Trick of the Light by Rob Thurman

Trick of the Light is pretty good, if rather meandering at times. The pacing is quite quick, though the pace at which I read it probably drew out those meandering moments so it felt longer than it was. That's on me, though. I remember I really loved it on my first read. Trixa is probably my favorite of Thurman's female characters, though. So definite plus to that.

Trixa spends the entire book being jerked around by The Light and the factions that want it. She doesn't take an crap from any of them, though, which is fun. She also keeps her motivations out there, but her past close to her chest. For example: even her apparent age isn't revealed until the end. You can kind of guess, given the time frames mentioned, but yeah. Trixa's a fun mix of tough-as-nails and sensuality that's not toned down at all, which I appreciate. Completely no nonsense on both counts.

Thurman's world of angels and demons is well fleshed out. I like that both have "true forms" that don't resemble each other. Speaks to God cursing the demons with more "oomph" than just a slap on the wrist. There's also an actual explanation of the existence of peris at the end, though I won't say more than that. I liked the differences between Solomon and Eligos. Figures that demons would have as much range in personality as humans do. Oriphiel gives me some early-seasons Castiel vibes, even if he's way over what even Cas was at that point. Interesting that the angels chose to make their human forms resemble Sephiroth (Final Fantasy VII)... or even Pegasus (Yugi-oh).

I also won't spoil the twist -- that there is a twist is spoiled on the dang cover, don't come at me about it -- but I remember really loving it the first time. Second time, though, I think it suffers a bit from second-time-through syndrome. Couldn't exactly remember what happened or when, just that stuff did happen and I was waiting for it. It does include more lore-dumping, which I'm a sucker for, so there's that.

I really like Griffin and Zeke. They are very distinct from each other, as they should be. I came to the realization upon writing this review that what I have to say about Griffin and Zeke is too wrapped up in spoiler territory, so I won't go there. Suffice to say they fit together really nicely and I think they're cute.

Trick of the Light made a nice break from the honestly more dour Cal Leandros series. I'm trying to read these things in chronological order and Trickster definitely fits in the chronology but it's not official as to where... so publication order it is. Trick of the Light is also a really solid first book of a series. The world, though obviously already formed, is definitely different from what came before, with clear explanations as to why. I did really enjoy it, even if I didn't devour it like I did the first time.

Favorite Lines

"But there's no denying you've always liked the bad boys. Robin, for example, he couldn't keep it in his pants if an alligator was undoing the zipper." - Leo

"The dead should be dead... immediately. No hanging around snapping like ill-tempered, satanic Chihuahuas." - Trixa Iktomi

"If I want food of the damned, I'll just microwave a Hot Pocket." - Trixa Iktomi

"Excessive violence doesn't go well with the footy pajamas. It's a behavioral and fashion faux pas all rolled into one." - Eligos

"Mama said never hold a grudge against a man; hold his balls instead and yank them off. Saved the both of you time." - Trixa Iktomi

Blood Bound by Patricia Briggs

A Spoiler Free Reread Review

Blood Bound was pretty good. I’m not nearly as high on it as I was on first read, but it’s still really good. I had a hard time putting it down at points. I feel like the Mercy Thompson world is very lived-in. It feels very real. Lots of moving pieces that don’t just stop moving because Mercy isn’t “on screen.”

I’m not super into this love quadrangle Mercy seems to have found herself in, through no real fault of her own. I don’t think we needed to add Stefan to the mix, having Samuel around already was enough. That said, Mercy isn’t as confused or even questioning like most female protagonists in these things, so that’s a welcome change.

Here we get a distinction between what Mercy is and the Skinwalkers of Native folklore/religion. I’m glad there is a clear distinction because Mercy is definitely not a Skinwalker. To that point, I feel like Mercy needs to sit down with Stefan and make him tell her what he knows about her abilities. He keeps saying things to her about her abilities that she doesn’t even know.

