.

I feel a little compelled to write this before I start rereading Lady Knight partially because I've read my current review (which will be posted with the new one later) and because I think I'm actually remembering a bit. My current review of Lady Knight is short and basically says that I remember nothing about it. This was in 2020.

So, basically what I'm remembering is about Maggur's metal devices. In Squire, Kel manages to bash one "to death." I'm fairly certain they're somehow powered by the souls of children. I'm also fairly certain this is made clear during Kel's Ordeal by The Chamber's vision.

I also think I remember something about a battle along a shoreline involving Peachblossom and/or Hoshi. I confess I could be mixing that up with something Alanna did in Song of the Lioness, but I really don't know. Well... I do, because what I'm remembering didn't happen in Song of the Lioness so... yeah. Still feels a bit like a misremembered something or other.

Ah, yes, Cleon and Kel break up. Pretty sure that's something that happens. I do not remember whether or not they end up sleeping together before that, but they definitely break up. Cleon's got that whole arranged marriage thing and Kel's nowhere near the mindset to get married and have kids and all that.

I know this isn't much and I'm definitely not remembering as much as I did in my other Remembrances, but I had to get it out of my system before I started rereading Lady Knight again.

In Other News

In finished another OviPets project! Cyberdramon, based on the Digimon of the same name. Cyberdramon took me approximately 8 months to complete.

Closer to the Chest by Mercedes Lackey

Honestly, Closer to the Chest is boring. There’s lots of rehashing the plots of Collegium Chronicles and the last two Herald Spy books. Kind of to be expected in a series, but still boring. And the plot of the woman-hating bad guy who’s writing letters is boring. I am heartily against woman-hating nonsense, being a woman myself, but that doesn’t make this plot any less boring. It’s just a lot of “oh look, we’ve discovered this plot thing but can’t actually do anything whatsoever about it until a few chapters from the end of the book and then everyone throws themselves on the fire.” Much yawn. Almost ended up in my DNF pile.

I appreciate Valdemar’s “There is no one true way” mantra, but I think allowing a religion that denigrates a portion of the population — especially if it’s a large portion of the population — to flourish is a bad idea. I really think there needs to be an amendment like “but this is definitely NOT part of anyone’s way.” I’m only about halfway through the book at this point and I have zero doubt that whoever this is, is a member of the Order of Sethor. Bloody obvious.

I’m also not sure why no one thinks to go question them at all. Like, Jorthun or someone said most religions don’t like zealots and the Order might know who would be most likely to be the perpetrator. So why not question them? Oh, because the priest is just a condescending ass about women, that’s why. Unlikely to get an actual answer out of him, apparently. Gross. By the time Mags actually goes fully undercover with them, it’s entirely too late for any of that to be at all interesting.

It is no surprise to me that Lackey decides we must get Sethor’s friggin origin story on top of all the in-world grossness. It’s, no surprise at this point in the story, a thinly veiled Christian allegory. Very thin veil on this one. And of course there’s a female Satan-equivalent. Of course there is. Just… why? Why are we subjected to this nonsense? I get that it’s probably supposed to humanize the villains of the piece but they’re all religious zealots who really don’t deserve humanization in my opinion. Just… ugh.

On a completely separate note: It is still really odd that magic is so suppressed in Valdemar. I understand what Vanyel did with the web and the vrondi would suppress magic users, but why keep people from talking about it at all? That just seems stupid.

Closer the the Chest is honestly utterly skip-able. Like really, if you’ve decided to be me and read through the Valdemar novels in chronological order, or really, at all, just skip this one. It’s boring and ultimately does little, if anything, to advance any overall plot.