I really appreciate that Mercy’s fairly practical. Vampire Sorcerer who would definitely kill me? No thanks, think I’ll stay home and let other people deal with it. Well, until she basically get baited into going after Littleton via Marsilia. I’m glad it took Mercy a little while to figure out her ghost thing, since she’s so not used to actually using it actively. I’m even glad it took her a while to figure out the mystery of where Littleton was and all that. She’s a mechanic, not a detective and it shows in a good way.

I thinking bringing up the issue of young, untrained, attacked werewolves, especially female ones, was an interesting addition to the book and lore. Blood Bound has a lot of trauma in it. Mercy’s trauma with the sorcerer, Samuel’s trauma with his girlfriend in Texas and the car crash that made him remember it… I also think Mercy was the best person Tom Black could have come to about his daughter. I feel like she was most likely to tell it how it actually is, rather than lying or upselling anything. That he was more integral to the plot was a little bit of a surprise, but done pretty well.

I like that we get a bit more about the Fae. Mainly about how they’re not actually as powerful as Mercy thinks but also that they’re a lot closer to extinction than anyone would have guessed.

So, I’ve read a lot of vampire books over the years and in every universe, vampires are different. Even our own mythological vampires are very different depending on which you’re looking at. I find Mercy’s mantra of “Vampires are evil” a little bit hilarious because of this. Overall, the reason vampires are “evil” is because they’re pretty much just people with a few extras tacked on. It’s not usually the bloodlust that makes vampires “evil,” it’s the people-y-ness. People are capable of a lot of bad and when you essentially take away the governance that keeps us in check, we get worse. That’s vampires. Vampires are “evil” because people are “evil.” On a slightly separate note: these are the slowest reproducing vampires ever. I’m glad we basically got an info dump from Stefan’s menagerie. Good to have as much info about the people we’re dealing with as possible.

I really, really appreciate that killing vampires doesn’t come super naturally to Mercy. I feel like that initial period of killing vamps gets completely skipped over in most, if not all, cases of vampire hunters. Either that, or the hunters are already super cool with just taking out vamps left and right. Not so with Mercy, and I’m glad of it.

I don’t really have a conclusion to this thing. Blood Bound was a good sequel and I’m on to the next one.

Favorite Lines

"Never thank a fae or you'll be washing his socks and paying his rent before you can say effluvia ten times." - Uncle Mike

"Look. The wooden stake thing works, but it's better if it's oak, ash, or yew. And if you kill them that way, you have to cut off their heads or burn the body to make sure they stay dead. Remember, a dead vampire is ashes. If there's body, it'll come back -- and it'll come back angry with you. Cutting off their heads is pretty good, but difficult. They're not likely to stand around and wait for the chainsaw. Sunlight's good, too. But the stake and sunlight, they're like kicking a guy in the balls, you know?" - Rachel

"Dracula, he isn't, but where there's werewolves, there certainly ought to be vampires." - Gabriel Sandoval

Tempt the Stars by Karen Chance

A Spoiler Free Review

So, Tempt the Stars was interesting and actually more satisfying than previous entries into the Cassandra Palmer series. There was more of a single plot line this time around (which I appreciate) and Cassie actually learns some stuff she's been needing to know for a while.

The main plot line follows Cassie attempting to rescue Pritkin from his banishment back to Hell. Or one of the Hells... apparently. Does it really surprise anyone to know that Earth is one of the Hells? I was not surprised. Anyway, after a pit-stop with past Pritkin to visit her parents (will get to that later), Cassie drags Caleb, Cassanova, and Rian (Cassanova's Incubus/Succubus rider or whatever) into Rosier's portion of Hell in order to rescue Pritkin. Of course, things are never so simple and chaos starts to ensue, but more of a followable chaos than usual. It was kind of fun. I kind of like that Rosier's portion of Hell is all Arabian Nights themed. Makes for a nice change from the usual Vegas setting. I was initially happy to have Rian back as I really liked her in a previous short story... and then stuff happens that I won't spoil, but suffice to say, Rian's stay in the story is short lived.

I also quite liked the jaunt into The Shadowland. Once Cassie and the others figured out how to use The Shadowland's particular aspects to their advantage, the bar fight got more interesting and more fun. I'm always here for creative usage of setting. The Demon Council was probably the most predictable part of the plot. Of course the Council Chambers were going to be all mind-bendingly chamber-like and of course the demons weren't going to want to listen to Artemis. Why would they? Oh, and Cassie apparently can't just straight up tell Pritkin she loves him because... platonic love isn't a thing in a world where you're vampire married to a dude who barely talks to you (and not at all in this book) and have had sex with your bestie to save his life and are therefore always sexually attracted to him now. Please allow a long moment of intense eye-rolling.

Off of plot beats, I actually liked Cassie throwing her Pythian weight around. Yes, it turns out it's rude to just show up at someone's home without an invite, no matter who you are. That being said, I very much agree that Cassie should have been informed about the witches and the coven stuff and, ya know, everything having to do with her office. Jonas really dropped the ball with that and the vampires were just stupid about it. Keeping Cassie as isolated as she is definitely seems to be helping no one, even if she has managed to save the world a few times. It's incredibly frustrating. Glad she at least has a tiny semblance of a court now... maybe. I hope so. She needs more than Marco and Fred and the occasional visit from Mircea and Jonas.

So, Cassie and her parents. First, it was somewhat fun to "watch" Cassie running around her childhood home trying to get info on them while at the same time avoiding vampires with Jonas. Second, I quite like this take on homonculi. There's definitely a far cry from traditional versions and those seen in Fullmetal Alchemist. Richard Palmer amused me some, too. I liked that he and Pritkin butted heads and he definitely seemed to be having some fun with it. I am also glad he gave Cassie information instead of being all cagey about absolutely everything. Made a nice change from, well, pretty much everyone else around her. Thirdly, I'm very glad Artemis at least attempted to help her daughter, even if that help didn't exactly go to plan.

Finally, we have the ending of the book. Apparently Ares is indeed our next Big Bad, so that's fun. Does make me want to go on another rant about how mixing the mythologies is just not right... but we'll leave that one alone for now as it works in the narrative and is a little fun. But don't get it into your head that the gods across the mythologies are all the same. Anywho, I actually enjoyed the last chapter or two. Having Cassie fight alongside some badass women for a change is nice. I hope they come back in later books. Cassie apparently needs training on more than just a physical front... le sigh. Can't wait to find out as we probably won't see them in the next one because of... epilogue stuff.

I definitely enjoyed Tempt the Stars. It was a solid entry into the Cassandra Palmer series/mythos. Not exactly my favorite, but definitely more satisfying on an information level than previous entries.

The Raven Spell and Of the Abyss

The Raven Spell by Luanne G. Smith

A Spoiler Free First Read Review

Originally Posted on GoodReads: March 24, 2022

I thought this was pretty good and very well paced. I’m not sure exactly how to feel about the twists, but they served the story well enough, I think. Also not entirely sure how to feel about the cliff-hanger ending. Apparently we’ll be seeing about that later this year… assuming I remember to be on the lookout for the next book when it comes out.

I liked the magic system, as far as it was explained and shown. Would like to see more in terms of what different kinds of magical creatures there are in addition for Hob, perhaps even other elves like him. I’m kind of envisioning him as the furry council member guy from Arcane. Not sure how accurate that is, but that’s what he looks like in my head. Aside from Hob and the witches, I would definitely like to see more of the world going forward and explore Edwina’s family history that would have resulted in the twisty twist twist.

Anywho, overall, I found Raven Spell to be delightful. 

Of the Abyss by Amelia Atwater-Rhodes

A Spoiler Free Semi-Reread Review

Originally Posted on GoodReads: April 4, 2022

I definitely had more fun reading this the second time around (and actually finishing it this time). I’m pretty sure my first read of colored by the fact that I’m an avid fan of Atwater-Rhodes’ earlier novels and apparently had expectations that this one would be similar to those. Boy was I wrong. This is very different from the Nyeusigrube set of books.

That said, I’m not super enthralled with the Mancer trilogy… like, enough not to go on to the next two. Maybe at some point, but not now. The ending was predictable enough that I was just like “eh, that’s what’s gonna happen” and it did, so yeah…

I did like the world-building for the most part. Would have liked some history on the Quin side of things, rather than just everyone else. It’s definitely more of a slow burn in terms of the world building, too. You get to feel things out with the characters rather than have things explained through exposition dumps. Which I liked overall.

That’s all I have to say for now, might think of more later. But yeah… there we go.

Personal Demon and Living with the Dead by Kelley Armstrong

Personal Demon by Kelley Armstrong

A Spoiler Free Reread Review

Originally Posted on GoodReads April 28, 2022

This is another one I did not remember anything from when I started my reread. Probably for good reason, there was relationship drama and a forgettable villain who was built up as such a twist… meh. I’m not impressed with either of these things. Hope also seemed better served as a side character than a main one, in all honesty. And Lucas… well, Lucas’ chapters mainly reiterated things about himself and the Cabal that were in other books.

I’m sure I’ll have other thoughts later, but that’s pretty much it for now. Personal Demon was mostly blah.

 

Living with the Dead by Kelley Armstrong

A Spoiler Free Reread Review

Originally Posted on GoodReads: May 9, 2022

Ugh, Finally! It was about halfway through this book when I was seriously considering adding it to my DNF pile. I didn’t. I don’t regret it, but I didn’t enjoy it. However, if what I remember from the rest of this series is correct, this book has little to nothing to add to the rest of the series. Could be wrong. Haven’t read these is years and apparently I really enjoyed the next three books.

Anyway, Living With the Dead capitalizes on that lovely trope I absolutely hate where no one talks to each other. No one shares pertinent info with the people they really should and, as a result, everyone makes bad decisions that lead to chaos. And not good chaos. Boring chaos. This person runs to that person who tells them nothing and goes behind the first person’s back to talk to someone they won’t name who turns out to be not entirely important… and then there’s the dude who’s unconnected to anyone and gets a bunch of “screen time” to connect with barely-there ghost boy. Just… ugh.

Add to all this the addition of another character who shows up about 75% of the way through to kind of shake up Hope’s world view but also happens to be connected to the “villain” through annoying side character… yeah. I just powered through this book at this point. The big ol’ twist at the end was like… meh. Okay. Fine. Whatever. Big ol’ bow on the plot. Big ol’ bow on Hope and Karl’s relationship.

On to the next one, which I hope I enjoy much more than this.

Haunted and No Humans Involved by Kelley Armstrong

 Haunted by Kelley Armstrong

A Spoiler Free, Reread Review

Originally Posted on GoodReads: March 24, 2022

Pretty interesting take on the afterlife. I like that The Fates run the Supernatural side of things. Eve’s a fun character. Enjoyed seeing her again and getting inside her head. Trisiel is… yeah, he’s there. Not nearly as interesting as he could be, I think, but I also think Supernatural spoiled me for angel characters so… yeah. Anywho, Kristof getting more fleshed out was definitely good. Don’t really feel one way or the other about him, really, but I appreciated more character building.

The Nix as a villain was alright, I guess. Didn’t feel any real peril with her and didn’t remember her from the last time I read this so… eh.

 

No Humans Involved by Kelley Armstrong 

A Spoiler Free, Reread Review

Originally Posted on GoodReads: April 17, 2022

Another book I’d completely forgotten but really enjoyed upon reread. I actually quite like Jaime. Her character just jumps off the page at me. The climactic scene honestly had shades of Anita Blake, though Anita’s never gone into battle with those particular tools before. I was along for most of Jaime’s ride, though I will admit skipping the sex scenes almost entirely… too many flashbacks to bad fanfiction, personally.

Anyway, not sure I have anything exactly reviewish to say about the book. I just enjoyed it. Enjoyed the characters. Enjoyed the ever expansive universe of The Otherworld that just feels lived in.